DakshiNAmUrti Stotram of Adi SankaraPart 2. Stotram & InterpretationS. Yegnasubramanianwww.svbf.org, for some of the preliminaryvedAntic concepts).

Verse 1

In addition to giving the essence of theUpanishads, SrI Sankara is offering salutationsto Lord dakshiNAmUrti also, thus serving atwo fold purpose of teaching and prayer.

viSvam darpaNa-driSyamAna nagarItulyam nijAntar-gatampaSyannAtmani mAyayA bahirivodbhUtam yathA nidrayA |ya: sAkshAt-kurute prabodha-samayesvAtmAnam-eva-advayamtasmai SrI guru-mUrtaye nama idamSrI dakshiNAmUrtaye ||

The fourth line of every verse exceptthe last verse is the same:to Him; the divine guru; SrI dakshiNAmUrti; this

salutation.(I offer)

this prostration to LorddakshiNAmUrti (who is available to me in thevisible form as ), the guru. (SrI GovindabhagavadpAdAcArya).

(The one who experiences at the time ofrealization ones own immutable Self in which theSelf alone plays as the universe of names andforms, like a city seen in a mirror, due to thepower of mAyA as though produced outside, as ina dream, to such a person, the divine teacher, SrIdakshiNAmUrti, is this salutation.)

SrI Sankara gives the essence of theUpanishads in the first three lines of this verse,which is AtmajnAna or ones true nature.That means, whatever knowledge one has ofoneself presently is not ones true nature andby knowing the true nature one is liberated. Inall these verses, SrI Sankara reveals that theAtmA is of the nature of caitanyam Consciousness which makes ones bodysentient. One misses this real nature because itis an invisible principle. The analogy can begiven of a fan rotating and giving out breeze;the fan by itself cannot rotate, but behind thefan, the invisible electricity is responsible for

As was mentioned in the introduction, SrI AdiSankara condenses the entire upanishadicliterature in these ten verses. From this pointof view, one could consider this as a refresherfor assimilation nididhyAsanam, of thevedAntic learning. Hence, the author takesseveral ideas for granted as the student issupposed to be familiar with them already.(The reader may refer to the series of articleson tattvabodha published earlier in ParamArthatattvam available in our website19

I am different from all objects of myexperience (which are inert, anAtmA) theworld, the body, and mind. And I am theConsciousness principle, since the experiencer(subject) cannot be inert! The teacher assumesthe reader to have this much knowledge tostart with, namely,a. I am AtmA, the Consciousness (the subject),andb. this entire world-body-mind is anAtmA inert matter (the object of experience).

the fan to rotate. That means, even though Ilook at only one visible factor, namely the fan,there is an invisible factor electricity whichis not visible to me. Similarly, the invisibleConsciousness only makes the body sentient.Just to refresh ourselves of the teachings oftattvabodha, there are five points to beremembered about Consciousness (AtmA,ones real nature), and they are:1. Consciousness is not a part, product orproperty of the body, just as the electricityis not a part, product or property of the fan;2. Consciousness is a separate entity whichpervades and enlivens the body, just as theelectricity is separate which pervades andenlivens the fan;3. This invisible Consciousness is not limitedby the boundaries of the body, just as theelectricity is not limited by the boundariesof the fan - but is beyond the fan also throughout the wire, etc.4. That invisible Consciousness survives evenafter the destruction of the body, just as theelectricity survives even when the fanbecomes defective;5. The invisible Consciousness is notrecognizable when the medium of the bodyis absent, not because Consciousness isabsent, but the medium of manifestation isabsent.

