श्री गणपती अथर्वशीर्ष has a part in which one asks Lord Ganesh to protect us from various directions. It seems ritualistic at first glance, but like most Sanskrit Upanishads, there are layers and layers that can be uncovered and the details within nuances are rich and carry a lot of encoding.
अव पश्चात्तात्। (Protect me from the back)
अव पुरस्तात्। (Protect me from the front)
अवोत्तरात्तात्। (Protect me from the north)
अव दक्षिणात्तात् | (Protect me from the south)
अव चोर्ध्वात्तात्। (Protect me from above)
अवाधरात्तात्। (Protect me from below)
सर्वतो मां पाहि पाहि समन्तात् | (Protect me from all sides)
Let us uncover the layers of the fourth line अव दक्षिणात्तात् | अव means protect, दक्षिणात्तात् means from the south. I am standing facing the east – east is in front and west is to my back. North is to my left and south is to my right. So अव दक्षिणात्तात् means protect me from the right and also protect me from the north. As one saw earlier, who will protect and from whom/what? I will protect myself because Ganapati is internalised and I am Ganapati.
1) अव दक्षिणात्तात् – protect me from the right. I will try to tackle this from the view-point of a right-handed person, since I am right-handed myself. Since I am a right-handed person, it also means I favour my right-side more and I am therefore a right-legged person too. In football and martial arts, I will tend to kick with my right leg intuitively. I write and eat and shave exclusively with my right hand. I play racquet games and carrom with my right hand. In short, both the right hand and leg have become reservoirs of skill due to deliberate practice.
अव दक्षिणात्तात् therefore makes me aware to protect my skilled limbs from any preventable deterioration. It makes me aware of my strengths and in turn makes me aware of the opponents’ weak areas. I can use my strengths to play on the opponents’ weaknesses. Also, keeping all skill built up in only the right hand or right leg in itself is a weakness, this has been tackled in अवोत्तरात्तात्
2) अव दक्षिणात्तात् – protect me from the south. The Dikpala or the guardian deity of the south is Yama. Yama is the god of death and justice. Yama is also the god of dharma. As per today’s parlance, Yama is the Chief Ethics Officer and Chief of Sustainable Operations. I must conduct my worldly affairs in such a manner that I always perform my duties and responsibilities as per dharma (धारयति इति धर्मः) and that my actions are ethically congruent to my purpose.
अव दक्षिणात्तात् – a small phrase of two words, but it is encoded with so much beauty and makes us confront the inevitable (literally beacuse it references the god of the death) and makes one introspect before every action and thus helps to do what is right.