Hanumas abilities and humility

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

This is one topic on which one can fill up tons of pages. How much ever is written, you would still feel that something is still pending. So it is just not possible to do full justice on this topic.

I would like to mention couple of incidents from Sri Ramaayana which are small representations of Hanuma’s ability and most importantly humility.

Incident 1:

When Hanuma crosses the ocean and reaches lanka in search of Sita maata, he finally finds her under the Sinsupa Vruksham (Ashoka tree). Looking at her situation and her trust in people, he finds a way to make her talk to him without actually talking to her. One should read Raamayana to understand that various thoughts that underwent in Hanumas brain before deciding on that specific plan of action. It is just amazing. Anyway, after that Sita trusts Hanuma and Hanuma consoles her and informs her that Sri Raama would invade Lanka with the entire army of Sugreeva, kill Ravana and all the Raakshasas and take her back with him. After all that conviction and consolation, Hanuma asks Sita for her permission so that he could return to Sri Raama.

Sita gets worried and expresses her concern, “You say that Sugreeva is king of monkeys and he has a huge army. Four groups have been sent to four corners of the earth. Out of all those lakhs of people only you could reach Lanka by crossing the ocean. I am really worried how Sri Raama can fight this huge army of Raavana, which is extremely strong and importantly in their own land.”

To this Hanuma responded, “Oh my great mother! Do not have even an iota of such doubt. Sugreeva’s army has extremely powerful people. Some with the strength of 100 elephants, some 1000 elephants’ strength, some 10000 elephants’ strength and some even more. My strength is nothing when compared to all of those. In the entire army of Sugreeva, there are people who have strength equal or more than me. There is no one who has strength less than mine. Be assured of that. Importantly, when a king sends a doota (messenger) to another kingdom, the weakest and the most powerless is chosen and sent across so that even if that person is lost, there is no damage done. That’s how I have been sent here. So don’t even worry about the strength of the army of Sugreeva nor the capabilities of Sri Raama and Lakshmana.”

Incident 2:

Once the war between Sri Raama and Raavana started, there were casualties on both sides. But once Indrajit entered the arena, there was no looking back for Raavanas army. Indrajit is an extremely powerful Raakshasa. He got his name because he was able to defeat Indra in war. Indrajit single handedly almost destroyed the army of Sugreeva and Sri Raama. To the extent that there was hardly anybody alive in the entire camp of Sri Raama. Even Sri Raama and Lakshmana also got hurt very badly because of the Naagaasthram that Indrajit used on them. Seeing the war zone in such a shape, Indrajit returned to the palace and informed Raavana about the conclusion of the war and their victory. Celebrations started in Raavanas camp.

Vibheeshana was looking around in the war field and found Jaambavanta alive, but badly wounded. He went upto him and asked him how he was doing.

Jaambavanta responded, “How is Hanuma doing? Is he alive?”

Vibheeshana was surprised and asked him, “Did you intend to ask about Sri Raama and Lakshmana’s well being?

Jaambvanta responded, “No. I am very much in my senses. I am asking about Hanumas well being only. If he is alive, then it doesn’t matter who else is there or not. We will win the war. If he is not alive, it doesn’t matter who else is there, we will not win the war.”

Hanuma was right next to Vibheeshana and he fell at Jaambavantas feet and said, “I am very much alive. Tell me what I should do.”

Based on Jaambvantas instructions, Hanuma flew to Himalayas and got the Sanjeevani parvatham, which had all medicinal herbs by which the entire army of Sri Raama sprang back to life. And as they say, the rest is history.

Is there a way to control to tears in your eyes? Not that I want to know…

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.

Whats in a name

గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః

గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః

శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం

ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే

శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం

నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం

ఓం నమః శివాయ

We are all familiar with the pet names that either we have or we give to our children. Many of us are also proud of the pet names to the extent that we donot mind forgetting the original name too.

Let us look at a small story from Bhaagavatham.

Once there used to be an extremely pious brahmin by the name Ajaameeludu. He was a great son and a husband as well. He used to perform his duties extremely well including veda pathanam etc. Most importantly he had great control over his indriyas (sense organs). One day he went to the forest to fetch wood for the homam (a pooja done with offerings given to various devathas through Agni-god of fire). While he was collecting the wood, he overheard some sounds being made by a couple behind some bushes. He wanted to know what was happening and when he saw the couple in a compromising posture, he withdrew himself and returned home. Somehow for the next few days he was not able to forget that woman.

One day he left his entire family and went to that woman. This woman was a prostitute and she insisted that this brahmin quits everything if he wanted to stay with her. They got married and became parents of multiple children. Ajaameeludu quit his pious life completely and became a thief, gambler etc to feed his family. He used to love his youngest son a lot. His name was Naaraayana. His sons name used to linger on his tongue most of the time. On his death bed too, he used to call his son every now and then. His last word before his death was Naaraayana. Once he died, yama dootas came and were preparing to take him to narakam (hell). Just then Vishnu paarshvadulu (representatives of vishnu from vaikuntam) came and stopped the yama dootas and said that they are granting some more life to this person because of the utterance of the word Naarayana just before his death. Local police cannot override FBI right.

Ajaameludu got up from his bed alive and he was a spectator to this entire incident.

He realised his mistake, went to Vaaranaasi, caught hold of a guru, confided in him and became pious again and led the rest of his life happily and achieved salvation.

I have observed many people pushing aside certain concepts by citing reasons such as “mere stories”, “not bothered about salvation”, “Not logical” etc.

Assuming that there is faith in God, let us look at some of the advantages of calling someone by their original name, which is named after a God.

·         Abusing someone using a Gods name is difficult. Just imagine a statement, “Hey Siva __________” Fill up the underline with any bad word and you will it very difficult to make that statement.

·         Voluntarily or involuntarily, we will be remembering the God, once in a while atleast, when we use the name frequently for calling our children, friends, colleagues etc.

·         It becomes difficult for someone to do wrong things or be impolite or rude or inhuman when someone has Gods name dancing on the tongue most of the time. Just remember a person that you know who keeps saying “Ram Ram” or “Om Namah Sivaaya” or “Govinda Govinda” frequently. Just recollect that person’s behavior. More often than not, you will find such a person quite humble and nice to talk to.

So it’s better to call people by their names (not elders of course) than their pet names. Especially little children and once we educate them on the significance of their name and what kind of behavior is expected out of a person with that name, I am sure we are well on our way for shaping a better future for the children.

సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు

PS: There could be typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big hearts.