Yagna on ‘Glories of Shri Hanuman’ – Aug 2015

The monthly series of Yagna started with a grand devotional journey as Swamiji introduced everyone with the various aspects of Shri Hanumanji’s beautiful character as depicted in Shri Ramcharitmanas.

A few golden nuggets from the talk are:

• The most distinguished quality of Hanumanji is his nature of serving Lord Ram with extreme quietness & alertness, without having any sankalp of his own. From him, one should learn to look for opportunities to serve, irrespective of the form of seva – big or small.
• True Love does not require any introduction. Such was the first meeting of Hanumanji & Lord Ram where their eternal love was portrayed through their rolling tears that completely soaked each other.
• Hanumanji is Guru ‘roop’. Like a Guru takes devotees closer to the Lord; instilling compassion in Lord’s heart for the devotee and surrender in devotee’s heart for the Lord; similarly, Hanumanji paved the path for Sugreeva’s surrender to Lord Ram.
• Like air helps ignite and sustain fire in a log of wood; similarly, a Guru ushers the Lord to the jeeva and nourishes this divine relationship. This Guru role was played by Hanumanji in Sugreeva’s life to get him closer to Lord Ram.

Such is the immeasurable glory of Hanumanji that there are more temples of him than Lord Ram; and there is no temple of Lord Ram without Hanumanji.

The flow of sweet nectar of Satsang continued on the second day of monthly yagna by Swami Abhedananda. A few beautiful points from the talk are:

• Hanumanji is the manifestation of Lord Shiva who is ‘vishwas roop’. Sugreeva had unconditional faith in Hanumanji; which got him closer to the Lord. It is not important what we have externally; what is important is to have deep faith internally. Even more important is to sustain that faith in spite of failures.
• Lord cannot be known by the intellect. He can only be known by faith. To those who are pure hearted, God reveals Himself to them. The more the devotion, the more is the clarity and eloquence in the inner voice.
• As the breeze carries the fragrance of flowers with it, similarly the devotees of the Lord carry the fragrance of Lord’s glories wherever they go. In the same way, Hanumanji didn’t have any doership and carried Ramji’s sankalp with him wherever he went.
• All worldly relations are weak and fragile. A person is effectively an orphan who doesn’t feel related to God. Once, we have established a relationship with God, our joys and sorrows become His joys and sorrows.
• One of the most wonderful qualities of Shri Hanuman is that he is the best messenger of the Lord. He knows what to convey at what time to whom in what manner in order to guide the devotee on the right path.

Hanumanji exemplifies various other qualities like devout humility, egolessness, capacity to lead, capacity to follow and eternal surrender at the feet of the Lord. May as devotees we ever aspire to be like him with our limited abilities.

Swamiji started Day 3 of the discourse with a lucid illustration of an incident of Shri Ramcharitmanas when all the monkeys were wandering in the forest in search of mother Sita…

• Here monkeys represent the various ‘vrittis’ of human mind and Sitaji is ‘bhakti’. During their search, all the monkeys got very thirsty & tired except for Hanumanji. Here, the state of a seeker is depicted as – those who walk under the scorching sun, carrying their own doer and ego, they are bound to get tired, thirsty and lost; while those who walk under the shadow of Lord’s grace, they surrender their ‘doership’ and never feel tired because it is the Lord who works through them. More we allow God’s ‘doer’ to become our ‘doer’, more our life would be easier.
• Through Hanumanji’s character we see that he performed very wide spectrum of ‘seva’ as per the need of the moment. He became big & mighty in front of demons; he jumped across the ocean to find mother Sita; he became a small child in front of mother Sita; he became an excellent messenger while passing Ramji’s message to Sitaji; he carried the big mountain to save Laxmanji’s life; he even got himself bound in front of Ravan in order to tell him about Ramji’s glories. We need to learn from Hanumanji that one should be always ready & eager to give his seva, no matter what his role demands.
• In life, when faced with problems, one should lift himself above the problem and see it from a higher realm. Such was the manner in which Hanumanji helped all the monkeys when they had lost all the hopes. He climbed the mountain top and using his wisdom, he was able to discover the path ahead.
• Every situation in life, brings with itself, hidden grace of the Lord, which may be bitter or sweet. Grace is something that takes one closer to the Lord by dropping one’s attachment with the world. When we shun the external world and turn within, then alone we can find the true solace and happiness.
• Hanumanji is such a saint who did not just find Sitaji (bhakti), but he also took all the other monkeys to her and depicted how to attain bhakti. Saints are the bridge between the Lord and the devotee; they have the closeness to the Lord to say, “Please accept this devotee”. Listening to their prayers, Lord’s heart melts very easily for the devotee.

Thus, we all should propitiate Hanumanji again and again so that he can invoke the special grace and compassion of Lord Ram for us.

