Hamsa Upanishad

हंसोपनिषत्

The Upanishad of the Swan

The Hamsa Upanishad is a short Upanishad counted among the Yoga Upanishads. It is built around one word, hamsa, the swan. It describes a mantra, hamsa, by its six parts: seer, meter, deity, seed, power and pin. The pin is so 'ham, "that I am."

In order, the text teaches hamsa as the Self in every body, a practice of drawing the breath up through the body, the six parts of the mantra and a count of 21,600 for a day and night, the heart lotus matched to four states of awareness, and ten inner sounds. The text does not say what the count counts. That it is the breath comes from the Yoga Chudamani Upanishad, which the So-Ham practice page quotes.

Dhyanved's practice, So-Ham, draws on passage 2, the one that names the mantra's parts. The four states in passage 3 are the ones the Mandukya Upanishad describes.

This page sets out four passages and says in a table what the rest of the text contains. The renderings are Dhyanved's own.

Passage 1

Hamsa in every body (first section)

अथ हंसपरमहंसनिर्णयं व्याख्यास्यामः । ब्रह्मचारिणे शान्ताय दान्ताय गुरुभक्ताय । हंसहंसेति सदा ध्यायन् । सर्वेषु देहेषु व्याप्तो वर्तते । यथा ह्यग्निः काष्ठेषु तिलेषु तैलमिव तं विदित्वा मृत्युमत्येति ।

atha haṃsa-paramahaṃsa-nirṇayaṃ vyākhyāsyāmaḥ | brahmacāriṇe śāntāya dāntāya guru-bhaktāya | haṃsa haṃseti sadā dhyāyan | sarveṣu deheṣu vyāpto vartate | yathā hy agniḥ kāṣṭheṣu tileṣu tailam iva taṃ viditvā mṛtyum atyeti

Now we will explain the true nature of hamsa and paramahamsa, for the brahmacārin, the student of discipline, who is peaceful, self-controlled and devoted to the guru. Always meditating on "hamsa, hamsa," one sees that it abides, pervading all bodies, as fire is in wood and oil in sesame seeds. Knowing it, one is free of death.

nirṇaya: determination, the settling of what something is. Here, the true nature
haṃsa: the swan, and here the Self, said to abide in every body. The Yoga Chudamani Upanishad, quoted on the So-Ham page, hears the word in the breath: ha going out, sa coming in
paramahaṃsa: the supreme hamsa, the Supreme Self. The text pairs it with haṃsa, the Self in each body
brahmacārin: a student living under the discipline of brahmacarya, traditionally including celibacy. From brahma, sacred knowledge, and cārin, one who follows
guru-bhakta: devoted to the guru, the spiritual teacher. bhakta, devoted
dhyāyan: meditating, from dhyai, to meditate
kāṣṭha, tila, taila: wood, sesame seed, oil. Oil is in every seed, and fire in every piece of wood, though neither shows
mṛtyum atyeti: goes beyond death. ati-i, to go beyond; mṛtyu, death

Passage 2

The six parts of the mantra, and the count (second section)

अथ हंस ऋषिः । अव्यक्ता गायत्री छन्दः । परमहंसो देवता । हमिति बीजम् । स इति शक्तिः । सोऽहमिति कीलकम् । षट् सङ्ख्यया अहोरात्रयोरेकविंशतिसहस्राणि षट् शतान्यधिकानि भवन्ति ।

Now: the seer is Hamsa, the meter is the unmanifest Gayatri, the deity is Paramahamsa. "Ham" is the seed, "sa" the power, "so 'ham" the pin. These are six in number. In a day and a night there are twenty-one thousand, and six hundred more.

