Paramahamsa

{{original research|section|date=February 2013}}

File:Swan in art 2.jpg

Paramahamsa is a Sanskrit word translated as 'supreme swan'. The word is compounded of Sanskrit परम parama meaning 'supreme', 'highest', or 'transcendent' (from PIE per meaning 'through', 'across', or 'beyond', cognate with English far) and Sanskrit हंस hamsa meaning 'swan or wild goose'.{{Cite web|last=Yoganandasite|date=2016-03-02|title=The Meaning and Spelling of the Title "Paramahansa"|url=https://yoganandasite.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/the-meaning-and-spelling-of-the-title-paramahansa/|access-date=2021-04-30|website=Yogananda Site|language=en}} The prefix parama is the same element seen in Parameshwara, a title for God. In Hindic tradition, swans are noted for characteristics of discipline, stamina, grace, and beauty.{{Cite web|last=Yoganandasite|date=2016-03-02|title=The Meaning and Spelling of the Title "Paramahansa"|url=https://yoganandasite.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/the-meaning-and-spelling-of-the-title-paramahansa/|access-date=2021-04-30|website=Yogananda Site|language=en}} "Hamsa" may be spelled "hansa." As described by Paramahansa Yogananda, author of "Autobiography of a Yogi" in which he states that hansa literally means "swan." "The white swan," he clarifies " is mythologically represented as the vehicle or mount of Brahma the Creator. The sacred hansa, said to have the power of extracting only milk from a mixture of milk and water, is thus a symbol of spiritual discrimination."{{Cite book|last=Yogananda|first=Paramahansa|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/220261|title=Autobiography of a Yogi|date=1971|others=W. Y. Evans-Wentz|isbn=978-0-87612-079-8|edition=[Eleventh edition]|location=Los Angeles|oclc=220261}} Yogananda adds "Ahan-sa or ‘hansa (pronounced hong-sau) is literally “I am He.” These potent SANSKRIT syllables possess a vibratory connection with the incoming and the outgoing breath. Thus with his every breath man unconsciously asserts the truth of his being."{{Citation|last=Neumann|first=David J.|title=The Apotheosis of a Global Guru|date=2019-03-18|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469648637.003.0005|work=Finding God through Yoga|pages=156–200|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|doi=10.5149/northcarolina/9781469648637.003.0005 |isbn=978-1-4696-4863-7|s2cid=214405893 |access-date=2021-04-30|url-access=subscription}}

In keeping with the construct of Sanskrit, which often layers multiple meanings upon or within words,{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=Richard|date=1998-01-01|title=BOOK REVIEWS: God Talks With Arjuna—The Bhagavad Gita: The Royal Science of God-Realization. Self-Realization Fellowship, 2 volumes - Paramahansa Yogananda|journal=International Journal of Yoga Therapy|volume=8|issue=1|pages=55–62|doi=10.17761/ijyt.8.1.44252266276634v5|issn=1531-2054|doi-access=free}} Hamsa may also be a religious pun or allegory with a philosophical meaning. One such etymology suggests that the words 'aham' and 'sa' are joined to become 'hamsa'; aham is 'I' or 'me' and sa is 'he', together meaning 'I am he'. Here, 'I' refers to the jivatma or jivatama, the living soul, and 'he' the paramatma or paramatama or supreme soul (the alternative spellings are due to differing Romanisations of the Sanskrit words).{{citation needed|date=February 2013}} This relationship reflects of Advaita philosophy, which advocates the oneness of jivatma and paramatma.{{Cite web|title=What Is Advaita or Nonduality?|url=https://endless-satsang.com/advaita-nonduality-oneness.htm|access-date=2021-04-30|website=endless-satsang.com}} The word aham is common to many Eastern religions. From aham is derived ahamkara or ego.{{clarify|date=February 2013|reason=Which means what? What is the relevance?}}

{{Main|Paramahansa Upanishad}}

The Paramahansa Upanishad is one of the 108 Upanishadic Hindu scriptures, written in Sanskrit and is one of the 31 Upanishads attached to the Atharvaveda.{{Sfn|Tinoco|1997|p=88}} It is classified as one of the Sannyasa Upanishads.{{sfn|Olivelle|1992|pp= x-xi, 5}} According to Ramanujacharya, Paramhansa is one of the forms of Lord Vishnu who imparted vedas to Lord Brahma in the form of Divine Swan as per Vishnu-Sahasranama.

