MY HANUMAN CHALISA

by Devdutt Pattanaik

Hindus have always believed that a temple can be created in the mind using words and verses, just as brick, wood and stone can be used to construct a temple in the material world. The psychological world exists parallel to the physical world; these are the two worlds inhabited by all living creatures (jiva in Sanskrit) according to Hindu scriptures. Only the non-living (ajiva) exist solely in the physical world.

This yearning for the literal is indicative of insecurity, for the insecure mind finds it easier to control matter, which is measurable, than the mind, which is not.

If one wants to give purpose to life, then it is to enjoy desire and accept destiny, without being addicted to either, and realizing there is more to life than satisfaction and suffering, desire and destiny. This can only happen when we have buddhi, complemented with strength (bala) and knowledge (vidya), which is what this chaupai refers to.

Knowledge is infinite, it has no boundaries, and in Hinduism, God is the personification of that infinite knowledge. Everyone has access only to a slice (bhaga) of reality; the one who knows all slices is God (bhagavan).

The intelligent seek control: the strong have the resilience to handle the lack of control, and the knowledgeable know the fultility of control. Hence, we ask Hanuman for strength as well as knowledge, along with intelligence.

Note that everything that is being sought from Hanuman involves the mind and body: we want him to give us strength, intelligence, and knowledge. We are not asking for fortune or success. With a healthy mind, we know, can cope with all of life’s vagaries, and find happiness, always.

Words like ‘north’ and ‘south’ in the Ramayana need to be read metaphorically, not literally, because Vedic thought is all about the mind, and seeks to inform how we ‘see’ the world. Ram is a metaphor. So is Ravana. So is Hanuman. The Ramayana takes place in the landscape that is our mind.

In nature, animals, including monkeys, compete for food, and so dominate and mark territories to secure their food. All behaviour is aimed at ensuring the body survives. This is the jungle way (matsya nyaya). To outgrow these animal instincts is the hallmark of humanity; it is our divine potential. To walk this path is dharma. But when we indulge in competition, domination and territoriality, we become worse than animals; we become demons, who subscribe to adharma. Ram embodies dharma. Ravana embodies adharma. Hanuman, from amongst all the monkeys, makes the journey towards Ram.

The hungry and the frightened seek combat and conquest, hence vijay—victory where someone is defeated. The wise seek a different kind of victory, jai—where no one is defeated, where the self is able to conquer its own hunger and fear to acknowledge, appreciate, even accommodate the other. Both jai and vijay seem to mean the same thing, ‘hail’ or ‘victory’, but there is a nuance in the meaning, the preference for internal victory in the case of jai over external victory in the case of vijay. This jai is what we want for Hanuman, and from Hanuman, as we read the Hanuman Chalisa.

In Hindu mythology, there are two kinds of gods: the greater ones who self-created and are hence beyond space and time, immortal and infinite, and the lesser ones who are born to parents and are hence located within space and time, are mortal and finite. In the Puranas, all old Vedic gods—Indra, Agni, Vayu, Surya—are given secondary status by being described as children of Kashyapa and Aditi. Primary status is given to Shiva and Vishnu who are described as self-created. Vishnu voluntarily takes a mortal form as Ram, thus striding both categories. Hanuman, however, does not fit so neatly into the second category: yes, he takes birth on earth, but he is also described as immortal (Chiranjivi). There are no stories of his death.

A king uses his power to serve people and create an ecosystem where people can outgrow hunger and fear. When a king uses his power to dominate those around him, it reveals the king has not outgrown his hunger and fear; he is not yet Ram. Likewise, a king’s agent uses his power to serve his master. When a king’s agent uses his power to dominate those around him, it reveals he has not outgrown his hunger and fear; he is not yet Hanuman.

