As a character, Hanuman represents a perfect man of education and culture, proficient and efficient, and ever a go-getter. Nothing seems to be impossible for him. To think is to act for him; to conceive is to achieve. Yet, this beautiful characterisation, all along Ramayana, so tenderly, both handled and dandled by the sensitive poet Valmiki, has been deliberately wrapped up in the outer anatomical shell of a monkey! Any sensitive student of literature will b compelled to pause for a moment to wonder, ‘Was it a monkey?’ To suggest this question in the mind of the readers, Valmiki himself describes him as, “ Is he a man?” ( Va-nara). Insert photo of Gurudev with Hanumanji at Sidhbari

Monkeys represent thoughts, the similarity being both are restless ( cancala) and unsteady (asthira). Of all thoughts, the very minister of Sugriva (sustu grivam – well reined), now in his exile was Hanuman, extremely erudite and scholarly. Yet, this thought personality, cannot bring out its potential might and beauty, albeit serving as a minister to ‘self-control’. Knowledge and erudition, with moral restraint and physical control, is the highest standpoint of material education, according to the systems of worldly education. Yet, Valmiki demonstrates that all the potentialities inherent can blossom forth only when that Knowledge bows down to Rama, the spiritual essence.

From the moment Anjaneya meets with Rama, Ramayana distinctly reveals a mysterious unfoldment of great powers, an explosion of inconceivable merits and beauties in that apparently ridiculous and seemingly insignificant form of a monkey. Such an explosion we watch all down the history, demonstrated in a carpenter’s son becoming Jesus, or an equally empty prince Siddhartha rising to the status of a Buddha, or an insignificant student of Calcutta University, Narendra , hatching himself out to become the gracious and dynamic Vivekananda.

However wise and intelligent we may be, even when that wise man has character and self-control, it is not all. Only when these thoughts move, in utter devotion and total loyalty towards Rama ‘That which revels in everything’ that all the inherent potentialities Divine can get a chance to blossom forth.

Thereafter, as a loyal servant of Sri Rama, the personality of Hanuman unfolds its infinite strength and endless beauty, for all generations to watch, and yet in himself he remains outwardly a va-nara and inwardly a steady and total devotee. Centred in Rama, he acted. For Rama, he achieved. Rama’s glory was his only glory. There stands now the puny monkey larger than life, greater than the greatest, the eternal devotee; his strength, his wisdom, his love, and his all, dedicated totally to Rama. Thereafter we detect the Supreme expressing through this insignificant looking monkey, making us all wonder, ‘Is it a man ( va-nara)? or ‘ Is it a God ( va-deva)?’

Reproduced from ‘ Read Daily, Live Fully’ Excerpts from the Writings of Swami Chinmayananda, CCMT 2016