Dakshina Moorthy Sthothram Sloka 1

सदाशिव समारम्भाम् शंकराचार्य मध्यमाम्
अस्मद् आचार्य पर्यन्ताम् वंदे गुरु परम्पराम्

We have seen the dhyana slokas . So let us move onto the first sloka of Dakshina moorthy sthothram.

विश्वं दर्पणदृश्यमाननगरीतुल्यं निजान्तर्गतं
पश्यन्नात्मनि मायया बहिरिवोद्भूतं यथा निद्रया ।
यः साक्षात्कुरुते प्रबोधसमये स्वात्मानमेवाद्वयं
तस्मै श्रीगुरुमूर्तये नम इदं श्रीदक्षिणामूर्तये ॥१॥

Vishvam Darpanna-Drshyamaana-Nagarii-Tulyam Nija-Antargatam
Pashyann-Aatmani Maayayaa Bahir-Ivo[a-U]dbhuutam Yathaa Nidrayaa |
Yah Saakssaat-Kurute Prabodha-Samaye Sva-[A]atmaanam-Eva-Advayam
Tasmai Shrii-Guru-Muurtaye Nama Idam Shrii-Dakssinnaamuurtaye ||1||

( The world or jagat is like a city reflected in a mirror. The reflected city is an illusion supported by the mirror never having independent existence apart from the mirror. This is also similar to the dream world experienced within the state of dream sleep. In the dream everything we experience , appears outside and unreal things appear real which when we wake up all resolve into the atman. I salute that gurumoorthy within me which is ever showing me this truth through his silence.)

In all advaita,the concept of non-duality is emphasized through various examples and explanations. You can see that  the non dual principle is not easily comprehended because of our avidya. In Dakshinamoorthy sthothram, the concept of tat-tvam asi is dealt with. The first three verses deal with this equation. What seemingly looks like two is actually one. On the one side we have tvam padartha or the universe or jagat. On the other side we have the tat padartha or the individual. These are equated using the asi vichara or equality principle. 

One of the hindrances to understanding this is the following. We don't have the vivekam or discrimintory power to understand the atma and the anatma. For us , the I is nothing but the body-mind complex. This shows that, what we comprehend and transact as I is nothing but anatma. Whenever we come to a satsang class or read something spiritual , we tend to understand that there is some problem with this. But back to our home , we are once again with the former understanding. Unless we start to see this on a continuous basis that what i regard as atma or I is wrong, we wont be able to appreciate the teaching.So what exactly is the I ?. It is the experiencer. The experiencer has the nature of consciousness. To the experiencer or I , three kinds of anatma are experienced. One is the world or the jagat. Second anatma is the body. Third is a slightly sophisticated and subtle form of an object called the mind. So the I is there as pure consciousness, while the world, body and mind are there as anatma. 

So there is only one Experiencer(atma) but there are many experienced objects(anatma). When i say one, we should understand this as the one and only atma. There is no separate atma for each one of us. 

Now comes the question. What is the relation between this atma and the various anatma?.

This is what the first three verses deal with. First let us look at the first verse which says what the anatma called the jagat is when compared to the atma.We have already seen atma is consciousness while anatma is matter. The world is matter , the body is matter , the mind is subtle matter. Atma on the other hand is just consciousness which has no boundaries or form. Sankaracharya tries to point out what is the relation between this consciousness and the matter . 

He uses two examples for this. One example uses the mirror-image analogy. The second example uses dream world analogy. Each example needs to be understood in its context. If we extend the example too much we may get the wrong notion. If i say someone has a heart of steel, i just mean he is very resolute and tough. But if you question where is the steel inside his heart , i wont be able to show. When we say steel we get some idea of the toughness. When we say heart we get some idea, combining this we get some idea of a resolute individual. In exhibiting his characteristical behavior he is as tough as steel, never rusting or bending. It is in the same way we should interpret the verse example. 

