Srimad Bhagavata Purana

Hamsa Gita - The Song of the Divine Swan

हंस गीता

श्रीहंसगीता

28 versesChapter 1

Themes

Verses · श्लोक

Verses 1–13

The Interwoven Mind & Object

Mana-Viṣaya-Bandhana

Verse 1

looking backwardthe question at the endyadāstory as answerframe verse

श्रीउद्धव उवाच । यदा त्वं सनकादिभ्यो येन रूपेण केशव । योगमादिष्टवानेतद् रूपमिच्छामि वेदितुम् ॥१३-१५॥

śrī-uddhava uvāca | yadā tvaṁ sanakādibhyo yena rūpeṇa keśava | yogam ādiṣṭavān etad rūpam icchāmi veditum ||13-15||

Uddhava said: Keshava, I wish to know the form in which you once instructed Sanaka and the other sons of Brahma in this yoga.

Modern Reflection

The Hamsa Gita begins with a request to look backward. Uddhava is at the end of his time with Krishna. Krishna is leaving the world. In this moment Uddhava asks not about the future, not about the present grief, but about an old teaching given to other students long ago. The Indian instinct in serious moments is to reach back. The whole Hamsa Gita is the answer to a backward-looking question. The grammar of the verse is precise: yadā, when. Uddhava is asking about an event located in time, with a specific form involved. The teaching that follows is anchored to that specificity.

Verse 2

the final questionekāntikī gatimānasa putrasearned questionsthe Kumaras

श्रीभगवानुवाच । पुत्रा हिरण्यगर्भस्य मानसाः सनकादयः । पप्रच्छुः पितरं सूक्ष्मां योगस्यैकान्तिकीं गतिम् ॥१३-१६॥

śrī-bhagavān uvāca | putrā hiraṇya-garbhasya mānasāḥ sanakādayaḥ | papracchuḥ pitaraṁ sūkṣmāṁ yogasyaikāntikīṁ gatim ||13-16||

The Lord said: Sanaka and his brothers, the mind-born sons of Hiranyagarbha, once asked their father about the subtle, final stage of yoga.

Modern Reflection

The four Kumaras (Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, Sanatkumara) are Brahma's mind-born sons. The Indian word is mānasa, from the mind. They are not the children of any womb. They have remained five-year-olds forever, by their own choice, and they have spent their existence meditating. The verse calls them sanaka-ādayaḥ, Sanaka and the others, the same compound used for all four of them in the Bhagavata. The question they ask is sūkṣmā ekāntikī gati, the subtle final stage. They do not want introductory yoga. They want the last step. Indian pedagogy honours this: when a student is ready, the question is allowed.

Verse 3THE Kumaras' question - the mind-object loop

mind object loopthe Kumaras questionmumukṣuatititīrṣufamous question

गुणेषु आविशच्चित्तं गुणाश्चित्ते च सत्प्रभो । कथमन्योन्यसन्त्यागो मुमुक्षोरतितितीर्षोः ॥१३-१७॥

guṇeṣv āviśac cittaṁ guṇāś citte ca sat-prabho | katham anyonya-santyāgo mumukṣor atititīrṣoḥ ||13-17||

True lord, the mind enters into sense objects, and sense objects enter the mind. For one who wants liberation, who wishes to cross beyond, how can these two be separated from each other?

Modern Reflection

This is the question that triggered the entire Hamsa Gita. It is one of the most precise descriptions of the central human problem in Indian philosophy. The mind goes out to things. Things come in and lodge in the mind. The two feed each other in a loop. The Kumaras are asking: how is the loop broken? Their father Brahma could not answer. The question has stood for thousands of years and is still the question every meditator asks in the second week of practice. The Sanskrit makes the loop visible: guṇeṣu āviśat cittaṁ, guṇāḥ citte. The mind into the objects, the objects into the mind. The two clauses are designed to mirror each other in the verse.

