Hindu Medicine c8.64

c8.64

In this twofold character, prāṇa is comparable to the wild swan (haṃsa), another symbol of the sun (21). The swan is thought of as a miraculous creature. It is superior to other aquatic birds living on lakes and ponds and bound to their natural habitat, in that it can separate itself from the watery realm in which it is at home. Withdrawing both legs from the liquid element, it soars into the upper reaches of the atmosphere to cover wide distances in its wandering flights; it is as much at home in the ethereal realm above as in the waters below. The swan is the homeless, free wanderer between the upper and the lower spheres, the life-giving waters of earthly existence and the ether, the realm of pure formlessness, the infinite.