May 20: Glory of Hanumanji – 4

The end of all Sadhanas is the complete subjugation of the mind.

dAnam svadharmo niyamo yamascha shrutam cha karmANi cha sadvratAni |
sarve mano nighraha lakshaNAntA parohi yogo masah samAdih ||

Our Guru Maharaj when expounding on the various works of Bhagawan Sri Ramana would always enthrall the devotees with the Lord’s creation. The sense organs act as window of the mind to the world. They take the stimulus from the world and feed it to the mind which in turn uses the organs of the action to reciprocate and provide responses to these stimuli. The sense organs take one away from the Lord into the world and the organs of action implants one into Karma which in turn is the seed for the next birth. Our Guru Maharaj articulates the dual purpose of the sense organs, out of which one is explicit and is perceived easily, while the other is implicit and not so easily perceivable. The ear serves two purposes. Firstly it is hearing and the other purpose that is implicit and secretive is that the ears provide balance/stability. Akin to ears is the nose, which recognizes the aroma and odor and also part of breathing and the excretory organs not only eject the waste from the body but also relieve the bad gases out. Our Guru Maharaj beautifully elucidates the two fold purpose of the eyes. The primary function of the eyes is sight; to see the whole world and the other is to turn the vision inside – to look at onself. When the eyes perceive the world, they take us away from the Lord but when the same organ of vision is turned to look at oneself, then one is able to see the Lord within oneself and that leads us to ultimate truth. There are two ways to attain the supreme truth. One path is turning the vision of sight and looking into oneself by controlling all the other sense organs and by controlling the mind, one will attain the ultimate truth and this path is known as the rational path of self-enquiry. The other path to attain the Lord is the path of Namasankirtan, where one let’s all the sense organs wander in the world and focus on the very Lord who is also residing outside. Srimad Bhagavatham lucidly teaches everyone that the Lord is verily inside everyone as the “Atma Swarropam” and the same Lord also dwells outside in a very gross form in the guise of time [kala].

When one is in a divine communion [satsang] where the sense of sight is always razor focused on the Lord, he uses the sense organs to enjoy the glory of the Lord.  When one wants to talk something, do not talk mundane topics, but speak about the glory of the Lord. Let the ears hear only the Lord’s names and his divine glories.

‘jitasano jitasvaaso jitasango jitendriyah’, says Bhagavatam.

Srimad Bhagavatam preaches one to control the body movement and postures [jithasano]; the basic guideline for any Yoga. One should not let the organs of locomotion run riot but if one is unable to control the movement of limbs, then go to satsang where divinity is present always. By seeing the Lord outside and by making the organs perceive the Lord everywhere, one can attain the Lord.

Following this, Sri Narayanaswamyji from Seattle continued his lecture on the life-history of Hanumanji. The satsang reminisced earlier that Lord Hanumanji was indeed adept in music. So Sage Narada conferred the title “Parama Bhagavatha” on Hanumanji and later Sri Thiagaraja also gave him the same title; Hanumanji in Govindapuram next to Sri Bodendra Swamigal’s Adhistanam  is called as “Bhagavata Anjaneya”.

One should approach Hanumanji with lot of humility. When one goes and prostrates unto Hanumanji without any pride, the Lord is sure to bestow his devotee with his grace. Once Sage Vashista approached Lord Rama and confided his interest to worship Rama as Lord. Lord Rama politely turned down his request and asked him to only perceive him as Dasaratha’s son. This goes to show the humble nature of Lord Rama and how the Lord himself preached how humble one should be.

“Athamanam Manusham manyae Ramam Dasarathahmajam”

As per the instructions of Lord Rama, Hanuman remained on the earth traveling from one place to another to bestow grace on all his devotees.

An incident once happened in a town called Manargudi in Tamil Nadu. There was a temple for Lord Rajagopala and there was a big hall which was part of Lord Rajaopala’s temple and it was known as “Vennaithazhi Mandapam” and that mandapam had a Hanumanji. It remained closed for the most part of the year.

