Jībanapātra….. Blog by Swamini Atmaprajnananda Saraswati

Jībanapātra….. Blog by Swamini Atmaprajnananda Saraswati1. The word ‘kavi’ is in the Īśāvāsyopaniṣad. ‘Kavi’ is another name of Īśvara,since He is Omniscient. A ‘kavi’ sees something that everyone does not see.Kavi means a thinker, an intelligent person, a person of understanding, a wise person, a sage, a seer, a singer, a bard, a poet.

The 8^thmantra of Īśāvāsyopaniṣad reveals the svarūpa of the Īśvara

sa paryagāt-śukram-akāyam-avraṇam-asnā ;viraṃ śuddham-apāpaviddham |

kavir-manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūḥ-yāthātathyato-arthān vyadadhāt-śāsvatibhyaḥ samābhyaḥ || - Īśā.Up.-8

Tr.: He is all-pervading, pure (brilliant), formless (being subtle), without scar, without nerves, taintless, untainted by wrong-doings, omniscient (kavi), the Lord of the mind, transcendent and self-existent. He has allotted the duties in proper order to the eternal (relatively) creators (Prajāpatis) known as years (samvatsaras). - Īśā.Up.-8

Śaṅkara explains the ‘kavi’ as ‘krāntadarśī’, ‘sarvadṛk’. Although this is used for Īśvara as Omniscient, in a relative sense all kavis (poets) definitely see, perceive what the common people do not.

2. The word ‘haṃsaḥ’ is found in the earliest literature of the world, i.e. in theṚgveda. In the fourth maṇḍaḷa of the Ṛgveda- IV.40.5, this mantra starts with ‘haṃsaḥ’. Here ‘Haṃsa’ is another name for Brahman, Īśvara, Paramātmā. Sankara explains ‘haṃsa’ as - ‘haṃsaḥ’ = hanti = gacchati iti, meaning all-pervasiveness. ‘han’ to go - who goes eternally to destroy individuality, or it is resolvable into ‘aham’ – I, and ‘sah’ – He, i.e. - “I am That”

Ṛṣi – Vāmadeva Gautama,

Devatā - Sūrya,

Chandas – Jagatī.

‘haṃsaḥ śucisat, vasur-antarikṣasat, hotā vediṣat, atithir-duroṇasat |

‘nṛṣat, varasat, ṛtasat, vyomasat, abjā, gojā, ṛtajā, adrijā, ṛtaṃ bṛhat ||

- Ṛgveda - IV.40.5; and Kaṭhopaniṣad – II.2.2

Tr.: As the moving (haṃsaḥ) sun, He dwells in the sky (śucisat), as Vāyu (vasuḥ)He pervades all and dwells in the space (antarikṣasat), as the fire (hotā) He resides on the earth (vediṣat), as Soma (atithiḥ) He stays in the container (duroṇasat). He lives among people (nṛṣat), among the celestials (varasat), in the truth/or yajña (ṛtasat), in the space (vyomasat), (He is existent) in the water (abjā) and earth (gojā) in various forms, in the mountains as the rivers (adrijā). He is unchanging (ṛtaṃ); He is great (bṛhat).

The mantra is Ṛgveda - IV.40.5, adapted in to to in Kaṭhopaniṣad - II.2.2

‘Haṃsa’ is also compared with Mānasa (mental, born of mind, as opposed to that of physical body), which is used in he poem.