Dakshinamurthi - The Boon-Giver

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Dakshinamurthy is the form of Shiva, as a knowledge giver, one who gives the knowledge of the ultimate Truth, cosmos and Creation that can help man overcome the cycle of birth and death. Dakshinamurthy is depicted as a young knowledge giver with 4 Rishi —. They sit His at His feet imbibing this knowledge. While Dakshinamurthy is depicted as a young man, the 4 Rishi , who receive the knowledge from Him are older in age. The 4 Rishi ask their questions in silence and receive their answers in the same mode, i. The 4 satellites of Jupiter represent these 4 main disciples of Dakshinamurthy, while Jupiter is the Guru, Dakshinamurthy.

You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Twitter account. Manifestations of the lord 4. Root Symbolizes Brahman Shiva 4. Also symbolize Rudra alone 4. Ear rings — which reveal great secrets 5. Lord Dakshinamurty the lord of Kashi Varanasi 6. Dakshinamurty or Sharada — Whom should you worship? The three in one God 8. Sri Dakshinamurty Varnamala Stotram:: O my dear brothers vighneshwara and skanda, please accept my humble prostrations on your lotus feet and kindly remove all the obstacles coming in the way of this article.

Please grant me enough wisdom to understand your symbolism and kindly use me as your equipment to explain yourself through this article. Sri Dakshinamurthy — the supreme guru. Upanishad says, Dakshina means buddhi knowledge through which Siva who is Brahman can be known.

Therefore there is no difference between the lord and the divine knowledge!

The Giver (The Giver, #1) by Lois Lowry

Lord Shiva is the parabrahman of Vedas and is essentially nirguNa. However he is the only one who assumes many names or forms and sports in this world. Each name of that Maheshwara is accompanied with some purpose. Dakshinamurthy form is the Guru preceptor form of lord Shiva. It is an indisputable truth propounded in every scripture that lord Shiva is the foremost and supreme Guru from whom all the Vidya-s issue forth. It is that Dakshinamurthy whose grace of wisdom works silently in the background of every action that takes place in this world. For instance, when you were born, who taught you to cry for milk when you felt hungry?

At least for humans a careful mother feeds her baby at regular intervals on her own, but in the case of a new born calf, who teaches the calf that there is his food stored between the hind legs of the cow and that could be obtained by suckling? Those are the teachings which are unheard by ears, untaught by speech, but only and only experienced through some silent teaching emanating from within. What is that power which teaches your eyes to see, ears to hear, tongue to taste, skin to feel the touch, and nose to smell? The reason is, there is another power which transcends this physical body and this brain, and that power operates this body machine by pervading within it.

That external power is called as Chaitanya Consciousness which is nothing but the Atman Self. It is he as Atman-Chaitanya remains silent within yourself and mere his silent presence makes your organs act. So, tell me now, who on this planet can live or remain functional without the grace or presence of this great preceptor? Whether Shiva appears as a Guru visible externally or guides us through our conscience operating from within, the fact remains a fact that there is no life without Guru Shiva. Whether someone likes or dislikes, there is no escape from that illustrious Kapardin, the lord of Uma!

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When in his subtlest mode he is our teacher right from our birth till death, then it is not a matter of astonishment if he is seen as the foremost preceptor of all the Vidyas. As discussed above when a newborn infant himself requires an internal preceptor to cry for milk when hunger is felt, then we can understand it fairly well that to create this gigantic macrocosm even lord Brahma would have required some knowledge, and hence someone to pass on that knowledge whom we call guru.

The very first appearance of Dakshinamurthy is visible in Upanishads itself. At the beginning of this creation, the first entity that sprang into existence was Hiranyagrabha where Brahma appeared. Svetaswatara Upanishad states that Rudra created Brahma and passed on Vedas to him as follows. Then he took the refuge of his own creator viz.

Mahadeva, and worshiped him. Being pleased by his devotion, Rudra, bestowed Brahma, with the knowledge of creation as stated below. How did he bestow that knowledge of creation? The answer is Rudra gave him Vedas as stated below. Shiva bestowed Brahma with Vedas and made him capable of creating the world. We may have a question, — how can Vedas make someone capable of creating the world?

