Indian tradition accords a special reverence to the Guru or the teacher. Dakshinamurthy, in the Saivite system of beliefs is regarded as the ultimate Guru - the embodiment of knowledge and the destroyer of ignorance. The thumb denotes the God and the index finger denotes the man. The other three fingers stand for the three congenital impurities of man viz. arrogance, illusion and bad deeds of the past births. When man detaches himself from these impurities, he reaches God.

Even though the idol of Dakshinamurthy is installed in every Shiva temple, there are only a few temples where Dakshinamurthy is the chief deity. Only one of the twelve Jyotirlingas is Dakshinmurthy, The Mahakaleshwar in Ujjain. Other notable temples are the Vaikom Mahadevar temple in Kerala, where the deity enshrined in the form of a Shivalingam is considered as Dakshinamurthy, and Alangudi (Kumbakonam) in Tamil Nadu.

 In the Sivanandeswarar temple in Thirupanthurai, (Tanjore) Tamil Nadu, He is depicted in the Ardhanari form. In Thirupulivanam, we can find Dakshinamurthy in the form of Ardhanariswara. This temple is on the Uthiramerur-Kanchipuram road, 5 km from Uthiramerur, near Chennai. In March 2007, a big temple of Lord Dakshinamurty (the first in Maharashtra) was created in the Shrutisagar Ashram, about 30 km from Pune.

The picture of lord Dakshinamurthy photo can be kept and worshipped in home.The direction of the placement should be south only (hang on south facing wall).Idol can also be worshipped, but you need to perform daily pooja-rudra abhishekam. Also do offer the garland of channa dal on every Thursdays and recite dakshina murthy shlokas,specially dakshinamurthy varnamaalaasthaka. This will help to attain knowledge. If desired to keep idol, the size should be of one's thumb.