Verse 4

karma dhīthe busy mind cannot answerBrahma stuckpraśna bījastop to find the root

एवं पृष्टो महादेवः स्वयम्भूर्भूतभावनः । ध्यायमानः प्रश्नबीजं नाभ्यपद्यत कर्मधीः ॥१३-१८॥

evaṁ pṛṣṭo mahādevaḥ svayambhūr bhūta-bhāvanaḥ | dhyāyamānaḥ praśna-bījaṁ nābhyapadyata karma-dhīḥ ||13-18||

Being asked this question, the great self-born god, the creator of beings, meditated on it. But his mind was so occupied with the work of creation that he could not arrive at the root of the question.

Modern Reflection

Brahma is the creator. He is the highest figure in the Bhagavata's cosmology short of Vishnu. He is also, in this verse, defeated. The Sanskrit phrase karma-dhīḥ is precise: his intelligence was occupied with action, with the work of making the world. He could not stop creating long enough to find the root of the question. Indian narrative is not afraid to show its gods stuck. The verse is honest: even the creator's mind can be too busy for the deepest question. The Hamsa Gita's first lesson, before the swan even arrives, is that the question cannot be answered by a mind still working.

Verse 5The swan appears - the form fits the question

śaraṇāgatithe form is the lessonhamsa appearsthe creator stops creatingpraśna pāra

स मामचिन्तयद्देवः प्रश्नपारतितीर्षया । तस्याहं हंसरूपेण सकाशमगमं तदा ॥१३-१९॥

sa mām acintayad devaḥ praśna-pāra-titīrṣayā | tasyāhaṁ haṁsa-rūpeṇa sakāśam agamaṁ tadā ||13-19||

Brahma then meditated on me, with the desire to cross to the far shore of the question. I came near him in the form of a swan.

Modern Reflection

Two things matter in this verse. First, Brahma stopped. He could not solve the problem with his own creative mind, so he turned and meditated on the one whose mind is not occupied with creation. Indian thought has a name for this turn: śaraṇāgati, the act of taking refuge. The creator of the universe takes refuge in the source of the universe. Second, the form that arrived was specific. Hamsa, swan. The Indian swan is the bird that can drink the milk and leave the water behind. The Kumaras had asked how to separate two intermingled things. The form of the answer was already the answer. The verse teaches that the right teacher is one whose body is the lesson.

Verse 6

who are youthe child questionko bhavānapproach with formpāda abhivandanam

दृष्ट्वा मां त उपव्रज्य कृत्वा पादाभिवन्दनम् । ब्रह्माणमग्रतः कृत्वा पप्रच्छुः को भवानिति ॥१३-२०॥

dṛṣṭvā māṁ ta upavrajya kṛtvā pādābhivandanam | brahmāṇam agrataḥ kṛtvā papracchuḥ ko bhavān iti ||13-20||

Seeing me, they approached and bowed at my feet. Placing Brahma at the front of their group, they asked: who are you?

Modern Reflection

The Kumaras have been searching their whole long lives for this teaching. When the teacher finally arrives, the first thing they say is not a sophisticated query. It is the simplest question in any language: ko bhavān, who are you. The verse is doing something Indian philosophy does often. The question that opens the highest teaching is the question a child asks. The Kumaras, who chose to remain five-year-olds, ask the five-year-old question. The whole of the swan's teaching will be the answer.

Verse 7

transition to teachingtattva jijñāsunibodhaearned listeningthe frame closes

इत्यहं मुनिभिः पृष्टस्तत्त्वजिज्ञासुभिस्तदा । यदवोचमहं तेभ्यस्तदुद्धव निबोध मे ॥१३-२१॥

ity ahaṁ munibhiḥ pṛṣṭas tattva-jijñāsubhis tadā | yad avocam ahaṁ tebhyas tad uddhava nibodha me ||13-21||

Asked thus by the sages who wished to know the truth, Uddhava, hear from me what I then said to them.

Modern Reflection

Krishna has finished framing the story. The next twenty verses will be the actual teaching he gave the Kumaras as the swan. The verse is a transition. The Sanskrit compound tattva-jijñāsu, those eager to know the truth, names a category in Indian philosophy. Not everyone qualifies. The Kumaras did. The verse implies that Uddhava does too. Indian pedagogy is candid about qualification. Some teachings can only be given to those who have shown they want them at the right level. The swan is about to speak only because his listeners are tattva-jijñāsu.

