Hanuman Jayanthi celebrates the birthday of Hanuman, the mighty ape that aided Lord Rama in his expedition against evil forces. This celebration is especially important to Brahmacharis (celibacies), wrestlers and bodybuilders. Believed to be an avatar of Lord Shiva, Hanuman is worshipped as a symbol of physical strength, perseverance and devotion. Hanuman is widely venerated throughout India and is worshipped for his unflinching devotion to the God.
He is also known by the names Pavanasuta, Marutsuta, Mahaveera (because he exhibited several heroic feats), Bajrangabali, Pavankumar, Balibima and Maruti. Hanuman is the incarnation of Lord Siva. He possessed devotion, knowledge, spirit of selfless service, power of celibacy, and desirelessness. He never boasted of his bravery and intelligence. The world has not yet seen and will not see in future also a mighty hero like Sri Hanuman. During his life he worked wonders and exhibited superhuman feats of strength and valour. He has left behind him a name which, as long as the world lasts, will continue wielding a great influence over the minds of millions of people. It is believed that he who meditates on him and repeats his name attains power, strength, glory, prosperity and success in life.
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Special features of Lord Hanuman
Omnipotence: Lord Hanuman is the only deity that cannot be troubled by negative energies. He was born of the absolute air element (vayutattva). The well-known story that the baby Hanuman leaped to devour the sun at birth, implies that the absolute air element (signified by Lord Hanuman in the story) is subtler and therefore, more powerful than the absolute fire element (tejtattva) (signified by the sun in the story).
Supreme devotion (bhakti): Hanuman’s devotion and service unto Lord Rama is the best example of devotion of a servitor (dasyabhakti) unto The Lord. He was ever ready to sacrifice even His life for the sake of His Lord. Before the service of His Lord even the attainment of Liberation (Moksha) was worthless to Him. Hanuman is an ideal combination of a servitor and a warrior!
Science behind statues (murti) of Lord Hanuman
- Statue of Lord Hanuman facing the south (Dakshinamukhi Maruti): South refers to the direction south or the right side. Since the sun channel (surya nadi) is active in the right-facing Hanuman, His statue has more manifest energy. This form of Hanuman is worshipped to overcome any problems due to negative energy*. Statue of Lord Hanuman facing the north (Vamamukhi Maruti): North refers to the direction north or the left side. Since the moon channel (chandra nadi) is active in the left-facing Hanuman, His statue has less manifest energy. This form of Hanuman is worshipped to make spiritual progress.
- Statue of Lord Hanuman as the Servitor (Dasmaruti) has Him standing before Lord Rama in obeisance. This statue emanates subtle vibrations of spiritual emotion (bhav). His statue as the courageous One (Viramaruti) shows Him ready for battle. This statue emanates the more gross, positive energy and hence, is worshipped to overcome problems of negative energy, such as possession, black magic, etc.
Worship of Lord Hanuman
Objectives: Since the manifest energy in Lord Hanuman (70%) is much more in comparison to that in other deities (10%), He is worshipped in the context of energy as follows.
- To overcome distressing energy: To overcome problems due to evil spirits, black magic, departed ancestors’ subtle bodies, influence of the planet Saturn (Shani), etc.
- To control pleasant energy: To overcome any obstacle in the pathway of the activated spiritual energy system (kundalini) and to channelize it appropriately, so that the seeker can continue his spiritual practice smoothly.
History and significance of Hanuman Jayanthi
In the Heavenly, Divine Realms, there was a girl named Punjikasthala who was an attendant to Brihaspati, the preceptor of the gods. However, one time she insulted a sage, and thus he cursed her to be born on Earth as a female monkey, a curse which could only be removed by giving birth to a son who would be an incarnation of Lord Shiva.
Thus, she took birth as Anjana and later married Kesari. Both were very pious and pure, and they lived a life filled with austerities, worship, meditation and penance. Anjana prayed to the God of Wind, Vayu that He would grace her with a son. He fulfilled this wish and graced her with Hanuman. She also prayed to Lord Shiva to take birth in her womb, thereby freeing her from the curse of living as a female monkey.
Lord Shiva was pleased by her purity and devotion and also by her intense spiritual practice; therefore, He agreed to incarnate in her womb as her son. In that way, the divine Hanuman took birth on the 14th day of the month of Chaitra in a cave on the Rushyamuk mountain.
Upon his birth, Anjana was freed from the curse and able to return to the Heavenly realms. The life of Lord Hanuman is filled with feats of courage and displays of immeasurable strength. However, he is worshipped not as much for his bravery as for his humble devotion. What makes Hanuman so special and divine is not his invincible strength or fortitude, but rather his unwavering and boundless devotion to Lord Rama.
From the moment Hanuman first had Lord Rama’s darshan, he dedicated his life only to the service of Lord Rama. Hanuman demonstrated the omnipotent power of faith and devotion. He was able to fly across the ocean, to become the size of a giant and also the size of a tiny creature, simply by chanting the name of Lord Rama.
When he was sent to bring four precious life-saving herbs from the Himalayas in order to save Lakshman’s life, instead of bringing only the four plants, he carried the entire Himalayan mountain! Sometimes in life when we embark upon a new, noble undertaking we may be faced with obstacles and hurdles. However, we must always remember that faith and devotion to God are the greatest sources of power.
Through chanting God’s name with true devotion, we can achieve anything. The power of God’s name gave Hanuman the ability to fly across the ocean and to carry mountains. The key was his fervent, ardent, single-minded “shraddha” (faith) in God and his tenacious dedication to fulfilling whatever seva he could do. With such deep, true devotion and dedication, nothing could stop him.
After the war in Lanka, Ma Sitaji presented Hanuman with a beautiful, precious pearl necklace as a gift of gratitude. Hanuman proceeded to carefully examine each and every pearl - from top to bottom, from left to right. Then, he began to take the pearls off the string, one by one, bite them in half, again examine them thoroughly, and then throw them on the ground.
Ma Sitaji could not watch this. Finally she said, “Hanuman - what are you doing? That is a very expensive, precious necklace I have bought for you. Why are you pulling off the pearls and breaking them?” Hanuman replied, “I am looking for Rama. You have said these pearls are priceless and precious. If so, they must have Rama inside them.” Pearls (and diamonds and rubies and cars and money) are only precious if they are filled with God. If God is not there, it doesn’t matter how expensive the diamond is, it is still empty and useless. God’s presence in your life can turn stones to diamonds, but without God your diamonds are as worthless as stones.
The two most important messages of Hanuman’s life are the messages of faith and devotion.
- When Hanuman needed to fly across the ocean in order to rescue Sita Ma, he didn’t hesitate. He didn’t wonder, “Am I really strong enough? Can I really do this? What if I fall?” Rather, he just took Lord Rama’s name (prayed to God) and jumped! This is the total surrender and devotion we must cultivate in our lives.
- The second message is the message of single-minded devotion. We pray in our lives for so many things - cars, houses, promotions, i-pods. We pray for these things thinking they will bring us joy, but the momentary pleasure we feel are simply that: momentary and quickly fleeting. It is only when we have God’s presence in our lives that we attain the true, everlasting joy and fulfillment.
References:
http://www.dlshq.org/religions/hanuman_jay.htm
http://mama.indstate.edu/users/swasati/hanuman.htm
http://nilesh-online.blogspot.com/2008/04/wwwnileshonlinetk-hanuman-jayanthi.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman_Jayanti
http://www.sanatan.org/en/festivals/hindu/hanumanjayanti.htm
- Sri Hanumanji Blessing The World
