Sridakshinamurtistotram (Part VII - e)

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Sridakshinamurtistotram

(Part VII – e)

upakramya stotum katichana guNAncchankaraguroH

prabhagnAH shlokArdhe katichana tadardhArdharachane |

aham tuShTUShustAnahaha kalaye shItakiraNam

karAbhyAmAhartum yvavasitamateH saahasikataam ||

(There have been many who have attempted to expound the glory of Sri

Shankara but were forced to give up their attempts after having

written only half a verse. Some could not proceed beyond even a

quarter of a verse. The subject is so deep and profound. While the

fact remains so, do I not, in attempting to do the same thing, look

like a daring but a silly person trying to catch the moon?)

(a verse by Sri Vidyaranya in his 'Shankara digvijaya')

 

Pratyabhijna in respect of Atman: Experience by Sakshi, Recollection

by Pramatru – Dristisristivaada:

It may be pointed out that the keynote of the stanza (six) is that

the Lord, the Supreme Being, who made the universe come out of the

unmanifest state in the course of His manifesting the

undifferentiated name and form after projecting the worlds containing

bipeds, quadrupeds, etc., entered the body as a 'bird' i.e, as the

subtle body, and now withdraws everything in the deep sleep state

into which merges also this bird-like subtle body. This is in tune

with the bird illustration quoted from the Sruti already. The

Brihadaranyaka Sruti (iv.v.18) says: On account of His dwelling in

all bodies He is called the Purusha. There is nothing that is not

covered by Him, nothing that is not pervaded by Him. That the

purport of the Sruti is in the Dristisristivaada (creation coeval

with cognition) is known from the Kaivalyopanishad statement: 'In

deep sleep when everything has merged' and from the

Chandogyopanishad: the merging is in the Sat that is one only without

a second. The Manasollasa (VI – 21 to 24) puts this in a nutshell:

Even during deep sleep Atman is endued with Existence, Consciousness

and Bliss, because self-identity is recognized in the consciousness '

I slept happy'. This identity cannot be a mere illusion based on

similarity as the Buddhists say, as there is no persisting entity to

perceive the similarity between two things occurring in two different

moments. The expression 'Atman is recognized' is in the reflexive

passive voice and it is equivalent to 'Atman recognizes Himself' in

the active voice. Thus the expression does not mean that Atman is

perceived by another as an object like external objects. The use of

the given expression does not detract from the self-effulgence of

Atman. Deluded as He is by Maya in deep sleep, Atman appears as

though inert and insentient, there being no special form of

cognition. But as His inherent Consciousness never fails, He appears

as Self-effulgent as well. The physical body and the upadhis are

insentient in themselves, whereas Atman who is conscious of His own

Self-identity illumines all thus – I who then saw, now hear, taste,

speak, go and so on. Thus Atman is clearly distinguishable from

other things as the Lord of them all, as one to whom all else is

subservient, subserving His interests and glory as it were.

'Raahugrastha' of the verse – 'Avidya' in deep sleep likened unto

Raahu:

The causal condition obtaining in Deep Sleep is experienced in the

body of the one who sleeps. This is evident from such recollection

of the one awakened from deep sleep when he articulates: 'I did not

know anything at the time of deep sleep.' That one is ignorant of

the fact that one was one with Sat in deep sleep while asleep and

that one has come out of Sat while one awakens is brought out by the

Chandogya Upanishad (VI.ix 2 and x.2).:

1—2. "As bees, my dear, make honey by collecting the juices of

trees located at different places and reduce them to one form, "And

as these juices have no discrimination so as to be able to say: `I am

the juice of this tree,' or `I am the juice of that tree'—even so,

indeed, my dear, all these creatures, though they reach Pure Being,

do not know that they have reached Pure Being.

 

1—2. "These rivers, my dear, flow—the eastern toward the east and

the western toward the west. They arise from the sea and flow into

the sea. Just as these rivers, while they are in the sea, do not

know: `I am this river' or `I am that river,' "Even so, my dear, all

these creatures, even though they have come from Pure Being, do not

know that they have come from Pure Being. Whatever these creatures

are, here in this world—a tiger, a lion, a wolf a boar, a worm, a

fly, a gnat, or a mosquito, that they become again.

