Philosophical Views and Certain Knowledge

[Vaidya Sundaram]

namaskAram.
 Please do find the time to post the article you mention, and kindly also
mention if possible the exact reference. I certainly believe that moderation in
this list is very little, and as Ravi has mentioned serval times before, is best
when it is self imposed. Certainly, a talk by His Holiness is most welcome and
will be truly delightful.

Thank you.

Sri gurubhyO namah.
Vaidya.





Sunder Hattangadi <gourish at INTERNET1.NET> on 04/22/99 03:25:53 PM

Please respond to List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
      <ADVAITA-L at advaita-vedanta.org>

Pranam,

In the Oct/Nov 1997 issue of Tattvaloka ( a publication of Sringeri Mutt ),
is printed a conversation between His Holiness Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati
Mahaswami and an agnostic youth, under the title " The Utility of God".
This is from the book "Dialogues with the Guru", recorded by Sri R.
Krishnaswamy Aiyar( publ. Shankara Vidya Kendra, New Delhi).

It is a masterpiece I would like to post but is about 4 pages long. If the
members/moderators would allow it, I shall be happy to do it.

>From  Thu Apr 22 19:35:02 1999
Message-Id: <THU.22.APR.1999.193502.0400.>
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 19:35:02 -0400
Reply-To: ramakris at erols.com
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM>
Subject: shrI daxiNAmUrti: the symbolism and his worship - 4
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Various forms of daxiNAmUrti:
-----------------------------

First, we shall look at the various forms of daxiNAmUrti. As mentioned
before, this will help fixing the form in the mind during dhyAna. The
different forms of daxiNAmUrti are enumerated in various Agama-s,
purANa-s and also the daxiNAmUrti Up. They are:

1. GYana daxiNAmUrti
2. vyAkhyAna daxiNAmUrti
3. yoga daxiNAmUrti
4. vINAdhAra daxiNAmUrti

A detailed description of all these forms along with photographs can be
found in `Elements of Hindu Iconography,' T.A.Gopinatha Rao, Volume
II-Part I, pp. 273-292. Typically, in all forms, daxiNAmUrti is
portrayed
as a youth. He sits motionless at the foot of a banyan tree, facing the
southern direction. In the GYAna and vYAkhyAna forms daxiNAmUrti sits in
a casual posture with his left leg on top of his right thigh and he is
pressing down the head of an asura with his right foot. The name of this
asura is apasmArapurushha. In the yoga daxiNAmUrti form, he may be
seated in the svastikAsana, utkuTikAsana with a yogapaTTa and so on. In
the vINadhAra form he is in a standing posture, holding a veeNa. A very
old sculpture of the vINAdhAra form, belonging to the shunga period
(200BC) has been discovered, attesting to the antiquity of daxiNAmUrti
worship (Refer "The Presence of Siva", Stella Kramrisch, page 57). In
most temples we can see the GYAna form of daxiNAmUrti. This form is the
most important for advaitins and we will concentrate on this form in the
rest of this post.

In the GYAna form, there are four aged disciples, sitting at his feet in
silent contemplation. The Lord has his eyes only slightly open. His
posture is free from any type of forced rigidity or uneasiness. He has
the moon on his flowing, matted locks. Sometimes the smiling face of
ga.ngA may be present instead of the moon. The matted locks may be held
together by a paTTabandha also. There is bhasma (ash) on his forehead
and all over his body. His complexion is usually pure white. He has four
hands, three eyes and is clothed in the skin of a tiger. In the top left
hand he holds a snake and in the bottom left hand he holds a book. He
has agni (fire) in the form of a burning twig (alternatively the fire
may be present in a vessel sometimes) in the top right hand and with his
bottom right hand he shows the chinmudra.

This is the form for dhyAna (meditation). The symbolism behind this form
will be explored in the next post.