________________
SWAMI SHANKARANANDA
One who loves unconditionally, does not limit that love to only a few. The same is true with these techniques. If these meditation techniques were lost, and did not continue to be taught by a guru line, I am certain that others would emerge. For when the need is great, the prayer is answered.
In a nutshell then, the philosophy of hamsa meditation that the early revealers of it taught—is that hamsa means essentially this: I am swa, I am that. The realization came to the yogi that swa means that. I, the meditator, went into that—that for which there is no name. In our Vedantic tradition, God was not called God originally. God was simply called tat—t, a, t—that. The word God is a much later coinage.
L.M.: That thou art, say the Upanishads.
S. SHANK: That thou art: “Tat tvam asi.” Hamsa means I am that. In a circular way, as man continued meditating on that truth he came back to: I am that, hamsa, or I am swa-and, to swa: that I am. The emphasis had started shifting from the meditator who is going within, who is seeking the truth, and who is connecting with that-to the realization of that which I am meditating upon.
L.M.: That is really great.
S. SHANK: Exactly. Wow. Isn't it exciting and exhilirating? So that which I have been seeking, I am that. Moses had the same revelation when he went up to the mountaintop to ask God: God, what is your name? What do you hear in that question?
L.M.: I am who am.
S. SHANK: Why would he ask God, what is your name, if God had been the ultimate name—if Moses believed that God was indeed the name of God?
L.M.: It only points the way.
S. SHANK: Yes, yes; so he realized that what is called God in his tradition was not all of God. There had to be more to the identity of God. Now you remember that he had to remove his shoes: “Take off your shoes for the place whereon you stand is holy.”
101
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