In the same town, there lived a family who were devoted to Hanumanji.  They were very devoted in Lord Hanumanji. They had a son who was glib-tongued and was idling away his time and had no means to earn an income. One day his mother pulled him aside and requested him to open the Mandapam and tidy the temple premises and asked him to light the lamp. The son implicitly obeyed his mother’s instructions and the mandapam was opened and cleaned up. The mother also made a Prasad for the Hanumanji and slowly by selling the Prasad at a pro-rated price; the son stared to make some money. The revenue generated by the Prasad was in turn used for Hanumanji service only.  The service he performed to the Lord was filled with honesty, physical cleanliness and faith. The family was thus leading a contented life rendering service to Hanumanji and as years passed by, the mother passed away. The son was not knowledgeable enough to make the Prasad and so he in turn handed over his temple service [Kainkarya] to somebody else and headed to Hyderabad to meet his uncle. His uncle helped him to do set up a grocery store and he lead the business in a very honest way. The business slowly flourished and the son became very prosperous. This incident goes to show that when a devotee offers a pure and pristine service coupled with faith and honesty akin to the service rendered by the son to Hanumanji, the Lord bestowed him riches and Hanumanji himself took care of the son.

There was another incident that was elucidated to show how Lord Hanuman reprimands anyone who hurts his devotees. There was once a Ther Mutti Hanuman consecrated in a temple known as “Naalu Kaal mandapam” in Thanjavur in South India. Lots of devotees flocked to have the darshan of Lord Hanuman. One fine morning the devotees were shocked to see that the folded hands of Lord Hanuman were chipped off. They prayed to Lord Hanuman that they culprit be punished soon. As days passed by, the temple management decided to get a new idol of Lord Hanuman consecrated. Soon the new idol was sanctified and people poured in to offer their respects to Lord Hanuman. There were lots of devotees of Lord Hanuman who lived in the realms of the temple. One day a youth riding a bicycle passed by an old man, a devotee of Lord Hanuman. He stopped the old man and in a condescending manner inquired to the devotee as to why Lord Hanuman did not chastise the culprit who broke the hands of the Lord. The lad during their conversation admitted that it was indeed he who chipped the hands of the Lord and confided in the old man that the Lord did not yet punish him and started to question him about the existence of God. The devotee was in tears after hearing this and cursed the lad that the Lord will not spare him. The youth left the place after mocking at the old man’s faith on Lord Hanuman. The youth did not even go far and a strange incident happened. The boy lost his balance and went and hit his bicycle on a lamp post and his legs and hands were severely damaged and he had to lose one of his legs and hands in order for him to survive. This incident goes to show that when someone annoys the devotees of the Lord, they are sure to be lambasted by the Lord himself.

The divine vehicles [Vahanas] of the Lord are no different from the Lord and they act as a bridge between the devotees and the Lord. Lord Hanuman is known as “Manojavam Marutha thulya vaegam jithendriyam buddhimatham varishtam “ – which means that Hanuman can appear himself in front of his devotee in a split second and that the vehicle of Lord Hanuman is Vayu, the wind god. There was once a devotee known as Arunagirinathar who lost all his wealth and health because of his bad habits. He once came in contact with a Mahan who asked him to go to Thiruvannamalai. He decided to end his life by jumping from the temple tower and when he did so, he safely landed on the hands of Lord Subramanya. He asked the Lord for the reason for saving him and the Lord mentioned that he was saved so that he can compose songs in praise of the Lord. Hearing this, Arunagirinathar was moved to tears since he was not adept in this and so Lord Subramanya helped him by giving out the first word and soon Arunagirinathar started to compose hymns the most famous one is Thirupugazh. He became a great poet singing praises of Lord Shiva and his sons. There was a clan of devotees who worshipped Mother Durga and were very jealous about Arunagirinathar. So they approached the king and spoke ill about him. The king soon summoned him and asked him to sing praises on Lord Muruga and also ordered that the Lord should come to the courtyard and stand in front of him hearing the praises. Arunagirinathar soon started to sing to meet the challenge songs while on the other hand, the devotees of Mother Durga started to pray to Parvathi that Lord Muruga should not give darshan to Arunagirinathar. Parvathi was tightly holding Muruga on her lap and hence he was unable to step out. Not relented by the futile efforts, he started to compose songs in praise of the peacock. Soon the peacock standing in front of Parvathi in Kailash began expanding his wings and started to dance. She was captivated by the dance and this made her to loosen the grip on Muruga. He slowly slipped from his mother and gave darshan to Arunagirinathar. This incident portrays the greatness of Lord’s vehicle.

