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Hymn to the Lord

Dakshinamurti

A Commentary by

Shri Yellamraju Srinivasa Rao

Verse 5

देहं प्राणमपीन्द्रियाण्यपि चलां बुद्धिं च शून्यं विदुः
स्त्रीबालान्धजडोपमास्त्वहमिति भ्रान्ता भृशं वादिनः ।
मायाशक्तिविलासकल्पितमहाव्यामोहसंहारिणे
तस्मै श्रीगुरुमूर्तये नम इदं श्रीदक्षिणामूर्तये ॥5॥

With the help of good reasoning and examples, we have so far established that Self alone Is Real. But this conclusion seems to contradicts our own experience as well as that of common folks and brilliant scientists. From the materialists (carvAka-s) to the mAdhyamika buddhists (shUnya vAda-s or emptiness theorists), everyone has enquired into the nature of Reality, and each of them has come up with different conclusion and doctrine.

Some consider this body as Atma. Some consider the lifeforce or prANa as Atma. Others consider the sense organs as Atma. Those who consider the body, life-force, and sense organs as Atma are the cArvAka-s or materialists They don’t associate Consciousness with Atma. They think Self is an attribute of the body, mind, and sense organs. According to them, when the five elements combine and permutate in different proportions in the mind-body system, a certain energy gets released. That energy according to them is Consciousness. It is like the intoxicated feeling one experiences upon drinking the fermented juice of the palm tree mixed together with molasses. Such an experience is the result of the combination of different things. Each thing by itself does not produce such an effect.

Similarly, according to the materialists, the combination and permutations of the five elements in the different gross and subtle layers of our mind-body produces a Conscious-energy in our body. This is only incidental, a result of the coming together of the body, mind, and senses. The moment these entities separate and leave, the energy they generated also dissipates and leaves. This is the death experience. Therefore, materialists theorize that Consciousness is a by-product of the mind-body organism, that it is not independent or separate from it.

Then there are the Buddhists of four types. The mind-only (vijyAna vAda-s) Buddhists and the Madhyamika Buddhists are clever. The mind-only Buddhists posit that the intellect/mind is the Atma. They don’t pause to think how the mind that takes birth and dies every moment (as thoughts) can be the Atma. The Madhyamika Buddhists, also known as the Emptiness-theorists, on the other hand, argue that there is no mind, intellect or Atma anywhere, either inside us or outside us. Like space, there is only emptiness..

Although the proponents of all these doctrines appear as intellectuals and scientists, they are worse than the common folks who also believe the same. None of them have a proper understanding of Atma, so they grasp whatever they can and call it Atma. Not only are they confused, they also confuse others with their wrong understanding. Their vision and knowledge is partial because they only sees particulars, and not the Universal. For Knowledge to be True, it must be complete. If it is partial, it cannot be called Knowledge.

To qualify as a scientist or an expert, one’s knowledge must be complete. It cannot be like the limited knowledge of a women, child, or a blind man who have limited exposure and experience with the world. Just like these people who have limited knowledge, even the so-called intellectuals and scientists are confused. They don’t see things for what they really are. The one and only real substance that IS, is Pure Consciousness. Formless, like space, It permeates everything. The names and forms that we perceive objectively are also only Consciousness in Reality. Like gold and ornaments, Consciousness and the forms it appears in are not different from each other.

But that is not how we perceive names and forms. We divide the formless Consciousness into parts and see names and forms, such as spouse, children, homes, businesses, pain, pleasure, etc. Everything that we perceive is a form of Consciousness, but Consciousness is none of those forms. Forms are many, but Consciousness is One. Forms are fragments (divisible), but Consciousness is whole (undivided). Forms can be categorized into different classes and types. But Consciousness is a single homogeneous substance.

An Infinite and formless substance cannot be broken up and divided into fragments. Doing so would be like a few blind men describing an elephant. Each of them touches and feels a part of the elephant and comes to a different conclusion. Those who felt its trunk thought the elephant is a pestle, those who felt its tail thought it is a rope, those who felt its ears thought it is a sieve, and those who felt its legs thought it is a pillar.

Each came to a different conclusion about the form of the one and same elephant. Where did these many forms come from? The blind men mistook the parts for the whole. They were not capable of seeing the parts as a whole. If they could, they would have realized that there is only one thing, not many. Because they were seeing only parts, the one thing appeared as many. Similarly, the one substance Atma appears to us in multiple forms. We only see the forms in which It appears to us, but fail to see the formless Atma that pervades every form. Names and forms are the “parts” of the Atma. However, unlike the parts of the elephant that do not make up the entire elephant, Atma can appear into its entirety in the multitude of names and forms. Unlike the elephant which has a form, Atma is formless Consciousness. It is indivisible. Because we see names and forms only, we reduce the formless Atma to the forms we perceive. These forms are a manifestation of mAya, the creative power of Consciousness. So, they are not different from Consciousness. Forms must dissolve in order to perceive the formless Consciousness. Unfortunately, instead of dissolving the forms into Atma, we reduce Atma to these forms which have no separate existence of their own.

Our conception of the world is worse than the conception of the blind men about the elephant. Instead of mistaking one object for another object as the blind men did, we mistake the entire creation, the not-Self (anAtma), for Atma. Shankara calls this the greatest misconception (mahA vyAmOham). This misconception has haunted us for life times. Shankara says we are deluded by the play of mAya. The intrinsic creative power of Consciousness has the capacity to make Consciousness Itself appear limited. Consciousness is Infinite and cannot be restrained, but due to the veiling power of mAya, It appears as though finite, just like the mighty sun that appears to be blocked by a cloud. The cloud cannot and does not block the sun, but it appears as though it does.

Due to the veiling power of mAya, Pure Consciousness Itself appears fragmented into time, space, and the world of myriad moving and unmoving forms. It is our great misfortune that we see finite forms instead of the Absolute Reality. The veil of ignorance must be removed for us to experience the Absolute Reality.

Who can remove the veil? Is it Ishwara (creator) or ourselves (jIva-s)? Only Ishwara can do so. If we were capable of doing so ourselves, we would have done so long ago, and not feel trapped in samsAra. Ishwara should remove the veil and the misconception. He is omnipotent, that is why He is known as Ishwara, the Controller. Although He holds us in bondage through His mAya power, He is also compassionate, and capable of releasing us from bondage. He has the power to uplift us from samsAra as well as push us deeper into samsAra. “Pushing down” is to keep us trapped in the cycle of birth and death. “Uplifting” is to equip us with Self-Knowledge so that we can break the cycle of birth and death. This is the meaning of the line in the 3rd verse, sAkshAth tat twam asi.

The Lord Dakshinamurti, described as sitting under the banyan tree, silently transmitting Self-Knowledge to his disciples, is Consciousness Itself. Every great teacher of Self-Knowledge is the Lord Himself. Guru is brahman. When disciples receive the Knowledge of the Self from an enlightened teacher and contemplate deeply on the teaching, they themselves become established in brahman, just like their teacher. Only Knowledge received from an eminent teacher can liberate a disciple. It is sheer grace that we are also able to receive such Knowledge Our duty is to contemplate on that Knowledge and directly experience It. Our own sincere efforts, together with the grace of the Guru, will help remove the thick veil of darkness or ignorance that has enveloped us for life times. Once the veil is removed, we will immediately experience our true Self as Pure Consciousness. From then on, we will only see Atma everywhere, without a trace of anAtma,.