The Silent Teaching Of Lord Dakshinamurti

By Staff

Monday, February 16, 2009, 13:24

The four Sanakadi Rishis, when their eyes first beheld the form of Lord Dakshinamurti sitting under the banyan tree, perceived that He was the real Sadguru. Hence they approached and circumambulated Him and after having paid their due respects started putting forth queries of great spiritual interest.

Lord Dakshinamurti, the incarnation of Lord Shiva pleased about the earnestness of their pursuit and the wisdom and maturity in the queries that they put forth stated answering them. Thus the question and answer section stretched on to a whole year. But as and when there was an answer from the Lord, more doubts in the form of questions arose. The Lord then merged Himself into the supreme silence the impact of which caused their minds to involuntarily surrender to the impending silence. Their minds merged with the self with the resultant silence sans inner chattering. The doubts were thus dispelled with the self, the ultimate clarity showing forth with all its splendour.

Silence is thus the true Upadesa or the teaching suited for the most advanced. The silence of an enlightened master is infectious to minds marching ahead to unswervingly to the ultimate realization. When Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi narrated the story to Muruganar, a disciple, the latter questioned of the relevance of Dakshinamurti's verbal response to the queries. Bhagavan curtly emphasised the verbal discourse that took place before the ultimate teaching of abiding in silence. The truth then dawned to Muruganar that the Maharshi was none other than Lord Dakshinamurti.