Haṃsa Gītā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa)

The Haṃsa Gītā is a teaching from the 11th Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa. The great ṛshis (seers) ask Brahmā a hard question about the mind, bondage and liberation. Brahmā cannot answer it, so he meditates on Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu then appears before the assembly as a haṃsa, a shining white swan, and answers.

The teaching says that the mind is the cause of both bondage and liberation. It also says that only steady discrimination between the ātmā (the self) and what is not the self, joined with firm devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu, dissolves the mind’s hold.

The question at Satyaloka

The four Sanakādi ṛshis, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanātana and Sanatkumāra, had come to Satyaloka, the world of Brahmā. Other great yogīs were with them. They put a question to Brahmā that stands at the very edge of what the Vedas discuss.

They said: “The mind, manas, is the one who experiences, the one who is bound and the one who is freed. But what exactly is it? When it turns outward to the objects of the senses, saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death) arises. When it turns inward to the ātmā, liberation arises. Yet it is the same mind in both cases. What is the true nature of this mind? And what is the best means to turn it towards liberation?”

Brahmā knows all about creation and the order of the worlds. But he saw that this question belongs to a field of pure consciousness that is beyond his own field. He sat in meditation. Bhagavān Vishṇu appeared before the assembly in the form of a Haṃsa, a great swan, white and shining, moving on an unseen current of supreme stillness.

The nature of the mind

The Haṃsa spoke: “The mind, manas, arises from the sattva-guṇa (the quality of clarity) of ahaṅkāra (the sense of ‘I’). It is the meeting point of consciousness and matter. It is the place where the reflection of the ātmā, which is pure light, falls on the substance of prakṛti (nature). In itself the mind has no light. It borrows its seeming consciousness from the ātmā, as a mirror borrows the light of the sun.

“When the mind moves towards the objects of the senses, it takes the shape of those objects and seems to become them. When the jīva (the embodied being) takes itself to be this movement of the mind, it believes: ‘I am hungry,’ ‘I am grieving,’ ‘I am joyful.’ But these are states of the mind, not of the ātmā. The ātmā is touched by no state.

“So the mind is the cause of saṃsāra when it flows outward. It is the cause of moksha (liberation) when it turns inward to its own source. This inward turn is what the Vedas call jñāna (knowledge). The clear recognition that one is the witness of the mind, and not the mind itself, is the act of liberation.”

The waking, dreaming and deep-sleep states

The Haṃsa went on: “The ātmā is present in all three states as their witness. The three states are jāgrat (waking), svapna (dream) and sushupti (deep sleep). In the waking state the mind meets outer objects through the ten senses. In the dream state the mind makes its own world from stored impressions. In deep sleep both mind and senses dissolve. Only the ātmā, the pure sākshin (witness), remains.

“A person knows: ‘I was present in deep sleep. I felt its peace. I came out of it refreshed.’ The witness-consciousness that knows this is the ātmā. It is not born with the waking state and it is not destroyed by sleep. It is the fourth, turīya. It is the ground of all three states and is never itself a state.

“Meditation is the practice of resting in this turīya awareness while the three states rise and pass away.”

The means of liberation

The ṛshis asked: “What is the exact means by which the mind is brought under control and the ātmā is realised?”

The Haṃsa answered: “The foremost means is to hear about me, my names, my forms and my deeds, with śraddhā (faith) and growing love. This hearing, śravaṇa, slowly cleans the mind of its tamasic and rajasic impurities, as a vessel is made clean by washing again and again. When the mind has become pure enough through this hearing, manana becomes possible. This is deep reflection on the truth that one has heard. From manana, nididhyāsana arises by itself. This is unbroken contemplation of the ātmā.

“The last obstacle is the sense of being the doer and the enjoyer. These are ahaṅkāra and mamakāra (the sense of ‘mine’). They are cut by the sword of viveka (discrimination), held with the support of bhakti (devotion). Bhakti without jñāna tends to turn into attachment, even to the form of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Jñāna without bhakti tends to turn dry and abstract, and the mind cannot hold to it. Together they are complete.

“I am the ātmā of all beings. I am the knower inside every knower and the witness behind every seeing. To know this, not only as an idea but as a living fact, is moksha.”

Brahmā’s reply

After hearing the Haṃsa’s teaching, Brahmā folded his hands and said: “Now I understand why I could not answer this question myself. This knowledge is not made by the creator. It is the creator’s source. It comes before all creation. I bow to you, the Haṃsa, who have dissolved my doubt.”

The swan then went away as quietly and as brightly as it had come. The assembly of ṛshis was left in deep stillness.

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 11th Skanda, Chapter 13