Verse 8

the question contains the answeranānātvano multiplicityopening movevastunaḥ anānātve

श्रीभगवानुवाच । वस्तुनो यद्यनानात्व आत्मनः प्रश्न ईदृशः । कथं घटेत वो विप्रा वक्तुर्वा मे क आश्रयः ॥१३-२२॥

śrī-bhagavān uvāca | vastuno yady anānātva ātmanaḥ praśna īdṛśaḥ | kathaṁ ghaṭeta vo viprā vaktur vā me ka āśrayaḥ ||13-22||

The Lord said: Brahmins, if there is no multiplicity in the real, the self being one, how can such a question arise from you, and on what basis would I as a speaker answer?

Modern Reflection

The swan begins his teaching with a logical move that would be famous in any tradition. The question 'who are you?' assumes a separate questioner and answerer. The swan points out that if the deepest reality is one, the question cannot strictly arise. He is not refusing to answer. He is showing the questioners where their question already contains its own answer. Indian philosophical method does this often: turn the question into the teaching. The verse is the swan's opening move, and it sets the entire frame: the answer is not going to be a separate piece of information. It is going to be a dissolving of the gap inside the question.

Verse 9

five elementsvācā ārambhaḥanarthakaḥsame stuff arranged differentlyChandogya echo

पञ्चात्मकेषु भूतेषु समानेषु च वस्तुतः । को भवानिति वः प्रश्नो वाचारम्भो ह्यनर्थकः ॥१३-२३॥

pañcātmakeṣu bhūteṣu samāneṣu ca vastutaḥ | ko bhavān iti vaḥ praśno vācārambho hy anarthakaḥ ||13-23||

If all embodied beings are made of the same five elements and are in reality alike, then your question 'who are you?' is mere verbal expression and carries no real meaning.

Modern Reflection

The swan now makes the same argument at the level of the body. All bodies, the verse says, are made of the same five elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether. The Sanskrit phrase vācā-ārambhaḥ, a verbal beginning, comes directly from the Chandogya Upanishad's famous teaching that all transformation is mere name (vācārambhaṇaṁ vikāro nāmadheyam). The swan is invoking the Upanishadic background. The question who-are-you treats bodies as fundamentally distinct entities. But bodies are not fundamentally distinct; they are configurations of the same five elements. Indian philosophy is materialist in this sense and idealist beyond it. Both ends of the argument arrive at the same dissolution of separateness.

Verse 10

everything is meaham evanon dual practicemanasā vacasā dṛṣṭyāUpanishadic affirmation

मनसा वचसा दृष्ट्या गृह्यतेऽन्यैरपीन्द्रियैः । अहमेव न मत्तोऽन्यदिति बुध्यध्वमञ्जसा ॥१३-२४॥

manasā vacasā dṛṣṭyā gṛhyate 'nyair apīndriyaiḥ | aham eva na matto 'nyad iti budhyadhvam añjasā ||13-24||

Whatever is grasped by the mind, by speech, by sight, or by any other sense, is only me. Nothing apart from me. Understand this clearly.

Modern Reflection

The swan now states the positive form of the same teaching. Everything the senses grasp is me. The Indian phrase aham eva, just me, is the famous Vedantic claim. What looks like a world of separate objects is the same consciousness presenting itself in many configurations. The Sanskrit imperative budhyadhvam, understand, is in the second person plural: the swan is talking to the four Kumaras together. This is collective philosophical instruction, not private contemplative communication. The verse gives the seeing-objects-as-self practice in one line. Every sound, sight, taste, thought is to be received as continuous with the receiver. Indian non-dualism rests on this practice.

Verse 11

drop bothmad rūpepratiyogi tyāgastep to witnessloop broken from outside

गुणेषु आविशच्चित्तमभीक्ष्णं गुणसेवया । गुणाश्च चित्तप्रभवा मद्रूप उभयं त्यजेत् ॥१३-२५॥

guṇeṣv āviśac cittam abhīkṣṇaṁ guṇa-sevayā | guṇāś ca citta-prabhavā mad-rūpa ubhayaṁ tyajet ||13-25||

The mind enters the sense objects again and again through constant engagement, and the objects in turn lodge in the mind as impressions. Realizing my form, one should give up both.