Most villages in India worship a vira, or hero, who protects the village. Hanuman is identified as Maha-vira, or Mahabir, who also protects the mind. Hanuman not only vanquishes physical demons like rakshasas and asuras, but also psychological demons such as negative thoughts (kumati) and ushers in positive thoughts (sumati).

the red colour was replaced by saffron colour, indicating celibacy and continence, a rejection of all things sensory. Buddhist monks were the first to use saffron, ochre, maroon and red robes to distinguish themselves from the robes of common folk, but eventually these colours were adopted by Hindu monks and saffron has now become the colour of choice of political Hinduism.

Hanuman’s orange-red body is often covered with silver and gold foil representing his Lightning-like body.

In the Vedas, Indra is the greatest of gods, one who battles demons like Vritra, and releases the waters held by clouds. He is the patron of kings. Yet, in the Puranas, his role is reduced. He is the lord of Paradise (Swarga), leader of devas, who lives in celestial regions and enjoys worldly pleasures, but lacks wisdom. He needs the help of Vishnu to fight the demons (asuras) who lay siege to Paradise and declare war relentlessly. This shift in status indicates a shift from the older more materialistic Vedic way to the later Vedic (Upanishadic) way where greater value was placed on the mind (on meaning) than on riches and power.

What is virtue? The ability to look beyond our own hungers and fears and be concerned of other people’s hungers and fears. The way Hanuman behaves when he first meets Ram and Sita indicates how his knowledge, his cleverness and his virtue work together.

For Hindus, one of the ways to expand our mind, and discover the divine within, is by listening (shravana) to stories of the divine. Puranic stories are containers (patra) of Vedic wisdom (atma-gyan). Stories are of different types: memoirs (itihasa), chronicles (purana), epics (maha-kavya), narratives (akhyana), glories (mahatmya), biographies (charitra), songs (gita), prose-poetry (champu). Hanuman nourishes himself intellectually and emotionally by listening to stories of Ram, as we learn from this verse.

Hanuman does Ram’s darshan each time he hears Ram’s story. He wants to participate in it, even as a minor character, for he relishes the idea of being part of Ram’s story. One day, he narrated the story of Ramayana to his mother: how the monkeys and he built the bridge to Lanka, fought the rakshasas, killed Ravana and reunited Sita with Ram. Anjana was not impressed, for she felt her son was not living up to his potential. ‘You could have just swung your tail and defeated the demons and rescued Sita without this whole charade of building a bridge and fighting a war. Why didn’t you?’ she asked. Hanuman replied, ‘Because Ram did not ask me to.’ Hanuman knew the Ramayana was Ram’s story, not his. He did not want to control or appropriate or overshadow Ram’s story. It was about Ram, not him.

the self is incomplete without the other; that the self exists in an ecosystem of others. That is why in Hindu temples, no deity is placed alone: the deity always has a spouse, or a child, or a companion, or an attendant. Even Hanuman, who has no relatives, is not placed alone; we know that in his heart is present his master, who in turn is accompanied by his brother and his wife.

Hindu mythologies are best understood in terms of relationship: Shiva’s relationship with Shakti and Vishnu’s relationship with Lakshmi. Instead of the binary of the individual and the group, Hinduism focuses on the relationship between two individuals (the dyad). Shiva tends to withdraw from the other; Vishnu engages with the other. When we relish the stories of the gods as Hanuman does, we see the gods truly, and recognize their presence or absence in us, just like Hanuman.

In Hinduism, God is constantly playing games (leela) nudging the devotee-child to realize his divine potential. Thus God can expand or contract, encompass infinity (virat-rupa), and change shape and size for the benefit of all living creatures. Vishnu, for example, manifests as a fish, a boar, a priest, a king, or a cowherd. This ability to adapt for the benefit of the other is a hallmark of divinity, one that Hanuman also possesses.

Hanuman with Kalanemi underfoot and Sanjivani in his hand is the form in which he is worshipped in most temples. Kalanemi represents the obstacles in our life. Sanjivani is the solution to our problems. The image captures the idea behind the worship of Hanuman—he removes obstacles and solves problems, which is why he is adored by all. Hanuman embodies the pragmatic aspect of Hinduism, quite different from the philosophical side.

