Hanuman Jayanti - Celebrating the original superhero!
ततो हि नाम धेयम् ते हनुमान् इति कीर्तितम् || ४-६६-२४
when Indra hurled the thunderbolt at young anjineya (son of Anjana), he fell on the mountain top and broke his Zygomatic Arch (cheek bone) and hence got the name Hanumaan (one who has a broken cheek bone).
I was trying to find out why some celebrate it today and in the north it’s celebrated over a month earlier. According to one claim, in the north, it is celebrated on the occasion of his birthday and in Andhra it is celebrate the day he met Rama.
Most of us have heard how he meets Rama & Laxmana by using his kamarupam siddhi (shape shifting ability) in bhikshu-rupam (ascetic). And it’s interesting what he asks them in a somewhat concerned tone but using precise grammar and utmost respect:
राजर्षि देव प्रतिमौ तापसौ संशित व्रतौ ||
देशम् कथम् इमम् प्राप्तौ भवन्तौ वर वर्णिनौ |
त्रासयन्तौ मृग गणान् अन्याम् च वन चारिणः ||
You look like tapsavis with daiva pratima, what brings you both to this desham disturbing/scaring (trasayantau) animals/herds (mrug gaNaana) and other inhabitants of the vana?
It is interesting to note the consistent undertone of concern for not disrupting the order/balance of nature throughout the Ramayana. Upholding dharma means indulging in karma in a way that causes the least himsa or disruption to everything and everyone around you, i.e., minimizing your footprint on prakriti -- the very essence of Rishi Dadhyan’s Madhu Vidya:
इयं पृथिवी सर्वेषां भूतानां मध्वस्यै पृथिव्यै
सर्वाणि भूतानि मधु यश्चायमस्यां पृथिव्यां
This earth is like the honey for all beings.
All beings are like the honey for the earth.
—Madhu Vidya (Honey Doctrine) of Sage Dadhyann. Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (2.5)
We seem to have forgotten the second line in the modern world. In a strange manner, the COVID-19 seems like the result of collective karma of humanity.
Coming back to the conversation Hanuman has with Rama, is this really the day some celebrate as Hanuman Jayanti? Is this the conversation of this day thousands of years ago, that has still been kept alive through oral tradition? Is this why people at many places in India regard the 41 days between the birth of Hanuman and his meeting Rama as sacred and abstain from disruptive acts including eating? Fascinating stuff, our traditions!
The deep connection of overall well-being/ ecological preservation and powerful story telling that recognizes all aspects of nature a being just as real as oneself is just brilliant in its conception. The fact that it does not attempt to inspire one to achieve material prosperity (nor discourage it) but instead aspires to transcend it in a joyful state as one traverses grihast stages of life is so progressive that many a modern mind, limited in our training to use rational faculties alone, often is veered towards dismissing it altogether as primitive superstition and becoming its own fatal impediment toward sarvesham mangalam bhavatu!
Jai Shri Rama!
Jai Bajrangbali!!
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