It is believed that Hanuman being a Chiranjeevi, knew about the Avatar of Lord Krishna long before the incarnation of Lord Krishna. It is also a fact that only two people were blessed with Lord Hanuman’s Vishwaroopa darshan. One of them is Sita Devi and the other one is Bheemasena. It was Hanuman who told Bheema that he will be in the flag of Arujna’s chariot guiding him mentally and physically to fight the battle of Mahabharatha.

The satsang concluded with prayers and Namasankirtan.

May 13: Glory of Hanumanji – 3

The 16th of May 2011 was the Jayanthi day of Lord Narasimha. We all know that all incarnations of the Lord had a specific purpose to accomplish.
The Lord manifested as a fish ‘Matsya’ to enable us cross through the ocean of deluge [pralaya] and to safeguard the Vedas and the Satvik Guna during the deluge. The Lord came down as Varaha to protect the Mother Earth and as Koorma Avatar to give balance to the Mandara Mountain during the churning of the ocean of nectar. If we see the later Avatars of the Lord as Rama and Krishna, even though they came down with a specific agenda, they did more than what they had envisioned. Rama’s incarnation was to establish Dharma and how human beings should tread the path of Dharma, and that the Lord enacted this very precept. The Avatar of Lord Krishna was to propagate the path of Bhagavatha Dharma. However, Lord Rama and Krishna depicted various precepts during their Avatars. If there is one Avatar, who was razor focused on only one specific purpose it is verily Lord Narasimha. The very purpose of this Lord Narasimha was to protect the truth. It is said in Srimad Bhagavatham
Satyam vidAtum nijabhrutya bhAshitam vyAptim cha bhUteshu akhileshu chAtmanah |
adrushyata atyadbhuta rUpamudvahan stambhe sabhAyAm na mrugam na mAnusham ||
The Lord manifested as Narasimha to corroborate the truth. Our Guru Maharaj in one of his compositions expounded on the different truths that the Lord descended down to protect.

Firstly, He came down to keep the promise he had given to Arjuna.

“Yada Yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavathi bharatha”
“Abhyuthanam Adhramasya Tadatmanam Srijami aham” [Bhagavad Gita 4.7]
“Paritranaya Sadhunam Vinashaya Cha Dushkritam
Dharamasansthapnaya Sambhavami Yuge Yuge.” [Bhagavad Gita 4.8]

The Lord confided in Arjuna that whenever there is a decay of righteousness, the Lord will manifest to reinstate dharma and to protect the Sadhus. The Lord came down as Narasimha to keep up the promise.

“Jaya Vijayaebhyo Dhatta Vakya Paripalanaya” – The Sanakadis once went to Vaikunta to meet the Lord when they were stopped by Jaya and Vijaya, who were the gatekeepers for Vaikunta. This act instigated anger and hence Sanakadis casted a curse that Jaya and Vijaya will be born as Asuras on the Earth for three births and that they will then realize how difficult it is to be in separation of the Lord. When this dialogue was happening, the Lord stepped in and clarified that these course of events was his very Sankalpa. He also confided his hidden agenda of his future incarnations and assured Jaya and Vijaya that they will reach the Lord after three births and that the Lord himself will come and take them along. The Lord manifested as Lord Narasimha to keep up the promise to Jaya and Vijaya.