The subject matter of the first verse is therelationship between the AtmA , I, and anAtmA,the entire universe.The teacher tries to explain thisrelationship through two examples. They are:1. (example of areflected city in a mirror).2. (example of a cityin a dream)1. (example of a reflectedcity in a mirror). In this example, weimagine a huge mirror kept in front of acity (or any object). We have two things:a) a huge mirror andb) the reflected city (not original)obtained in the mirror .Upon analysis, we make the followingobservations:1. the mirror is the support adhishThAna- of the entire (reflected) city. Hence therelationship between the mirror and the(reflected) city is supporter-supported or

To recognize this Consciousness as AtmA,the scriptures give us a methodology, knownas drig-driSya-viveka: - which states that , I amdifferent from whatever I experience a veryfundamental law of vedAnata. This means that20

resting or residing in the mind of the waker orthe waker (since the mind is an integral part ofthe waker). Therefore, the mirror of the firstexample is comparable to the waker and thereflected city is comparable to the dreamworld. One can easily see that the relationshipbetween the waker and the dream is similar tothe previous example, with the waker (like themirror) having the same four features, namely,adhishThAnatvam, satyatvam, asangatvam and

adhishThAna-Adheya sambandha:. That

means, no part of the (reflected) citycan exist without the mirror. SoadhishThAnatvam of the mirror is thefirst aspect.2. the reflected city (pratibimbha nagarI)does not have an existence of its own,even though it is experienced by theobserver. That means the reflected cityhas borrowed existence, while themirror has its own existence. So thesecond aspect is, mirror is satyam andthe (reflected) city is mithyA.3. Whatever happens to the (reflected)city, the observer can see andexperience, but they do not affect themirror at all. So the third aspect is theunaffectedness asangatvam of themirror.4. Since the reflected object or mithyA,does not have an existence of its own, itis as good as non-existent that means,there is no real entity other than themirror, even if we see and experience100s of reflections in the mirror. So, thefourth aspect is advayatvam without asecond entity or non-dualtiy of themirror.

adviteeyatvam.

In the same way, SrI Sankara says that I,the Consciousness am the mirror and thewaker, and the entire universe that Iexperience the jAgrat-prapanca includingmy own body-mind complex, is the reflectedcity (darpaNa-nagarI) or dream world (svapnanagarI). That means, we can apply the samefour features discussed earlier to theConsciousness also. They are:1. I, the Consciousness, am the adhishThAnamwhole universe; no part of the universeexists out side of Me, the Consciousness(not body-mind).2. Just as the dream world does not have anexistence of its own, the entire universe(anAtmA) also does not have an existence ofits own, where as, I, the Consciousness(AtmA) is independently existent, revealingthe satyatvam of AtmA.3. Just as the mirror, the Consciousness, - theAtmA is asanga:. This means, any eventin the form of interaction between themithyA world, mithyA body, and mithyAmind, cannot affect Me, the satya caitanyam.

To summarize, the four features of themirrorfromthisexampleare,adhishThAnatvam, satyatvam, asangatvam andadviteeyatvam.

With a view to emphasize this relatioship,SrI Sankara gives another example of thedream world. The entire dream world is21

4. Since the entire world is like the dream city mithyA, not having its own existence, it isas good as non-existent. That means thereis no second entity apart fromConsciousness, I, thus revealing theadviteeyatvam of AtmA.

look at the verse 1, splitting the first two linesin to five sentences ( we will add certain wordsto the sentences to understand the impliedmeaning)1. ( )this universe of names and forms; isequivalent to; a city; which isseen (experienced); in a mirror.2. ( )()This universe is like the dreamuniverse which is really within Me(the Consciousness).3. ()(Note that the word paSyan of the verse istaken as paSyati for our discussion). One (thejnAnI) sees the jAgrat-viSwam; withinoneself.4. ()()The dream universe which is really existingwithin, appears as though produced outside,due to sleep. due to sleep;the dream universe within () appears as thoughproduced outside.- In the same way, as ( )5. () ()This universe jAgrat-prapanca -which is reallywithin Me, appears as though producedoutside due to mayA.This universe, the jAgratprapanca -which is really within Me due to mAyA (avidyA-nidrayA )

