Paramahamsa
Paramahamsa, formerly Paramahansa ( Sanskrit , m., परमहंस). Paramahaṃsa is a Vedic honorary title given to a Hindu ascetic by his master. It is translated as "highest (or supreme) swan" . The image of the swan stands for sublimity, purity and the ability to “separate milk from water” (see below). The term denotes someone who "has realized his true divine self and whose self has become one with the spirit".
In the mythological context, Hamsa is the flying animal ( Vahana ) of the god Brahma , the creator god of the Hindu trinity (Brahma - Vishnu - Shiva ). In Rigveda , the swan is the only animal that is able to separate soma from water when these have been mixed (in later literature: milk and water).
Hamsa, or So Ham, or Hong So is a sacred mantra in Sanskrit that expresses the unity of the apparently separated individual with the divine soul (Sa or So, the soul as part of the divine in man, and Ham or Hong, that I, that is, the human ego). The water bird is a symbol for the soul, symbolized by the white, pure color. In the Mahabharata , the term Hamsa is also used for some ascetics and persons with supernatural qualities who were born under a special constellation.
Paramahamsa is used today as a religious title for spiritual masters who have attained the highest state, nirvikalpa samadhi . Whoever has reached this state of liberation can - so the idea - differentiate between the real ( sa ) and the unreal ( ham ) at any time .
Remarks
- ↑ a b In the first editions of Autobiography of a Yogi Yogananda still transcribed the title with Paramhansa , since the a between m and h is almost silent. Autobiography of a Yogi, p. Xxii.
- ↑ According to Monier Williams Sanskrit Dictionary , Oxford 1887 p. 1286, hamsa is a goose, gander, swan, flamingo (or any aquatic bird).