Episode 26: In the Name of the Lord

Lord Hanuman is considered the epitome of devotion – his surrender to Lord Rama was beyond anything the world has ever seen. Hence, it is inconceivable to even think that Lord Rama could ever have fought with his greatest devotee, Lord Hanuman. Yet, facts are usually stranger than fiction. It did happen, and we shall reveal that in this episode.

This story begins with the great Sage Vishwamitra arriving at the royal court of Kashi (aka Benares or Varanasi). For those not in the know, Sage Vishwamitra is a divine venerated sage who was the first to discover the Gayatri mantra. Sage Vishwamitra is also prominently featured in the Ramayana as the spiritual preceptor of Lord Rama, who trained the divine brothers (Rama and Lakshman) in divine weapons and advanced religion while taking their help to kill powerful pesky demons near his ashram, who were pissing him off.

He also led the Swayamvara ceremony for princess Sita where she was won over by Lord Rama and became his wife. Swayamvara word translates to ‘Syavam’ (self) and ‘vara’ (groom) or the bride choosing her groom. In the ancient days and probably also in more recent times, kings held swayamvara ceremonies for their marriageable daughters by inviting kings and princes from across the land to win their daughter’s hand.

The choice was effected by either the bride choosing her ‘perfect’ groom, the attendees duking it out with each other in a WWE style winner-gets-the-girl fight or winning extremely tough but equally silly contests featuring archery target practice, needlessly breaking perfectly good divine bows, piñata, spelling bees, last one standing in a drinking contest, and so on. Maybe the last few are my imagination, but who knows – could have happened.

Some smart rascalas like Lord Krishna and Arjuna bypassed the contest by simply doing a ‘grab and run’ – eloping with the princess before the rest of the assembled royal idiots got any wiser. In Lord Rama’s case, the contest involved lifting and breaking the Pinaka, the divine bow of Shiva. It is said that the bow was so heavy that it nearly crushed the mighty Ravana who had also attended the Syayamvara. Of course, our bro Lord Rama lifts it clean and snaps it into two, thus winning the hand of Mother Sita. After all, you don’t get to be an Avatar of Lord Vishnu without the extra divine mojo.

Anyways, back to our story and Sage Vishwamitra at the royal court of Kashi. At the sage’s entry, the king of Kashi was happily romping with his wives and consorts in the royal palace. He was informed of the sage’s arrival by the royal messengers. The king asked the royal attendants to take good care of the sage and inform the sage that he would soon present himself at the royal court. Unfortunately, the king decided to indulge in some more romping and forgot all about the sage. Sage Vishwamitra quickly lost his patience when the king was absent for a long time.

He understood what the king was up to from the few details shared by the royal attendants and his divine vision. You don’t get to be a divine venerated sage without the divine stereoscopic vision that can peer into the unknown. Outraged at being thus insulted, the sage left in a fury and asked the attendants to let the king know that he would ensure that his disciple, Lord Rama, would arrange to have their king’s head at his feet by sundown. The frightened attendants scurried and conveyed the message to their romping king, who ceased his romping and started shitting (bricks).

A furious divine venerated sage and soon-to-be furious divine Avatar were more than the king of Kashi could handle alone. He scurryied to the only person who could handle all this furious divinity. Yes, you guessed it, our friendly neighborhood superhero Lord Hanuman, who, courtesy of his supreme surrender and devotion, could combat the furious divinity. However, he knew that Lord Hanuman would never willingly fight with Lord Rama. Hence, he cunningly approached Lord Hanuman’s mother, Devi Anjana and fell at her feet, asking to be saved from the wrath of a king who had vowed to kill him before sundown.

The king of Kashi resorted to loud weeping and gnashing of teeth, while carefully leaving out the details to avoid getting his sorry royal ass, kicked out by Lord Hanuman or worse, getting his sorry royal ass hauled off to Lord Rama, thus expediting his demise as per the Sage’s vow. Devi Anjana took pity on him and promised to have her son, Lord Hanuman, protect him. She immediately summoned Lord Hanuman to her presence and informed him that the king of Kashi had sought her protection. She commanded Lord Hanuman to protect the king of Kashi from the one who had vowed to kill him.

Lord Hanuman, ever the obedient one, accepted his mother’s command. His obvious question to the king of Kashi was, “Who?” and on the listening to the answer “What???” (more likely WTF???). Lord Hanuman was now in a fix. On the one hand, he was bound by his mother’s command and, on the other, by his love for his Master. He was, what’s the right word for it, yes – screwed – that too at both ends.

In the meantime, Sage Vishwamitra reached Lord Rama and transferred his furiousness immediately. Like the Incredible Hulk, Lord Rama was instantly furious and ready for some clobbering time – or more like head lopping time. Sage Vishwamitra used his divine stereoscopic vision to determine that the king of Kashi was with and was being protected by Lord Hanuman.

Lord Rama quizzically asked the Sage the obvious question to confirm, “Who?” and on the listening to the answer “What???” (more likely WTF???). Now. Lord Rama was in a fix. On the one hand, he was bound by his preceptor’s command and, on the other, by his love for his devotee. He too was, what’s the right word for it, yes – screwed – that too at both ends.