In addition, even though the dream worldis inside me, it appears as if it is outside andthe sleep nidrA makes the inside, unrealdream world as an outside, real world. Thatmeans, in nidrA one is not aware of the wakernature and so nidrA can be interpreted aswaker-ignorance! Since waker is adhishThAna(as seen earlier), nidrA can be called asadhishThAna-ajnAnam. Because of this, duringsleep, the inside dream world appears real andoutside. Also, when nidrA ends as onebecomes aware of the waker status - prabodhasamaye when one gains the adhishThAnajnanam, the outside dream is no more outsideand is falsified. Because of the ignorance of theAtmA Atma-adhishThAna-ajnAnam thisignorance can be called as vedAntic sleep(compared to nidrA the worldly sleep). Whenone is under the influence of this avidyA-nidrA,this universe appears as though it is outside ofMe, the Consciousness, and real (correlate withdream universe). And, as long as the avidyAnidrA continues, the universe will appear asreal and outside. The moment one wakes upfrom this avidyA-nidrA when one becomes ajnAnI the person realizes that the universe isno more outside of Me, the caitanyam, and infact I am the very support of this universe.SrI Sankara says that such an awakened personis the guru, and every guru-murti is srIdakshiNAmUrti. With this background, let us22

( ) appears as though

Verse 2

produced outside.Moving on to the 3rd line of the verse, at the time of waking up ( theoutside dream universe is resolved in tooneself, and so )

(the waker) recognizes himself as the non-dualSelf ones own selfalonenon-dualexperiences directly.

bIjasyAntarivAnkuro jagadidamprAngnirvikalpam puna:mAyAkalpitadeSakAlakalanAvaicitryacitrIkritam |mAyAvIva vijrumbhayatyapimahAyogIva ya: svecchayAtasmai SrIgurumUrtaye nama idam

SrI dakshiNAmUrtaye ||

To him, the divine guru, SrI dakshiNAmUrti, isthis salutation.

(The one who is a magician or a great yogi,

creates this universe just out of his own free-will the universe, which before creation remained unmanifest like the tree in a seed, and has laterprojected himself out to be the universe ofdiversities, due to the play of time and space, theproducts of mAyA, to Him, the divine teacher, SrIdakshiNAmUrti, this salutation)

Thus, through the first verse, SrI Sankara hasrevealed the adhishThAnatva, satyatva,asangatva, adviteeyatva svarUpa of AtmA.The first 3 verses of this stotram are supposedto be the essence of the mahA-vAkya, tat-tvamasi. Since the first verse dealt with the AtmasvarUpam, through the analysis of the sleepingjeevAtmA and the waking jeevAtmA, this verseis taken as the tvam-padArtha-vicAra-sloka: dealing with the individual. In vedAnticcontext, the meaning of the word tvam (you)does not imply the body-mind complex (whichis the empirical or general meaning vAcyArtha ) but the caitanyam AtmA Consciousness - the implied meaning(lakshyArtha).

In this verse, SrI Sankara deals with themeaning of the word tat of the mahA-vAkya ,which implies paramAtmA.All the SAstras define Brahman as thecause of the universe. Or, the universe is aproduct born out of Brahman. In vedAnticlanguage, Brahman is the cause kAraNam and the universe is the effect kAryam. Thecause can be two-fold:

23

mis-nomer, and is used for some otherphenomenon. When a thing is existent in anun-manifest, potential form, it can come tomanifestation through some transformation for example, the butter that exists in milk in anun-manifest, un-differentiated, potential form,which is really not available for use, manifestsitself as butter through a process of churningthe milk. This transformation of an unmanifest, potential entity to a manifest, usefulcondition is called creation. This theory iscalled sat-kArya-vAda.

intelligent cause or nimitta-kAraNam , whichexecutes producing the effect, like acarpenter creating the furniture, and material cause or upAdAna-kAraNam.

Generally these two causes are distinct.However there are some exceptions, wherethese two causes are identical for example,the spider. The spider makes the web and theraw material for the web also comes from thespider itself. In the same way, the Upanishadspoint out that Brahman, the paramAtmA is theintelligent and material cause of this universe.Therefore, before creation there was only thenon-dual Brahman, which served both as theintelligent and raw material cause to producethe universe.

