page_title: Paramahamsa Upanishad
section_title: Contents
hierarchical_section_title: Paramahamsa Upanishad / Contents
caption_attribution_description: Dévot dans le temple de Srirangam (Ranganath Swami) à Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) Le temple de Srirangam est une véritable cité religieuse, dont l'édification a commencé au Xème siècle. Le sanctuaire dédié à Vishnu (golden temple) est au centre des bâtiments, c'est la partie la plus ancienne. Srirangam est le premier des cent huit sanctuaires du dieu Vishnu (appelé ici&#160;: Ranganatha, qui est la forme de repos de Vishnou). C'est le plus vaste temple avec 156 hectares et le plus célèbre. Le temple est constitué de sept enceintes dominées par 21 gopuram(s) (portes d'entrée monumentales). Il comprend de nombreuses boutiques, bassins, mandapa(s) et petits temples. La partie centrale (au-delà de la 6ème enceinte) et le sanctuaire sont réservés aux hindous. Article de Wikipedia sur le temple de Srirangam fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_de_Sri_Ranganathaswamy_(Srirangam) Le site officiel du temple www.srirangam.org/
context_page_description: The Paramahaṃsa Upanishad, is one of the 108 Upanishadic Hindu scriptures, written in Sanskrit and is one of the 31 Upanishads attached to the Atharvaveda. It is classified as one the Sannyasa Upanishads.
  The Upanishad is a discourse between the Hindu god Brahma and sage Narada. Their conversation is centered on the characteristics of Paramahamsa Yogi. The text describes the monk as a Jivanmukta, a liberated soul while alive, and Videhamukta is liberation in afterlife.
  The text was likely composed in the centuries preceding the start of common era. It is notable for the use of words Yogin and calling renouncers by that epithet.
context_section_description: 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 Paramahamsa Yogis.
  Hamsa or divine swan, which is used to highlight the supremacy of the Paramahamsa Yogi, meaning the "illumined one", metaphorically represents the quality of the swan to separate milk from water.
  Brahma explains that attaining the stage of Paramahamsa Yogi is an arduous task and such yogis are a rarity. The Paramahamsa yogi is the man of the Vedas, asserts the text, he alone abides in Brahman, the eternally pure Ultimate Reality. This yogi not only renounces his wife, sons, daughters, relatives, friends, but also the sacred thread, all rituals and recitations and the topknot hair tuft. The Paramahamsa has the following characteristics, states the text:
  A Paramahamsa is affected neither by cold nor by heat, 
  
  neither by pleasure nor by pain, neither by respect nor by disrespect.
  
  A Paramahamsa gives up slander, pride, jealousy, deceit, arrogance, desire, 
  
  he gives up hate, pleasure, pain, lust, anger, greed, delusion,
  
  he gives up excitement, indignation, egotism, and the like.
  
  He constantly abides in that eternally pure Being. That itself is his state.
  
  To him, he is that calm and unchanging Being, a single mass of bliss and consciousness. 
  
  That alone is his highest abode. That alone is his topknot and his sacred string.
  
  By knowing that the highest Self (Brahman) and the lower self (Atman) are one,
  
  the difference between them dissolves into oneness. 
  
  This knowledge is his twilight worship.
  — Paramahamsa Upanishad, Chapter 2 (Abridged), 
  Paramahamsa Yogi is neither opinionated or affected by defamation, or is jealous, not a show off, is humble, and is oblivious to all the human frailties. He is immune to the existence of his body, which he treats as a corpse. He is beyond false pretensions and lives realizing the Brahman.
  In chapter 3, the Upanished states that carrying the staff of knowledge gives him the epithet "Ekadandi", as he is a renouncer of all pleasures of the world; in contrast is the person who carries a staff simply as a piece of wood goes through the stages of Maharaurava other hells, prone to worldly comforts and  without knowledge. The one who understands the difference between "staff of knowledge" and "staff of wood", is a Paramahamsa.
  He does not fear pain, nor longs for pleasure.
  
  He forsakes love. He is not attached to the pleasant, nor to the unpleasant.
  
  He does not hate. He does not rejoice.
  
  Firmly fixed in knowledge, his Self is content, well-established within. 
  
  He is called the true Yogin. He is a knower.
  
  His consciousness is permeated with that, the perfect bliss.
  
  That Brahman I am, he knows it. He has that goal achieved.
  — Paramahamsa Upanishad, Chapter 4 (Abridged),
caption: A Sannyasi
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