Swami Swaroopananda

Hanumanji encountered three obstacles while flying across the ocean to reach Lanka in search of Sitaji. First, there appeared Menak Parvat, a pleasure resort in the middle of the ocean. Hanumanji was invited to rest there. But he said that until I have completed my Lord's work, there is no rest for me. In life, we all set out toward our goals with enthusiasm but are often discouraged by the long journey or the presumed difficulties that lie ahead. Hanumanji had full faith in the Lord and he jumped across the ocean. Whenever our work is noble, we should not hesitate to pursue it to completion. Think of it as the Lord's work. Swami Chinmayananda said: “If we rest, we rust!”

After Hanumanji passed Menak Parvat, there came Sursa, the mother of snakes. To test Hanumanji’s cleverness, she obstructed his way and threatened to eat him. Hanumanji pleaded with her to let him go. But Sursa said no. So Hanumanji increased in size as Sursa opened her mouth wide. He became larger still – and so Sursa opened her mouth even wider. Suddenly, Hanumanji became small in an instant and went into Sursa’s large open mouth and came out before she could close it. He then said to her: “I went into your mouth and you did not eat me. So now you must let me go”. Sursa was pleased with Hanumanji's intelligence and blessed him. Thus, required on the path to success is the wisdom to know when to use brute force and when not. We should not turn everything into a prestige issue. Often, when we insist on asserting our own opinion, we lose sight of our objective. To achieve our goal, we must know when to be big and when to be humble.

As Hanumanji went further on his flight across the ocean, he felt that he was being pulled down into the waters by a mysterious force. That force was the demon, Sinika, who had the power to bring down creatures flying overhead. Having dragged them down, she would devour them. Sinika stands for jealousy. Jealousy can never bear the rise of another. Jealousy pulls us down and devours us. Jealousy should be destroyed immediately, just as Hanumanji mercilessly killed Sinika with one blow.

As we proceed on the journey towards our chosen goals, temptations and obstacles will come in the way. How do we keep reminding ourselves of our goal, despite the obstacles on the way? The answer is to constantly find joy in the glory of our goal – as Hanumanji did.

(Swami Swaroopananda of Chinmaya Mission shall be giving discourses on the Ramayana from 6:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. from February 19 to 27 at Sir Shankar Lal Hall, Modern School, Barakhamba Road.)