Modern Reflection

The swan now repeats the Kumaras' own question back to them in his own words, and offers the answer. The mind-object loop is real. The way out is not to argue against the loop but to step outside it by realizing mad-rūpa, my form, the form of the speaker. Indian Vedanta has a name for this method: pratiyogi-tyāga, the giving up of the opposed pair as a pair. One does not try to defeat the mind by silencing it, or to defeat the objects by destroying them. One steps to the place where neither is the primary fact. The verse names that place: mad-rūpe, in my form. The whole rest of the swan's teaching will unfold from this verse.

Verse 12

three statesvivekaVāsudevabuddhi vṛttidiscrimination as method

जागरस्वप्नसुषुप्तं च गुणतो बुद्धिवृत्तयः । विवेकेन विजानीयाद् वासुदेव परं स्थितम् ॥१३-२६॥

jāgara-svapna-suṣuptaṁ ca guṇato buddhi-vṛttayaḥ | vivekena vijānīyād vāsudeva paraṁ sthitam ||13-26||

Waking, dreaming, and deep sleep are functions of the intellect, arising from the three modes. With discrimination, one should know Vasudeva, the all-pervading, situated beyond these states.

Modern Reflection

The swan introduces the three states of consciousness that the next verse will treat as the central diagnostic fact. Jāgara is waking. Svapna is dream. Suṣupti is deep sleep. Indian psychology treats these three as the full set of ordinary experience. Each state is, the verse says, a buddhi-vṛtti, a function of the intellect. The knower, situated beyond them, is named Vasudeva, the all-pervading. The Sanskrit imperative vijānīyāt, one should know, is precise. The knowing here is not information; it is the act of discrimination (viveka). The verse asks the listener to perform a separation in the same moment of hearing.

Verse 13THE FAMOUS verse - three states and the witness

the witness versesākṣitvathree statesviniścitaḥthe most quoted Vedantic verse

जाग्रत् स्वप्नः सुषुप्तं च गुणतो बुद्धिवृत्तयः । तासां विलक्षणो जीवः साक्षित्वेन विनिश्चितः ॥१३-२७॥

jāgrat svapnaḥ suṣuptaṁ ca guṇato buddhi-vṛttayaḥ | tāsāṁ vilakṣaṇo jīvaḥ sākṣitvena viniścitaḥ ||13-27||

Waking, dreaming, and deep sleep are functions of the intellect produced by the three modes. The living being is ascertained as distinct from these, present as their witness.

Modern Reflection

This is one of the most quoted single verses in Indian Vedanta. The Sanskrit phrase sākṣitvena viniścitaḥ, ascertained as witness, names the central move of non-dual practice. The states change. The witness does not. The witness is therefore not one of the states. The Indian word jīva, here, means the living being, the individual self that experiences the three states. The verse says this jīva is, on close inspection, identical with the witness, not with the contents being witnessed. Every later Vedantic teaching on the self traces back, in part, to this verse. Adi Shankara quotes it. Ramana Maharshi quotes it. The verse is the textbook for the entire practice.

Verses 14–24

The Illusion of Duality

Dvaita-Māyā

Verse 14

vinirmamaḥthe craving does not stopsit as witnessfree of minehonest practice

यर्ह्यबुद्ध्योपलब्धोऽर्थो योगेन सह वर्तते । आत्मानं चेतसा साक्ष्यं मत्त्वासीत विनिर्ममः ॥१३-२८॥

yarhy abuddhyopalabdho 'rtho yogena saha vartate | ātmānaṁ cetasā sākṣyaṁ mattvāsīta vinirmamaḥ ||13-28||

When objects that have been grasped without discrimination continue to appear, one should still know the self as the witness through the mind, and sit free of every 'mine'.

Modern Reflection

The verse acknowledges a practical problem. The Kumaras and the listening Uddhava are not asked to suppress all experience. Objects will still appear. Old impressions will still surface. The instruction is not to stop them. It is to know the self as witness even while they appear. The Sanskrit word vinirmamaḥ, free of mine-ness, is the operative ethical attitude. The objects can come and go; the practitioner does not claim them as 'mine'. This is an honest verse. Indian philosophy is realistic about how slowly the mind clears. The teaching is to stay anchored in the witness even when the objects continue to make their old appeals.

