On Mother’s Day – A Hymn to the Divine Goddess as Teacher

 

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her by whose grace the whole world is found to exist entirely in the mind, like a city's image mirrored in a glass, though, like a dream, through maya's power it appears outside; And by whose grace, again, on the Dawn of Knowledge,
It is perceived as the everlasting and non-dual Self.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her who, by the sheer power of Her will, Projects outside, like a magician or a mighty yogi, this infinite universe, which, in the beginning, rests without name and form, like the sprout in a seed, and after creation, by the power of time and space imagined through maya, appears to be many, possessed of manifold shapes and hues.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
To Her whose outward manifestations, though based on Real,
Appear as illusionary, ever changing objects; Who grants to those who take refuge in Her through the Vedic "Tattvamasi", the boon of immediate knowledge of Brahman, to which attaining, one returns no more to the realm of birth and death.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
To Her whose knowledge, issuing forth through the organs of the sense like the glow of a powerful lamp placed in a pot with many holes, vibrates outside in the shape of the thought "I know"; Whose Light it is that illumines the whole of the universe.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
To Her who dispels the mighty illusion evoked by Maya's play,
Impelled by which, unseeing, childish, and misguided men
Continually speak, in error, of body, prana, senses and even of the fickle mind, as "I," though in reality these are all mere emptiness.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her who, as man and women, in deep and dreamless sleep exists as Ultimate Truth itself, when outer awareness is obscured, like the sun or moon in Rahu's grasp, and the organs of sense are all withdrawn; and who on awakening, tells himself, "It was I who slept," and sees again the objects he saw before.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her who, in Her loving-kindness, reveals to Her worshippers the eternal Atman, which — through the changes of waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep, through childhood, youth, maturity, and old age — Persists as the inexhaustible flow of consciousness, Revealing Itself in the heart as the ever present sense of "I."

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru seated before me,
Who, as a mortal under the sway of maya, and whether awake or dreaming, perceives that the world is composed of multiple entities,
Joined in relation to one another as cause and effect, owner and owned, teacher and pupil, sire and son.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
Beyond whom, for a wise and discerning person, no being exists superior; who has manifested Herself as 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 human.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
Seated upon the earth by yonder the banyan tree;

I bow to Her who bestows on the sages direct knowledge of the Ultimate Truth; I bow to the Teacher of the three worlds, The Lord who dispels the misery of birth and death. Behold, under the banyan are seated the aged disciples about their youthful teacher. It is strange indeed: the teacher instructs them only through silence, which, in itself, is sufficient to scatter all his disciples' doubts.

I bow to Her who as the inner meaning of the scared syllable Om,
To Her whose nature is Pure Awareness;

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti, stainless and serene beyond measure.

I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti, the Mine of Eternal Wisdom,
The Healer of those who suffer from the malady of birth and death,
Who is regarded by all as their own teacher.

I praise Sri Dakshinamurti, my youthful teacher, who, through silent instruction, reveals the Truth of the Parabraham, who is surrounded by aged disciples, mighty sages devoted to Brahman. I praise the Supreme teacher, the Essence of Bliss, who revels in Her own Self, The Silent One, whose hand is uplifted in the benediction of knowledge.

Shri Sankaracharya, Sri Lalita Sahasranama

 

Notes:

1. Lalita Sahasranama is a sacred Hindu text for the worshippers of the Goddess Lalita Devi, i.e. the Divine Mother, in the form of her power, Shakti. Lalita is the Goddess of bliss, an epithet for Shiva's wife Goddess Parvati. (from Wikipedia)

2. Once, when we were deep in sadhana on the contemplation of Truth, my beloved teacher read this prayer. It possessed such wisdom and power we were immediately transported into heart of the mystic knowledge of ‘name and form’ and the reality which transpires behind. I am posting it in my blog because I stumbled across it today, Mother’s Day, and I do not want to lose it.

3. If with love and sincerity you read and contemplate this prayer you to will be given its blessing and grace for it contains the unadulterated Baraka of Pure Truth.

4. In this Hymn, the Hymn itself becomes the Guru, the spiritual teacher, the one that dispels darkness and ignorance. In Sanskrit Guru means “heavy”, as in ripe, fullness of wisdom, ready to nourish and give to others the fruition of this wisdom.