Dakshina Moorthy Sthothram Sloka 3

सदाशिव समारम्भाम् शंकराचार्य मध्यमाम्
अस्मद् आचार्य पर्यन्ताम् वंदे गुरु परम्पराम्

The first verse dealt with what "You" or jivatma is . We saw the waker jivatma and the dreamer jivatma and so on. We saw how consciousness is identified with various things like the body-mind, the dreamer individual etc as a result of which you appear smaller, limited suffering and so on. But when it is realized that you are none of these , then only truth dawns. This vichara is called Tvam padartha vichara. Tvam means you. What you traditionally believe yourself to be versus the real you , you truly are.. Through atma vichara we come to appreciate that I is nothing but consciousness alone.It is none of the appearances or anatma.

In the second verse we also saw the Tat or the universe . Existence seems to manifest in various diverse forms and movements. We take this to be something external to us. But we see that if we remove the illusion of space and time , then all these diverse entities are nothing but the "Sath" or pure existence manifesting itself. Or the paramathma is himself appearing in all the diverse names and forms. If we take the essence of this , then only pure existence remains. The difference don't actually exist, just as the tree is nothing but the seed in a different form and yet when we see it in time we see them as different things. ( We even have the notion that the seed grew into a tree) . A vedantin would say tree and seed are the same because time is nothing but an illusion. Effect is unmanifest cause. To him wherever he looks he sees paramatma ( pure existence ) only. This is Tat padartha vichara.

You can see how we proceeded. First we see the diverse names and forms, then take what is common to all of them and find that there is something essential which is common to all. If we continue in this vein , we can combine what is common to pure consciousness and pure existence . Consciousness lends its adisthanam to existence. Existence manifests in consciousness as diversity. Diversity is only an illusion created by space-time. So if we remove that , we see existence is also ONE just as consciousness.
The universe ( including your body-mind everything ) existed potentially unmanifest in consciousness.
 So instead of thinking them as separate concepts ,
 We try to see them as a single idea or Existence-Consciousness.This is what the upanishads told us in many Mahavakyas. In the chandogya upanishad we have the famous Mahavakyam
Tat - Tvam asi. ( Thou art that  ) .

The third verse of Dakshina Moorthy sthothram is trying to express this idea of Tat-Tvam Aykyam.


यस्यैव स्फुरणं सदात्मकमसत्कल्पार्थकं भासते
साक्षात्तत्त्वमसीति वेदवचसा यो बोधयत्याश्रितान् ।
यत्साक्षात्करणाद्भवेन्न पुनरावृत्तिर्भवाम्भोनिधौ
तस्मै श्रीगुरुमूर्तये नम इदं श्रीदक्षिणामूर्तये ॥३॥
Yasya-Eva Sphurannam Sada[a-A]atmakam-Asat-Kalpa-Arthakam Bhaasate
Saakssaat-Tat-Tvam-Asi-Iti Veda-Vacasaa Yo Bodhayaty-Aashritaan |
Yat-Saakssaat-Karannaad-Bhaven-Na Punaraavrttir-Bhavaam-Bho-Nidhau
Tasmai Shrii-Guru-Muurtaye Nama Idam Shrii-Dakssinnaamuurtaye ||3||

( The world of appearances or the mithya jagat is supported by pure existence or the paramathma. However pure existence is only experienced indirectly as objects, not as itself. This is not possible also, as you yourself are that pure existence lending existence to the world. The famous Tat-Tvam Asi is experienced directly if you listen to the inner guru. Knowing this , you are liberated from the delusion of the worldly sea of manifestation and unmanifestation. I prostrate to that supreme principle)

In this third important verse , Acharya is trying to bring out the important Mahavakya of all time namely Tat-Tvam-Asi. Tat refers to the Paramathma(परमात्मा). Tvam refers to he Jivatma.( जीवात्म).Many upanishads present Tat as Brahman itself or the very existence itself. What is this Existence ?. Let us define it like this. Existence is something that is independent of the object under consideration and yet the object is dependent on it . So the object exists because of it, but when it is destroyed, existence is not destroyed, it just becomes unmanifest. If you remember our discussion on consciousness , you remember the same principle. The body is dependent on consciousness , while consciousness is not dependent on the body. Body comes and goes, while consciousness remains, maybe in a unmanifest form. Just like that when the object is there existence is there , but when the object goes existence still is. So how can we see this pure existence?. The verse says we can't . Why existence is always revealed as a particular existence namely the world of objects. It never reveals itself in its pure form. why ?. Because that pure form is YOU !!!!!.

