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Kriya Yoga/Advaita Vedanta
mantrams specifically taught within the Advaita Vedanta tradition that I have been initiated into. They belong to the spiritual heritage, and the guru lineage, that I am part of. There are essentially three mantrams in this tradition that represent gradations, or levels, of experience. The first is called hamsa, or hong swa. The hong is pronounced like gong, or song, and swa is pronounced shaw, as in George Bernard Shaw, though it is written as hamsa. Hamsa means the swan. Do you know what is special about the swanand why it is used as a symbol of spirituality?
L.M.: The swan is in the water but not of it, and its feathers stay dry.
S. SHANK: Yes, but it is also credited with being able to separate cream from milk. This is a sign of discrimination. This is intrinsic to the yoga tradition and to spiritual guidance. We must cultivate spiritual discernment, or discrimination, to know the truth. We must be able to separate truth from untruth-or by analogy, the cream, or the essence, from the ocean of milk. Now, we don't know who first revealed this hamsa meditation technique. There are however several references to hamsa in the Svetasvatara Upanishad, which is one of the major ones. And its two references to hamsa clearly indicate that he, Brahma, or the creator, is hamsa. The scripture says that through hamsa meditation, all limitations and delusions are dispelled. Man regains the consciousness of immortality and bliss. It adds that he, Brahma, is dwelling in the city of nine gates—the human body has nine gates, openings, or portals. And Brahma enjoys and perceives the world through these nine gates of the body. That's all it says. The text doesn't explain how the practice was done, and the reason is that when these techniques were given, they were taught only to those who were regarded as qualified—and having been tested. The guru and disciple, or the teacher and student, had to be sure—and the student himself had to be certain that he was ready.
L.M.: So there was a long apprenticeship.
S. SHANK: Yes, yes.
L.M.: And that was before initiation into hamsa?
S. SHANK: The teacher had to discern this and determine the time when the student was ready. The student would have to repeatedly ask for hamsa
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