The first example says the universe is like a city reflected in the mirror. Now in order to understand this example well, just consider that the original city is not there. Just look at the mirror and the image of the city only. If we need a better example, we can use the screen and the cinema. In the cinema example, the original shooting is no longer there. Only the scene and the screen is there. Just like that in the reflected city ( darpana nagari) just take the image of the city and the mirror. What are the characteristics?.

1) The image is dependent on the mirror for its existence. The mirror provides the adisthanam or substratum for an image. It sorts of supports the image. This relation is called adisthanam-adeya sambadah or supporter -supported relation. supporter is the mirror while the image is the supported.

2) The image never has any independent existence of its own, while the mirror can exist without the image. This fact can be called satyatvam. An image has only a relative reality(mithya) while the mirror has absolute reality(satyam). 

3) The next thing is an interesting aspect. Whatever happens in the image it never can affect the mirror. This fact is called asamgattvam. If there is a fire in the image the mirror still is the same, if there is flood in the image it is still dry . 

4) Next point. There are lot of image objects but they are all mithya existence only. The only countable thing is the mirror. This is called the advaityam of the mirror. There is really only one thing the mirror that will exist. All the reflections will be there impermanently and it will resolve into the mirror. 

By understanding the relation between the image and the mirror we are also understanding the relation between atma and the anatma. The mirror stands for the atma here, while the anatma is the image  in this example. So through this example we are grasping the atma-anatma sambadah.

In order to make us understand this even better , he uses another example. The relation between dream world and the waker. While the dream world consists of various objects , everything is supported by me the waker. So me the waker is the adisthanam while the dream world is the adeya, just like the images in the mirror example. The dream world has no separate existence just as the images in the mirror. So the waker is satyam while the dream is mithya. The third aspect is also true.Whatever happens in the dream the waker is unaffected. This is asamgattvam. Lastly the waker is one , while dream is many. All the dream objects resolve in to waker who is only one . This is the advaitatvam. So we can see all the aspects of the mirror example is also there in the waker-dream example.

In the third line, Sankaracharya also tells us the dream world is a result of waker being ignorant about his waker nature. So we can see that dream is waker nature avidya. When he wakes up, this avidya is lost , and he realizes his truth. There are great yogis who can know that they are dreaming, in which case their ignorance about the dream world is not there. 

Similar to  this even in our waker state , there is a awakened state avidya. We are not conscious of our true nature which is not the wakeful state. 

He also points out two very important aspects of dream state. In the dream state , there are two things happen

1) Whatever is inside us, seem to be outside. We go to different places, we fight, we run and so on as though we are in the external world. 

2) Lot of unreal things appear to us as real.

So we can see that because of waker avidya , we see our own inner world as outer dream world which is all made up of our own waker nature. Just like this in our wakeful state also what we see as the jagat is also a result of our own ignorance only. All the real things are basically projections from our consciousness. This projective power of our ignorance is called maya. Just as when we realize our waker nature all dream objects resolve into me, on waking up from your waker state only will you realize that all the jagat is a projection of our own consciousness. So all anatma basically is atma projected. It appears as many because of avidya . This is  how the atma anatma are related. Anatma appears as real and varied, while atma is not seen at all.The truth is the converse. It is by virtue of the atma that the whole jagat is present or existent. 

In science terms also , whatever is described here makes sense. In the usual scientific parlance matter was considered more fundamental and important while consciousness was an aspect of matter resulting as a consequence of evolution of matter. But now many physical sciences especially Quantum Mechanics etc have challenged this world view. With the pure matter model it is rather difficult to explain the strange world of micro cosmos of atoms, electrons etc. Even though it is not main stream, many scientists are trying to picture consciousness as primary and matter as a manifestation of consciousness. Human consciousness is only an aspect of matter reflected from the absolute consciousness. In this world view what we see is not the actual thing as the example of dream shows us. Anything perceived may not be the fact. There may be a fundamental thing out of which the perception is coming or emerging from. 

It is this fundamental adisthanam, advaita chaitanyam which is called Dakshina moorthy here. It is the embodiment of silence because it doesn't produce the noise of names and forms  of the mithya jagat.