We will try to understand this with a fictitious example. Suppose a vedanta class is going on and one of the disciples is Sunlight .!!. Suppose the guru is trying  to explain the concept of sunlight to all . He says sunlight is that which illumines all objects and yet never requires illumination. It is swayam prakashitham and so on. Remember sunlight is one of our disciples. As the class goes on, sunlight tries to understand concept of sunlight. But we can immediately see the problem sunlight has. It has never experienced sunlight. Wherever he goes he sees objects. However hard he has tried, he has never experienced sunlight. That is why he has come to this vedanta class. Maybe this guru will help me in experiencing sunlight. But then the guru tells 
" You will never experience sunlight . You will experience only objects. ". So sunlight asks the guru "why this is so ?"   Then the guru says "Tat-Tvam - Asi"  or You are that . So however hard you try or whatever sadana you do , you will never have the sunlight - experience because you yourself are that. All your experiences are sunlight experiences only, and yet you don't appreciate that. You are illumining all the objects and yet, you are trying to search for the illumining principle. 

 Just as this , our own world is full of mithya objects or Asat-Kalpa-Arthakam. Kalpa means imagined or false. All objects are as good as unreal. Why are they unreal?. Because they are different name and form given to the pure existence from which they are manifest. We dont understand the supreme principle of existence or paramathma appearing as all these forms. Paramathma is refered in this Yasya-Eva Sphurannam .  Sadaatmakam means all existence. What the first line says is this. All manifestations are supported by the supreme principle of pure existence  . But it is not possible to see what this pure existence is because YOU are that pure existence itself.

In the upanishads it is often advised to do a meditation like this. Imagine what happens when all objects are removed. Empty space. When objects are removed what remains?. You might say that empty space and objects are not the same. But consider this. Can you really really destruct an object. What you may destruct is its form. Consider a cardboard box. Suppose you burn it completely. Have you destructed it ?. No. The form is lost no doubt. But the constituent molecules remain in another form. In the form of ashes. When it is returned to the mud, one of the molecule may be absorbed into a tree. One into the air and so on. So you see the form is lost . Existence remains in other unmanifest forms which later can be manifest . So empty space is not actually not empty. It is full of potential objects. The idea behind this meditation is to develop a sense of essence of something. Essence of all objects as potential existence. 

Now we have two kinds of essences. One is when i remove all things other than consciousness.(removing all anatma)  The other one is when i remove all things other than existence. So we have pure consciousness and pure existence. And yet this is only ok as far as theory is concerned . I have never seen or experienced both these pure existence or pure consciousness. There must be some reason for this . The guru gives you the answer . Tat-Tvam asi. The reason why you cannot experience both pure consciousness or pure existence is because you are that. (remember the sunlight example)

There are two kinds of teaching. One is called direct teaching where the teaching is immediate. there is also indirect teaching. Suppose the guru tells you about Badrinath temple. When he tells you about the temple, it is only a concept in your mind. You have not experienced it . Unless you go to the temple , you will not have a direct experience of Bardrinath. This is called Indirect teaching. Words of Badrinath stand for some reality that need to be experienced later. But in the case of Tat-Tvam-Asi principle , the teaching is not indirect. It is direct. This is the meaning of the term साक्षात्तत्त्वमसीति. साक्षाth means direct. It is not referring to a later experience . It is referring to the current experience or all experiences. When i am talking about you , how can you experience it later!!!.

So to summarize, i lend existence to all objects or sath. and  lend consciousness to the body or chit. But I am not any of these , but i create this imaginary world just as in a dream, creating a world out of myself and knowing this world myself. What is the big thing about this knowledge?.

The third line tells you the greatest truth about vedanta. It says , you are liberated from the sea of samsara by this sakshatkara. यत्साक्षात्करणा means परमात्म साक्षात्करणात्. The sea is characterized by appearances and dissolving of manifestation. By transcending it , with knowledge we are liberated from all punarjanma worries. For a Jnani , there is no birth in the first place, so there never arises a question of rebirth. Every birth is just manifestation of existence-consciousness into a form, which later becomes unmanifest . How can we be perturbed by this?. What is the meaning of भवाम्भोत, nidhau means reservoir and therefore āmbhonidhau means reservoir of water. The term Bhava we already have seen. It is the world of samsara or of becoming and unbecoming.

With this crucial understanding , the upanishad teaching is revealed of who you are . You are neither any of the objects that you experience. You are neither of the knowing. You never come and go. Only thing is you temporarily are functioning through this body-mind. But so are you in so many bodies and mind. All is one paramatma only. To this teaching i offer my pranam.