Paramahamsa also spelled paramahansa or paramhansa, is a Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 religio-theological title of honor

Title of honor

An honorary title or title of honor is a title bestowed upon individuals or organizations as an award in recognition of their merits.Sometimes the title bears the same or nearly the same name as a title of authority, but the person bestowed does not have to carry any duties, possibly except for...

 applied to Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 spiritual teachers of lofty status who are regarded as having attained enlightenment

Moksha

Within Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in...

. The title may be translated as "supreme swan," and is based on the swan being equally at home on land or water. Similarly, the true sage is equally at home in the realms of matter and of spirit. The swan is also, according to Indian legend, able to separate milk from water. Thus, the swan symbolizes the ability of a Self-realized master to separate truth from the insubstantiality of delusion.

Etymology

Paramahamsa is a Sanskrit word translated as "Supreme Swan." The word is compounded of Sanskrit parama meaning supreme or transcendent (from PIE

Pie

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients....

 per meaning through, across, or beyond, cognate with English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 far) and Sanskrit hamsa meaning swan. The prefix parama is the same element seen in the title Parameshwara

Parameshwara (God)

Parameshwara or Parameshwar, also transliterated from Sanskrit in other ways, is a Hindu concept literally meaning the Supreme God. The word "param" meaning the highest is added to Ishwara to intensify the title of God.-Conceptualization:...

. English scholars euphemistically translated "hamsa" as swan, because in the English tradition a goose (the domesticated one) traditionally denotes foolishness and irresponsibility. But in Hindic tradition the wild goose is noted for its characteristics of discipline, stamina, grace, and beauty. This is especially true for the Anser indicus, whose migratory route from Central Asia to India and back, forces it to fly over the Himalayas twice a year. A feat which makes it fly higher than any known bird. And that is why God is also denoted as the "Paramahamsa".
"Hamsa" may 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' and 'sa' is 'He'- meaning 'I am He'. Here 'I' refers to the jivatma - the living soul and 'He' the supreme soul. This is part of Advaita philosophy which indicates one-ness of jivatama (living soul) and paramatma (the supreme soul). The Word 'Aham' is common for many religions. From 'aham', 'ahamkara' - 'ego' is derived. The alternative spellings are due to differing Romanizations of the Sanskrit word.

Mythology

The hamsa is the vahana

Vahana

Vāhana denotes the being, typically an animal or mythical entity, a particular deva is said to use as a vehicle. In this capacity, the vāhana is often called the deity's mount. Upon the partnership between the deva and his vāhana is woven much iconography and mythology...

, the mount or vehicle, of the god Brahma

Brahma

Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...

. In the Vedas

Vedas

The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....

 and the Purânas

Puranas

The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...

 it is a symbol for the soul/Soul. The hamsa is said to be is the only creature that is capable of separating milk from water once they have been mixed together; 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.

Theology

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

Nirvikalpa

Nirvikalpa is a Sanskrit adjective with the general sense of "not admitting an alternative", formed by applying the contra-existential prepositional prefix to the term .-Usage:...

 samādhi

Samadhi

Samadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....

, can always distinguish between the Real (sa) from the unreal (ham).

The hamsa mantra

Mantra

A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...

indicates the sound made by the exhalation ("ha") and inhalation ("sa") of the breath.

Privileged use

The 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.

External links

• Hindu lexicon
• Hindu glossary
• Hamsa - The Bar-headed Goose, Anser indicus