The verse and its meaning · Stotras · Stotras — Dakshinamurti Stotram

The World in a Mirror

Dakshinamurti Stotram 1

विश्वं दर्पणदृश्यमाननगरीतुल्यं निजान्तर्गतम् पश्यन्नात्मनि मायया बहिरिवोद्भूतं यथा निद्रया । यः साक्षात्कुरुते प्रबोधसमये स्वात्मानमेवाद्वयम् तस्मै श्रीगुरुमूर्तये नम इदं श्रीदक्षिणामूर्तये

Meaning · English

The world lies within, like a city in a mirror, yet by illusion seems outside, as in sleep. Bowing to Dakshinamurti, the teacher who, waking, sees only his one Self.

The whole world, with its streets and people, is compared to a city glimpsed in a mirror. The city looks deep and far away, but it is all on the glass. In the same way, the world is held within the knower, yet a power of illusion makes it seem to stand outside. A dream works like this: everything in it comes from the dreamer. On waking, the teacher sees there was only his own Self, one, with nothing beside it. To that teacher, Dakshinamurti, the bow is offered.

In a dark cinema, a train rushes toward the audience and people flinch. Yet nothing on the screen comes from anywhere but the one projector behind them. When the lights come up, there was only light on cloth. The world seeming out there is that train: real to feel, but thrown from one source.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

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