The Upanishad is a discourse between the Hindu god Brahma and sage Narada. Their conversation is centered on the characteristics of Paramahansa (highest soul) Yogi. The text describes the monk as a Jivanmukta, a liberated soul while alive, and Videhamukta is liberation in afterlife.{{Sfn|Prasad|2003|p=103-04}}

The Upanishad, in its opening and concluding hymns, emphasizes the primacy of infiniteness of the Brahman and the Universe, with the Brahman representing the infinite. The Upanishad's theme is presented in four hymns as an explanation by Lord Brahma to Narada's query on the aspect of the path of the Paramahansa Yogis.{{Cite web|last= Madhavananda|first=Swami|url=http://www.celextel.org/upanishads/shukla_yajur_veda/paramahamsa.html|title=Paramahamsa Upanishad|access-date=28 April 2015|publisher= Vedanta Spiritual Library - Spiritual Devotional Religious Sanatana Dharama}}

The hamsa (swan) is the vahana, the mount or vehicle, of the god Brahma. In the Vedas and the Purânas it is a symbol for the soul/Soul. The hamsa is said to be the only creature that is capable of separating milk from water once they have been mixed; symbolically this is the display of great spiritual discrimination. It is symbolic for a spiritually advanced being who is capable of controlling the breath energy in such a way that he only absorbs pure vibrations from all the different energies the world contains. To the Paramahamsa (the supreme celestial Swan) on the other hand, the whole of creation is God himself, there is nothing else but God alone. This person is a fully realized soul, completely liberated from all bonds with the world, who knows no obligations, no likes or dislikes. He is without any needs because he is completely immersed in God.

Paramahamsa, as a religion / theological title, is applied to an adept class of Hindu renunciates, liberated, realized masters who, having attained the supreme yogic state, or nirvikalpa samādhi.

The hamsa mantra indicates the sound made by the inhalation ("ha") and exhalation ("sa") of the breath. And the space between inhalation -exhalation is denote with the sound ("ma"). Hence it's called ("Hamsa").

Some followers believe title cannot be assumed by oneself, but must be conferred by a recognized authority, either another individual swami who is himself esteemed as enlightened, or by a committee of spiritual leaders.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}}

Paramahaṃsa is also the title of one of the Upanishads.In Sanskrit, a pre-consonantal nasal is written with a diacritic dot (the Anusvara) above the preceding character. The exact realization of the nasalization must be inferred from the context. Thus, we have Paramahaṃsa, Paramahamsa, Paramahaṇsa, and Paramahansa as equivalent transliterations.

• Srila Bhaktiratna Sadhu Maharaj
• Abhiram Parmahansa
• Chandradhoja Paramahansa Dev
• Dayanidhi Paramahansa Dev
• Paramahamsa Shri Gajanan Maharaj
• Kalna Paramhansa
• Lahiri Mahasaya
• Narayana Guru
• Nigamananda Paramahansa
• Paramahamsa Hariharananda
• Paramahamsa Prajnanananda
• Paramahamsa Vishwananda
• Paramahansa Yogananda
• Paramhansa Acharya Yogiraj Balkrishananda 'Mukta-Buddha'
• Paramhansa Nikhileshwarananda
• Paramahamsa Nithyananda
• Paramhansa Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
• Paramhansa Swami Satyasangananda Saraswati
• Paramhansa Swami Satyananda Saraswati
• Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
• Sadanand ji Paramhansa
• Sivananda paramahamsa vadakara
• Shivdharmanand Paramahansa
• Srimad Durga Prasanna Paramahansa Dev
• Akhandamandaleshwer Swarupananda Paramhansa Deva alias Babamani
• Paramhamsa Vishwananda

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{{reflist|3}}

• {{cite book|first=Patrick| last=Olivelle|year=1992|title= The Samnyasa Upanisads|publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn= 978-0195070453}}
• {{cite book|last= Prasad |first=Ramanuj |title=Know the Upanishads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZpTC2rIhWegC&pg=PA114|date=1 January 2003|publisher=V&S Publishers|isbn=978-81-223-0831-0}}
• {{cite book|last= Tinoco |first=Carlos Alberto |title=Upanishads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xoNEM63hZEC&pg=PA87|year=1997|publisher=IBRASA|isbn=978-85-348-0040-2}}

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• [http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/dws/lexicon/a.html Hindu lexicon]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120210194910/http://www.storytellingmonk.org/ref/glossaries/p.htm Hindu glossary]
• [http://aves.desdeinter.net/ansaind02.htm Hamsa ]- The Bar-headed Goose, Anser indicus

Category:Titles and occupations in Hinduism

Category:Swaminarayan Sampradaya