hanuman - lesson 6 - hanuman bhakti – just bhakti...
TRANSCRIPT
HANUMAN COVERED WITH SINDHUR
Hanuman was entirely innocent and truthful. We can learn these two qualities from
this story.
One day, Hanuman was in Queen Sita’s apartments. He saw her put a small red dot of
vermillion on her forehead. It is the custom of Indian women to put a small red dot on
the forehead as a sign of piety and also for beauty. “Why are you putting that dot on
your forehead?” Hanuman asked Sita. Sita amused and embarrassed by his simplicity.
Sita replied with a smile “So that your Lord’s life-span will increase.” Hanuman is
impressed. “Is that so? Just by putting on that stuff, the Lord Rama will live longer?”
Sita blushes again, “That’s what people say, yes.”
Hanuman rushes to the bazaar and finds a shop that sells sindhur. While the alarmed
shop owner looks on, he grabs several sacks of the fine, red-orange power, tears them
open, and dumps them over him, then rolls in the heap of vermilion on the floor. In a
trice, he rushes back to the palace. Rama is seated in full court, and Hanuman enters
and takes his usual place, standing attentively near the foot of the throne. He is bright
red from the top of his head to the tip of his long tail.
All eyes fixed on him, and the assembled courtiers react in various ways; some gasp,
others giggle nervously. Sita merely smiles to herself. Rama asked “Hanuman, what
has happened to you? Did you have an accident?” Hanuman presses his palms
together to address Rama. Tears well up in his yellow eyes as he declares, “My Lord,
may you live for as many years as there are hairs on your servant’s body!” Sita
whispers something in Rama’s ear, and he descends from the throne dais and
embraces Hanuman with great love. Then he announces to the whole court, “Today is
Tuesday, and henceforth those who offer oil and vermilion to my beloved Hanuman,
the son of the wind, on this day will please me and will have their wishes granted.”
Hanuman is still worshipped in India by covering his murthi (statue) with vermillion.
Most of us get angry or ashamed when other laugh at us. But Hanuman was not like
that. He only had devotion in his heart towards his Lord. No big ego, nothing but just
devotion. He did not care what others thought. So he did not mind others laughing at
him.
HANUMAN AND BHIMA
Another story is about Arjuna’s elder brother Bhima. Bhima was the second of the five
Pandava brothers. Now all the Pandava brothers were strong, but Bhima was the
strongest. He was taller, broader and had big bulging muscles. But just as sometimes
girls feel proud they are beautiful and pretty, boys also feel proud of their strength. But
to be proud is not a good thing and this story tells us why!
One day, Bhima went to the forest to cut wood. As he was walking fast, taking big
steps, he suddenly stopped on seeing a monkey’s tail lying across his path. Now Bhima
was in a hurry and shouted at the monkey, “Hey you! Move your tail out of my way.”
The monkey, who was old and frail, turned and looked at Bhima and softly told Bhima,
“Sir, I am old and ill. I have no power to move. Please shift my tail out of your path.”
Proud of his strength, Bhima responded, “What a bother,” he said, “Don’t you know
who you are talking to? I am the famous Bhima whom everyone is afraid of. No one
dare stand in front of me in the battlefield. And you, an old monkey, are telling me to
touch your tail and move it out of my path! Listen. I will not change my path and I will
not touch your tail. Just get up from my way.”
But the monkey pleaded with Bhima again. Bhima grumbled again but also realized
there was nothing else to be done but to move the monkey’s tail. Making a face,
Bhima tried to move the tail out of his way with his little finger. But the tail did not
move at all. He then threw his axe down and tried to move it with his hand. But
suddenly it seemed like the tail was stuck to the ground! Angry and frustrated, Bhima
held the tail with both his hands, took a deep breath and tried to move it. But oh God,
nothing happened. He tried and he tried but he couldn’t move it by an inch.
And then suddenly Bhima understood what was happening – this was no ordinary old
and ill monkey. This had to be someone else. This was… Okay children who can guess
who this monkey was? Yes, it was none other than Hanuman Himself, who was strong
and mighty, but not proud of His strength at all. He was only teaching a lesson to
Bhima so that Bhima could realize that his being proud was a mistake. Ashamed of his
arrogance, Bhima fell on hanuman’s feet and asked for forgiveness and promised never
to be proud again.
Moral Value
Be humble: So children what have we learnt from Bhima’s story? We should be
humble; we should not be proud, we should not be a show off or think highly of
ourselves. You saw what happened to Bhima because he was proud. He thought he
was so strong but could not even lift a monkey’s tail. So remember that if we boast
about ourselves we could end up making a fool of ourselves. We should instead learn
to be like Hanuman. Even though he was the strongest of them all, he always
remained humble and modest. Even after the completing of His heroic and successful
mission to Lanka, He introduced Himself as follows “I am the servant of Lord Rama,
who is the savior of the weak. I am the slave of the King of Ayodhya”. In His great
humility, he explains the secret of His success. He says “His (Hanumanji referring to
Himself) greatness is neither inherited nor a result of chanting Mantras. It is solely
because the Lord resides in His heart”.
CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 King of Lanka
5 Ravana's vehicle
8 Creator of Universe
13 Portion of Hanuman's body was put on fire
14 Hanuman's other name
16 King of Vanaras
17 Ravana's son
20 Sugriva's kingdom
21 King of Gods
24 Where is the Sanjivini herb available?
26 Rama's another brother
27 The Garden where Ravana kept Sita
28 Hanuman's mother
29 Sita's husband
DOWN
2 Son of Vali
3 Sugriva's brother
4 Rama's Guru
6 The name of Herb gave life to Lakshmana
7 Hanuman is a semi-divine race called
9 Hanuman's father
10 Number of heads Ravana had
11 Rama's brother
12 Vanaras built this to cross Ocean
15 Ravana's brother
18 Rama's kingdom
19 Hanuman is an incarnation of
22 Hanuman is great devotee of
23 The island that Ravana lived
25 Who Gave immortality to Hanuman?
1 2 3 4
5 6
7
8
9 10 11 12
13 14
15
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18 19
20 21 22
23
24 25
26
27
28 29