Hanuman Chalisa
jaya hanumāna gyāna guna sāgaraZZZjaya kapisha tihu loka ujāgara.
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Victory to Hanuman, ocean of wisdom and virtue, hail Monkey Lord, illuminator of the three worlds.
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Jaya Hanumāna - Hail Hanumana
gyāna – wisdom
guna - virtue
sāgara – ocean
jaya -hail
Kapisha - Lord of the Monkeys
tihu - three
loka – world
ujāgara – enlighten/awaken
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“Listen, Hanuman,” said Rama; “no god or man or sage that has ever been born into this world has been such a benefactor to me as you. What service can I do you in return? When I think of it, I am unable to look you in the face. Upon reflection, my son, I have come to the conclusion that I cannot ever repay you.” Again and again as the protector of the gods gazed on Hanuman, his eyes filled with tears and his whole body quivered with emotion.
When Hanuman heard what his Lord said and gazed on his face and body beaming with delight, he experienced a thrill of joy all over his body and fell at his feet, crying out in the ecstasy of devotion, “Save me, save me, O Blessed Lord!” [from the clutches of egotism]
Again and again the Lord sought to raise him up, but he was so absorbed in love that he would not rise. The lotus hands of the Lord rested on his head. Gauri’s lord (Shiva) was overcome by emotion when he recalled that scene. But again, composing himself, Shiva resumed the most charming narrative. The Lord raised Hanuman and clasped him to his heart; then he took him by the hand and seated him close by his side and said, “Tell me Hanuman, how could you contrive to burn Ravana’s stronghold of Lanka, a most impregnable fortress?”
When Hanuman found the Lord so gracious, he replied in words of singular modesty:
“A monkey’s greatest valour lies in his skipping about from one branch to another.
That I should have been able to leap across the ocean, burn the golden city, slay the demon host and lay waste the Ashoka grove was all due to your might Raghunath; in no sense was the strength my own, my Lord. Nothing, Lord, is unattainable to him who enjoys your favour; through your might a mere shred of cotton can surely burn up the fire beneath the sea. Be pleased, O Lord, to grant me unceasing devotion, which is a source of the highest bliss.”
When the Lord, O Parvati, heard the most artless speech of Hanuman, he replied, “So be it.”
-Sundarakanda of Tulsidas’ Ramacharitamanasa
rāmaduta atulita bala dhāmāZZZanjani putra pavanasuta nāmā.
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Ram’s emissary, abode of matchless power, Anjani’s son, named “Son of the Wind.”
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Rāma - Rām
duta – messenger
atulita - incomparible
bala - strength
dhāmā - abode
Anjani putra - Anjani’s son
Pavana – wind
suta - son (offspring)
nāmā - the name
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In the Ramayana, Hanuman symbolizes the sadhana shakti, or power of spiritual practice. He is also the symbol of the faith that can move mountains. He is the son of the monkey hero Kesari (lion-like resolve), and mother Anjani (beautifying collyrium—the divine ungent of pure feeling applied to the vision of the soul). God in the form of Cosmic Prana — the wind-god, Vayu (an aspect of the Cosmic Mind) — is his Divine Father.
In fact, Hanuman is an emanation of Lord Shiva (Brahman, or the unchanging reality amidst and beyond the world). The emergence of faith in the heart of an aspirant is the result of the convergence all of these mystical elements.
-Based on commentary by Swami Jyotirmayananda, “A Mystical Interpretation of the Hanuman Chalisa”
