Paramahamsa

Paramahamsa is a Sanskrit honorific used within Hinduism to designate a highly realized monk or spiritual teacher. The name is derived from para, meaning supreme or beyond, and hamsa, meaning swan. The swan is a traditional symbol of discernment and spiritual discrimination, and the term suggests someone who has transcended ordinary dualities and can distinguish the real from the unreal.

In practice, Paramahamsa is a title conferred by a guru or monastic order to senior renunciates who have attained advanced spiritual realization or leadership within a lineage. It is commonly associated with the Advaita Vedanta tradition and the Dashanami Sannyasa order established by Adi Shankaracharya, but it is used across multiple Hindu lineages and sometimes adopted by contemporary spiritual teachers as an honorific.

Notable figures often associated with the epithet include Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a 19th-century mystic revered by the Ramakrishna Mission; and Paramahansa Yogananda, a 20th-century monk and author who popularized yoga and meditation in the West. Spellings vary in English transliteration, with Paramahamsa and Paramahansa both in use; the underlying title remains the same in Sanskrit.

The title does not denote a fixed hierarchy in all traditions and is not universally conferred; rather, it denotes recognition of spiritual attainment and guidance within a given lineage or community.