By comparing Hanuman to Bharat Ram elevates the status of Hanuman from servant to family. This indicates a significant elevation of Hanuman’s status and his inclusion in Ram’s heart. One cannot help but wonder if this narrative elevation of Hanuman is not political, an attempt by wise men of society to bridge the inequality, without threatening the old system: a calculated counter-force of wisdom that keeps the default social force of hierarchy in check.

Thus, while Vaishnavas see Hanuman as Vishnu’s servant, and Shaivas see him as a form of Shiva, the Shaktas or Goddess worshippers saw Hanuman as a student of the Goddess, and Ram as the consort and guardian of the Goddess.

However, the world created by Brahma is full of conflict and sorrow. His children, the devas and the asuras constantly fight each other. And so Brahma is not worshipped. Instead, prayers are offered to Shiva, the hermit, who rejects wealth and power, and withdraws from society, and returns to the jungle for peace. Shiva, the opponent of Brahma, is therefore described as the destroyer. Brahma’s world brings prosperity but no peace. Shiva’s world brings peace but no prosperity. Vishnu, the preserver, stands in between Brahma and Shiva. He gets Brahma’s quarrelling children to collaborate and churn Lakshmi out of the ocean of milk. Thus, like Brahma, he engages with society and generates and enjoys wealth, but unlike Brahma or his children, he does not see himself as the controller of Lakshmi. Instead, like Shiva, he has inner peace not to crave control over the wealth he generates. He freely and fairly distributing it with detachment. This makes him Lakshmi’s ideal husband. He protects her, enjoys her, but does not seek to control her. That is why Vishnu is called Lakshmi-vallabha, the beloved of Lakshmi, and Shri-pati, lord of wealth.

Brahma is the creator-god of Hinduism, but never worshipped. Creation in Hinduism does not mean creator of material things, but creator of self-identity (aham) and seeker of divine identity (atma). This creation happens on the canvas that is nature.

In the Puranas, sexual activity must not be taken literally: the male form represents the mind and the female form represents matter.

In other words, without the material, there can be nothing spiritual.

Knowledge has to be internalized, transformed into wisdom, not memorized. Brahma is beheaded because he chooses the path of the brahmin (crumpled mind that seeks to dominate others using his knowledge and position) rather than the path of the brahmana (expanded mind that internalizes the Vedas and so feels no urge to dominate).

In wisdom, we see the world for what it is, rather than trying to control the world like Brahma and his children, and being trapped in hunger and fear and meaningless, we become like Ram, and Hanuman.

But thanks to his teacher Surya, and thanks to his experience of Ram, he was able to transform knowledge into wisdom, use Saraswati not to cling to wealth (which is a mark of hunger) or dominate others (which is a mark of fear), but to outgrow his hunger and fear. This is why everyone adores him—Brahma, and his sons, the sages, even the goddess of knowledge and the serpent of wisdom.

As the Puranas came to be composed, the Hindu universe came to have a unique architecture. The world was seen as a lotus flower, with continents spreading out like petals from a central mountain called Meru. The continent on which India is located is called Jambudvipa, stretching from the Himalayas to the oceans, and watered by seven rivers; it is the land of the blackbuck. Spreading over it like a canopy is the sky, pegged at eight different locations: north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest. At each peg is located a guardian (Digga-pala) and a pair of elephants (Digga-gaja).

For Ram was a yogi, who knows a man has rights only to action, not to the results of action. Only Hanuman noticed this and wanted to be the servant of the man who had no desire to be anyone’s master.

Hanuman gives Vibhishan the strength to choose dharma over loyalty. Loyalty indulges the self-image at the cost of the other. It values reputation of the self (sva-jiva) over the welfare of the other (para-jiva). Dharma is all about the other. It is what defines our humanity.