Verse 15

ahaṅkāraturīyathe Fourth stateartha viparyayaMandukya echo

अहंकारकृतं बन्धमात्मनोऽर्थविपर्ययम् । विद्वान्निर्विद्य संसारचिन्तां तुर्ये स्थितो त्यजेत् ॥१३-२९॥

ahaṅkāra-kṛtaṁ bandham ātmano 'rtha-viparyayam | vidvān nirvidya saṁsāra-cintāṁ turye sthito tyajet ||13-29||

The wise person, having understood the bondage created by the ego that reverses the true meaning of the self, should abandon worldly thought and become established in the Fourth.

Modern Reflection

The verse names ahaṅkāra, ego, as the cause of bondage. It also names the way out: turīya, the Fourth. Indian philosophy of consciousness names four states. The first three are waking, dream, and deep sleep. The Fourth is not a state in the same sense. It is the constant witness-presence that the other three do not interrupt. The Sanskrit phrase artha-viparyaya, the reversal of the true meaning, is precise. The ego does not deny the self. It misidentifies the self. The verse asks for a return to the correct identification. The Fourth is where the identification settles.

Verse 16

nānārtha dhīwaking is dreamingyuktireasoning as pathGaudapada precursor

यावन्नानार्थधीः पुंसो न निवर्तेत युक्तिभिः । जागर्त्यपि स्वपन्नज्ञः स्वप्ने जागरणं यथा ॥१३-३०॥

yāvan nānārtha-dhīḥ puṁso na nivarteta yuktibhiḥ | jāgarty api svapann ajñaḥ svapne jāgaraṇaṁ yathā ||13-30||

Until the perception of separate objects is removed by careful reasoning, the ignorant one, even while awake, is dreaming, just as a dreamer thinks himself awake inside a dream.

Modern Reflection

To see the world as a collection of separate objects is to be dreaming, even while technically awake. The Sanskrit phrase nānārtha-dhī, the perception of many separate meanings, names the cognitive style that mistakes appearance for reality. The verse compares it to waking up inside a dream, where one feels alert and clear but is still dreaming. Indian philosophy uses this comparison to argue that ordinary waking consciousness is not the criterion of reality. The verse asks for yukti, careful reasoning, to wake from this larger dream.

Verse 17

anartha āgamaengagement sustains saṁsāradream effects are realpanic without tigerdhyāyataḥ viṣayān

अर्थे ह्यविद्यमानेऽपि संसृतिर्न निवर्तते । ध्यायतो विषयानस्य स्वप्नेऽनर्थागमो यथा ॥१३-३१॥

arthe hy avidyamāne 'pi saṁsṛtir na nivartate | dhyāyato viṣayān asya svapne 'narthāgamo yathā ||13-31||

Even when the object does not exist in ultimate terms, worldly experience does not stop for one who keeps dwelling on sense objects, just as harm appears to arrive in a dream.

Modern Reflection

A dreamer being chased by a tiger feels real fear, real heart-rate, real panic. The tiger does not exist. The effects do. The verse says the same is true of waking experience: even when the object is metaphysically unreal, continuous engagement with it produces continuous saṁsāra. The Sanskrit anartha-āgama, the arrival of harm, names the dreamed harm precisely. Indian philosophy respects the felt reality of the dream while denying its metaphysical reality. Engagement, not ontological status, sustains the cycle.

Verse 18

dṛśimātrampure witnessavastujagat prapañcanot touched

यः स्याद्भ्रमो विषयसंस्मृतिसंज्वरश्च दृष्टं प्रतीतमुत नाम जगत्प्रपञ्चम् । जानन्तिकत्रयमलीमसबुद्धिधर्मैर्- न स्पृश्यते हि दृशिमात्रमवस्तु हि तत् ॥१३-३२॥

yaḥ syād bhramo viṣaya-saṁsmṛti-saṁjvaraś ca dṛṣṭaṁ pratītam uta nāma jagat-prapañcam | jānanti katrayam alīmasa-buddhi-dharmair na spṛśyate hi dṛśimātram avastu hi tat ||13-32||

Whatever illusion arises, the fever of remembered sense objects, the seen and perceived, the world-expansion: the pure witness-consciousness is not touched by any of it. Those are functions of an impure mind. The witness is not ultimately real in the object-sense, nor are the objects ultimately real in the witness-sense.

