Thus Spake the Divine - What Does Swami Mean?

Thus Spake the Divine

What Does Swami Mean?

We can analyse the meaning of word Swami as follows: The word “swam” in Swami means “Ownership” or “Property”. In Malayalam, the property belonging to a temple is known as “Devaswam”. The One who is the owner of the property is Swami. The direct synonym for Swami in Tamil is “Udaiyavar”, which means the “Owner”. To signify that Guru and Swami are identical, Vaishnavas address Sri Ramanujar as “Udaiyavar”.

I have told you “Swami” means “Owner of the property”. Which property? It is the entire Universe. We, who live in this Universe, are also His property. Whatever is there in this Universe belongs only to Him. We claim ownership of something as our property and another as others’ property. However, we, and all others, are the property of Swami. If He is not there, nothing exists; neither we, nor this Universe, or the properties claimed by us.

Our contention is that we have constructed, invented or discovered some new properties, such as a house or vehicle etc. Scientists build new machineries. But where do we get the raw material or base material for building these things? All raw materials have been created only by Him. We use His property and convert the same into another form of substance. That is all! Can a scientist, who develops so many machineries and atom bombs, make a small leaf?

Everything belongs to the One who has created them. That is why He is called “Udaiyavar” meaning “Owner” or God. As we hold the ownership and rights to use properties owned by us as per our wish, we (human beings), the properties owned by God, should also allow Him to direct us the way He wants. If we let Him do that, then there will be no sorrows at all; only happiness and happiness alone will prevail.

We roam around claiming the “I” factor. Once we realise that this “I” is owned by Him, then, we will not wander anywhere yearning for something. The moment we realise that we don’t have any right to possess personal likes or dislikes, there will be no wandering at all. There will be eternal peace of mind. The very term “Swami” denotes that we don’t even possess the ownership of our own self. We are the property of God, who has the right to use His property as per His choice and preferences. This is what is called as “Absolute Surrender”, which is the ultimate objective of Bhakti.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.