The sun impacts our radiance, the moon impacts our emotions, Mars our aggression, Mercury our intelligence, Jupiter our rationality, Venus our creativity, Saturn our patience, Rahu our clarity and Ketu our calm.

The concept of ‘value’ exists only amongst humans. For animals, food has value. For humans, an object becomes valuable based on what meaning we attribute to it. Meanings are given randomly. They are cultural: of a set of people, by a set of people, for a set of people, making no sense to outsiders or non-humans.

In the Ramayana, Lakshman is horrified when Shabari offers him berries after tasting them to check if they are sweet; he considers the food contaminated, but Ram has no problem eating the berries for he rises above such cultural meanings and is able to recognize that they exist in context and are not universal. What makes sense in one culture may not make sense in another. This discomfort with contamination following contact with saliva is implied in the verse where Hanuman casually puts Ram’s royal ring in his mouth.

Once, Sita gave Hanuman a string of pearls. He kept biting the pearls as if they were nuts. The residents of Ayodhya laughed at this, exclaiming that a monkey could not know the worth of pearls. When asked to explain his behaviour, Hanuman said, ‘I was biting to see if Ram resides in these pearls. He doesn’t, so they are useless to me.’ The people found this to be an absurd idea, for Ram sat on a throne and could not be seated inside pearls. But Hanuman was surprised at their assertion and confidence. He just tore open his chest and there within his heart was Ram with Sita by his side. Suddenly, the people of Ayodhya realized what Hanuman was innocently drawing their attention to. For him, a thing had value if it was either food, or if it evoked divinity. He saw no value in expensive, royal pearls—for they neither nourished his body, nor his mind, as Ram did. Possessing pearls could make people rich. But engaging with Hanuman could make people experience what it meant to be Ram.

Once Narada told Hanuman that he had to bow to all the sages who paid a visit to Ram, everyone except Vishwamitra, who did not like anyone bowing to him. Hanuman complied, not knowing that this was Narada’s trick to create a rift between Hanuman and Ram. Vishwamitra saw this as an insult and demanded that the monkey be killed. So Ram raised his bow and shot arrows at Hanuman. Hanuman simply chanted Ram’s name—and such was the power of Ram’s name that it created a force field that even Ram’s arrows could not penetrate. Everyone bowed to Hanuman who showed the world in his very innocent way, that the idea of Ram is greater than Ram the king. Thus, as the verse reiterates, Hanuman amazes you with his many incredible qualities—his ability to leap over an ocean, rip his chest open, resist Ram’s arrows by chanting Ram’s name. Simultaneously, he amazes you with simian innocence—holding Ram’s royal ring in his mouth, biting pearls, trusting the mischievous Narada. This reminds us that Hanuman has no desire to impress anyone. His knowledge and powers exist to help others, materially and spiritually; else he is happy being monkey.

There are three differences between the Hanuman of India, and the Hanuman of Southeast Asia. First, the Ramayana mingles and merges with the local Buddhist lore of the regions. Second, the Hanuman depicted in these regional epics is a more strong and clever and funny monkey; loyal to Ram, but not quite a wise devotee, suggesting that the stories reached there from Indian shores over a thousand years ago, before the widespread popularity of the Bhakti doctrine. Third, Hanuman is not necessarily depicted as a celibate brahmachari or yogi; he is a charming rake, and a powerful warrior who battles demons and is able to satisfy the demonic desires of rakhasa women including Ravana’s sister, Surpanakha, and his wife, Mandodari.

But what makes the jati system unique is not the economic and political hierarchy, but the concept of purity: some communities are seen as intrinsically pure (priests, for example), while others as intrinsically impure (janitors, butchers, undertakers, for example). The ‘impure’ were denied access to temples, kitchens, and even the community well. Thus, in a grand temple, only the pure could access the inner shrine where the deity was enshrined, while the impure ones had to stay outside, outside the door, at times even outside on the street.