Modern Reflection

The Sanskrit word dṛśimātram, pure-seeing-only, names the witness at its most stripped. Not a person who is seeing. Just the act of seeing itself, without an owner. Indian Vedanta has been trying to point to this for centuries, and has accumulated many names: sākṣin, witness; draṣṭā, the seer; chit, pure consciousness; turīya, the Fourth. The verse uses dṛśimātra, the most bare of all these names. It means precisely: nothing but the seeing. The world-expansion, jagat-prapañca, appears in that seeing. It is not touched by it.

Verse 19

sword of knowledgeanumāna and śabdajnana meets bhaktiakhila saṁśaya ādhitwo instruments

एवं विमृश्य गुणतो मनसस्त्र्यवस्था मन्मायया मयि कृता इति निश्चितार्थाः । सञ्छिद्य हार्दमनुमानसदुक्तितीक्ष्ण- ज्ञानासिना भजत माखिलसंशयाधिम् ॥१३-३३॥

evaṁ vimṛśya guṇato manasas try-avasthā man-māyayā mayi kṛtā iti niścitārthāḥ | sañchidya hārdam anumāna-sad-ukti-tīkṣṇa- jñānāsinā bhajata mākhila-saṁśayādhim ||13-33||

Considering thus that the three mind-states from the modes are made by my maya in me, with this conclusion firm, cut through the inner knot with the sharp sword of inference and the words of the wise, and worship me, the seat of all questioning.

Modern Reflection

The verse compresses the swan's whole argument into one long Sanskrit sentence and then closes with a shift: worship me. The analysis of the three states, the recognition of maya, the cutting of inner doubt: all of these are preparation. The act that follows preparation is bhajata, worship. Indian philosophy does not separate jnana and bhakti as sharply as Western categories suggest. The sword of knowledge cuts, and what is found at the end of the cutting is the one worth worshipping. The verse names that one as akhila-saṁśaya-ādhi, the seat of all questioning.

Verse 20

alāta cakrafire brand circlemāyāone consciousnessGaudapada precursor

ईक्षेत विभ्रममिदं मनसो विलासं दृष्टं विनष्टमतिलोलमलातचक्रम् । विज्ञानमेकमुरुधेव विभाति माया नानात्वमेतदभिवादयदेकमेव ॥१३-३४॥

īkṣeta vibhramam idaṁ manaso vilāsaṁ dṛṣṭaṁ vinaṣṭam ati-lolam alāta-cakram | vijñānam ekam urudheva vibhāti māyā nānātvam etad abhivādayad ekam eva ||13-34||

One should see all this as illusion, the play of the mind: appearing and vanishing, deeply unstable, like the circle traced by a swung fire-brand. The one consciousness appearing as many is maya. This multiplicity, on examination, is only one.

Modern Reflection

The alāta-cakra, fire-brand circle, is one of Indian philosophy's most famous images. If you swing a burning stick fast enough, the eye sees a continuous ring of fire. There is no ring. There is a point of fire in many positions. The ring is the mind's interpolation. The verse says the whole world of separate objects works the same way. There is one consciousness in many positions. The Sanskrit phrase urudhā iva vibhāti māyā, appears as many through maya, names the exact dynamic. Later Vedanta, especially Gaudapada, builds entire schools around this image.

Verse 21

muniḥavāk śirāḥviśokaposture as teachingsit quietly

उपशान्तेन्द्रियाकारं उपसंहृत्य चेतसा । अवाक्छिरास्तिष्ठ मुनिर्विशोको नहि शोचसि ॥१३-३५॥

upaśāntendiyākāram upasaṁhṛtya cetasā | avāk-chirās tiṣṭha munir viśoko nahi śocasi ||13-35||

Having calmed the sense-forms and drawn them inward through the mind, sit with head bowed, silent. Free from grief, you will not grieve.

