Golden Lay Verses

Verse 288 (மந்திர வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

ஹம்ஸமடா ஸோகமடா ஹம்ஸஸ் ஸோகம்

அகந்தையகன் றிடும்பரமா ஹந்த யோகம்

ஹம்ஸமடா ஸாகமடா ஹம்ஸஸ் ஸாகம்

அம்பகனு மம்பிகையும் அணைவை போகம்

ஹம்ஸமடா பரமஹம்ஸ ஹம்ஸஸ் வாஹம்

அனந்தநவா னந்தபரா னந்த யோகம்

த்வம்ஸமடா பாவமெலாம் ஸ்வம்ஸ ஸ்நேகம்

ஸ்வம்ஸமடா ஸகஜமடா ஹம்ஸ நாகம்

Transliteration

hamsamaḍā sōgamaḍā hamsas sōgam

akantaiyakan ṟiḍumparamā hanta yōgam

hamsamaḍā sāgamaḍā hamsas sāgam

ampakanu mampikaiyum aṇaivai pōgam

hamsamaḍā paramahamsa hamsas vāham

anantanavā nantaparā nanta yōgam

tvamsamaḍā pāvamelām svamsa snēkam

svamsamaḍā sakajamaḍā hamsa nāgam

Literal Translation

“Hamsa—(it is) not sorrow; sorrow—(it is) not; Hamsa’s (word is) ‘soham’.

The supreme ‘slaying’ yoga that cuts down ego.

Hamsa—(it is) not death; death—(it is) not; Hamsa’s (state is) deathless.

Ambakan (the three‑eyed Lord) and Ambikai (the Goddess) embrace—(that) is bliss/pleasure.

Hamsa—Paramahamsa; Hamsa’s vāham (vehicle/flow/ride).

Endless ‘nava‑ānanda’, supreme ānanda—(that) yoga.

Dhvaṁsa (destruction): all sins; svāṁsa (one’s own breath) is affection/love.

Svāṁsa—sahaja (natural/spontaneous); Hamsa—nāga (serpent).”

Interpretive Translation

When the breath is known as the Hamsa/“soham” mantra, grief and the fear of death are negated. This is the ‘supreme ego‑slaying yoga’: the sense of “I” is cut down. In that inner practice, Śiva (Ambakan) and Śakti (Ambikai) are said to unite, producing bliss. The practitioner becomes a Paramahamsa, carried by the ‘vehicle/stream’ of Hamsa (the regulated, mantra‑marked breath). From this arises an unending, ever‑renewed (or ninefold) bliss—ānanda yoga. As the breath becomes one’s intimate ally, sins are ‘destroyed’; the practice matures into sahaja (effortless, natural) yoga, and the Hamsa breath moves like a nāga—suggesting the serpentine rise of prāṇa/kuṇḍalinī.

Philosophical Explanation

This verse is built on Siddhar wordplay around the ajapa‑japa mantra of the breath: “haṁsa / so’ham” (often heard as the natural sound of inhalation and exhalation). By saying “Hamsa—not sorrow; not death,” the text points to a yogic claim: when attention is anchored in the breath‑mantra and prāṇa is mastered, ordinary mental afflictions (grief, fear, agitation) and the identification with mortality loosen.

The line on “ego‑slaying yoga” frames the practice as primarily anti‑ahaṅkāra: not merely breath control, but a method for dissolving the possessive ‘I’ that appropriates experience. In Siddhar idiom, this is the essential alchemy—transforming the coarse sense of self into a more subtle, non‑grasping awareness.

The Śiva–Śakti embrace is a standard cryptic shorthand: (1) metaphysically, non‑dual union of consciousness and power; (2) yogically, convergence of iḍā–piṅgalā into suṣumṇā, or the balancing of prāṇa and apāna; (3) psycho‑physically, the pacification of polarity (heat/cool, active/receptive) culminating in bliss (ānanda).

“Paramahamsa” signals the culmination: the ‘supreme swan’ who discerns essence from non‑essence (the traditional swan‑metaphor) and abides in a liberated, breath‑borne awareness. “Vāham” can mean a literal vehicle (the swan as carrier) or the flow/current by which one is carried—suggesting that the practitioner is ‘borne along’ by the purified breath‑stream.

“Svāṁsa” (one’s own breath) becoming “sneham” (love/affection) indicates intimacy with prāṇa: the breath is no longer an unconscious habit but a trusted companion and a subtle medicine. “Dhvaṁsa of sins” should be read both morally (impurities/karma) and therapeutically (habitual disturbances). The final “Hamsa–nāga” compresses a physiological symbol: prāṇa moving in a serpentine way, hinting at kuṇḍalinī dynamics or the ‘snake‑like’ ascent of vital force when the breath becomes sahaja (spontaneous) and centered.

Key Concepts

  • Haṁsa / So’ham (ajapa mantra of the breath)
  • Prāṇa and svāṁsa (one’s own breath) as yogic instrument
  • Ahaṅkāra (ego) destruction / “ego‑slaying yoga”
  • Freedom from sorrow and fear of death (psychic liberation)
  • Śiva–Śakti union (nondual/polarity integration; iḍā–piṅgalā–suṣumṇā reading)
  • Paramahaṁsa (culminated yogin; discriminative ‘swan’ symbolism)
  • Ānanda yoga (bliss as sign and fruit of integration)
  • Dhvaṁsa (destruction) of pāpa (sins/impurities/karma)
  • Sahaja (natural, effortless maturation of practice)
  • Nāga/serpent imagery (serpentine prāṇa; possible kuṇḍalinī hint)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “ஹம்ஸஸ் ஸோகம்” can be read as ‘Hamsa’s (word is) soham’ (reversal identity) or as a deliberately paradoxical coupling of ‘Hamsa’ and ‘sorrow’ to be negated.
  • “மடா” may function as a colloquial vocative/particle or as a negating/denying emphasis in Siddhar diction; the lines can read like emphatic denials (‘not sorrow, not death’) or like addressed imperatives.
  • “வாஹம்” can mean a literal ‘vehicle’ (mythic swan imagery) or ‘flow/current’ (the breath‑stream carrying awareness).
  • “நவா னந்த” may mean ‘nine ānandas’ (a graded schema of bliss) or ‘ever‑new bliss’ (nava = new), and the verse keeps this open.
  • “அம்பகன்” and “அம்பிகை” can be read theologically as Śiva and the Goddess, or yogically as complementary energies/channels whose ‘embrace’ indicates centralization in suṣumṇā.
  • “ஹம்ஸ நாகம்” can be read as (a) breath moving like a serpent (physiological metaphor), (b) kuṇḍalinī rising, or (c) a cryptic name for a specific internal vāyu/naḍī dynamic; the text does not pin it down.