Paramahaṃsa
Paramahaṃsa · parama-haṃsa, “the supreme swan”
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of parama (supreme) and haṃsa (swan): “the supreme swan”. Haṃsa is the sannyāsī established in the practice of jñāna; paramahaṃsa is the one beyond him.
Meaning: the highest of the four kinds of sannyāsī, the jñānī, the knower of the ātmā, who has given up all karma and identification with the body, and lives in bhakti, jñāna and vairāgya.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa names the paramahaṃsa as the fourth kind of sannyāsī, tells of those who taught and kept the dharma of the paramahaṃsas, and calls Śrī Hari the one whom they attain as the ātmā.
The four kinds of sannyāsī. Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura that the four āśramas came forth from the faces of Brahmā, and that within the sannyāsa āśrama there are four kinds, in order: the Kuṭīcaka, who stays fixed in one place in a hut and keeps the dharmas of the āśrama; the Bahūdaka, who does only a little karma and lives with steadiness in knowledge as the main thing; the Haṃsa, established in the practice of jñāna; and the Paramahaṃsa, the jñānī (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 12).
The dharma of the paramahaṃsas. Of the ten sons of Priyavrata, three, Kavi, Mahāvīra and Savana, were lifelong brahmacārīs who from childhood practised ātmavidyā and took the sannyāsa of the paramahaṃsas; they renounced all karma, meditated without a break on the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛshṇa, and attained oneness with him (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 1). Ṛshabhadeva, after teaching his sons, himself took sannyāsa in order to teach the dharma of the paramahaṃsas, the knowers of the ātmā, whose marks are bhakti, jñāna and vairāgya, to the peaceful mahātmās who have given up all karmas and delight in the ātmā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 5). The ten thousand Haryaśvas, sons of Daksha, on merely bathing at Nārāyaṇa-saras, were wholly cleansed and gained a firm understanding of the ātma-dharma of the paramahaṃsas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 5). Prahlāda heard from Dattātreya Maharshi, who lived by the way of the python on the Sahya mountain, the dharma of the paramahaṃsas, and was greatly delighted; he worshipped Dattātreya and with his leave went home (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 13).
Their bhakti and their goal. Yama tells his servants: “The gaṇas of paramahaṃsas who know the essence of bhakti, though they have no wealth, drink the nectar of the lotus feet of Śrī Hari, the giver of moksha” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 3). Pṛthu tells his subjects that the words of the Upanishads, which showed the way to the jñāna-nishṭhā of the paramahaṃsas, teach as their supreme purport only the jñānaghana form of Śrī Hari (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 21). Citraketu praises Ananta: “There is no difference between the Paramahaṃsa, the knower of the ātmā, and you. It is you who light up even Sūrya and the rest” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 16). Prahlāda asks Bhagavān Narasiṃha: “Can humans gain, without service, bhakti for you, whom the paramahaṃsas attain as the ātmā?” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 9). At Samantapañcaka, Dharmarāja and his friends praise Śrī Kṛshṇa: “We bow to you alone, who are attained as the ātmā by the paramahaṃsas who have given up the sense of self in the house that is the body” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 83).
The secret of the paramahaṃsas. Daksha Prajāpati, doing tapas at the Aghamarshaṇa tīrtha, praised Śrī Hari with the stotra named Haṃsaguhya, which the text glosses as “the secret of the paramahaṃsas” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 4).
The Bhāgavata and the paramahaṃsas. At its close the Purāṇa says of itself: the Śrīmad Bhāgavata is a flawless Purāṇa, most dear to the Vishṇu-bhaktas. In it is sung the Parabrahman, one without a second, whose form is consciousness, which is the good of the paramahaṃsas, and in it is revealed the cessation of karma joined with ātma-jñāna, vairāgya and bhakti; one who hears it with bhakti, reads it and reflects on it becomes free (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 13). The one who sings the līlās of Śrī Hari’s power and of his childhood attains desireless bhakti in Śrī Hari, the goal of the paramahaṃsas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 31).
Related terms: Haṃsa · Sannyāsa · Āśrama · Ātmā · Jñānī · Kuṭīcaka · Bahūdaka
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 12; Skandha 4, Chapter 21; Skandha 5, Chapters 1, 5; Skandha 6, Chapters 3–5, 16; Skandha 7, Chapters 9, 13; Skandha 10, Chapter 83; Skandha 11, Chapter 31; Skandha 12, Chapter 13