Hindu history reveals a long tension between the hierarchy of purity imposed by priests and the doctrine of atma revealed by the poet-saints. The latter doctrine led to the ritual of the gods going out on processions regularly, stepping out of the temple on palanquins and chariots, to meet those communities who were not allowed inside the temple. It also led to many doorkeepers being made to look very much like the deity enshrined within the temple. This was to assure those being excluded that while humans may exclude humans, God excludes no one.

The idea of submitting to a divine being and seeking his shelter is prevalent in most religions. However, the reasons are different. A Buddhist surrenders (sharanam) to the Buddha, as he seeks freedom from a world of suffering. A Christian seeks shelter in the love of Christ, as he abandons his way of sin and returns to God’s fold. A Muslim submits to Allah, promising to live by His commandments revealed by His final prophet, Muhammad. These ideas informed the idea of submission in the Bhakti period of Hinduism. The Hindu devotee submits (sharanagati) to either Ram, or to Shiva or Shakti who are worshipped by Ram, or to Hanuman, who worships Ram. The object of adoration (aradhana) could be all of them simultaneously, or each one of them sequentially, depending on need and mood. This complication arises because Hinduism is not monotheistic and does not seek to be monotheistic unlike most religions and doctrines. It acknowledges the diverse needs of people, and so the need for different deities for different people, each form being seen as one of the myriad manifestations of the divine.

If one looks at the verse carefully, one realizes that the deity works for the devotee. The devotee submits and then the deity works to enable the happiness and security of the devotee. And so, in this verse, the protection is a kind of spiritual hug from God that comforts the frightened and lost devotee. The emotional aspect of the divine elevates the stature of the otherwise rustic guardian and fertility gods of the village. From material, he becomes spiritual, transcendent. He makes the devotee feel that he matters, for there is someone celestial watching out for him, even if fellow humans do not. Thus the devotee is granted meaning.

While monastic orders are all about withdrawing inwards into the mind by shutting the senses, Hinduism functions from the premise that not all humans can go through life simply by withdrawing inwards; they need external support. This consideration for diversity, and avoidance of homogeneity, is a hallmark of Hinduism.

In Hinduism, there was no such breakup between the intellectual and the popular. The Gurus of Vedanta who wrote in Sanskrit and discussed complex theories of truth—such as Shankara, Ramanuja, Ramananda, Madhwa, Vallaha—all saw the value of devotion as complementing the intellectual and meditative approach. At one level they spoke of abstract Vedic ideas; this was Nigama parampara. Simultaneously, they spoke of the worship of various Hindu deities, Hanuman included; this was Agama parampara.

The word dhayan in this verse reveals an implicit understanding of yoga, the de-crumpling of the crumpled mind through restraint (yama), discipline (niyama), breathing (pranayama), postures (asana), withdrawal (pratyahara), concentration (dhayan), awareness (dharana) and immersion (samadhi).

The body in turn is constituted by elements (mahabhutas), sense organs (gyan-indriyas), action organs (karma-indriyas), the heart (chitta), intelligence (buddhi), imagination (manas), memory (smara) and ego (aham). Problems arise when there is misalignment between what we think, what we do, and what we say—when we are forced to repress our feelings and pretend. Hanuman grants us the strength to cope with these everyday issues.

Yoga helps us place bhoga in perspective, recognize that pleasure is temporary, addictive and delusion-inducing, and not let desire sweep away all good sense. Hanuman is a yogi but not a bhogi. He has full perspective on the nature of desire, and desires nothing. We are bhogis, but not yogis. We seek his help in giving us the mental faculties we lack, and taking away the mental afflictions we suffer from.

This division between the grand but passive divine and the accessible and active divine is a common theme in many theistic schools around the world. In Christianity, even Zoroastrianism, there are archangels who carry out the will of God. In medieval India, the common folk rarely saw the king. They saw bureaucrats and soldiers fulfil the king’s will. This is why worshippers of Shiva invoked Nandi, devotees of Vishnu invoked Garuda, and devotees of Ram invoked Hanuman.