Prajna-Dakshinamurti Puja

This book describes the steps required to perform Lord Prajña-Dak¿i¿amurti puja (worship). It contains Lord Prajña-Dak¿i¿amurti Nitya Puja, Sandhya Puja, Mula Mantra, and two articles from Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati. "Lord Dak¿i¿amurti is Lord Siva's manifestation as the first teacher. It is said in the Pura¿as that Lord Brahma, the creator, in the beginning of creation created out of his mind four progenies known as the Sanatkumaras: Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, and Sanatkumara and asked them to assist him in the task of creation. However, they were renunciates by nature and, possessed a keen desire to know the truth. So, they set out in the northern direction in search of truth and performed penance. Pleased with them, Lord Siva appeared before them as a teacher, seated under a banyan tree, facing the south, and imparted the knowledge of Brahman (Brahma-vidya)...Dak¿i¿a means south and murti is form. So Dak¿i¿amurti is one who is facing the south. The teacher is facing south while imparting the knowledge and the disciples are facing the north. In the Vedic tradition, the northern direction associated with knowledge, and freedom. The Sanskrit word for north is uttara which literally means "to rise and cross over." Therefore, the word symbolizes rising above the senses and crossing the cycle of birth and death (sa¿sara)" (Swami Dayananada Saraswati, 1990).