The Daksinamurti Stotra is a Sanskrit religious hymn (stotra) to Shiva. It is arguably the most important small verse to be attributed to Adi Shankara, It explains the metaphysics of the universe in the frame of Advaita Vedanta.

In Hindu Mythology, Daksinamurti is an incarnation of Shiva, the supreme god of knowledge. Thus, Daksinamurti represents the aspect of Shiva as guru of all types of knowledge, and bestower of jnana. Unlike most of the stotras of Hindu gods, which are anthropomorphic in nature, Daksinamurti Stotra takes the form of conceptual and philosophical statements. Repeated chanting and/or meditating on the meaning of these verses is expected to help a spiritual practitioner of Advaita Vedanta get thoroughly established in an Advaitic experience.

In this book, Swami Harshananda has interspersed the ten verses of Shankara’s Daksinamurti Stotra with Suresvaracarya’s Manasollassa, that is, his gloss, or commentary. Thus, we read Shankara’s verse, followed by annotations by Swami Harshananda, followed by Suresvaracarya’s gloss.

For a stand-alone booklet of the hymn, please see Dakshinamurti Stotram and Dasasloki.
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