In the last article of 2018, I like to share a beautiful story told by His Divine Holiness, Paramahamsa Nithyananda (fondly known as Swamiji). It is a story about a Paramahamsa and the fish.
Paramahamsa means ‘great swan’. A Paramahamsa swan is special because it never touches the ground! It only flies in the open sky, never touching the dust and dirt of the earth. Even when the Paramahamsa swan lays its eggs, the egg drops from the sky and hatches in the mid-air and the baby swan flies out before the egg touches the ground. As per the Hindu scriptures, the Paramahamsa swan is the symbol of the enlightened being who always flies in the enlightened space and can never be caught in anything worldly.
There was a Paramahamsa swan who was flying over a lake, and its reflection fell on the lake below. When the reflection fell on the water, the fish in the lake started jumping, “Oh, a new big fish has come, a new big fish has come!’, and they went around the reflection, admiring it. Some fish started jumping on the swan’s reflection, some fish started dancing around the swan’s reflection, and some fish started making a fence in the water, saying, “This is the ashram for the big fish!’ Some fish started finding ways to get close to the ‘big fish’. Some fish started crying, ‘Oh, this big fish is so loving, so caring, so graceful and so beautiful!’ Some other fish started jumping to the other side and saying, ‘No, this fish is not paying attention to me at all. It is not at all loving and caring!’ Some fish started saying good things about the reflection and some fish started saying bad things about the reflection. Some fish started creating a place for the ‘big fish’ to live; some fish even threw a few stones at it.
Because of the very commotion created by the fish, the reflection of the swan appeared to be shaking and moving in the water. But seeing that, the fish started thinking that the ‘big fish’ is moving! After a while, the fish even started fighting among themselves, saying ‘I am closer to the big fish than you!’
Gradually, the swan crossed the lake and started flying above the ground. Naturally, the reflection also disappeared. All the fish started crying, saying ‘Oh, the big fish has disappeared, how can we live without it?’
One important thing: some fish praising, some fish blaming, some fish creating ashram, some fish playing, some fish going away, some fish jumping – the swan is not even aware of anything; the swan doesn’t even know about it! The swan is neither aware nor interested; it is just enjoying on its own, flying in the vast sky. Be very clear, the fish are not visible to the swan! Only eagles see the fish, swans don’t see the fish because they don’t eat fish! The swan doesn’t have to see the fish because it needs nothing from the fish. It just flies in its own sky.
If at all you are intelligent, the moment you see the reflection, if you understand that this doesn’t seem like a normal fish, you will start wondering. ‘From where is it coming?’ If you are intelligent enough to look up and see the swan instead of the reflection, you will slowly understand that you are also a swan! Then you can also start flying – that’s all. You can also just start flying! As long as you are just fighting with other fish, playing with other fish, playing with the reflection, playing in the area where the reflection is happening, be very clear, you will simply be cheated, you will simply miss. If you have seen the swan and started flying, you are intelligent. The purpose of the Paramahamsa in your life has been achieved!
Let more and more intelligent fish go beyond the Maya (illusion) and awaken to the realization that they are also Paramahamsa and soar into the vastness of the sky with the great Paramahamsa. Namaste 😀
Note: The story of Paramahamsa was taken from the book ‘108 New-clear Bombs’ from Nithya Satsang by His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda