Lord Dakshinamurti

śrī dakṣiṇāmūrti mantra kavacam

(Sri Dakshinamurthy Mantra Kavacham in English (IAST))

Also known as dakshinamurti mantra kavacham · dakshinamurthy kavach mantra · brahmarandhre dhruvo me avyat

A short armour of seven verses built directly out of the Dakshinamurti mantra, and unusual in that the mantra is never written out. Each half-line names a syllable by its position in the alphabet instead — the fifth letter of the pa class, the fourth of the pa class, the third of the ka class, the letter of Varuna — and assigns it to a part of the body, so that the reciter who knows the mantra can reconstruct it while the text itself keeps it concealed. The sequence runs from the crown and forehead through the eyes, brows, face, ears and cheeks down to the wrists and the feet, closing on the syllable ha, which it calls the great mantra higher than the highest. The staged text keeps the source's marginal notes, which spell out the syllable each line intends.

brahmarandhre dhruvo me'vyāllalāṭe'vyātta pañcamaḥ | /oṃ,na/
akṣiyugme tathā pātu praṇavāktaḥ pa pañcamaḥ || 1 || /mo/
bhrūyuge pa caturtho'vyādvadane ka tṛtīyakaḥ | /bha,ga/
karṇayorvāruṇaṃ pātu bhagāktastaśca gaṇḍayoḥ || 2 || /va,te/
dante ta triḥ sadā pātu jihvāṅgrentyaḥ sanetrakaḥ | /da,kṣi/
mukhapṛsta samārūḍha skandhāvavyāṭṭapañcamaḥ || 3 || /ṇā/
kaṇṭhe mū ca sadā pātu bhujayo rtaḥ sadā'vatu | /mū,rta/
vāyubījaṃ bhagākrāntaṃ hṛdayaṃ sarvadā'vatu || 4 || /ye/
makāraḥ pātu me pṛṣṭhe jaṭhare hyaṃ sadā'vatu | /ma,hyaṃ/
nābhau me ca sadā pātu dhāṃ gude sarvadā'vatu || 5 || /me,dhāṃ/
prakāro'vyāt kaṭī nityaṃ jñāṃ ca liṅge sadā'vatu | /pra,jñāṃ/
ūrū pātu prakārastu vāyurjānvoḥ sadā'vatu || 6 || /pra,ya/
cadvitīyastu karayoḥ svākāro maṇibandhake | /ccha,svā/
pādayorhā sadā pātu mahāmantraparātparaḥ || 7 || /hā/
|| iti śrī dakṣiṇāmūrti mantra kavacam sampūrṇam ||

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