Land of the Hamsas: A Holy Pilgrimage
I travelled from the foothills of the Himalayas, from the sacred city of Hardwar to Rishikesh which houses the ashrams of spiritual masters like Swami Shivananda, Dayanand Saraswati and Ramakrishna. I continued, on to Rudraprayag, at the confluence of the Alaknanda and Mandakini rivers and from there to Deva and Vishnu Prayag. Walking on the beaten paths leading up to higher regions, suffused with the smell of pine cones and wild berries, I felt a nostalgia which revived yogic memories of a land far so away and yet so near. It was the land of the Hamsas, the swans who took flight in samadhi to reach their beloved Lord. Hamsa yogis are believed to exist even today in the Himalayan region and it was to their abode in the rarer regions that I made my pilgrimage. What's life about anyway, I mused. Suddenly I found myself in a dream within a dream universe. The universe was but a pale phantom of a deeper order. Ever engaged in spiritual practices and meditations, these yogis were called Ham sa or Swan, represented for the inhaled and the exhaled breath of one's self. The 'Ham' syllable is meditated upon as our breath is exhaled and the 'Sah', as our breath is inhaled. This is a Hamsa Sadhana (practice) laid down in the yogic book of the Gheranda Samhita. The Vigyan Bhairava text says the opposite- that the inhaled breath is 'Ham and exhaled is 'Sah', but Gorakshanath put an end to the confusion saying that the mental chanting of Ham-Sah could be done either way. He emphasised meditating on the still gap between the 'Ham' and the 'Sah'. As the gap lengthens, our mind stills into consciousness and the yogi achieves kevali kumbak to enter samadhi, of the here and now. I was on the path to Badrinath where I paid my respects to Sanatana Rishi Narayan, and to the Siddha undernath. The legendary yogi Sundernath meditated in a cave near the temple of Badrinath. Before I entered the cave, I saw a Margosa tree. It was bent in the meditative posture of the yogi. This tree usually has bitter leaves but as I plucked the leaves and put them in my mouth, I was surprised for they tasted sweet. A similar tree with sweet leaves is to be found near the samadhi of Shirdi Baba at Shirdi, Maharashtra. I had to bend low to enter the cave. As I sat down the powerful currents of Sundernath engulfed me. Within moments I was transported. I could not have the much desired vision of the great yogi, but I did receive his blessings in the form of dazzling light. This pushed my consciousness to higher dimensions. When Sundernath performed tapas in a cave near Badrinath temple, the place reportedly vibrated with his spiritual intensi ty. One day some miscreants came into the cave and found Raja Sundernath in samadhi. To test his yogic state of trance they placed a burning charcoal on his thigh. The king of yogis didn't budge for he was out of his body in samadhi. The burning coal went deep into his thigh. On descending from his heightened state of awareness the yogi saw his thigh all burnt. With compassion, he blessed the boys for they had created a context whereby the yogi knew that he could never be shaken or diverted from his practice and communion with God. From Badrinath I set out, searching for the Hamsas and the land of the Hamsas. How could these yogis survive in such cold snowy regions? The following day I set off to Vasundhara waterfalls, Chakratirth and to the Satopant glacier.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Ezekiel Isaac Malekar views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Ezekiel Isaac Malekar and Speaking Tree,Times of India
Land of the Hamsas: A Holy Pilgrimage
I travelled from the foothills of the Himalayas, from the sacred city of Hardwar to Rishikesh which houses the ashrams of spiritual masters like Swami Shivananda, Dayanand Saraswati and Ramakrishna. I continued, on to Rudraprayag, at the confluence of the Alaknanda and Mandakini rivers and from there to Deva and Vishnu Prayag. Walking on the beaten paths leading up to higher regions, suffused with the smell of pine cones and wild berries, I felt a nostalgia which revived yogic memories of a land far so away and yet so near. It was the land of the Hamsas, the swans who took flight in samadhi to reach their beloved Lord. Hamsa yogis are believed to exist even today in the Himalayan region and it was to their abode in the rarer regions that I made my pilgrimage. What's life about anyway, I mused. Suddenly I found myself in a dream within a dream universe. The universe was but a pale phantom of a deeper order. Ever engaged in spiritual practices and meditations, these yogis were called Ham sa or Swan, represented for the inhaled and the exhaled breath of one's self. The 'Ham' syllable is meditated upon as our breath is exhaled and the 'Sah', as our breath is inhaled. This is a Hamsa Sadhana (practice) laid down in the yogic book of the Gheranda Samhita. The Vigyan Bhairava text says the opposite- that the inhaled breath is 'Ham and exhaled is 'Sah', but Gorakshanath put an end to the confusion saying that the mental chanting of Ham-Sah could be done either way. He emphasised meditating on the still gap between the 'Ham' and the 'Sah'. As the gap lengthens, our mind stills into consciousness and the yogi achieves kevali kumbak to enter samadhi, of the here and now. I was on the path to Badrinath where I paid my respects to Sanatana Rishi Narayan, and to the Siddha undernath. The legendary yogi Sundernath meditated in a cave near the temple of Badrinath. Before I entered the cave, I saw a Margosa tree. It was bent in the meditative posture of the yogi. This tree usually has bitter leaves but as I plucked the leaves and put them in my mouth, I was surprised for they tasted sweet. A similar tree with sweet leaves is to be found near the samadhi of Shirdi Baba at Shirdi, Maharashtra. I had to bend low to enter the cave. As I sat down the powerful currents of Sundernath engulfed me. Within moments I was transported. I could not have the much desired vision of the great yogi, but I did receive his blessings in the form of dazzling light. This pushed my consciousness to higher dimensions. When Sundernath performed tapas in a cave near Badrinath temple, the place reportedly vibrated with his spiritual intensi ty. One day some miscreants came into the cave and found Raja Sundernath in samadhi. To test his yogic state of trance they placed a burning charcoal on his thigh. The king of yogis didn't budge for he was out of his body in samadhi. The burning coal went deep into his thigh. On descending from his heightened state of awareness the yogi saw his thigh all burnt. With compassion, he blessed the boys for they had created a context whereby the yogi knew that he could never be shaken or diverted from his practice and communion with God. From Badrinath I set out, searching for the Hamsas and the land of the Hamsas. How could these yogis survive in such cold snowy regions? The following day I set off to Vasundhara waterfalls, Chakratirth and to the Satopant glacier.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Ezekiel Isaac Malekar views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it.
Courtesy: Ezekiel Isaac Malekar and Speaking Tree,Times of India