The answer is, Vedas contain the blue-print of entire creation coded in secret format. All the great Rishis also have their origin from Vedas. From those sounds have sprung all kinds of actions. The names of the Rishis, all things that have been created, the varieties of form seen in existent things, and the course of actions, have their origin in the Vedas.

Indeed, the Supreme Master of all beings, in the beginning, created all things from the words of the Vedas. Truly, the names of the Rishis, and all else that has been created, occur in the Vedas. Upon the expiration of his night i. Does it mean Brahma got some published books printed and bounded nicely?

Do we have any scriptural reference where Brahma is shown to be creating universes referring to some page no. So, Vedas are nothing but knowledge itself. So, when Upanishad says Shiva gave Vedas to Brahma, it implies that Shiva bestowed him with the knowledge required for his creation. And how does shiva bestow knowledge? The answer is — as Dakshinamurthy! Therefore it is Brahma who was the first person to witness and realize the grace of Dakshinamurthy.

This is the reason why the Svetaswatara Upanishad further prays to Dakkshina form of lord Rudra as follows. With divine knowledge the cycle of transmigration ceases to exist, and that knowledge can be gained only by the grace of Sri Dakshinamurthy. O Rudra, may Thy benign face dakshinam mukha protect me forever! In the above verse, Dakshinam Mukha is translated as benign face. What does it mean? Therefore Dakshinamurty is nothing but Aghora face of Lord Shiva.

Therefore the above verse is again a prayer to Dakshinamurty the birthless lord whose refuge the righteous people take in order to get transported from this frightful cycle of births and deaths to the every pleasant state of kaivalya. On a side note, Aghora face of lord Shiva which remai ns peaceful and south facing designates Dakshinamurty and confers knowledge and liberates the jIvas, however the same face when turned Ghora terrible becomes the world destroying form.

This is why due to dual aspect of this face, YajurvEda Taittiriya Aranyaka sings its glory in both the aspects as follows.

Dakshinamurthy

They were constantly in search of brahma-gyanam. They were looking for a preceptor capable of dispelling their all doubts. The names and number of these sages vary in various agamas. These four kumaras gravitated to the serene looking face of that Dakshinamurty and sat surrounding him. Soon they got absorbed into the supreme silence of Dakshinamurty and all their queries related to Brahman got resolved.

Otherwise Dakshinamurty remains within us guiding us in a subconscious manner. This is a story in a nutshell, the primary intention of discussing this is not for the sake of storytelling; but to discuss and analyze an important point what this legend teaches i. We may get a doubt — how can silence answer all the spiritual enquiries? What does silence indicate? Silence is that state where speech culminates, where disturbances of mind cease to exist. It is that state which can only be experienced and cannot be stated through speech or through thoughts.

That supreme state of thoughtlessness, where speech exists in her parA state of silence is the state of Brahman. The state of Brahman is inexpressible through words, or thoughts; it can only be experienced! How silence is a state of Brahman? It is answered in shruti as follows. For that wherein the sound fades away is the Brahman, the higher. That supreme state of silence i. It is only Lord Shiva who transcends everything and is the highest Brahman, it is he again as Dakashinamurty the highest Guru who teaches brahmavidya to us which reveals about himself alone.

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There is nothing superior to Shiva. In this connection Taittiriya Aranyaka of Yajurveda states as follows. The above verse states that Lord Shiva is beyond the Omkara that is recited before studying Vedas and also is established in the knowledge of Upanishads. But the above verse from Yajurveda is not as easy in meaning as it looks like, so I would like to elaborate its real meaning here.

Do these two verses contradict? Omkara in Ahata form when culminates in silence it becomes Omkara in Anahata.

When Sri Rudram says Rudra is Taraka mantram OM and when same Yajurveda mentions Rudra as transcending OM then there is no contradiction since both of these statements are referring Rudra as beings ame as the anAhata omkara omkara in silence which means they mean to imply that Rudra is verily the Brahman.