In yesterday’s uplifting satsang, Swami Abhedanandaji further highlighted Hanumanji’s beaming character. Here are a few enlightening pointers from the talk…

• Everybody in life is searching for Sitaji. Mother Sita represents ‘Bhakti’ for the ‘man of devotion’ & ‘Shanti’ for the ‘man of knowledge’. Bhakti does not come to the seeker unless he drops his abhiman (ego) and takes Lord’s shelter.
• Like a monkey, our mind keeps hopping from one thought to other, from one desire to other, from one object to other. If we had put all our efforts single pointedly only in one direction, then we would have easily attained Bhakti, like Hanumanji was able to find Sitaji.
• We spend years together looking for joy in the material world, only to realize again & again that it can provide only a fleeting sense of joy verses permanent happiness. The true everlasting joy can be experienced only with the Lord of our heart.
• All the flaws & vasanas are supported by the ego of an individual. Only a seeker who is egoless (nirabhimani) can come out of his weaknesses & change for better. Hanumanji exhibited this egolessness in & through all his actions, so much so that he always introduced himself through his association with Lord Ram and never through his individual identity.
• Beauty of Hanumaji’s character is that “Nothing tempts him”. In Lanka, despite being in the midst of all worldly temptations, Hanumaji had a lot of dispassion to be able to remain focused in the search of Sitaji.
• Like an arrow which does not have its own sankalp, Hanumaji got all his strength, direction, intensity & speed from the Lord alone. Lord has a plan for all of us in life; but we have to let Him be the planner and let Him use us as His instrument.

On the penultimate day of the wonderful series of discourses on Shri Hanumanji’s character, Swamiji continued to captivate the audience…

As we stepped into ‘Sundarkand’, the most popular part of Shri Ramcharitmanas, Swamiji started the talk with an enchanting explanation of the meaning of the word ‘Sundar’.

• An object is said to be ‘Sundar’ when it gives joy, fulfillment, and completeness. This chapter of Ramcharitmanas is called ‘Sundarkand’ because here Ramji is sundar, Sitaji is sundar, Hanumanji is sundar, Katha is sundar & Hanumanji’s search for Sitaji (Bhakti), filled with complete surrender is exceptionally sundar.
• Something that is truly beautiful should be complete at all times, at all places & from all aspects, hence what can be more beautiful other than Bhakti of Bhagwan. However, away from it, we try to find beauty in this world, which is limited in its nature because,
  -An object appearing beautiful to one may not appeal to another
  – Every beautiful thing is bound by time and is associated with some imperfection.
• Our biggest requirement in life is God’s love, although we wrongly try to find that love in the world. Everyone wants to love someone who is powerful, pure, immaculate & a constant source of joy. Lord alone can be the giver of such a love.
• Like the demoness Singhika, who used to capture all the flying objects by their shadow, our jealousy pulls us down and hinders our spiritual progress. As Hanumaji was able to conquer Singhika, we should also strive to overcome this baser tendency and avoid getting trapped in the game of our mind.
• Hanumanji’s vairagya was such that he could effortlessly maneuver through the glittery, tempting golden lanka & stay focused in his search for Sitaji. In everyone’s life, there is a lanka which is – his desire for name & fame, his insistence, his likes & dislikes, etc. Like Hanumanji, we should try to develop dispassion towards this inner lanka, and stay focused towards our ultimate goal of attaining devotion for the Lord.

On the concluding day of the yagna, Swami Abhedananda soaked the heart of the audience with the wonderful depiction of Hanumanji’s meeting with Mother Sita in Ashok vatika. Listening to these 6 days of lovely discourses on Sundarkand, there was an experience of overflowing love, devotion, surrender and joy, which every seeker strives for.

Here are a few gems for us to collect & preserve:

• Saints say that such is the power of chanting Sundarkand that if you chant it for 108 times, it can fulfill any material or spiritual desire that a devotee may have!
• On the path of devotion, challenges will always be met but they will be short-lived if the resolve of the seeker is strong. Once we start walking, the path ahead unfolds by Lord’s immense grace!
• Vibhishanji’s character represents character of a ‘dharmic jiva’ (religious being) who has contradictions in his mind. On one hand he used to pray & wish to have Lord Ram’s darshan, but on the other hand, he lacked the right intellect & courage to stand up to Ravan for rightfully giving Sitaji back to Ramji.
• Relationship between Vibhishan & Ravan is that of a Jiva & delusion. Vibhishan’s attachment with Ravan eclipsed his devotion for the Lord, similarly our desires for world veils our true need for the Lord.
• Any sorrow in human life is the result of his misplaced expectations & wrong dependence on the worldly relations. To shun all sorrows, one should have a constant awareness that each relationship is through the Lord alone, and it does not hold any independent identity.
• Being good is not a qualification required to go to the Lord & be accepted by Him. Lord’s compassion is that of a mother who cares little that the child is dirty or clean before taking him in her lap & embracing him.