Dakshinamurti Stotram

Sri Ramana Maharshi

11-10-1945 morning

Mr. G. V. Subbaramayya arrived. Just then Bhagavan was reading a Telugu translation of his (Maharshi's) preface to Dakshinamurti Stotra in Tamil. 

The gist of it is this: "Dakshinamurti i.e., the great Siva himself could not express the truth of the one Reality except by silence. But that silence could not be understood except by the very advanced. The others have to be told. And yet how is one to say in words that which God himself could not express? Sankara therefore advises the method of praising Dakshinamurti and with that as the ostensible object really seeks to explain that all is Brahman. In the first four stanzas he explains the nature of the world, since what prevents our knowing the reality is the world and if its (world's) nature is understood, the obstacle in the way of realizing truth will be removed. In the next four stanzas he explains the nature of the jiva. Then he explains the connection between the two and teaches that all is Self. Trying to explain the scheme and gist of Sankara's Dakshinamurti Stotra, I wrote the above brief preface."