Similarly, if creation is not creationbut only a transformation, then destructionalso is not destruction. In vedAnta sAstracreation is known as janma-vikAra: death iscalled maraNa-vikAra:, the common wordbeing vikAra (modification, change). SrISankara establishes this sat-kArya-vAdathrough the second verse. Therefore, the twopoints that are brought out in this verse are a)Brahman is jagat-kAraNam and b) sat-kAryavAda any product (kAryam) exists in its cause(kAraNam) in a potential form. The authorwants to convey these through an example the example of a seed and tree.

The topic of creation itself has beenanalyzed by different systems of philosophy.SrI Sankara, in his commentary onbrihadAraNyaka Upanishad discusses the topicof creation very elaborately through a clay-potanalysis. In this analysis, the question is:before the emergence of the pot, did the pot the kArya ghaTa : - exist in the clay kAraNamrud or not? In other words, is an existent potcreated or is a non-existent port created, by thepotter? An analysis of the question wouldreveal that both are not possible, because: a) anexistent pot cannot arrive because it is alreadyexistent; b) to say a non-existent pot is born isillogical and not grammatical too (to have averb (is born) but with a non-existent pot assubject!) That means, an existent thing cannotbe created and a non-existent thing also cannotbe created. In short, according to vedAnta,there is no creation! The word creation is a

In the seed-tree example, the authorpoints out that the tree is already existent inthe seed before its origination, in a dormant,potential, nirvikalpaka rUpeNa undifferentiated form.Within the seed,the tree existsun-differentiated form.- Similarly,

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created by mAyA multiplied;

this

universe wasexistent in an un-manifest, potential form inBrahman. It was not created, but was existentin potential, un-manifest form.Then, that un-manifest universe got manifestand the un-differentiated universe, gotdifferentiated. Just as, from the undifferentiated seed, gradually differentiationarises in the form of sprout, branches, leaves,flowers etc. So, the term creation could beviewed as manifestation, or differentiation or aform of multiplication.

variety, diversity;influence or sambhandha: (of)space and time

The mAyA-Sakti is in Brahman. Brahmancontinues to be non-dual; when mayA-Sakti isactivated known as vikshepa Sakti the timeand space come to existence. They are likegoggles and when one looks through the timespace goggles, the non-dual Brahman appearsas the pluralistic universe. During sleep, thistime-space goggles is removed as it were, thereis no variety and only the non-dual caitanyamexists.From these two lines, one infers theBrahman to be the material cause of theuniverse and in the next line SrI Sankarapoints out that the Brahman is the intelligentcause also. the very same Brahman creates also (as the intelligentcause) using Himself as theinstrument by His own free-will, by meresamkalpa , effortlesslyThe author gives two examples to explain thisaspect, namely: Like a magician creates theuniverse from nothing in fact fromnothing else, except Himself . Like a great siddha-purusha: (forexample, Sage Viswamitra materialized awhole world called triSanku svarga )

The next question will be, how this divisionarises? SrI Sankara gives the answer in a verytechnical way. For example, if two individualssit in a room in different places, they aredivided horizontally by space ( in this Sloka ),the time being same. That means, twoindividuals cannot be in the same spot at thesame time. However, two individuals can beat the same spot at different times, and soare vertically divided by time (in thisSloka ). The vertical division caused by time isknown as past, present and future. Similarly,the horizontal division caused by space isknown as, here, there and elsewhere. Hence,space and time are responsible for theperception of plurality, and once the spacetime is removed, plurality disappears. Spaceand time are themselves caused by the powerof mAyA. In short, the mAyA Sakti in Brahman,creates time and space and causes theperception of advaitam as dvaitam and ekambrahma as anekam jagat.25

Like a magician or a great siddha-purusha, byHis own will, parmAtmA creates this universe,and so is the intelligent cause also.

adhishThAnam, who is never affected by this

process.

