Hamsa yoga (The elixir of Self Realization)

Among the twenty-four incarnations (avatars) of God Vishnu - as described in the puranas, one is the Hamsavatara. The Hamsa yoga may also be regarded as the upasana of this manifestation of the Almighty. Success of this yoga elevates the sadhaka up to the states of 'Raja Hamsa', and 'Prama Hamsa', which represent the highest realm of spiritual illumination and sainthood.

As mentioned in the earlier article, the hamsa (swan) is regarded as a symbol of sanctity, fairness and discreetness. It is described in the sastras that if a Hamsa is given a mixture of milk and water, it would suck only milk and leave back the water content. That means, it has a natural tendency to recognize and select the noblest, the supreme. When a sadhaka develops a prudent acumen to adopt the righteous tendency in all aspects of life, he is said to have reached the level of a 'hamsa'.

The bird hamsa (swan) is spotless white. The rhetoric representations associated with its name imply that the lives of the sadhakas who attain the title of (that is, who reach the state of) 'hamsa' should also become absolutely clean and sacred in all dimensions of life…. The personality of such a sadhaka fits well in the simple given by saint Kabira; which implies - "A saintly jiva wears the 'sheet' of life with scrupulous care and leaves it as it is (that is, naturally pure) in the end……

It is said in the Sastras about the Rajahamsa (king swan) that it lives in the Manasarovara and selects only real beads from the waters of this holy pond and leaves out the sea-animals and insects. This description symbolizes the character of the Sadhakas who are spiritually enlightened up to the 'Rajahamsa' level. As such, in the world around, we might sometimes find the bird swan eating the insects and rubbish; but we should note that the descriptions in the sastras are rhetoric, so these should be interpreted in the right perspective. The above qualities in fact imply that - an ideal 'hamsa' would prefer to die but he would not eat anything except the pure beads. Similarly, a spiritually refined person, who has reached the status of rajahamsa would always choose the righteous path of absolute truth and stand by the noble ideals of morality even if he has to face challenging difficulties and adversities in his life…..

The 'sound' of soaham is said to have originated from the combination of prakriti (the eternal power of creation) and Purusa (the Supreme Creator). The puranas describe that the inspiration - to become many from the lonely state of being just one, generated within the Brahm, gave rise to the existence of the prakriti and purusa. The prakriti was jada and the purusa was cetan.  Combination of the two resulted in the creation of the universe, the Nature and the manifestation of life…. The commingling of the prakriti and purusa resulted in the expression of Sabda Brahm. The nada produced by this cosmic impulse was reflected in the Nada Brahm as the eternal sublime vibration of Omkara.

When the unity of the prakriti and purusa generated the sentient cetan components - the jivas, then its jada component (the prakriti) disappeared. Only the 'Sah' - the Para Brahm, the purusa, the eternal source of cetan, and the 'Ham' - the jiva, an expression of the Para brahm in thy creation, remained there after… The 'sah' and the 'aham' are recognized separately under the dvaita philosophy. The advaita theory defines their conjugation as eternal because, according to this philosophy, the jiva is nothing but a reflection of the multiple manifestations of the Para Brahm. This absolute unity is represented in 'soaham' (sah + aham). Thus, the soaham has originated and eternally exists along with the omnipresent nada of Omkara.