HomeGlossaryhamsa

hamsa

हंस haṃsa

The swan or wild goose, mount of Saraswati, said to separate milk from water: the emblem of viveka, discernment of true from false.

Where this term appears

  • How to Read a Murti Deities

    …r tiger means Durga, the warrior Goddess; the swan or wild goose, the hamsa , means Saraswati and Brahma; the mouse means Ganesha; the peacock means Murugan; the owl means Lakshmi.

  • Who is Saraswati? Deities

    Her mount is the hamsa , the swan or wild goose, which the tradition credits with the power to separate milk from water when the two are mixed, the perfect emblem of viveka , the discernment that tells the true…

  • The Twelve Jyotirlingas Temples

    Brahma takes the form of a swan, hamsa , and flies upward to find its crown.

  • Brahma, Brahman, Brahmin: what's the difference? Journal

    He is pictured with four heads, usually read as the four Vedas he utters, seated on a lotus, riding a haṃsa , the goose or swan, with the goddess Sarasvati as his consort.

  • Nyasa As Architecture Treatise

    Srividyayukta - joined with the Sri Vidya mantra itself. Hamsamatrika - with the Hamsa breath-mantra.

  • Soham: The Mantra of the Breath Treatise

    And hamsa means "the swan," the bird that has been, since the Vedas, the symbol of the liberated soul, the one who moves between the worlds and is at home in neither, who can, the old image says, separate milk …

  • The Manuals Treatise

    … that differ from what the Paramananda Tantra , the Para Tantra , the Hamsa Maheshwara , and the Kadi Mata preserve as correct.

  • Two Worships, Four Yagas Treatise

    …, the breath that runs in Sa on the inhale and Ham on the exhale (the Hamsa - I am That - that the practitioner’s breath performs 21,600 times across a day and night without the practitioner deciding to perform…

Related terms

← All terms · Search the site