“Vidhina Dhatta Vakya Paripalanaya”- Hiranyakashipu went to the Mandara mountains to do intense penance. His tapas was so severe that the Ant hills covered Hiranyakashipu and devoured his body. Lord Brahma immensely pleased with his penance came down in his swan airplane in search of Hiranyakashipu. He was unable to locate Hiranyaskashipu and so he sprinkled water in the ant hills until he located Hiranyakashipu. Upon locating him who was akin to a cloud covered sun, Lord Brahma said, “Oh Son of Kashyapa, your penance has borne fruit”. And that his mere presence was a testimony that. He gave a benediction to Hiranyakashipu to ask for a boon and so he asked that he should not encounter death through any living or non-living beings, not meet death either during morning or night and requested that he should not be dead inside nor outside and neither on land nor in air, and requested that he should have no rival and that he be the only king.The stipulations laid by Hiranyakashipu baffled Lord Brahma but he granted the boon. The boon being a special one and in order to make the boon come true, the Lord incarnated as Lord Narasimha, as a half human and half lion, a creation not done by Lord Brahma.

“SuraGanaya Dhatta vakya paripalanaya”
Hiranyakashipu conquered everyone and all the three worlds but his hatred against Lord Vishnu never subsided. Unable to bear his atrocities, the Devas went and approached the Lord in kshIrabdi, the ocean of milk for help. The Lord listened to the Devas and mentioned that time will come when Hiranyakashipu will meet his own end and that they will have to wait patiently until that time. The Lord assured the Devas that Hiranyakashipu will be vanquished very soon whenever he shows hatred towards the Vedas, Devas, the Cows, the Brahmanas, the Sadhus, and Dharma and to the Lord Himself. The Devas quipped saying that these brutal acts were already being done by Hiranyakashipu and the Lord denied this remark and said that whenever Hiranyakashipu insults Prahlada, he will descend immediately and slain him and thus the Lord gave this as a promise to the Devas. In order to make this promise come true, the Lord manifested as Lord Narasimha.

When Prahlada was born, his father sent him to a Patashala for his education. One day he pulled Prahalda aside and asked him to expound on the subject that interested him a lot. Prahlada’s face lit up and very happily elucidated the nine steps of Bhakti [Nava Vida Bhakti] to Lord Hari. The distraught Hiranyakashipu’s face turned red with anger upon hearing Lord Hari’s from Prahlada. He immediately ordered him to be killed and the Asuras tried all different ways to slain him but all in vain. Prahlada was sent back to school and one day when Chanda and Amarka, his tutors stepped out, Prahlada lectured on Bhagavatha Dharma to all his fellow Asura kids and soon turned all of them into Bhagavathas. When Chanda and Amarka returned and after realizing whatever had happened, they took him to Hiranyakashipu, whose anger knew no limits when he heard that Lord Hari is the all-powerful one. Prahlada immediately laughed and said that Lord Hari is the one who is empowering everything in this world. His father immediately said “Oh Prahalda if Lord Sri Hari is empowering me, then please have him come in front of me!”.
Hiranyakashipu then showed Prahalda a nearby pillar and threatened him that he would kill him otherwise if the all-powerful Lord is not seen inside the pillar. Prahlada was only able to perceive the Lord in the pillar while his father could only envision the pillar as a mere block of concrete. – “Hari sarvatra Drishyatae”. He took his trident and banged the pillar with all his mighty strength. Suddenly they heard a sound that was heard even in the world of Devas and the Lord came out in order to totally endorse Prahlada’s statement that the Lord was indeed in the pillar.

“Garaladha Kayadhusutha vakya paripalanaya”
Kayadhu is mother of Prahalda and even Vedas have spoken about Kayadhu. Our Guru Maharaj sings in his kirtan that Lord Narasimha manifested to make Kayadhu’s son’s words true. His father tried to poison him, trampled him by an elephant, pushed from atop a hill and after surviving he still had unflinching faith on Lord Sri Hari.