ṛṣi, chandas, devatā, bīja, śakti, kīlaka: the six standard parts of a mantra: its seer, meter, deity, seed, power and pin. The pin (kīlaka) is the wedge that fastens the mantra
ṣaṭ saṅkhyayā: six in number, read as the six parts just listed
ham, sa, so 'ham: ham and sa, the seed and the power, are the two syllables of haṃsa. Read from the other end, sa and aham join as so 'ham, "that I am". Breathing makes the same two sounds, "sa" on the inhale (heard as "so") and "ha" on the exhale (heard as "ham"). Start from the exhale and it is haṃsa; start from the inhale and it is so 'ham
ekaviṃśati-sahasrāṇi ṣaṭ śatāni: twenty-one thousand and six hundred, 21,600. The text does not say what is counted; the Yoga Chudamani Upanishad, quoted on the So-Ham page, says it is the breath. The number fits the breath: one breath every 4 seconds is 15 a minute, and 15 × 60 × 24 = 21,600. The traditional measure of time gives the same figure. A prāṇa is one breath of about 4 seconds, 6 prāṇas make a vināḍī (24 seconds), 60 vināḍīs a nāḍī (24 minutes) and 60 nāḍīs a day and a night, so 6 × 60 × 60 = 21,600

Passage 3

The four states in the heart lotus (second section)

केसरे जाग्रदवस्था कर्णिकायां स्वप्नं लिङ्गे सुषुप्तिः पद्मत्यागे तुरीयं यदा हंसो नादे लीनो भवति तदा तुर्यातीतमुन्मननमजपोपसंहारमित्यभिधीयते ।

kesare jāgrad-avasthā karṇikāyāṃ svapnaṃ liṅge suṣuptiḥ padma-tyāge turīyaṃ yadā haṃso nāde līno bhavati tadā turya-atītam unmananam ajapā-upasaṃhāram ity abhidhīyate

In the filaments, the waking state. In the seed-pod at the center, dream. In the liṅga, deep sleep. On leaving the lotus, the fourth. When hamsa is absorbed in the inner sound, that is called the state beyond the fourth, the transcendence of mind, the conclusion of the unrecited mantra.

kesara, karṇikā: the filaments, and the seed-pod at the center of a lotus. karṇikā means the pericarp, and also the center
liṅga: a mark or sign. Probably means the innermost point of the lotus. One edition reads bīja, the seed, here
turīya: the fourth, after waking, dream and deep sleep. The Mandukya Upanishad calls it caturtha, and later teaching calls it turīya
turya-atīta: beyond the fourth. atīta, gone beyond
unmanana: the transcendence of mind. ut, beyond; manana, thinking, from manas, mind
ajapā-upasaṃhāra: the conclusion of the unrecited mantra. ajapā, not recited, the mantra that repeats itself with the breath; upasaṃhāra, a drawing in, a closing. The repetition comes to its end

Passage 4

The tenth sound (second section)

दशमो मेघनादः । नवमं परित्यज्य दशममेवाभ्यसेत् ।

daśamo meghanādaḥ | navamaṃ parityajya daśamam evābhyaset

The tenth is the sound of thunder. Leaving the ninth aside, one should practice only the tenth.

nāda: sound, here the inner sound the text says is heard in deep concentration
meghanāda: the sound of a thundercloud. megha, cloud; nāda, sound
navamaṃ parityajya: leaving the ninth aside. parityajya, having left. The Sanskrit names only the ninth, but one reading takes it as going to the tenth without the earlier nine
abhyaset: should practice, repeatedly. abhi-as, to practice

What the rest of the text covers

Where	What it covers
The opening exchange	Gautama asks Sanatkumara how the knowledge of Brahman arises. Sanatkumara answers with a teaching from Parvati, which he calls a secret and a treasure for yogis.
First section, after passage 1	A practice of drawing the breath up through the body's energy centers to the crown of the head, then meditating on the Self there.
Second section, after passage 2	The placing of the mantra on the body, and meditation on hamsa in the heart lotus as a swan whose wings are Agni and Soma, whose head is AUM and whose feet are Rudra and Rudrani.
Second section, before passage 3	Eight movements of the mind, one for each petal of the lotus: virtue, sleep and laziness, cruelty, wrongdoing, play, wandering, pleasure and gathering wealth, with indifference to pleasure at the center.
Second section, between passages 3 and 4	The ten inner sounds, from a thin ringing to thunder, and what each is said to bring.
The close	The mind dissolving, merit and wrong both burned away, and the Self shining as pure, awake, eternal and at peace.