Modern Reflection

After the sword, the posture. The verse moves from philosophical argument to physical instruction. The word muniḥ means both sage and silent one. It comes from the root mau, silence. The head bowed, the senses withdrawn, the mind still: this is the physical form of what the previous verses describe conceptually. Indian teaching tradition has always held that the body must embody the teaching. Avāk-śirāḥ, head bowed, is the posture before a teacher. The verse asks the Kumaras to sit in the posture of a student before the truth itself.

Verse 22THE wise one who is asleep to the body

suptaḥlamp left burningāloka vatbody continues without selfdaiva vihita

देहोऽपि दैवविहितो यावद्धेतुफलं भवेत् । तिष्ठत्यालोकवत् सुप्तो याति काले तथाविधः ॥१३-३६॥

deho 'pi daiva-vihito yāvad dhetu-phalaṁ bhavet | tiṣṭhaty āloka-vat supto yāti kāle tathāvidhaḥ ||13-36||

The body too, assigned by fate, remains as long as the cause-and-effect that brought it lasts, like a lamp left burning. The one who has realized, asleep to the body, departs when the time comes.

Modern Reflection

The image of the lamp left burning is famous in Vedantic commentary. The lamp does not know it is a lamp. It does not decide to burn. It burns until the oil runs out, by the mechanics of its situation. The realized person's body does the same. It stays as long as the karma that produced it holds. The realized person is suptaḥ, asleep, with respect to the body. Not absent. Not destroyed. Just not identified. The verse is making a precise claim: the body's continuation does not require the self's involvement.

Verse 23

nitya abhiyogaaction from presencevigarhita karmaafter realizationconstant engagement

यावत्स्यादायुषो भागो नित्याभियोगतः परः । जीवेत् सदा मुनिर्विद्वांस्तावत् कर्म विगर्हितम् ॥१३-३७॥

yāvat syād āyuṣo bhāgo nityābhiyogataḥ paraḥ | jīvet sadā munir vidvāṁs tāvat karma vigarhitam ||13-37||

As long as the allotted span of life lasts, the wise sage lives always in constant engagement with the self, avoiding action that springs from ignorance for all that time.

Modern Reflection

The verse is practical. The realized person does not immediately disappear from the world. The lifespan runs out at its own pace. The instruction for that remaining time is nitya-abhiyoga, constant engagement with the self. This is not passive. It is the most active possible relationship with one's own consciousness. The Sanskrit vigarhita karma, action that springs from ignorance, is the specific category to avoid. The realized one still acts. She simply avoids acting from the wrong premise.

Verse 24

etāvān yogasaṅkoca vikāsalineage namedteaching boundedswan to Kumaras

एतावान् योग आदिष्टो मच्छिष्यैः सनकादिभिः । सर्वतः सङ्कोचविकासं योगिनो मनसो गतिः ॥१३-३८॥

etāvān yoga ādiṣṭo mac-chiṣyaiḥ sanakādibhiḥ | sarvataḥ saṅkoca-vikāsaṁ yogino manaso gatiḥ ||13-38||

This is the yoga that my disciples Sanaka and the others taught: the complete understanding of the mind's movement in its contraction and expansion, in every direction.

Modern Reflection

The verse marks the turning point of the narrative. The swan, who has been teaching the Kumaras, now names the Kumaras as his own disciples who went on to teach this yoga. The teaching has a lineage. The Sanskrit phrase etāvān yoga, this much yoga, is a summary statement. The full range of mind-movement, contraction and expansion, knowing that behind both is the witness: this much, the swan says, is the teaching. Indian tradition preserves teachings through lineage. This verse names the lineage: swan to Kumaras to Uddhava.

Verses 25–33

The Three States of Consciousness

Cetana-Tri-Avasthā

Verse 25

sāṅkhya and yogathe single goalI am the destinationpārameṣṭhyamtheological synthesis

सांख्यस्य योगस्य च लक्ष्यमेकं धर्मस्य विष्णोर्बलवृद्धयर्थम् । श्रिया यशः श्रीर्मम चात्मनश्च यो वेत्त्यहं सोऽर्हति पारमेष्ठ्यम् ॥१३-३९॥

sāṅkhyasya yogasya ca lakṣyam ekaṁ dharmasya viṣṇor bala-vṛddhy-artham | śriyā yaśaḥ śrīr mama cātmanaś ca yo vetti ahaṁ so 'rhati pārameṣṭhyam ||13-39||

The single goal of Sankhya, of Yoga, of dharma, of Vishnu, of the growth of all strength and excellence: the one who knows that I am that goal, that person deserves the highest station.