The prime reason for Lord Nrisimha’s incarnation was for the little child Prahlada – who incessantly chanted the Divine Names of the Lord. Lord Nrisimha descended to keep up the promise of our Guru Maharaj and all the other proponents of the Bhagavata Dharma — that Lord Hari will bestow his darshan unto all his devotees who chant His Divine Names.

After a brief round of introductions followed Sri Narayanaswamyji’s lecture on Hanumanji.

One should approach Hanuman with humility and should be devoid of any ego. What is humility? Let us substantiate the term humility with some examples. Chaintanya Mahaprabhu always preached that one should be as humble as a grass and should be patient akin to a tree. There once lived a king called Pratapasimha. He once came to know about Mahaprabhu’s visit to Puri and sent his ministers to invite Mahaprabhu to the palace; however Mahaprabhu gently refused in spite of several invitations. Days passed by and it was the time for Jagannath Mahotsav and everyone was busy making elaborate arrangements for the Utsav. The king, Pratapasimha himself took a broom and started to sweep the streets of Puri not for any outward publicity. Mahaprabhu witnessed this scene and invited the Prince to come and see him. Mahaprabhu gave one of his shawls as a gift for the king. The king witnessing the sequence of events was moved to tears and became a great devotee of Mahaprabhu. This incident goes to show the king’s humility.
This incident is from the life-history of Mahaperiyavaa. Once, Mahaperiyavaa was camping in Elayathangudi near Karaikudi. He normally met with scholars wherever he went and talked to them about various topics of interest. He met a rich Tamil scholar by name Katiresan Chettiar. Everyday Katiresan Chettiar met Mahaperiyavaa and on the day before his departure, Mahaperiyavaa requested Chettiar to accompany him to the next village. When he was about to depart with his entourage, he looked for Chettiar from his palanquin and was not able to spot him. When they reached the next village, Mahaperiyavaa enquired about Chettiar and Chettiar humbly came in front of him. He said “Mahaperiyavaa, I did accompany you. I was one among the palanquin bearers”. Upon hearing this, tears rolled over from Mahaperiyavaa’s cheeks. He said, “How could you do this? You are an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva.” Chettiar very politely replied, “Mahaperiyavaa, you are a re-incarnation of Lord Shiva and I am His servant!” This clearly shows how an affluent man was so humble and a simple life that he was living.
Hanumanji is known for his adept skills in fine arts and he took tutelage from his Guru, Dakshinamoorthy. Once, Sage Narada visited KimPurusha Varsha after knowing the greatness of Hanumanji’s music talent from Prahalada. Upon reaching, Sage Narada started to play his Mahati Veena. The music from the Veena was so enchanting and Hanumanji started to dance to the tunes. Sage Narada then requested Hanumanji to render a song. When he started to sing, Sage Narada placed the Veena on a nearby rock and was listening to the rendition with rapt attention. Hanumanji’s music even enthralled the rocks and the rock on which the Veena was placed started to melt. When Hanumanji completed his performance, the rock slowly started to solidify but the Veena was trapped inside. So Sage Narada requested Hanumanji to render the same kirtan again and hearing his beautiful notes, the rock melted again and Sage Narada procured his Veena. This incident goes to show his adroitness in fine-arts.
The satsang concluded with prayers and Namasankirtan.

May 6: Glory of Hanumanji – 2

The first week of May’11 is of great importance since the Lord’s two incarnations Varaha and Parasurama Avatars’s Jayanthi were celebrated last week. The Lord VarahaMurthy is an epitome of Jnana, the one who safeguarded the Mother Earth and the Vedas. The Jayanthi of Parasurama denotes the destruction of Rajasika Guna and it is seen from his life-history that he obliterated the   entire Kshatriya clan for twenty-one generations. What can one infer from this? When the Tamas qualities are dominant, then one goes in the inertia mode and there will be no activities, since all activities are governed by the Rajas qualities. When the Rajasika qualities gain momentum, it forces the negative qualities in one and so Lord Prasurama had to incarnate to destroy the negative qualities that the mind gets into. The reason he abrogated the entire Kshatriya clan for twenty one years is verily because they were corrupt people and were not correctly discharging their duties. After Parasurama extirpated the Kshatirya clan and cleaned the mess, then the Lord incarnated as Rama Avatar and Dharma was established. Parasurama’s Jayanthi was on the Akshaya Thritiya day.

