Arsha Vidya Pitham, Saylorsburg, PA

Tributes by Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati

The majority of the people are like birds flying in the sky leaving behind no trace of their footprints. But, one in a billion, bestrides the worldly stage like a Colossus leaving indelible marks of his sacred sojourn on the earth. Swami Dayanandaji was indeed such a Spiritual Giant!

In 1963, when I was the manager of Andhra Ashram, Swami Dayanandaji arrived and I was blessed enough to offer accommodation to him who was a brahma-niṣṭhā, fully contented with having the sky for his roof and the quarters for his enclosure. Swamiji was an epitome of simplicity. His demeanor and deportment unmistakably revealed the innate divinity and glory of a mahātmā. He always sported an enchanting smile. Our joint spiritual voyage, which was to last for many decades, commenced then in right earnest.

When Swamiji decided to leave the Andhra Ashram and shift his place of stay to the banks of the sacred Ganga, he invited me to go with him. I readily acceded and Swami Gopalananda ji and I joined him. Sublime memories of my stay with him and willing performance of my daily chores like cooking etc. and taking care of other matters are still green in my mind. In the year 1967, Swamiji left for the Chinmaya Mission in deference to the instructions of his guru Swami Chinmayanandaji.

This place in Ganga, continued to serve as his accommodation in spite of his inner desire to hand it over to the Chinmaya Mission. Such was the good luck of this place in retaining a mahātmā! I named the place Swami Dayanandaji Ashram and continued to develop it to its present state.

I wish to recount now the last moments of my interaction with him. I visited Pujya Swamiji at Anaikatti before he left for the U.S. and had long dialogues with him. I had always sought his guidance regarding the arrangements to be put in place for the continuance of the ashram because of advancing years of both of us. He gave me instructions that Swami Tattvavidanandaji should be made a Trustee and that a teacher should be appointed to conduct the annual retreats. He then left for the U.S. and I returned to Rishikesh.

After a few days, I received the tragic news that Pujya Swami’s health was not too well and that he wanted to return to Rishikesh. He arrived in an air ambulance and upon seeing me he said, “I am clutching at my breath with tenacity and I am now back here.” He was looking so weak and fragile. But, I felt that he would somehow live much longer than he thought as Rishikesh was so dear to his heart that he would resist with all his tremendous will-power any threat of tearing him away from the sacred spot. As I expected, he survived for 27 days. During those days, he spoke about various matters with his wonted liveliness. He spoke of what needed to be done in the aftermath of the shuffling of his mortal coils. He said, “I want to breathe my last in the ashram.” He spoke about the ṣoḍaśī and samādhi to be erected and a few other matters pertaining to that arrangement. Evidently, omniscient Swamiji must have had a premonition of the approaching end to the thrilling saga of his spiritual ministration.

Pujya Swamiji touched the hearts of countless people and naturally his passing away has left a great void, a great sense of loss in the hearts of a number of people, his disciples, his devotees, and his admirers. I pray, on behalf of all of you and myself also that Pujya Swamiji continues to live in the hearts of all of us and that he continues to guide us, inspire us and help us for subsequent growth so as for us to reach the ultimate goal.

Subscribe to Ashram Newsletter

© Copyright: 2021 Arsha Vidya Gurukulam

Lord Daksinamurti

In the vision of the Veda, this creation is a manifestation of the Lord. Being the cause, he is all knowledge, especially spiritual knowledge. We have a name for that Lord Daksinamurti.

The Lord presented in this form as Dakṣiṇāmūrti is the one who has eight aspects. The first five aspects are thefive elements. In the Veda the world is presented in the form of five elements—ākāśa, space,which includes time; vāyu, air; agni, fire; āpa, water; and pṛthivī, earth.

In this Vedic model of the universe, the five elements are non-separate from the Lord. In fact, these five elements constitute the Lord’s form, which is this universe.

The next two aspects are represented by the sun and the moon.

When, as an individual, I look at this world, what stands out in the sky are the sun and moon.

The moon represents all planets other than earth, and the sun represents allluminous bodies.

The eighth aspect is me, the jīva—the one who is looking at the world.

These eight aspects are to be understood as one whole. This is the Lord.

When we look at the form of Dakṣiṇāmūrti, we can see representations of the five elements. Space, ākāśa, is represented by a ḍamaru, a drum, in his right hand. In order to show space in a sculpture, it needs to be enclosed.

Empty space is enclosed in the ḍamaru, enabling it to issue sound, or śabda.

Next, vāyu, air, is represented by Dakṣiṇāmūrti’s hair with the bandana, the band, holding his hair in place against the wind. Bandana is a Sanskrit word which comes from the root band, to bind.

In his left hand, you will see a torch, which represents agni, fire.

Āpa, water, is shown by the Gaṅga, in the form of a Goddess, which you can see on Dakṣiṇāmūrti’s head.

Pṛthivī, the earth, is represented by the whole idol.