Modern Reflection

The swan is now identifying himself. He is the goal of Sankhya and Yoga, the two major philosophical systems of classical India. He is Vishnu. He is dharma. The verse names every major path and says: I am what each of them aims at. This is one of the Bhagavata's most deliberate statements of theological synthesis. The swan began as a formless teaching device. He ends as a complete identity claim. The teaching and the teacher are not separate.

Verse 26

aiśvarya yaśas śrībhaga six excellencesmayi sthitam svayamjñāna and vijñānanatural condition

ऐश्वर्यं च यशश्चैव श्रियो दानमनुत्तमम् । ज्ञानं विज्ञानं च परं मयि स्थितं स्वयम् ॥१३-४०॥

aiśvaryaṁ ca yaśaś caiva śriyo dānam anuttamam | jñānaṁ vijñānaṁ ca paraṁ mayi sthitaṁ svayam ||13-40||

Sovereignty, fame, fortune, the supreme gift, knowledge and the supreme wisdom: all these naturally abide in me.

Modern Reflection

The verse is the swan's positive self-description. After fourteen verses of philosophical analysis and seven of the framing story, the swan now names what he is in terms of bhaga, the six excellences. Indian tradition defines God by these six: aiśvarya, sovereignty; yaśas, fame; śrī, fortune; jñāna, knowledge; vijñāna, wisdom; and dāna, gift-giving. The swan lists five of the six and adds the supreme gift. The verse is not a boast. It is a description of what the Kumaras will find if they follow the teaching: the one who holds all excellence naturally.

Verse 27

worship after teachingsamyak pūjāBrahma leads worshipritual acknowledgmentclosing protocol

इत्युक्त्वामुष्य हंसस्य ब्रह्मा वाक्यमुपाश्रुतः । ब्रह्मणा पूजितः सम्यग् हंसरूपः स्तुतस्तदा ॥१३-४१॥

ity uktvāmuṣya haṁsasya brahmā vākyam upāśrutaḥ | brahmaṇā pūjitaḥ samyag haṁsa-rūpaḥ stutas tadā ||13-41||

Having spoken thus, that swan was heard by Brahma. The swan-form was then properly worshipped and praised by Brahma.

Modern Reflection

The scene closes with pūjā. After the most abstract philosophical teaching in the Bhagavata, the response is worship. Brahma does not write a paper. He does not debate. He worships. Indian tradition treats the correct response to a great teaching as ritual acknowledgment, not philosophical counter-argument. The verse is also a structural note: the Kumaras heard, Brahma led the worship. The hierarchy of the scene is preserved in the closing. The teaching came down from the swan to the creator to the Kumaras. The worship goes back up.

Verse 28THE CLOSING - the swan returns while Brahma watches

the swan returnsaham evadeparture confirms teachingbrahma saṁsaditeaching stays with listeners

अहमेव विधिं हित्वा पदमास्थाय पूर्वजम् । तं तं लोकमतिष्ठन्तं पश्यन्तं ब्रह्मसंसदि ॥१३-४२॥

aham eva vidhim hitvā padam āsthāya pūrvajam | taṁ taṁ lokam atiṣṭhantaṁ paśyantaṁ brahma-saṁsadi ||13-42||

Having given up the swan-form, I myself returned to my own earlier abode, going to that region while Brahma and his assembly were watching.

Modern Reflection

The Hamsa Gita ends the way the Venu Gita ends: the figure departs. In the Venu Gita, the gopis became the one they were describing. Here, the swan simply goes. The teaching is complete. The form is no longer needed. The phrase brahma-saṁsadi, in Brahma's assembly, keeps the witnesses. They watch him go. The Sanskrit pūrvajam, my earlier abode, signals that this was a temporary descent. The swan was always from somewhere else. He came, answered the question the father could not answer, and returned. Indian theology calls this an avatāra moment. The teaching was the purpose. The departure confirms the teaching is now theirs.

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