The weekend also had a lot of significance. The Saturday marked the Jayanthi of Ramanujacharya, who was one of the proponents of Bhakti and Bhagavatha Dharma on the earth. The Sunday marked the Jayanthi of Adi Shankara who showed the path of Jnana and Bhakti. Even though people bicker on the philosophies propounded by these two Mahatmas, they share almost the same Jayanthi. It is said that Lord Parameshwara imparted his teachings entirely in silence as Dakshinamoorthy. His disciples, the Sanakadis, who were seated in front of him, were so smart that Lord Shiva could inculcate them in silent mode. He wanted this knowledge to go on and destroy the faiths that were against the natural truths and so he decided to incarnate as Adi Shankara. Our Guru Maharaj talks about a beautiful term in Rudram – “Namah kapardinecha Vyuptakaeshaaya”. The Namakam section of Sri Rudram talks about various different things and sees Lord Parameshwara in all these different things.  The term ‘Kapardinah’ refers to one with matted locks, which suits Lord Shiva quite well. But it then addresses Lord Shiva as “vyuptakeshaayah”- the one who has completely tonsured his head. This form of Shiva with shaven head is not true. In order to make the “vyuptakeshah” form of Lord Shiva true, Lord Shiva incarnated as Adi Shankara, a sanyasi. Adi Shanakara came down as an incarnation of Dakshinamoorthy to transfer the knowledge to general populace due to his immense compassion.

Our Guru Maharaj in his Kirtan on Adi Sankara, sings, “Muralidhara Guru Mandala gurum” where the term Guru connotes “big”. After having praised Adi Sankara’s Krishna Bhakti in the Kirtan, our Guru Maharaj concludes by prostrating to Sankara, the greatest among all the galaxy of Gurus.

Another connotation of this verse – Sri Bodendra Swamigal, Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal – our Guru Maharaj reveres and respects these great Mahatmas of the Sankara Parampara in the Guru Sthaana and Adi Shankara is indeed the Guru of these great Mahatmas as well – the Guru of Gurus.

Sri Ramanuja himself considered as a ‘poornavathara’ of Lord Vishnu himself. The Azhwars were born as different entities that the Lord holds in his hand namely the Shanka [conch], discus, gada, as lotus and Ramanujacharya was a complete incarnation can be said as the greatest of the Acharyas. He was attested by Lord Ranganatha as Udayavar- the one who possess the keys to Vaikunta. The divine consort of Lord Vishnu, Mahalakshmi Thayar gave the keys of Vaikunta to Ramanuja saying that if one surrenders unto the holy feet of Ramanuja, they will be liberated. She told Ramanuja that whoever is let to enter Vaikunta by Ramanuja is sure to get Moksha. Above all, he showed the path of Prapati and totally simplified the path of surrender.

A Sri Vaishnava is akin to “Chandana Thambooladi”. Just like how Chandan (sandalwood paste) and Thamboolam (betel leaves and nuts, taken after a meal) abide verbatim to the person consuming them, they have no desire of their own. A Vaishnava is akin to “Chandana Thambooladi” since he has completely surrendered to the Lord and has no sankalpa of his own. Sri Ramanuja showed the path of Prappati. Our Guru Maharaj in one of his compositions on Ramanuja, sings – “Prappati Margam Prakashitam Bhasyakaram”. Here Bhashyakaram connotes one who has done “Bhasyam” of the Brahmasutras and Lordess Saraswathi herself recognized his Bhashyas and conferred the name ‘Bhasyakara’.  It is believed that even though Ramanuja delivered a great commentary on all the scriptures, he showed a simple and pragmatic path- the path of Prapatti – the path of total surrender unto the holy feet of the Lord.

