To bow to the Supreme Lord means to offer one's own Self to Him in the thought that the two are one and identical. The term 'Dakshinamurti' is variously explained: (1) it is applied to a special incarnation of Siva in the form of a Teacher, who, seated at the foot of a fig-tree with His face towards the south, is engaged in imparting spiritual instruction to the highest sages of the world such as Sanaka. (2) It is applied to Siva who, in His mighty form composed of Existence, Intelligence and Bliss, and with His beginningless and unthinkable power of Maya, can create, preserve and destroy the universe, and yet who has really no form whatever. (3) Siva is so called because the spiritual wisdom forms the only means by which He can be known and realised.

31. Thus ends the first chapter in brief in the work called Manasollasa expounding the meaning of the Hymn to the Blessed Dakshinamurti.