#163 Dakshinamurti – Bhagavan Shiva as the Guru
An honest confession – Until Vedanta came into my life, I had never heard of Dakshinamurti. It is likely that you too may be in the same boat. So today on the auspicious occasion of Mahashivaratri, literally the night of and for Bhagavan Shiva, it is nice to get to know him a little better.
How one relates to Bhagavan is closely related to one’s identity, one’s psychological state, world view and so on. For instance if I look upon myself as a survivor I see myself as needing protection from negativity, protection from diseases and enemies all the time. God according to me is the one who protects. And so, I don’t want to hurt God and make God angry. Why? Because I believe that God can reward me or punish me. As a survivor, the world is a place where I am learning to cope.
Loyal and long-term listeners that is you might recall an episode #101 ‘Rescuing God from our ideas’, the link of which is in description of this episode. You might want to revisit it.
Now, if I look upon myself as a jijnasu, the one seeking self-knowledge, then I have respect for anyone you can share the knowledge with me. More so when Bhagavan is the very source of all knowledge. More so when Dakshinamurti reveals that he and I are one.
Amongst the many temples across the sacred geography of India, we see murtis of Dakshinamurti as one of the shrines in some Shiva temples. There is no separate Dakshinamurti temple. Perhaps because people seeking Brahmavidya are a tiny minority or as Bhagavan Krishna said more than 3000 years ago, about his time when he speaks of the Parampara,
– स कालेनेह महता योगो नष्टः परन्तप।।4.2।।
With the passage of time, this knowledge is on the decline.
Although Bhagavan Krishna was guru to Arjuna on the battlefield, through Arjuna he becomes the jagat guru, the guru for the entire jagat, multiverse.
Dakshinamurti is Shiva as the teacher. In Arsha Vidya Gurukalam in Coimbatore, Southern India and in Saylorsburg, United States, our beloved Guru, Pujya Swami Dayananda Sarasawati ji established a separate Dakshinamurti temple. Why?
The commitment is to Brahma vidya, the knowledge of Brahman
the pursuit is of Brahmavidya, and
the result in the form of knowledge is a direct and clear vision of
Aham Brahmasmi. I am that Brahman, the limitless being in and through all forms.
The word Dakṣiṇāmurti means Dakṣiṇā abhimukhā murtiḥ yasya sah. Dakṣiṇāmurtiḥ, the one whose form faces the south. Dakṣiṇā means the south. So the one who faces the south. It is symbolic. The north stands for mokṣha. South stands for mṛtyu, death. The north stands for what attracts a person. What attracts a person is freedom from mortality and limitation. What is the north of North Pole? Only Brahman.
Only the one who is free of all limitation can help you see that you too are free of death or any limitation.
Shiva is also referred to as Mrtyunjaya, the one who has conquered death not through karma but the one whom death cannot touch, the one who always is.
Another meaning of Dakshinamurti – Dakṣiṇahā asau amῡrtiścha, Dakṣiṇaschāsau amῡrtiścha. He is Dakṣiṇahā and he is a mῡrti. Dakṣha meaning saamartha, the one who is capable. Capable of what? Of all 3 process – Sṛṣṭi, sthiti, saṁhāra. Sṛṣṭi is manifestation of this entire world, sthiti is sustenance of all the laws of nature of this world and samhara is the resolution of all the forms. The one who is the material and the intelligence of all that we experience and are yet to experience is Dakshinamurti. Further he is also amurtiḥ. One cannot limit him to only one form. So every form that is here is his form.
As a form, how is he visualised or described? Dakshinamurti ‘s manifestation is eightfold, ashtamurti. They are the panchamahabhutas, the five great elements – aakasha, space, vayu, air, agni, fire, aapah, waters and Prithvi, earth. Space is represented by damaru, a drum in his right hand enclosing space. Vayu, Air is represented by Sri Dakshinamurti’s hair with a bandana, a band holding his hair in place against the wind. In his left hand is a torch which represents agni, fire. Aapah, spouting water on the head is shown by Ganga in the form of Goddess. Prithvi, the earth is represented by the whole murti. On the left side of the head is a crescent moon and on the right is a circle representing the sun. The moon represents all planets and satellites, and the sun represents all luminous bodies, the stars. So, the five great elements, the sun and moon are 7. Then where is the eighth aspect? The eighth is me, the jiva, who looks at the world and who looks at Dakshinamurti. Near the murti, the form of Dakshinamurti, we see the jivas, individuals, sages who received knowledge from Sri Dakshinamurti – Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanaatana and Sanatsujata.
In the movie, Jerry Maguire, the movie, Jerry tells his wife, ‘You complete me’ and women across the world swooned.
What is unique about the 8 fold murti – ashta-murti-bhrt is that I, the conscious being complete Dakshinamurti.
Or rather the consciousness that is me is the same as Dakshinamurti.
What an example.
Further, the earring in the left ear is different from the right side. Is he dressed like a punk? No.
What is depicted is that the Lord is both male and female and represents both the material cause and the intelligent cause.
The sitting posture is virasana. What does he teach? His right hand is in a mudra. His index finger, you know the one we use to accuse others, represents the ahankara, the ego. The other 3 fingers represent the body, mind and prana or rather what one takes oneself to be. The angushtha, thumb represents the Lord. It is away from the rest of the fingers of the hand but at the same time, the fingers have no strength without it. In this mudra, the index finger joins the thumb leaving out the 3 fingers to form a circle. With this mudra Dakshinamurti teaches the jiva. The jiva who has taken oneself to be limited body, mind, senses and prana only is in fact, the whole, just like the circle which has no beginning and no end. This mudra represents the teaching – tat tvam asi – you are that. The other hand has palm leaf manuscripts which stand for the Veda. Another of the four hands has a japa mālā which stands for all sadhana – yajna-daana-tapas – daily ritual- prayers, giving, disciplines and meditation which are necessary for every Vedanta student.
All gurus of self knowledge invoke the grace of Dakshinamurti the guru of gurus, the Adi Guru, the first guru who has no guru.
Then there is an interesting looking small asura, a person with a knife in his hand, at Dakshinamurti’s feet with one foot of the Lord on him. He is Apasmara representing all impediments internal and external. He is incapable of striking because he has been subdued by the Lord. This is a reminder that there is no pursuit particularly self knowledge which does not have a fair share of obstacles. A lot of the obstacles are emotional in the form of hurt and guilt that one has piled up without processing and our reactiveness to situations which create all kinds of problems, more for us than for others. This apasmāra is alive, not dead. It could be considered as our shadow side but Dakṣiṇāmῡrti doesn’t kill. Just keeps him in check. With his grace, you can manage apasmara and be on top of all problems. He rides tamas paśu. The bull stands for tamas, and he is the Lord of tamas. He wields tamas and other gunas.
And so, the very form of Dakshinamurti is complete in every form. He is both God and Goddess and the source of all knowledge as sarvajna, all knowing. Knowledge does not exist elsewhere, only in a conscious being.
The Upanishad states – sarvam khalvidam Brahman, everything that is here is Brahman. That is why knowing that one thing, everything is as well known.
The ocean of wisdom continues to flow from Dakshinamurti but particularly on Mahashivaratri we seek his grace as we turn inward away from our usual activities and meditate on the reality.
There is a beautiful stotram called Dakshinamurti stotram, a set of 10 verses written by Adi Shankaracharya where Dakshinamurti is described in the form of the teaching himself.
Unto that Lord my namaskaara, again and again
Om shri dakshinamurtaye namah.