 

Following a short round of introductions, Sri Narayanaswamyji from Seattle continued on Lord Hanuman’s prabhava. He embarked in his lecture stating the significance of Akshaya Tritiya day. It is on this day that Mother Ganges came down to the earth and the Treta Yuga began on this day. Out of seven Chirajeevis mentioned in the scriptures, Hanumanji is one of them and continues to incessantly recite the Rama Nama in Hemakoota peak in Kimpurusha Varsha even today.  Once, when Lord Shiva and Parvati were enjoying the Mridanga concert by Nandikeshwara in Kailash, Lord Mahavishnu and Mahalakshmi visited them and told them about His next incarnation – one destined to destroy the rakashas who were causing havoc on the Earth.  He had come to seek Shiva’s permission for this, as the Rakshasa – Ravana was Shiva’s ardent devotee.  The Lord also confided in Lord Shiva about his incarnation as a human who will impart the precept to the people that despite facing impediments in life will still follow the path of dharma and that this Avatar is a personification of Dharma.  Overjoyed hearing this, Shiva wished to descend at the same time, to enjoy the Lord’s avatara – and hence descended as a ‘vanara’ (simian) – thus Hanumanji has ‘Shivaaamsa’ as well.

When the milk of ocean was being churned by Asuras and Devas, the Amrutha was collected and Lord Shiva requested the Saptha Rishis to go and pour this in the ear of Anjana Devi was doing penance praying for a child. The Rishis did as told by Lord Shiva and Hanuman who had an Amsa of Lord Shiva was born to Anjana and Lord Vayu.

There are many explanations given to support the fact that Hanumanji is an incarnation of Lord Shiva. There was a dialogue between Ravana and Vibishana when Hanuman set ablaze the Lanka. Vibhisana requested Ravana to go and surrender unto Lord Rama and that Hanumanji was a personification of Lord Shiva. After hearing this from Vibhishana, Ravana asked how a devotee of Lord Shiva can attack another such devotee. Ravana himself answered his own question saying that Rudras are eleven in number and that he has ten Rudras [ten heads worshipping ten rudras]  and the eleventh Rudra has come in the form of Hanuumanji who has come to create trouble!

When Rama and Lakshmana reached Sethu to embark in their journey to Sri Lanka to bring back Sita Devi, who was in the clutches of Ravana, there were myriad of Vanaras who had assembled and Lord Rama was curious to know how Lord Hanuman had control over all of them. Hanumanji beautifully replied that it was verily the Rama Nama  that enabled the Vanaras to be in tranquil state and thus put their strength to best use. The Vanaras were bestowed with the ability to pick any stone of any size to help build the bridge for Lord Rama and Lakshmana to cross the ocean and reach Sri Lanka. Lord Rama then posed another question to Hanumanji as to how the Vanaras are being fed. Hanumanji, mentioned that there were some Rishis with ‘Anima’ Siddhi who had the unique benediction of getting food whenever they desired and so thus fed the Vanaras. These Rishis were invisible to others but were able to see everyone. When Hanumanji stepped aside to attend to the Vanaras clan, Lord Rama and Lakshmana began to reminisce about Hanumanji.  Lord Rama extolled the greatness of Hanumanji who was constantly running errands for them. Lakshmana seconded Rama’s remark and mentioned that he was verily the incarnation of Lord Shiva who had desired to take this birth as a Vanara and help out Lord Rama.

Lord Rama was quite disturbed by Sita Devi’s separation and wanted to perform Pooja to Lord Shiva in the form of ‘Baana Linga’.  Hanuman then asked why, if Lord Kashi Vishwanatha (Shiva) Himself was chanting the Rama Nama, why would Lord Rama worship Shiva!  Rama replied  that he was ‘vishwanatha’ – the Lord of the world and hence fit for worship.  And Hanumanji went to Kailash to get the ‘Baana Linga’ for worship – which today stands as ‘Raama Naatha Linga’ in Rameshwaram.

The satsang ended with prayers and Namasankirtan.