To that paramAtma brahma the jagatkAraNam brahma who is in the form of SrIdakshiNAmUrti, who is none other than thegurumUrti, idam nama: is this namaskAra:

The next logical question would be,why should paramAtmA create this universe?Sastras say that the universe has to be createdbecause the beings have lot of puNya-pApakarma s to be exhausted, and the exhaustioncan happen only through the experience ofpleasure and pain. One accumulated thepuNya-pApas in the previous birth, and so onand on to innumerable number of cycles ofbirth and death. If this argument is extendedlinearly, the ultimate question would be, howthe first creation came about, since there couldbe no karma to lead to the first creation. SrISankara gives the answer though the wordin the first line, which means, repeatedly,indicating the cyclic nature of creation. It is thekarma-creation-karma cycle which is anAdiananta-cakra. If we look at the creation aslinear, then it can have a beginning and anend. But when we think of creation as a totalprocess, one should give up linear thinking.Any segment of creation is linear has abeginning and an end; but total creation iscyclical. For example, a tree has birth anddeath; a seed has birth and death; but the seedtree cycle does not have birth and death,because it is a cyclical, eternal process.

Thus the tat padArtha of the mahAvAkya isestablished in the 2nd verse.Verse 3

yasyaiva sphuraNam sadAtmakamasat-kalpArthakam bhAsatesAkshAt-tat-tvam-asIti veda-vacasAyo bodhayaty-ASritAn |yat-sAkshAt-karaNAd-bhaven-napunar-Avrittir-bhavAm-bho-nidhautasmai SrI gurumUrtaye nama idam

SrI dakshiNAmUrtaye ||

(The one whose manifestations which arethemselves nothing but the Reality appear as theobjects of the world; who imparts to those whohave surrendered to Him, direct enlightenment,through the vedic commandment that you are,and after the direct experience of which there is nomore any return to the ocean of worldlyexistence.., to Him, the divine teacher, SrIdakshiNAMurti, is is this salutation.)

Thus one can imagine Brahman as anentity who expands and contracts eternally.This process can never be stopped. But one canstop the suffering by the understanding thatthe universe is like the darpaNa nagarI orsvapna nagarI, and I am the Consciousness, the

This verse gives the asi padArtha of themahAvAkya - tat tvam asi. Let us analyze theway SrI Sankara approaches this.26

A fundamental fact is, an existentobject is experienced and non-existent object isnot experienced. We come to know that thereis a world which exists in front of us becausewe experience the world of objects. Any objectthat is non-existent cannot be experienced byme.

Consciousness -C-, it is called the jeevAtmA.And the paramAtmA is pure Existence. Thepure Existence and Consciousness are one andthe same as indicated by tat-tvam-asi, and it isthis Existence-Consciousness that makes theworld sentient. This recognition of the oneness of the jeevAtmA and paramAtmA is theessence of this verse.

The next question would be, what is the natureof this Existence? Like Consciousness, vedAntagives a five-fold description of Existence also(Refer to Verse 1), as follows:1. Existence is not a part, product or propertyof the world of objects For example,when we say any object is, the is-ness is nota property, part or even a product of theobject, but is something experienced by us.2. Existence is an independent entity not anadjective but a noun, denoted by E.3. Existence (the is-ness of the object) is notlimited by the boundaries of the object goes beyond the object all pervading

According to our definitions of Existenceand Consciousness, pure Existence andConsciousness should survive even after theuniverse goes away. Then the question will be,how can one appreciate the pure E-C withoutassociation with any object? According toSastras, one can never appreciate the E-C oncethe world and body are removed, because, oneis himself or herself is that pure E-C; that beingthe very subject itself, it is never available forobjectification, and is meant for understandingonly. The tat- the pure E-C, is tvam- you thevery subject itself, thus revealing the identitytat-tvam-asi.

sarvagata:.

With this back-ground, let us look at theverse 3.