Ahata-omkAra takes its birth from anAhata-Omkara alone. In fact, w hen Rudra imparts the Taraka Mantram OM in the ears of dying people in Varanasi, he spells the Ahata-Omkara in the ears of the people, and merges the Jiva within himself the Atman which is Moksham. This means, the Ahata-nAdam of Omkara takes one towards the anAhata-nAdam which is Omkara in silence which is identical to Brahman and has nothing superior than that stage.

In other words, sabda-brahman leads you towards shuddha-brahman, and both these forms are the forms of Maheshwara alone. Therefore he is the one without a second; he is the supreme Brahman in nirguna aspect as well as the saguna Brahman also. Therefore we can understand from above analysis that Silence is the state of Brahman and that Brahman is Shiva alone, and it is again Shiva who is the Guru Dakshinamurty who teaches about himself, through the mode of supreme Silence which is again the state of Brahman. In normal circumstances here I am expected to end this analysis of Silence.

However, I fully understand that there would be some people who would be inquisitive to know how silence speechlessness can produce sound speech or vAk? How vAk terminated in silence becomes Brahman? How speech is produced? On what foundation does speech vAk stand? Is vAk an independent entity or it is supported by some other entity? Silence being same as Brahman is a very vast concept and hence let me analyze it in detail. This analysis is a bit complex hence one need to pay utmost attention while reading the logical correlations. Three fourths are still non-entity to the human ear. Only learned seers and Yogis who have internalized their vision can see and grasp the unmanifest portion of sound.

The Ahata-shabdam struck note or heard sound is inferior, while the anAhata-shabdam un-struck note or unheard sound is limitless. The heard sound manifests in the visible universe which is limited, whereas the unheard or unmanifest sound indicates the infinite, limitless state of Brahman. This concept has been nicely presented in Shukla Yajurveda as quoted below. What are the four categories of vAk termed as? Answer is given in Shruti itself saying that the gross form of speech viz.

In Lalita Sahasranama Stotram which is a hymn to goddess Tripurasundari and is present in Brahmanda Purana the verse no. Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama are placed in the secrecy because of their being inside the heart, but the fourth step, viz. Mental image is the same in all. Sound has got four forms, viz. Vaikhari is the ordinary speech. It differs in different countries. But Para, Pasyanti and Madhyama are one and the same. So, from all these details we can draw the following understanding of the fourfold speech.

Speech originates from mUlAdhAra chakra but remains unheard till it issues out of the throat Vishuddha chakra. The speech which is heard viz. Vaikhari may differ from language to language and country to country; however the thoughts which take birth within us before they are put into speech, those thoughts remain always same for every human being. The Vaikhari aspect differs from one language to another, but the mental images what we all people would have about water in our mind and conscience would remain same without any differentiation.

Therefore the three internal states of speech viz. Therefore, finally we can consider only two pure states of speech. Of course we have analyzed the forms of vAk speech , and again we have reached a point where we can put an end to this discussion.

However, I am not ready to end it here since it would lead us to end this analysis in duality. I would end this analysis at that juncture where one would be able to clearly see the non-duality Advaitam between vAk and its forms and Rudra. Let us focus only on parA silence implying Brahman and vaikHarI audible sound. Exhale all your breath out to that extent where you feel there is no scope of further emptying your lungs with air. At that juncture, try to call your name aloud. Can you hear your voice? Can you utter your name out? Answer is No, not at all! Now, take very minimum amount of breath in, and try to call out your name.

What do you observe? Even with the slightest amount of air you are able to pronounce your name out. This means, it is the breaths prANa-s that are the foundation for speech vAk to survive. Whatever conclusion we have drawn with this exercise, same has been theoretically explained in the following Upanishad verses.

Upanishad states the superiority of Prana life breaths over vAk Speech and other senses in a story kind of narration. It says there was a competition among the senses on the matter of superiority. Prajapati put them to Test and as per the rules first vAk speech left the body and went out and returned back to ask whether the other senses were able to survive, they all survived. But when at last Prana life-breath was about to depart, all other senses started getting uprooted and then all senses including vAk accepted Prana as their lord.

Therefore it is clear from above analogy and the practical what we have done, that vAk Speech is NOT an independent power, it depends solely on Prana to function. In fact it is the life force breath or prANa which emerges as speech vAk from the throat. Now, let us see who this prANa is! Here praNa is just a name to Atman Bhagawan Rudra.

