Swan

 

The Hamsah swan

alights without a whisper

on the still heart's lake.

 
“Hamsah” means both 

swan and soul

in the first language 

of meditation.


We received this mantra

at our birth,

the highest initiation.


Breathe in “Ham.” 

It means I Am.

Welcome the grace

of pure Being,

for your existence is nothing

but grace.


Breathe out “Sah,”

it means the Divine.

Give yourself back to the Giver.

She who spins the galaxies

from silence spins you.


Friend, why are you here?

To make an offering

of your whirling body

to the one who enfolds

every atom with a kiss,

and kneads each

particle of no-thing

into gristle and bone.


Friend, why are you here?

To take a journey

of one exhalation

into the humble valley

under your breastbone

and plant the seed of Christ.


Now root down in silence.

Fold the swan-winged syllables

into a spaceless bindhu

where inward and outward

are one stillness,

I and Thou dissolve

into feathered wonder.


Surely you know, before the Word,

“Let there be light,”

each creature already rests

in the Creator.

This is the time to become 

not merely a human

but a human Being.


It's no secret any more.

Just to breathe

is the purest worship,

and every breath

is God's name.
______________________

A poem on the Hamsah mantra, which you may use as a meditation. "Hamsah" means both "swan" and "soul" in Sanskrit. Yet the sound "Ham'Sah" is also an ancient Vedic mantra, which the Upanishads declare to be the natural sound of our respiration, and to hear it is the most natural meditation: breathing in 'Ham, "I Am," breathing out Sah, meaning "She." Who is She? She is the Goddess Shakti, the Holy Spirit, activating power of God creating the universe. She dwells in your body as this very breath. You may listen to this poem HERE.

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