That it is due to Avidya veiling the jiva during sleep that he is

unaware of the uniting with Sat is brought out by the Chandogya Sruti

(viii.iii.2):

As people who do not know the spot where a treasure of gold has been

hidden somewhere in the earth, walk over it again and again without

finding it, so all these creatures day after day go into the World

of Brahman and yet do not find it, because they are carried away by

untruth.

This veiling by Avidya is likened to the Raahu eclipsing the Sun or

the Moon. This is the simile found in the verse VI of the

Sridakshinamurtistotram that is being considered now:

raahugrastadivAkarendusadRisho mAyAsamAcchAdanAt

sanmAtraH karaNopasamharaNato yo'bhUt suShuptaH pumAn |

The Tattvasudhaa on the above says: To drive home that Atman does

exist in deep sleep though not manifest in Its full effulgence, the

illustration of the Raahu is given – Just as it cannot be said that

the Sun or the Moon does not exist merely because they do not shine

fully when eclipsed by the Raahu, similarly it cannot be said that

Atman is non-existent just because It does not shine in Its full

glory in deep sleep because of the withdrawal of the senses, as also

the veil of Maya. If it is said that the illustration is not

appropriate since the Sun or the Moon, though not fully bright, is

seen by the eye during eclipse by everyone, while none experiences

likewise the existence of Atman, during deep sleep, the answer is

that the shine of Atman is there during deep sleep though not in a

particularized manner, as seen by the recollection 'I was fast asleep

then….

Referring to these lines of the verse, the Maanasollasa brings out

the meaning of the erxpression 'Raahugrasta', as the tIkaa points

out: Deluded as the individual is by Maya in deep sleep, he then

appears as inert and ignorant. He appears as non-luminous, as not

manifest in particular forms of cognition. He also appears as self-

luminous as his inherent Consciousness never fails.

The utility of the analogy:

A question is raised: How does the Witness-Self, who is veiled by

Avidya which covers Consciousness as such, reveal Avidya etc.?

The reply is that this is made possible in the manner of the Moon

that is covered by the shadow, the Raahu, reveals that Raahu.

The State of Turiya, Enlightenment, distinguished from the state of

Deep Sleep:

The deep sleep state, as was seen above, is one where the individual

is one with Atman. Yet he does not know this either while in that

state or after coming out of it. This is because of the veil of

Avidya that persisted in that state. In contrast with this state is

the state of Enlightenment when the individual is free from Avidya.

Says the Prasnopanishad 4.10:

He who realizes the Supreme Undecaying One, attains surely the

Supreme, the Undecaying, the Shadowless i.e.,free from tamas, the

Bodiless, i.e., without the upadhis to which pertain name, form

etc., devoid of all gunas such as rajas, and therefore Pure,

ignorance being removed by Akhandaakaaravritti, he now knows All;

becomes All.

Sri Anandagiri points out: He knows That by knowing which everything

is known; and attains to that 'state' transcending the gross, the

subtle and the causal bodies and thereby the triad of states, the

waking, the dream and the deep sleep.

In this connection says the Mandukyopanishad (7):

VII Turiya is not that which is conscious of the inner (subjective)

world, nor that which is conscious of the outer (objective) world,

nor that which is conscious of both, nor that which is a mass of

consciousness. It is not simple consciousness nor is It

unconsciousness. It is unperceived, unrelated, incomprehensible,

uninferable, unthinkable and indescribable. The essence of the

Consciousness manifesting as the self in the three states, It is the

cessation of all phenomena; It is all peace, all bliss and non—dual.

This is what is known as the Fourth (Turiya). This is Atman and this

has to be realized.

Atman the abiding Substratum unattached to varying states:

The Pratyaktattvachnitamani (1.46) brings out the contrast between

the two states, deep sleep and the Turiiya, the Enlightenment:

In deep sleep the entire universe consisting of the knower, the means

of knowledge etc., gets merged whereas the Consciousness that is the

Svarupa of the seer is never lost as there is nothing to destroy It.

This is borne out by hundreds of Srutis of the type cited here.