4. Existence continues to exist even after thedestruction of the object which it enlivens.(the is-ness of the object continues to existeven after the object is destroyed) Existence is eternal nitya :5. Even when the whole world is destroyed,the Existence sat survives. In otherwords, sat was, sat is, and sat will be,lending Existence to the arriving-departingworld. And vedAnta says that this sat is

that paramAtmAsmanifestation (in this world) in the form of Existence in all(The form-less, all-pervading paramAtmAsmanifestation is in the form of is-ness in everything.)

mithyA unreal- object

(An unreal thing is as good as non-existent).

paramAtmA.

appears

It is like the reflected sunlight the manifestsunlight as experienced on every object.

Out of the body, when one separates thebody part, squeezes out the pure27

Similarly, according to vedAnta, when we saychair is, what we experience is the formedchair which is soaked in the formlessExistence.

By this direct Knowledge i.e a) I am not thebody with C but I am C temporarilyfunctioning through the body , lendingsentience or cit to the body and b) I am the Elending Existence sat to the world ofobjects, enabling all transactions (It is like adream where the dreamer alone lends C and Eto the dream world)

How to experience the Existence in pure formwithout being adulterated by an object? Theauthor says,pure

E is none other thanYourself. So, one can experience only theadulterated E and pure

after the direct experience ofwhich ( - the paramAtmA)

E cannot be experienced since it is the subjectitself the formless Consciousness principle.As the teacher teaches tat-tvam-asi, the studentwill say aham-brahma-asmi the pure E-Cwithout any nAma-rUpa . If one wants to thinkof some examples of pure E-C , i.e, saccidAtmA space can be considered as one nearestexample and the deep sleep state is another,without name and form. Hence the first line ofthe verse and up to can be consideredas within quotes, and this teaching, the teacherdirectly teaches

one shall never return (bornagain) to; the ocean of worldly

existence.

To

Him,

the divine teacher, SrIdakshiNAmUrti, this salutation.With the first three verses, the author revealedthe mahAvAkya tattvamasi.Verse 4

( ) .

Unlike other types of knowledge, where onereceives an instructional or book knowledge tobe converted to real experiential knowledgelater, here, as the teacher reveals, the studentdirectly realizes, as indicated by the word. The teacher teaches to: thosewho have surrendered unto him. with the great vedic statement. Whatis the benefit of this Knowledge? The authorsays:

nAnAcchidra-ghaTodara-sthita-mahAdIpa-prabhA bhAsvaramjnAnam yasya tu cakshurAdikaraNadvArA bahi: spandate |jAnAmIti tameva bhAnta-manubhAtietat-samastam jagattasmai SrIgurumUrtaye nama idam

28

SrI dakshiNAmUrtaye ||

If one can imagine a dark room with lotof objects, none of these objects are knownbecause of lack of light. However, if one canplace a mirror outside and direct the reflectedlight of the sun through a window of the darkroom, one will be able to see the objects. Onecan tilt the mirror in different directions andillumine different objects. However, we caneasily understand that neither the mirror northe sunlight can illumine the objects in thisdark room independently, and only thecombination of sun and mirror can illuminethem. Since both are involved, one canemphasize the role of either of them. Forinstance, if one wants to emphasize the mirror,one can use the expression, the mirrorillumines the room, backed by the sun,retaining mirror as the subject of theexpression. There is nothing wrong with thisexpression, since, if the mirror is removed, thesunlight cannot illumine the room. On theother hand, if one wants to emphasize the sun,one can use the expression, the sun illuminesthe room through the mirror. We also knowthat the perception of the objects in this darkroom is through the glory of the mirror, whichin turn is due to the glory of the sun.

