PARMĀNAND, a Mahārāshṭrian saint-poet, one of whose hymns is included in the Gurū Granth Sāhib. Born probably in 1483, he is believed to have resided at Bārsī, situated to the north of Paṇḍharpur, in present-day Sholāpur district of Mahārāshṭra. Parmānand was a devotee of Viṣṇu and used in his songs the nom de plume Sāraṅg, the name of a bird ever thirsty for the raindrop. He always longed for God whom he worshipped in the Vaiṣṇavite manifestation of Kṛṣṇa. He used to make, it is said, seven hundred genuflexions daily to God on his uncovered, often bleeding, knees. He believed for a long time that God could be worshipped as an image only, but later he had the realization that the nirguṇa Supreme, God unmanifest, could also be loved and prayed to. Parmānand's one hymn incorporated in the Gurū Granth Sāhib (p. 1253) subscribes to this view. In this hymn, he disapproves of the ritualistic reading and hearing of the sacred books if that has not disposed one to the service of fellow beings. He commends sincere devotion which could be imbibed from the company of holy saints. Lust, wrath, avarice, slander have to be expunged for they render all sevā, i.e. service, fruitless.