Since the recollection of the experience of ajnana, etc., in deep

sleep cannot be accounted for otherwise, the Witness-Self who reveals

the ajnana in which all else is dissolved is to be accepted as the

embodiment of Bliss, the Inner Self, the Turiya, by Itself

unassociated with any of the three states, spoken of in the

Mandukyopanishad.

The TIkaa on the above brings out the pre-eminent position of Advaita

in a very appealing way:

This is what is sought to be conveyed. Had the triad of states been

simultaneously present in Atman, like the powers in fire, of burning,

cooking and illuminating or had there been the experience in the

other states of some at least of what was experienced in one state,

like the form, the gotra and the community, experienced in the

boyhood continuing to be experienced in the adulthood of the body as

well, then Atman could be associated with them. Far from it! What is

seen in the dream is as a whole sublated in the waking. What is seen

in the waking vanishes completely in the dream. The 'seen' in either

of these two states is dissolved in deep sleep state, and deep sleep

is not experienced in the other two states. The Seer alone as

abiding in all these three states is experienced as is made known by

reflective cognition. In this One abiding Entity these states appear

one after another, no two of them being simultaneous, like a curved

stick, a root of a tree, a fissure in the earth or a snake etc.,

superposed in a dried creeper lying in the slope on the bank of a

river in dim light. Thus it is made known that the triad of states

is illusory and the Substratum on which they are superimposed is

untainted by them, and as such Atman, the Substratum, is in no sense

tainted by them. The Sruti 'He is untouched by whatever He sees in

that state, for this Purusha is unattached' emphasizes this untainted

nature by showing the non-continuance of one state in the others; so

also the Sruti, 'Unattached, for He is never attached'. This Atman

being the Substratum of the three states which appear and disappear,

and there being nothing else to sublate It, Its abiding Reality is

established.

An Enquiry into the State of Deep sleep culminates in the Knowledge

of Turiya, the Brahman-Atman:

Says the Naishkarmyasiddhi (IV – 45 to 48):

Like misapprehension, non-apprehension which brings about

misapprehension is also not an attribute of Atman. The darkness of

ignorance is external to this unchanging Atman who cognizes this

knowledge, the knower and the objects known.

This being the case it is only this causal ignorance, qualified by

the traits of the mind, that is associated with the non-Self set up

by ignorance itself. The unchanging Atman is not so associated.

This is brought out with an analogy. Just as colour and light, both

subject to change, enter into mutual relation, pleasures and pains

are associated with the mind subject to change. This is demonstrated

through the method of co-presence and co-absence. In the state of

deep sleep the changing mind subsides and Atman, being changeless,

continues to be the Seer; in that state nothing external to Atman

affects It in the least.

This Atman is constituted of unchanging knowledge. As in deep sleep,

in the dream and waking states also the seeing Atman, being

changeless, sees none other in reality.

The experience of this Witness-Self which is a pointer to the Turya

as distinguished from the jiva subject to the three states, is given

expression to in the Advaita Makaranda (10,11,12):

When the ego is dissolved in deep sleep, misery, attachment etc., and

the resulting motivation for action etc., are not in evidence. Hence

samsara pertains only to the ego and not to Me, the Witness of the

ego which is subject to samsara. During sleep one is not aware that

one is asleep. The waking and the dream are not for the one to whom

the deep sleep state does not pertain. Hence, as the Witness of all

the three states, I am bereft of them.

The absence of particularized knowledge is the state of deep sleep;

arising of it is either the dream or the waking state. How can they

pertain to Me, the Witness, who am of the very nature of Eternal

Consciousness?

The Anubhutiprakasha (18. – 24,25) puts in a nutshell the outcome of

the enquiry into the dream and the deep sleep states:

By the analysis of the dream state are established the distinction

of Atman from the body etc., Its Self effulgence and Untaintedness;

and by that of the deep sleep state, the non-duality, ever unfailing

sentiency and the nature of unmixed Bliss of Atman.

Says the Shatasloki (70) in this connection: There is this triad of

similarity between jivanmukti and deep sleep: Firstly, there occurs

the dissolution of the universe; temporarily in the deep sleep state

and permanently in jivanmukti. Further, in deep sleep, the more-

inclusive gross universe characterized by waking state and the

relatively limited subtle universe of the dream state are dissolved.

