LEGEND OF DAKSHINAMURTHI
Dakshinamurti is the first Master of the Cosmos. The name 'Dakshinamurti' means the Deity who is facing the southern direction. Lord Shiva Himself came down in the form of Dakshinamurthy and sat under a banyan tree to give Enlightenment to the first men of the planet Earth. It is said in the scriptures that Brahma -- the God of creation after intense penance got the power to create. He created Sanaka, Sanantana, Sant kumara and Sanat sujata , the first men of the planet Earth,. He asked them to multiply the human population on the planet. But all four of them were interested in Sannyas and Enlightenment rather than the job given by Brahma. So they did intense penance towards Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva pleased by the penance of the first men, came down as Dakshinamurti and gave Enlightenment to all these four men just through the deep silence that He radiated.
Dakshinamurti is the Lord of intelligence, intellect, spirituality. Dakshinamurti is also the Adhidevata -- the ruling Deity of Jupiter -- the heaviest among all the nine planets of Vedic Astrology , is called. One of the meaning of the word 'Guru' means 'heaviness.To receive the best benefits from Jupiter, worship of Dakshinamurti, the first Guru, is prescribed.
Just as a person can be identified by name, a Divine energy can be identified and propitiated by chanting its 'name'. Sahasranamam literally means '1000 names' representing 1000 qualities. In the Vedic tradition, the number 1000 represents the complete flowering of the being. The sahasrara chakra, located on the crown of the head, is symbolized by a thousand-petalled lotus. When the lotus flowers completely (i.e. when the chakra is completely opened), it means we are living life at the optimum in all our dimensions -- the state of jeevanmukti or 'living enlightenment'. The deeply mystical Purusha Sookta, the Vedic hymn describing the Cosmic Being, describes him as 'sahasra sheershaa purushah' or 'the one with a thousand heads', representing the state of complete enlightenment.
Each of the thousand names in the sahasranamam invokes a particular auspicious quality of the Lord. Each name is also a distinct energetic vibration. When we recall these qualities, we spontaneously draw that particular healing vibration to ourselves and align ourselves with it.
These healing vibrations have immense power, greater than we can imagine. They can enter our cells and completely overhaul our bio-memory, cleansing even deep-rooted diseases like cancer and bringing about silent transformation. Contemplation on positive energies and qualities is also a powerful meditation. It represents a conscious decision to tune ourselves to the Divine. Miraculous as it may seem, chanting the sahasranamam with deep devotion can bea compelling technique to overcome depression, even in patients who are on medication.

Benefits of Dakshinamurti
• Burning away of Karmas collected in so many births
• Awakening of the Kundalini
• Awakening of the third eye -- the Ajna chakra
• Power of grasping, retention, memory and intelligence take a quantum leap
• Visible improvement in creativity
• Clarity in thinking
• Reduction in the number of thoughts per second
• Improvement in the health condition
• Healing of Hypertension
• Expression of qualities of Enlightenment
• Above all Enlightenment experience

Recited by Sri. Malolakannan and others under the guidance of Dr. R. Thyagarajan