Dakshinamurti Ashtakam

Dakshinamurti Ashtakam is the core eight-verse hymn traditionally attributed to Sri Adi Shankaracharya in praise of Dakshinamurti, Shiva as the supreme teacher facing south beneath the banyan tree. Each verse closes with salutation to the Guru-murti, linking outer devotion to the inner teacher who grants direct recognition of the Self.

The stotra is among the most studied texts in Advaita Vedanta. Shankara compares the world to a city seen in a mirror, teaches the unfolding of manifestation from the unmanifest like a seed, and repeatedly returns to the one consciousness that illumines waking, dream, and deep sleep. The verses are not abstract doctrine alone; they invite the reader to notice how perception, memory, and relationship are projected, then to rest in what does not come and go.

This edition presents the eight-verse ashtakam proper, without the ninth verse on the eight elemental forms or the tenth phala shruti found in the fuller Dakshinamurti Stotram. Verse one includes an optional pada breakdown for study; other verses use line-level editorial notes generated from the source text.