Lord Rama is called Maryada Purshottam – the highest ideal of righteous behaviour. He put aside his personal emotions and set out to fulfil his preceptor’s vow as righteousness demanded. Lord Rama and Sage Vishwamitra soon reached Devi Anjana’s residence. Lord Hanuman was standing guard outside with the king of Kashi cowering behind him.

Lord Rama asked Lord Hanuman to hand over the king of Kashi, who, as decreed by Sage Vishwamitra, had to pay the price for his insolent behaviour. Lord Hanuman cited his inability to do so since the king of Kashi was under his mother’s protection with his personal guarantee. Lord Rama warned Hanuman that he would meet the same fate as the king should he protect the king. Lord Hanuman bowed down in respect but did not move.

Lord Rama understood that he had to fight and kill Lord Hanuman to get to the king. Placing an arrow on his bow, Lord Rama gave Lord Hanuman one last chance to reconsider his decision. Lord Hanuman stood resolutely, unmoved. Lord Rama showered arrows on Lord Hanuman. Lord Hanuman could not raise his weapon on Lord Rama and chose not to fight back.

Closing his eyes, he folded his palms and inwardly prayed to Lord Rama to release him from this moral dilemma – to ensure that his promise to his mother was unbroken and also that he did not have to fight his beloved Master. He became completely absorbed within in divine ecstasy, chanting the name of Lord Rama, oblivious to the world around him.

The arrows fired by Lord Ram, instead of striking and piercing Lord Hanuman, circumambulated him thrice, returned and fell as flowers at Lord Rama’s feet. Lord Rama was surprised. He took out celestial arrows and fired them in succession. Same result. Then he took out the powerful divine arrows of the five elements and fired them in succession. Same result. He followed with the divine weapons of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Same result. Finally, he took out the fearsome and invincible weapon of the Creator – the Brahmastra. As he started to intone the mantras to activate the Brahmastra, Sage Vishwamitra asked Lord Rama to halt.

Sage Vishwamitra found himself in a dilemma, as he recalled the ‘read before use’ instructions on the Brahmastra – ‘Me badass weapon. Me need target. If me no find target, me make world go boom. Think before use.” All in chaste Sanskrit, of course. The Brahmastra could not return empty-handed. If it didn’t whack its target, it whacked everyone, including the target, i.e., destroyed the whole world.

Sage Vishwamitra felt that the Brahmastra would meet the same fate as the arrows that went before. Except that if the Brahmastra did not whack Lord Hanuman, it would return not as a flower but fall like a nuclear weapon on their feet, sending everyone to La La land. Sage Vishwamitra wanted to punish the king of Kashi but not at the cost of destroying the world. Sage Vishwamitra came up with the perfect solution. You don’t get to be a divine venerated sage without coming up with perfect solutions.

He asked Lord Hanuman to stand aside and let the king of Kashi fall at his feet and beg for mercy for his insolent behaviour. Lord Rama would kill the king of Kashi to fulfil the Sage’s and Lord Rama’s vow. In return, the Sage promised to bring the king of Kashi back to life. This would ensure that Devi Anajani’s and Lord Hanuman’s promises to protect the king were also fulfilled. The king of Kashi learnt his lesson; the furious divine ones were appeased; the divine ones protecting the king from the furious divinity could breathe easy, and the world did not go boom. Once again, all was well with the world.

The moral of this story is that the name of the Lord is more powerful than the Lord Himself. The arrows fired by Lord Rama reached Lord Hanuman but saw none other than Lord Rama in him. Hence, they paid their respects by circumambulating Lord Hanuman and, through his devotion, were transformed as flowers at his Master’s feet. He who chants the Lord’s name becomes Him.

This is from one of Mohanji’s talks, ‘Allow Grace To Happen’:
“Hanumanji is a great devotee, one of the greatest devotees the Earth has ever seen. You must have heard that Hanumanji told Rama, “Body-wise, I am your servant. My mind is close to your mind; your wish is my command. But soul-wise, you and I are one.” This is the awareness of a devotee. With that awareness, you become Rama.“

Further, I found these interesting thoughts in an online book, The Wrestler’s Body on wrestlers who venerate Lord Hanuman which I paraphrase below in the context of a disciple.

Just as Lord Hanuman is helpless without the shakti he derives from his love for Lord Rama, so the disciple is powerless without a similar commitment of devotion to the Master. Lord Hanuman’s relationship to Lord Rama provides a model for the disciple’s general attitude of adoration towards his or her Master. Hanuman’s devotion provides a model for contemplation. To ‘think on Hanuman’ is to think of the power of his love for Lord Rama. The disciple seeks to live his life as though every thought is of the Master and every breath a devotional prayer. However, he must do this as he goes about his everyday life and let this permeate every aspect of his life. Throughout the Ramayana, Lord Hanuman is described as “thinking on Lord Ram” or “keeping the image of Lord Ram in his mind’s eye” before embarking on any task. Similarly, when they keep the image of their Master fixed in their mind’s eye, there is almost nothing that a disciple cannot do.

If we do the above, maybe in time, we will be unfazed by the arrows of experiences that are fired at us by Life, the greatest Teacher, and through our right conduct and awareness return them as flowers of gratitude at our spiritual Master’s feet.

Citation: Alter, Joseph S. The Wrestler’s Body: Identity and Ideology in North India. 
Berkeley:  University of California Press,  c1992 1992.
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft6n39p104/