( This world shines after Him alone shining in theConsciousness I know- after Him alone whoseConsciousness, luminous like the light of a mightylamp standing in the bosom of a many-holed pot,moves outwards through the sense organs such asthe eye. To Him, the divine teacher, SrIdakshiNAmUrti, is this salutation)

Having revealed the mahAvAkyatattvamasi- implying the oneness of jIvAtmAand paramAtmA, which we can call assaccidAtmA, the author wants to say in thisverse that this saccidAtmA is ever evident andone does not require a special experience of It.That means, in and through all experiences theConsciousness is evident. In other words,every time one uses the word I (aham),effortlessly the conscious individual experienceis self-evidently available, known as thesvayam-prakASatvam of AtmA. This self-evidentnature of AtmA is described in this verse bycomparing Consciousness to the light principle.As we know, luminous objects (likeSun) illumine non-luminous objects (includingour bodies). By illumine we mean that, inwhose presence, another object is madeknown. From this angle, one can say thatevery sense organ is like light, because ofwhich one can know sound, touch, form, tasteand smell; and extending this principle, theultimate light is Consciousness, because, onlyin the presence of Consciousness, everythingelse is known. In summary, knowledge of anyobject in creation is possible only in thepresence of the light of Consciousness.

Similarly, AtmA is comparable to thesun. (self-luminous etc.), the mind of everyindividual is comparable to the mirror, and theentire universe of objects is like the dark room.The whole universe is seen because of twofactors, namely, the mirror-like mind and thesun-like AtmA. When the mind-mirror isactive, the universe is perceived; when it is notactive (during sleep), the universe goes dark (isnot perceived). when the mind-mirror is not29

active also, the AtmA continues to be selfevident, but the world goes dark. Everyknowledge that we have, presupposes(indirectly reveals) the presence of AtmA, andone does not need a separate proof for theexistence of AtmA. If there is nothing presentin that room, and when we use the expression,nothing is known , that expression itself isknown because of the presence ofConsciousness.

the brilliance of a great lampkept inside a pot (literally, -

stomach); (with) many (five) holes.

One should note that the self-luminous lamp isnot able to directly illumine the dark room(world) because it is inside a pot. Therefore,cooperation of the pot is required through thefive holes. That means, the lamp without thefive holes cannot illuminate; similarly, the fiveholes without the lamp cannot illuminate.Also, only those objects which fall within therange of the beam of light are illumined.

The author says that whenever we say there are two factors which are evident: 1) aham jAnAmi I know, and 2) the objectthat is known . The AtmA is not evidentbecause of the object, but because of the everself-evident aham. All the objects are evidentbecause of Me, the AtmA . In other words, invery perception, I, the AtmA am independentlyevident (like the sun) and the anAtmA (object)is dependently evident (as the objects in thedark room). To illustrate this point, the authorconsiders the body as a pot with five holes andthe AtmA as a bright lamp placed inside thisbody-pot. Each of these holes is a sense organand is backed by the mind (mirror). Throughthe five holes, five beams of light will comeout from the pot and will illumine all thoseobjects which fall within the beam of light inthe dark room (world). That means, when onesays, (I know the sound), I amindependently evident and the sound isdependently evident. The same analysis isextrapolated to the other sense organs. Nowlooking at the verse:whose; Knowledge; is

(as)

(That bright light of Consciousness) flashes outside; ---through the eyesand other sense organs. Extrapolating the sunlight example, when one says I know anobject, the subject I reveals self-evidence andthe object reveals dependent evidence depending on the AtmA Me. In other words,every cognition reveals the congnizer (I)which itself does not require the process ofcognition, and the cognized object, through theprocess of cognition. The self-evident cognizeris denoted by the term and the cognizedobject through the term - I know thus the AtmAonly illuminingthis whole universe (ofobjects) shining.This approach is known as svayam-prakASavicAra: - the enquiry in to the self-evidentnature of AtmA.

brilliant30

To

Him,

the divine teacher,dakshiNAmUrti, is this salutation.Source Material:

SrI

3.

(to be continued)

1. Sri Dakshinamurti Stotram, D.S.Subbarmaiya, Dakshinamnaya Sri SharadaPeetham, Sringeri, 1988 (two volumes)2. Hymn to Sri Dakshinamurty,Commentary by Swami Chinmayananda.

4.5.6.

31

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