Haṁsa means swan. Haṁsa is formed out of two words haṁ and sa. It is also pronounced as haṁsaḥ. In that case, the two words would be haṁ and saḥ. This mantra represents the union of Śiva and Śakti or Brahman and His Power. This mantra also represents our breathing pattern. Haṁ represents exhalation of prāṇa and saḥ represents inhalation of prāṇa. For a human being normal breathing rate per day is 21,600 times. Breathing rate is directly related to purity of mind. When breathing rate slows down, mind attains purity. Thus haṁsaḥ represents our normal breathing pattern. This is known as haṁsa mantra, which conveys mahāvākya “Tat-tvam-asi” (I am That or I am Brahman or Śivoham). Haṁ represents aham (I) and saḥ represents That (Brahman). This mantra is considered as the highest mantra for meditation, as it is aligned with one’s breath. When the mind is fixed on the breath, mind is not afflicted by worldly thoughts, leading to purification of the mind, which is a prerequisite for Self-realization.
If haṁ and saḥ are reversed, Kuṇḍalinī is awakened. We have seen above that haṁ represents exhalation of prāṇa and saḥ represents inhalation of prāṇa. This has to be reversed leading to mantra sohaṁ, where exhalation is ‘so’ and inhalation is ‘haṁ’. It would be ideal to visualise this breathing pattern in suṣumna, and simultaneously concentrating on tip of the nose.
If one attains perfection in haṁsa mantra, he becomes a realized yogi. He enters the sixth stage of consciousness known as unmanī (transcending mind). Uttaragīta says,
अनन्तकर्मशौचं च जपो यमस्तथैव च।
तीर्थयात्रादिगमनं यावतत्त्वं न विन्दति॥
anantakarmaśaucaṁ ca japo yamastathaiva ca |
tīrthayātrādigamanaṁ yāvatattvaṁ na vindati ||
For such a person, no purification rituals, no japa, no mantra, no sacrificial rites, no pilgrimage, etc. are necessary, as Brahman does not need any rituals as He (It) is eternally pure. A practitioner has reached this stage by dissolving his mind into intellect, intellect into ego, ego into individual consciousness and individual consciousness into Brahman. This is also known as absorption. The individual self or soul is limited by antaḥkaraṇa and once antaḥkaraṇa is dissolved, māyā goes away, revealing Brahman within. It is only the afflicted mind that considers individual self as different from Brahman. Such a yogi never worships shapes and forms. He is the one who remains in the state of unmanī, when his mind, knowledge and ego are completely dissolved and remains eternally absorbed into That.
July 28, 2016 06:16 PM
Dear Raviji, In one your old discussions, viz. AMNAYAS, your advice to those who are initiated to Panchadasi alone, was to limit themselves with the first 4 Amnayas.
The Hamsah mantra is related to Uttaraamnaya, which is beyond this limit. Am I right ? Or Is this discussion meant only for those at higher levels?
July 28, 2016 06:28 PM
That is under different context. Here it is related to Self-realization, which is beyond everything else. Henceforth, there will be few articles on higher spiritual attainment which will overrule all Scriptural dictums.
December 18, 2016 11:19 PM
How does one practice Hamsa meditation, which of the following would be the correct approach 1 - Chanting Hamsa (Ha during exhalation then contemplate during internal kumbhaka and Sa during inhalation and contemplation of Sa during external kumbaka) 2 - Soham (So during inhalation then contemplate during internal kumbhaka and ham during exhalation and contemplation of ham during external kumbaka) 3 - Soham Hamsa (Soham during inhalation and Hamsa during exhalation) 4 - Hamsa Soham (Hamsa during inhalation and Soham during exhalation) 5 - Soham Hamsa (So - inhale, ham - exhale, ham - inhale and sa - exhale and vice versa for Hamsa Soham)
December 19, 2016 10:05 AM
"ha" for exhalation and "sa" for inhalation. In this, we have to watch our breath only.
July 31, 2020 12:05 AM
Good day, good luck Varalakshmi Pooja and I want to ask you about Hamsa Mantra and your articles you wrote that - ,, haṁ represents exhalation of prāṇa and saḥ represents inhalation of prāṇa '' that is exhale - Ham, inhale - sa. But in Vijnana Bhairava Tantra in verse 155 it is written to do Hamsa mantra on the contrary, ie inhale - Ham, exhale - sa. How is it right? https://archive.org/details/vijnanabhairavtantra/page/n43/mode/2up ?
July 31, 2020 11:39 AM
Different authors have explained this differently. I have written in my Vijnana Bhairava articles - "In a day (day and night consisting of 24 hours), a person inhales and exhales 21,600 times and this is the true mantra (ha at the time inhalation and sa at the time of exhalation. The continuous concentration on these subtle sounds gives rise to the inherent mantra ‘soham’ and this is known as a-japa, which means no japa. When the japa is happening inwardly and perpetually, where is the necessity of other mantra japas? 21600 breaths are meant for normal human beings."