The Untold Devine Stories of Hanuman
A Curse & An Education
Anjana and Kesari were worried parents. After the gods had blessed him, they found it difficult to manage Hanuman's strength as well as his mischief. For Hanuman was far from being a meek and docile child. He liked nothing better than to romp around with all the animals in the forest. He lifted elephants up to test their weight, swung boars around by their curly tails, and raced other monkeys to the tops of tall trees. The poor animals found all this rough play sometimes quite difficult and tiring. But they kept silent, knowing Hanuman was good-hearted, not a bully.
Hanuman's mischief did not disturb only his animal
companions. The forests around his mountain home held many ashrams where rishis
prayed and did tapasya. Hanuman loved to make things turn lively around them,
too. He would hang upside down from the thatched roof of an ashram where a
rishi sat in meditation. The sage would open his eyes to find the upside down
face of a monkey grinning at him, and this would startle him. He would take the
seat of a rishi who had been practising sitting on a bed of nails. In its
place, he would place the seat of another who had been sitting for some years
on a piece of silk. Both rishis would jump up because their bottoms were used
to sitting on something completely different!
Hanuman took holy water and played at doing 'puja. He
imitated the rishis' slow and solemn movements and irritated them. They were
very tolerant most of the time. Those sages who had the ability to see the
past, present, and future, knew that Hanuman would protect them one day.
However, this did not make it much easier to bear some of his most naughty
acts.
Kesari and Anjana worried about how they should get Hanuman
to think about his actions. They wanted him to use his strength wisely, rather
than scare others with its sheer force. But every time they thought they would
talk to him about it, he looked so lovable that they could not scold him. He
had innocent brown eyes, and his mouth turned up in a happy grin that made others
smile in reply.
Anjana was a wise mother, and she knew this could not go on
forever. She spoke to Kesari and suggested that they seek help from the sages
who lived around them. Kesari agreed, and both of them approached a gathering
of the rishis who had assembled for a yagna (prayer with holy fire).
"O sages," said Kesari, with folded hands,
"God has blessed us with a most exceptional child. He has every power
known to man and is most intelligent. There is not a single drop of ill-will in
him. He is so good that we are unable to scold and criticise him. We don't know
how to deal with him. His sheer playfulness gets him and others into
trouble."
The sages nodded in agreement. They had all experienced
Hanuman's 'playful' pranks.
"You have seen this child since he was born," said
Anjana. "Please help us mould him into a fine adult. Let him be the pride
of our family, this forest, and the whole world, with your blessings."
The rishis understood the plight of Hanuman's parents. They
went into a huddle to discuss what they should do, After some time, three of
the eldest rishis came forward to talk to Anjaneya's worried parents about what
they had decided.
"We have decided that our best course of action will be a curse," they said. "A c-cursel" both Anjana and Kesari were stunned
"Do not worry, dear Kesari and Anjana. This curse is
being given to protect your son," said the eldest sage "And others
too," murmured another elderly sage. It was he who had had to sit on silk
when he should have been sitting on nails!
"Our curse is simply this. Hanuman shall forget he is
strong, and not remember it till he is much older. Til then, he will be able to
use his mighty powers only when someone reminds him by telling him that he is
strong."
"Thank you, respected sages," said Anjana and
Kesari They bowed and left, but secretly they were wondering how this curse
would help their son.
They need not have worried. While these awful words cursing
Hanuman were being spoken by the rishis. he was already forgetting what it felt
like to be the strongest person on earth. He was playing hide and seek with
some other monkeys at that moment. They were crashing through the forest
branches, but suddenly, he stopped and leapt to the ground. He took a deep
breath. Everything felt different.
While before, he had looked at a distant mountain. and known he could reach it in a second, now it looked very far to him. Trees looked tall. The sky looked vast. The animals, those creatures who had borne the brunt of his rough games, looked as if they could get hurt, At that moment, a great change came over Hanuman.
He had been born with a strong, large, fearless heart. But
now, something else came and filled his heart. A soft, kind emotion, that made
him understand how the smallest and weakest of creatures must feel in a world
much larger than themselves..
Hanuman's heart swelled. It grew and grew, and filled with
compassion. Now he knew he had to always protect the meek, the small, the
frightened and helpless. A great kindness settled over him, and it would always
stay with him.
When he met Anjana and Kesari returning from their meeting
with the sages, his mother was able to notice the change immediately. She
greeted her son, hiding her private worry, and they made their way home
together.
Hanuman began spending more time at home, listening to
stories and teachings. He took great care not to hurt the forest animals or
trees. He would still swing from trees and leap about but if he saw a thin
branch ahead, he made himself lighter, so that the branch would not break under
his weight!
He began to be a real friend of the small and humble
animals, who looked up at him with stars in their eyes.
It was not only that his heart had grown - he was also
growing bigger. When he was a baby, his mother had wrapped him in golden yellow
cloth. Even his diaper was golden yellow. Now he wore a silk dhoti, which he
wore down to his knees. To do justice to his monkey antics, he could not wear
it to his ankles. The colour of his dhoti was always sunflower yellow, or
hibiscus red, or a bright orange like the inside of a ripe mango.
