As we approach Hanuman Jayanti on Saturday, April 12th, we are delighted to present an insightful piece by Tish Malhotra. In his article, Malhotra delves into the multifaceted significance of Lord Hanuman, exploring his relevance as an ideal for the youth—a perspective famously highlighted by Swami Vivekananda. Hanuman's qualities of unwavering devotion, strength, courage, and humility resonate deeply across generations. This article is a fitting offering by Tish Malhotra to the spirit of Hanuman Jayanti.
Hanuman Mahaprabhu: the Merciful and Compassionate Guru
by Tish Malhotra
Sri Hanuman Jayanti to be celebrated tomorrow (Saturday, the 12 April Chaitra Shukla, Purnima) is the most auspicious occasion for His devotees all over the world. Hanuman, who is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva, is also known as the son of Anjana and Kesari. He is also called the son of Wind-God (Pawan-sut). For all, He is the beloved devotee of Lord Sita Rama. Though Hanuman is remembered with love, faith and devotion every day, particularly on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the Jayanti celebrations assume great importance in view of the living and loving bond between devotees and the Deity.
The day is marked by organising special non-stop musical recitation of Sri Hanuman Chalisa, Sundarkand from Sri Ramcharitamansa, religious discourses, distribution of consecrated food, sweets, etc. among the devotees. Day and night devotees salute Hanuman, who is the foremost among intellectuals, emissary of Lord Rama, ocean of compassion, achiever of impossible, destroyer of demons and controller of senses. He is always present wherever Rama’s praise is sung and He opens the door to Rama’s compassion for the devotees.
With bowing down and praying to Hanuman, who is ever enshrined in the sanctum sanatorium of our heart, we are blessed to realise so many aspects of the divine guidance on the true art of living. This leads to not only to spiritual unfoldment but also realisation that the same divinity permeates all around us, whether animate or inanimate.
In order to understand His divine message, there is a need to contemplate and focus deeply on what is stated in Sri Hanuman Chalisa and the Sundarkanda in Sri Ramcharitmanas. It is very aptly mentioned in Sri Hanuman Chalisa: "Jai Jai Hanumana Gosain/Kirpa Karo Gurudev Ki Nai". ("Victory to You, O Hanuman, the Master of the senses, be gracious to us as a Guru would be."). The devotee keeps submitting to Hanuman that all the difficult tasks of the world are rendered easy by Your grace. You are the guardian of Rama’s Abode, where no one can enter without Your permission. Under Your refuge, one enjoys every type of happiness. What is there to be afraid of when You are the protector?... No ghosts and goblins dare approach the person who recites Your Holy Name - Mahavira.
When one incessantly repeats (with love and devotion), the name of the powerful Hanuman, all his maladies and afflictions are eliminated by His grace. And if anyone comes to Him with any desire, he will get limitless fruit in this life. While one prays to Hanuman for bestowing favours, then one must also remember that all others fellow beings are travelling in the same boat. They too are struggling for getting out of the vicious circle of multiple sorrows afflicting at physical, mental, economic, professional, social and other levels.
The utterly self-less, egoless and desire-less ways of Hanuman of serving Lord Rama, Mother Sita, Sugriva, Vibhishana and others with love and humility teach us that the true art of living means taking complete care of all others. Sharing others’ joys, sorrows, sufferings, and deprivations of others, one needs to imbibe the true spirit of empathy. In this regard, the sacred teachings of great saint and devotee of Hanuman, Neem Karoli Baba (1900- 1973) show the way forward. In fact, Neem Karoli Baba is venerated by many as an incarnation of Hanuman.
Throughout his holy life, Neem Karoli Baba taught love, compassion, selfless service, and seeing God in everyone and everything. He urged all to live simply, forgive and remember God constantly with love, devotion and complete surrender. Our focus should be on the present moment and cultivating the inner peace with patience and perseverance.
Loving others, even those who hurt us, is essential for our spiritual growth. Baba underlined that forgiveness is a powerful tool not only for personal peace but also creating harmony around us. By serving others without expecting any reward is a direct path to experiencing the divine bliss and beholding divinity. Acts of kindness and helping others connect us with the divine. By living a simple and humble life, true spiritual growth becomes easy. Unwavering faith and sincere devotion to God, help us to overcome life's challenges and obstacles. Our focus should be on the present. Let go the past regrets and future worries. Mindfulness fosters inner peace and spiritual development. By recognizing the divine in all beings promotes compassion and unity among individuals and enables to transcend differences.
In a nutshell, the philosophy of Neem Karoli Baba is to love all, serve all, respect all, feed all, and remember God constantly, affectionately and attentively. “If you cannot love each other, you cannot achieve your goal": This quote of Baba highlights the importance of love and unity as essential for achieving the spiritual and personal goals.
Contemplating on the core teachings of Baba enables us to lead the life full of empathy. That alone can expand our mind by rising above the narrow grooves of selfishness. By overcoming selfishness and egoistic tendencies, we can understand better the difficulties and fears of others and strive for the common good of all, irrespective of one’s caste, community, clan, religion, profession and social and economic status. Then alone one can live upto the true meaning of the universal prayer: “May all be freed from dangers. May all realize what is good … May all be happy. May all be free from disease. May none be subject to misery.”
The message inherent in the Jayanti celebration is that Hanuman is personification of devotion and ever present in all ages (Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali). He alone can unite us with divinity manifested as Rama and Sita. Sri Hanuman Chalisa proclaims: “Through devotion to You (Hanuman), one obtains Rama, and sorrows of life after life are swept away. One goes after death to the Abode of Rama, the best among the Raghus, and wherever he may be born again, he would be called the devotee of Hari.”
The art of empathy as taught by Hanuman shows us the way to live in the world by following the principles of caring, sharing, service, humility, compassion and seeing unity in diversity and striving to realize the divinity of Rama and Sita. That is why we must keep supplicating Hanuman to come and dwell in our hearts forever with Rama, Lakshmana and Sita. That is indeed the important message of Sri Rama Navami (celebrated recently on 6th April).
Before concluding it is imperative to state that Swami Vivekananda has placed Hanuman as an ideal for the youth. Therefore, it is essential to quote what he said about the matchless character, heroic deeds and towering personality of Hanuman: "You have now to make the character of Mahavira [Hanuman] your ideal. See how at the command of Ramachandra he crossed the ocean. He had no care for life or death! He was a perfect master of his senses and wonderfully sagacious. You have now to build your life on this great ideal of personal service. Through that, all other ideals will gradually manifest in life. Obedience to the Guru without questioning, and strict observance of Brahmacharya - this is the secret of success. As on the one hand Hanuman represents the ideal of service, so on the other hand he represents leonine courage, striking the whole world with awe. He has not the least hesitation in sacrificing his life for the good of Rama. A supreme indifference to everything except the service of Rama, even to the attainment of the status of Brahma and Shiva, the great World-gods! Carrying out of Sri Rama's behest is the only vow of his life! Such wholehearted devotion is wanted."
Similarly, Swami Raghaveshananda of Sri Ramakrishna Math, has said: “By imbibing the noble qualities of Hanuman, youth can be successful in their lives. As we all know, the youth of today are discarding our age-old traditions. They are adopting wrong ideas and modes of living under the false impression that they lead to fulfilment. Swami Vivekananda strongly believed that if the national and religious ideals are pursued in the youth, they will continue to influence them throughout their lives. They would also help in moulding their characters. Such an ideal personage was Anjaneya or Hanuman. His life is an ideal not only to the youth but for our national leaders too, as they are responsible for the welfare of the nation and its citizens.”
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Tish Malhotra is a Delhi-based independent author.
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