𑌦𑌕𑍍𑌷𑌿𑌣𑌾𑌮𑍂𑌰𑍍𑌤𑌿 𑌸𑍍𑌤𑍋𑌤𑍍𑌰𑌮𑍍

Meaning:I bow to Dakshinamurti — ever-youthful in form, yet seated amid the eldest sages immersed in Brahman; who expounds the truth of the supreme Brahman through silence; the foremost of teachers, his hand held in the chin-mudra, his nature pure bliss, delighting in his own Self, his face serene with joy.

Meaning:The universe is like a city seen reflected in a mirror — appearing within one's own Self, yet through maya seeming to arise outside, as in a dream. He who, at the moment of awakening, directly realizes it all as his own non-dual Self — to Him, embodied as the Guru, to the blessed Dakshinamurti, this salutation.

Meaning:This universe, before its manifestation, lay undifferentiated like the sprout hidden within a seed; then, made into a wondrous diversity by the play of space and time conjured by maya, He unfolds it by His own free will — like a magician, like a great yogi. To Him, embodied as the Guru, to the blessed Dakshinamurti, this salutation.

Meaning:He whose self-luminous awareness — itself pure Existence (sat) — makes even unreal objects appear as though real; who, through the great Vedic saying 'That thou art' (tat tvam asi), awakens those who take refuge in Him; on directly realizing whom one never again returns to the ocean of birth and death. To Him, embodied as the Guru, to the blessed Dakshinamurti, this salutation.

Meaning:His consciousness — like the radiance of a great lamp set within a pot pierced with many holes — streams outward through the openings of the eye and the other senses. When He alone shines forth as 'I know', this whole universe shines only after Him, borrowing its light. To Him, embodied as the Guru, to the blessed Dakshinamurti, this salutation.

Meaning:'The body, the breath, the senses, the ever-changing intellect, or mere nothingness — this is the Self', so the deluded loudly contend, like women, children, the blind and the witless. To Him who dispels this great delusion conjured by the play of maya's power — to Him, embodied as the Guru, to the blessed Dakshinamurti, this salutation.

Meaning:As the sun or moon swallowed by Rahu, so the person — when the senses are withdrawn in deep sleep — lies veiled by maya, existing as pure Being alone. On waking he recognizes, 'I existed (sleeping) before' — knowing the Self that endured unbroken. To Him, embodied as the Guru, to the blessed Dakshinamurti, this salutation.

Meaning:That Self which shines unbroken within as 'I' — persisting through all the changing conditions of childhood, youth and age, and through waking, dream and deep sleep — He reveals to His devotees by His auspicious hand-gesture (mudra). To Him, embodied as the Guru, to the blessed Dakshinamurti, this salutation.

Meaning:Bewildered by maya, this person — whether in waking or in dream — sees the one Reality as though split into manifold divisions: cause and effect, master and servant, teacher and disciple, father and son, and the rest. To Him, embodied as the Guru, to the blessed Dakshinamurti, this salutation.

Meaning:Earth, water, fire, air, ether, sun, moon and the living soul — as this eightfold form (ashta-murti) of His, the whole world of the moving and the unmoving shines forth. For those who inquire deeply, nothing whatever exists apart from Him, the all-pervading Supreme. To Him, embodied as the Guru, to the blessed Dakshinamurti, this salutation.

Meaning:Since in this hymn the truth that the Self is all (sarvatmatva) has been clearly revealed, by hearing it, reflecting on its meaning, meditating upon it and chanting it, one attains of one's own accord the state of divinity together with the great glory of being the Self of all — and beyond that, an unobstructed lordship (aishvarya), unfolding in eightfold form.

Meaning:I bow to Lord Dakshinamurti — seated upon the ground at the foot of the banyan tree, the giver of knowledge to all the gathered sages, the Lord and Guru of the three worlds, ever skilful in cutting away the sorrow of birth and death.