His golden fur shone brightly, especially when it was
touched by the rays of the sun. Below the fur, his body was tough and muscular.
He was becoming an adult with a body as hard as Indra's
vajra', which would earn him the name of 'Vajrang' or 'Bajrang' as he is
commonly called. His chest was broad and his shoulders were powerful. His tail
was long, and had the strength of a hundred horses. But his most beautiful
feature were his eyes. They shone with intelligence, and a kindness softened
their brown gaze. Whoever saw him felt attracted to Hanuman.
This period in Hanuman's life was very important for his
development. His mother, Anjana, had the power of seeing into the future. She
was no ordinary monkey. She had been born on earth after living in heaven, and
most of the stories she told Hanuman were about God. She told him how Vishnu
appeared in various forms on earth - as a fish, or boar, or dwarf. She also
described how he would return as Sri Ramachandra, the king of Ayodhya. Because
of her heavenly powers. Anjana described the events of the Ramayana to her son,
while he was still a child.
After some days it became evident that this story was the
only one Hanuman wanted to hear, again and again. He listened intently to the
part when Rama. was helped by the great monkey Hanuman. At this, Hanuman would
jump up in excitement. His fur would stand up all along his spine, his eyes
would shine, his tail would swish and dance, and he would yell. "That's
me! I'll be that monkey! I'm going to help Rama!
His mother would smile and quiet him down and his head. pat
"Of course you will my dearest You will help Rama cross
every hurdle. Everyone who calls on you will be blessed by your strength and
kindness!"
Sometimes she gave him a hug with these words and he became
still. But sometimes he squirmed in her hug. Wriggling to get away, making a
face as if he was being tricked, he wanted to continue thinking about the story
It was obvious that Hanuman loved to imagine the story of Rama and his own
future role in it This was what he dreamed of when he was a child.
As he listened to the story Anjana told, Hanuman would jump
up and punch the air or swing his golden mace. These antics made his father
happy. Kesari was glad to see his son display such courage and enthusiasm. He
himself was a famous warrior.
His mother noticed how he loved to hear about Rama and said, "It is natural that you should feel this way about Rama, dear. You shall be his best friend. It is to serve him that you were born." Thus Hanuman began to say aloud the name of his future friend.
He could not wait to meet him and begin their adventures
together. He began spending long hours by himself in the forest saying
"Rama Rama Rama". He would wander over mountains and valleys or cross
rivers and sit for hours on a rugged peak Often his mother or father would have
to go in search of him and bring him back home to feed him. After hours spent
saying the name of God, Hanuman was not hungry. Still, his mother would
lovingly put some morsels in his mouth and he would eat, only to repeat the
scene the next day.
When Hanuman grew a little older, his parents wanted to
complete his education. They remembered Surya, the sun god's promise to teach
him. They called Hanuman to their side, and said, "You need to spend time
with a guru to master what you will need to know in your adult life. So we are
sending you to Surya the sun god. There is nothing he does not know, and he has
promised to teach you himself."
Anjaneya agreed, but spoke aloud to say, "How far away the sun is! How will I reach there? Are you taking me?" It was then his parents understood the working of the sages' curse. They smiled and reminded him, "The distance is nothing to you. You can leap any distance, and have the power to fly with great speed, like Vayu, the god of wind." Now Hanuman remembered his power, and took leave of them.
He streaked like a meteor across the sky again, and reached
the setting sun. "O Surya, my parents send you their greetings, and
request that you should accept me as a pupil and teach me what I need to
know," he said.
Surya the sun god smiled and said, "Having a student
like you will be an honour indeed!" He remembered this radiant monkey as a
playful baby.
"But there is only one difficulty," Surya
continued. "Do you see this chariot? I can never leave it, and neither can
Arun, the charioteer, ever stop it. I have to keep racing across the heavens,
or three worlds will come to a standstill. If I cannot keep still, how will I teach
you?"
"I do not have to stand still to learn, and you need
not stand still to teach," replied Hanuman. "I will just keep running
in front of your chariot, and you must keep saying what you want me to
remember. We will soon be done."
Surya was even more pleased. He knew that Hanuman was really a form of Shiva, protected by Vayu, blessed with the fine qualities of all the gods. He knew that Hanuman did not really need to submit himself to a teacher, since he was born to help God, However, by becoming a student, Hanuman was showing the way to people on earth, who must obey the simple rule of submitting to a teacher in order to learn.
Hanuman was learning from Surya, so that for ever after, the guru-shishya or student-teacher relationship would be respected.He raced around the heavens while Surya taught him the Vedas, all forms of knowledge, and wisdom necessary for him as an adult.Hanuman was preparing for his life adventures.
🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕
Mangal moorat, maarut nandan,
sakal amangal mool nikandan,
Pavan tanay santan hitkaari,
briday biraajat ajar behari.
The most auspicious form,
son of Maarut, who uproots all forms of evil,
Born of the wind, helpful to all saints, i
n whose heart
dwells deathless Sri Rama.
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