So is the case with jivanmukti. Secondly, both the sense organs and

the motor organs remain withdrawn in deep sleep and jivanmukti.

Thirdly, there is the manifestation of bliss in both the cases. If

these similarities exist between the two states, where is the need to

take arduous steps to attain jivanmukti while deep sleep is had with

no effort at all? The reply to this question is provided by bringing

out the difference that exists between the two states. The man who

has slept returns, upon waking, to the same samsaric life, impelled

as he is by his samskaras. The man of self-realisation, on the other

hand, does not return to embodied life as his samskaras have become

annihilated by the power of his self-knowledge.

 

Inference based on Avasthaatraya viveka inadequate; Mahavakya

Essential for Aparoksha anubhava:

 

The Naishkarmyasiddhi (3-57)(and the commentary on it) raises an

objection and answers it:

 

The Sun illumines the world and the setting of the Sun plunges the

world in darkness. Still in the Sun itself there is no

transformation by way of losing luminosity and gaining it. In the

same way, the objects of experience seen by the seer appear and

disappear in the course of the three states of waking, dream and

sleep and he who witnesses their coming into being and cessation,

does not undergo changes by way of coming into being and cessation.

When this is comprehended, we realize that the import of the

Mahavakya viz., the Self of the nature of Pure Consciousness, subject

to no beginning and no termination, is understood by reasoning itself

and there is no matter for the Mahavakya to convey.

 

To this we reply that this position is untenable. The understanding

of Self in the manner described is through the mediation of

inferential ground.

 

If it be asked – the connection between the Self of the nature of

immediacy and the non-Self which is accepted and rejected, being

directly and immediately grasped, what more can be accomplished by

the Mahavakya? – the answer is – do not say so; the apprehension of

Self by way of reasoning is dependent on the inferential ground.

Surely apprehension through the mediation of inferential ground

cannot be direct apprehension and the Sruti says 'This Self reveals

Its Supreme Nature to him alone who seeks for It, to him alone whom

It chooses'. So it is said – As the inferential ground culminates in

making known only the existence (of the entity concerned), it cannot

convey the meaning of the Mahavakya. The Self transcends both

existence and non-existence. It is therefore grasped through the

Mahavakya alone.

 

Again, the need for the Mahavakya is questioned: Reality bereft of

all determinations presents Itself in the state of deep sleep, to

everyone, be he a fool or a sage.

 

The answer is: This objection does not stand to reason. In sleep

there obtains the non-apprehension of Atman which is the root cause

of all evil. If there were no ajnana in deep sleep, then it would

follow that the experience 'I am Brahman' must occur independent of

the hearing (sravana) of the Vedantamahavakya, reflection (manana)

and meditation (nididhyasana) on it; and the bondage of all creatures

would stand destroyed, for all creatures enjoy sleep as a matter of

natural law. When once perfection is attained, there should be no

waking up from sleep, for that would mean that there is no final

deliverance. It is not possible to say that one person goes to sleep

and another person wakes up, for the one who wakes up recognizes his

identity with the subject of sleep in the experience 'I saw nothing

else while asleep'. Therefore the existence of ajnana in sleep must

be necessarily admitted.

 

But, it may be argued – if there were ajnana in sleep, it should have

been a matter of direct perception like the ignorance of desire,

hatred and that of things like a pot in the waking state. In

ordinary parlance, ajnana of the form 'I do not know the pot' is a

case of direct perception.

 

To this we reply that there is no perception of ajnana in sleep

itself because the conditions needed for manifesting perceptual

experience are absent in sleep. If it is asked – 'how?', this is the

explanation:

 

The ego does not manifest itself without generating the awareness of

external objects. In the same way, in the absence of internal organ,

ajnana does not enjoy the status of a perceptual object.

 

Conclusion of the sixth verse: The enquiry into the nature of deep

sleep was undertaken to show that: 1. Atman is not non-existent

during sleep and thus there is no void then. 2. the jiva divested of

the triad of states is the Uttamapurusha sought after. 3. Deep sleep

is a pointer to Maya.