Then there are people, the jīvas, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanātana and Sanatsujāta, who are the disciples of Dakṣiṇāmūrti, sitting at the base of sculpture.

The sun and moon are also shown in this form of the Lord.

On the left side of Dakṣiṇāmūrti you will find a crescent moon, and on his right side there is a circle, representing the sun—a whole circle.

So we see five elements, two planets and the jīva constituting the aṣṭa-mūrti-bhṛt, the Lord of these eight factors that are the whole.

You can worship Dakṣiṇāmūrti as the Lord, the one who is aṣṭa-mūrti-bhṛt, or you can invoke him as a teacher, because he also is in the form of a teacher.

His very sitting posture, āsana, is the teacher’s āsana. What does he teach? Look at his hand gesture. That shows wha the teaches. His index finger, the one we use to point at others, represents the ahaṅkāra, the ego.

The other three fingers represent your body, deha, mind, antaḥkaraņa and sense organs, prāņa.

They also may be seen as the three bodies, śarīras, the gross, subtle, and causal. This is what the jīva mistakes himself to be. The aṅguṣṭha, the thumb, represents the Lord, the puruṣa. It is away from the rest of the fingers of the hand, yet at the same time, the fingers have no strength without it.

In this gesture, mūdra, in Dakṣiṇāmūrti’s right hand, the thumb joins the other fingers to form a circle, teaching that the jīva, who takes himself to be the body, mind and senses, is the whole. The circular hand gesture visually states the entire upadeśa, teaching: tat tvam asi, “You are That.” Just as a circle has no beginning or end, you are the whole. That is the final word about you. Nobody can improve upon that vision; no culture can improve upon it.

Even in heaven, it cannot be improved upon, for the whole includes heaven. Therefore, you have the final word here, because you are everything. It is better that you know it. That teaching is contained in the Veda, represented by the palm leaves in the left hand of Dakṣiṇāmūrti. And to understand this, you require a mind that has assimilated certain values and attitudes and has developed a capacity to think in a proper and sustained way.

This can be acquired by various spiritual disciplines represented here by a japa-māla, The fact that the Lord himself is a teacher, a guru, means that any teacher is looked upon as a source of knowledge. And the teacher himself should look upon Īśvara, the Lord, as the source of knowledge. Since the Lord himself is a teacher, the first guru, there is a tradition of teaching, so there is no individual ego involved in teaching.

Dakṣiṇāmūrti is seated upon a bull, which stands for tamas, the quality of māyā that accounts for ignorance. This is the entire creative power of the world and Dakṣiṇāmūrti controls this māyā; Then, there are bound to be obstacles in your pursuit of this knowledge. Dakṣiṇāmūrti controls all possible obstacles.

Underneath his foot, under his control, is a fellow called Apasmara—the one who throws obstacles in your life. This tells us that although there will be obstacles, with the grace of the Lord, you can keep them under check and not allow them to overpower you. There is no obstacle-free life, but obstacles need not really throw you off course; you keep them under control.

Thus, the whole form of Dakṣiṇāmūrti invokes the Lord who is the source of all knowledge, the source of everything, the one who is the whole, and who teaches you that you are the whole. He is Dakṣiṇāmūrti, the one who is in the form of a teacher, guru-mūrti.

We invoke his blessing so that all of you discover that source in yourself. If this self-discovery is your pursuit, your whole life becomes worthwhile. This project of self-discovery should be the project of everyone. That is the Vedic vision of human destiny

Arsha Vidya Gurukulam was founded in 1986 by Pujya Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswati. In Swamiji’s own words,

“When I accepted the request of many people I know to start a gurukulam, I had a vision of how it should be. I visualized the gurukulam as a place where spiritual seekers can reside and learn through Vedanta courses. . . And I wanted the gurukulam to offer educational programs for children in values, attitudes, and forms of prayer and worship. When I look back now, I see all these aspects of my vision taking shape or already accomplished. With the facility now fully functional, . . . I envision its further unfoldment to serve more and more people.”

Ārṣa (arsha) means belonging to the ṛṣis or seers; vidyā means knowledge. Guru means teacher and kulam is a family.  In traditional Indian studies, even today, a student resides in the home of this teacher for the period of study. Thus, gurukulam has come to mean a place of learning. Arsha Vidya Gurukulam is a place of learning the knowledge of the ṛṣis.

The traditional study of Vedanta and auxiliary disciplines are offered at the Gurukulam. Vedanta mean end (anta) of the Veda, the sourcebook for spiritual knowledge.  Though preserved in the Veda, this wisdom is relevant to people in all cultures, at all times. The vision that Vedanta unfolds is that the reality of the self, the world, and God is one non-dual consciousness that both transcends and is the essence of everything. Knowing this, one is free from all struggle based on a sense of inadequacy.

The vision and method of its unfoldment has been carefully preserved through the ages, so that what is taught today at the Gurukulam is identical to what was revealed by the ṛṣis in the Vedas.