Chit & Chitta- the Language of Chin Mudra!

[Guest guest]

Rajesh :

 

i apologize for overlooking your question on Sri

Dakshinamurthy's 'chin mudra' ...

 

dear one , i do not know much about Sandhi vicched in Sanskrit to

comment on wheter it is chit = mudra that makes chin mudra but here

is an explanation of this great symbolic gesture from post number

32293 on Sridakshinamurtistotram

(Part VIII –f) by Subbuji

 

,Instruction symbolized – the Chinmudra:

 

This Silent Eloquence is the celebrated manner in which the ever

youthful Sridakshinamurti makes known the Supreme Truth, Brahman, to

the throng of pupils, the aged disciples, seers, steadfastly devoted

to Brahman. Obeisance to this Acharya, the Exalted, revelling in His

Svarupa and radiant with Blissful Effulgence, to which, in His

infinite mercy, He has been pointing by the blessed symbol,

Chinmudra. The Sutrabhashya (1.1.7.20) says: Even for the Supreme

Lord, there may be forms created at His will out of Maya, for the

sake of favouring the aspirants as is declared in the Smriti:

 

Maayaa hyeShA mayaa sRRishTA yanmAm pashyasi nArada |

SarvabhUtaguNair yuktam maivam mAm GyAtumarhasi ||

 

O Narada! What you see of Me is just an appearance that I have

created. This form of Me, as endowed with the various gunas, is not

to be known as the Truth.

 

The Chinmudraa is formed by drawing the right forefinger away from

the other three upright fingers and joining its tip with that of the

thumb. The three fingers held upright represent the three states

namely the waking, the dream and the deep sleep, each of them

composed of the three principles of the enjoyed, the enjoyer and the

enjoyment. The forefinger symbolizes the jiva. When it is one with

the group of the above three i.e., the world of experience, it is

separated from the thumb which stands for the Immovable, Unchanging

Truth, the Supreme Self. When, through discrimination, the jiva

knows that he is totally different from the three states, and

identifies himself with the Supreme Lord through the awareness `I am

the eternal Witness of all that is', then all ignorance and the

sorrows of samsara cease; the jiva attains liberation. This

awareness indicated by the Chinmudra is clearly described in the

Kaivalyopanishad (18). Because it indicates the Pure Consciousness,

Chinmaatra, it is called Chinmudraa. To impart this knowledge which

cannot be conveyed directly even by words, the Lord, out of His

unlimited Grace, has contrived this ingenious mystic device palpable

to the visual perception, just as the Pranava is to the auditory.

This auspicious symbol has been referred to variously as Bhadramudra,

Kalyaanakaarinimudra, Shobhanaamudra, Vidyamudra, Vyaakhyanamudra,

Tarakamudra, Jnanamudra, etc. indicating the various ways in which

this unique experience represented by it can be looked upon. The

symbol which brings into union the forefinger which is a pointer to

an individual with the thumb which is used to indicate Isvara in the

shastra, `angushThamaatraH purushaH (Kai. Up.)' demonstrates that

there is no longer any difference experienced between the two, tvam

and Tat i.e., the disciple is established in the Brahman-Atman

Svarupa indicated by the Mahavakya Tattvamasi, by the removal of

impediments. By this symbol the Guru is drawing attention of the

disciple to the plenary experience kindly conferred on him just as

the sage Yajnavalkya does in the case of Janaka, though by the use of

the words `O Janaka! verily hast though attained the Fearless'. This

is demonstrated by the mudraa wherein the forefinger has been

withdrawn from the association with the other three, symbolizing the

three gunas and made to abide in the thumb, indicating the .escape of

the jiva from the clutches of samsara and abiding in Atman with the

direct realization of his Brahmanhood. "

 

hope you find this useful!

 

regards

[Guest guest]

Transcribed from one of Swami Dayananda's satsangs

given at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in September 2006:

 

When you see Dakshinamurti, He has on one hand

Tat Tvam Assi. [swamiji holds his hand so that

the tips of his forefinger and thumb touch

and are forming a circle]

 

[Takes his fingers apart] This is Tat(Brahman),

[thumb pointing upwards]. Tvam [forefinger pointing out].

Assi [tips of forefinger and thumb placed together to

make a circle].

 

This [forefinger] is ahankara (ego), which takes

itself to be the body, prana, mind, [swamiji counts

his middle, ring and little fingers to represent

these three things] This is `me.'

 

Then we say, `This is not you.' [Takes last three

fingers and holds them out separated from index finger.]

[Puts thumb and forefinger together] `This is you.'

A circle which has no beginning/no end.

 

So this is Tat Tvam Assi [shows symbol with his hand].

 

This is away [last three fingers pointing straight up],

but still it lends its strength. That is why it's a

good symbol. For this knowledge this is the gesture.

Sign language.

 

It's called `chinmudra.' The gesture of knowledge.

Jnanam iti uchatai. Budhaihi. This is called `jnanam'