The Way of the Swan !!

Jai Gurudev !!

THE SWAN …

The spell of the very word opens up in our mind screen , a beautiful picture of the elegant bird .... the pure white coloured creature swimming in clean waters with all its glory and splendour …

The Swan captivates our heart not only by its appearance , but also by its special characteristic , which is very unique in nature. This is well spoken of in Tamil literature and  the poems hold the swan very high in esteem .

Guess what is that characteristic feature ?

Yes, the swan is believed to separate the milk from a mixture of milk and water. If we keep the mixture of water and milk in a bowl , the swan drinks only the milk leaving aside the water in bowl.

This unique  feature of identifying and separating the goodness makes the swan a special bird.

That’s the reason , the swan has occupied an important place in the Hindu Mythology too.

The Goddess of knowledge , called Goddess Saraswati is depicted as wearing white colour saree , holding the Veena and the books  and sits on the Swan .

The white colour marks the purity , the Veena indicates the arts , the books denote the knowledge . 

And the swan  is the vehicle of the Goddess Saraswati , the reason being its unique characteristic of separating the goodness from the bad.

In short , we can say , one can master the knowledge /Arts , only  if he moves with the attitude of identifying the positivity in every aspect of life , ignoring the negative attributes and becomes pure in his thoughts and actions . Then , Saraswati is supposed to stay in his/her tongue and actions too.

The knowledge flourishes only in the midst of positivity and purity  .

Here knowledge means the true knowledge , the knowledge of the Truth or Wisdom .

The Lake Manasarovar in the Holy Himalayas or the Mount Kailash is supposed to be the abode of Swans in India .

The Swans occupy a high pedestal rather a respectable position  in the spiritual sphere.

The Swan Concept  that is identifying and sticking to the positivity of any thing has also been stressed strongly in the Holy Book of Hindus , the Baghavad Gita.

In Gita, Lord Krishna uplifts Arjuna by his enlightening  words of wisdom in the midst of the Warfield, when Arjuna was totally depressed and dejected as he has to fight against his own cousins in the war.

Krishna , at one point says that , " Arjuna , this Supreme knowledge is being taught to you because you are Anasuya now ."

Anasuya means "Devoid of Fault finding eyes " “

Indirectly Krishna says that , since Arjuna has become the one who has stopped finding faults , his mental state has become ready to receive the supreme knowledge.

Else the knowledge will go waste , if the listener doubts everything and dwells on the negativities.

There is a certain mindset that even in the best of conditions , keeps finding fault. That type of mindset cannot know the sacred knowledge.

For instance, Hanuman never saw any fault in Rama.

From a distance , even craters cannot be seen.

Even on a smooth surface, there will be holes.

If you are interested only in the holes, then you will not be able to see the magnanimity of things.

So, becoming Anasuya is one of the prime factor in the path of Truth !!

Love & smiles....