This is why the maruts Rudras are termed as the children of Rudra Atman. The number of prANas varies based on the categorization adopted in scriptures. This is why Mundaka Upanishad says seven pranas, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says eight pranas, again in another verse same brihadaranyaka Upanishad calls them as eleven and twelve also and likewise there are variations in numbers based on the method of grouping adopted.

However the fact is, it is only one prANa which assumes so many names within our body based on the function. Now, this prANa Atman is verily Brahman as stated below. Here the duality of Gods ceased to exist. All gods are the manifestations of one true god viz. The same has been expounded in Svetaswatara Upanishad as follows: He dwells as the inner Self Atman of every living being.

After having created all the worlds, He, their Protector, takes them back into Himself at the end of time.

Dakshinamurti

So, in the light of the above verse the below verse when read, it is clearly about lord Shiva alone. Now, from the above analysis we have understood that vAk Speech is also one of the pranas senses which cannot survive without prANa and it is a manifestation of the prANa Rudra and at the end of time like every other sense this vAk also would merge back in prANa Rudra.

Out of the four states of vAk speech , the parA form is verily Brahman and is represented as total silence. Therefore this is the form of Rudra who is the parA i. Here is a direct reference from Upanishad where Bhagawan Rudra himself states about himself being Brahman.

Dakshinamurthy Dhyaana Slokam

The following verses are from Atharvashira Upanishad. This proves that Dakshinamurty himself is the Guru who teaches the disciples about himself alone since he is the Brahman through silence because Silence is the state of Brahman when measured in terms of vAk Speech. Sri Dakshinamurty is depicted as a young sixteen years old god sitting at the root of a huge banyan tree on a rock or an elevated place, having four hands. He is depicted as sitting surrounded by grey haired sages. He is depicted wearing a crown or a hair-band on his nicely braided locks of hair.

He is also shown wearing a waist bank around his waist. His braided hair holds Ganga and on his lefta dn right sides of his head sun and moon are shown. In some iconographies behind or nearby his vehicle Nandi the bull is also seen. The crystal color of Dakshinamurty has a great significance. Having a color means it is an Upadhi with which the object is associated with, hence it has a Guna.

However, crystal symbolizes no color. Hence it represents the nirguNa-Brahman. White color also signifies Shuddha-Satvika tatwam, which also depicts the purity of the lord. Depiction of the iconography of Sri Dakshinamurty in various temple statues or idols slightly differs based on the Agama being followed. Now, let us understand what all these icons symbolize. Ashtamurty form of lord Shiva are nothing but the Pancha-bhuta-s five divine elements and Manas, Buddhi, and Ahamkara. These eight elements are the framework required for any cosmic creation.

The pancha-bhutas are viz. Agni fire , Jalam water , Bhumi Earth , Vayu Air and Akasa sky ; and the remaining three elements are mind manas , intellect buddhi and Ego ahamkara. The entire universe is composed of these elements of prakriti nature alone. These tanmAtrAs are tightly coupled with their corresponding five elements. Without these tanmAtrAs this world cannot be experienced by any living being. SO, they are very essential for us. The handheld drum which is called Damarukam, symbolizes the primordial sound Omkara and it represents Creation srushthi.

It implies that it is lord Rudra alone who creates everything as also evident from the below shruti vAkya. It is again the Bhagawan Rudra alone who assumed the form of Brahma to continue the task of creation as confirmed in the below shruti-vAkya. Among the pancha-bhutas it represents Akasa. Among the tanmAtrAs it is the sound shabda. It is lord Rudra alone who manifested himself as the Sky as evident from the below verse of Satapatha Brahmana of Yajurveda. This also implies that it is Rudra alone who is in the form of shabda sound property of Akasa sky as well.

Parjanya the cloud which represents Sky became such like because of Lord Bhava: This circular rosary represents the cyclic process of creation which remains in seed form in Vedas. In this connection Mahabharata says that entire creation remains in seed form in Vedas and from the blue-print coded in Vedas in next cycle the creator god creates this universe again, as stated below.

Rig Veda also supports this cyclic nature of creation as follows.

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