 

The veiling due to Avidya in deep sleep is as seen from the stand

point of the ignorant who is swayed by Avidya. Even while affirming

this the Shine, the Svarupa, by Itself is untouched by this veil, as

otherwise, there could not have been the experience that there has

been a veiling as given expression to in the recollection 'I slept

well and did not know anything then'. The veiling is also a

superimposition, a concoction.

 

On securing the direct knowledge of the tvampadartha bereft of the

upadhis, and thereafter the direct realization, aparokshajnana, of

the identity of the tvampadartha with the Tatpadartha as declared by

the Mahavakya by the Grace of the Guru, then is removed the

aparokshabhrama, the illusion of the nature of direct experience.

Then one shines by himself as the Supreme in His full glory. All

this is affirmed by the stanza in this hymn, the word 'namaH'

affirming the said identity of oneself with Sridakshinamurti. in the

manner of 'I am Brahman'.

 

(End of the sixth verse)

Om Tat Sat

[Guest guest]

On this day dedicated to Guru, it is so delightful to read a

commentary on Sri Dakshinamurthy who gave diksha through 'mauna' and

his 'chin mudra' . The explanations given by subbuji for each verse

is very profound and needs in-depth study. i am storing them in my

special files and will study them and contemplate on them as and when

i have the necessary frame of mind.

 

Subbuji had requested me earlier to recall names of Smt. Lalita devi

from the sri Lalita sahasaranama with 'advaitic' connotations! It is

my pleasure to recall one of the names of Sri Lalithamika on this day

dedicated to Guru !

 

Nama 603 from SRI LS describes Her as

 

Sri Gurumurtih

 

— Of the Form of Guru.

— Leads devotee to Highest state of Liberation.

 

in this context , let us recall the following verse from Sri

Dakshninamurthy Ashtakam :

 

vishvam darpanadrushyamânanagarîthulyam nijântargatam

pashyannâtmani mâyayâ bahirivodbhootam yathâ nidrayâ|

yah sâkshât kurutê prabôdhasamayê swâtmânamêvâdvayam

tasmai srî gurumûrtayê nama idam srî dakshinâmûrthayê || Verse 2

 

I offer my salutations to that beneficent Being who is incarnate as

the Preceptor (Guru).

He, the Atman, appearing as the individual soul through the power of

ignorance, sees (in the waking state) — as one does in sleep — the

Universe,

Which in reality exists within himself, as something external, like a

city seen reflected in a mirror.

But in his enlightened state he realises his own self, the one

without a second.

 

Nama 725 of Sr Ls DESCRIBES sRI lalithambika as

 

Sri Daksinamurti-rupini

 

— The Form of Sri Daksinamurti, The Cosmic Guru.

— The Treasure-House of All Knowledge.

 

Bhoorambhamsyanolo anilombaramaharnaatho himaamsu:pumaan,

Ityaabhaati charaacharaatmakam idam yasyaiva moortyashtakam!

Naanyat kincanavaidyate vimrusataam yasmaat parasmaad vibho

Tasmai Sree gurumoortaye nama idam Sree Dakshinaa-moortaye!!

 

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:

Beyond whom, for a wise and discerning man, no being exists superior;

Who has manifested Herself is an eightfold form

As the tangible and insentient earth, water, fire, air, and ether,

As the sun, the lord of the day, the moon, of soothing light, and as

living man.

 

This hymn to Sri Dakshinamurti clearly reveals the Ultimate Truth

As the Soul of everything that has life;

Therefore by hearing it and by pondering on it, by contemplating it

and by reciting it

A man attains unrivalled lordship, acquiring the glory of being the

Inmost Self of all,

And effortlessly receives, without interruption, the eight unique

powers of Godhead.

 

(www.adishakti.org/book_of_enlightenment/book_of_enlightenment.htm )

 

For those of you who do have not received formal initiation from a

human guru as yet, it is said that if one recites these two namas of

Sri Lalthambika visualizing Her as your manasika guru in the form of

Sri Dakshinmaurthy , she herself will lead you to that human guru!

 

Aum Shri Gurubyo namaha !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin, "subrahmanian_v"

<subrahmanian_v wrote:

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