Epitome of intelligence - Lord Hanuman

As per Hindu mythology,  Lord Hanuman is the most popular, loved and worshipped god. He is the epitome of mental and physical strength. 

बल, बुद्धि, विद्या देहु मोहि, हरहु कलेश विकार

In the Hanuman Chalisa, we seek strength, wisdom and knowledge from lord Hanuman. 

The revered devotee of lord Rama who played a pivotal role in finding Sita. The journey of finding Sita, who was abducted by Ravana was never easy. It was a test of both mental and physical strength. Lord Hanuman embraced the challenge and found Sita.

Today we reflect on certain critical incidents which happened during the flight across the ocean to Lanka. As Lord Hanuman took off from Indian coastline towards Lanka, he recited the name of Lord Rama. 

a. Mission comes first  - 

Filled with hope and determination, Lord Hanuman was speeding up towards Lanka. He found an old mountain figure emerging from the ocean which was Mainak. Mainak was Dasharatha's (Lord Ram's father) friend. He wanted to help Hanuman and offered him to rest. Lord Hanuman was stuck in a dilemma. On one side denying a pure soul i.e. Mainak did not seem correct while on the other side resting would delay the mission of finding Sita. 

Lord Hanuman found an interesting way to solve the situation. He lowered his aerial trajectory and touched the Mainak mountains and catapulted with a higher speed towards Lanka. In this way he did not hurt the emotion of Mainak and saved time as well. He understood the feeling of service of Mainak but gave more importance to the mission. But the way with which lord Hanuman kept the balance is extraordinary The below verse of Hanuman Chalisa rightly depicts the intelligence of Lord Hanuman. 

विद्यावान गुणी अति चातुर, राम काज करिबे को आतुर 

You are Learned, Virtuous and Extremely Intelligent, You are always Eager to do the Works of Sri Rama.

b. Be aware of which battles to fight and which to skip - 

Moving ahead, Lord Hanuman found demoness Sursa in the ocean. Sursa was so huge that she blocked the way of Lord Hanuman. She was sent by gods to check Hanuman's strength and intelligence. As these were the secret ingredients of success of the mission. Sursa wanted to eat Lord Hanuman and she challenged him. Lord Hanuman was least interested to fight this battle, as time was precious for him. Lord Hanuman started to enlarge himself. Looking into this Sursa also started to enlarge her mouth to eat Hanuman. Immediately Lord Hanuman reduced to size and went inside Sursa's mouth and came outside. As Sursa had said earlier no one can come out from my mouth alive, Lord Hanuman proved it wrong. Sursa was pretty happy with the intelligence of Lord Hanuman.

This incident teaches another valuable lesson of time management. Time is a limited asset. And we should be aware of what is more important for us. Basis that we should fight or take only those tasks which are really important for our goals. 

The life of Lord Hanuman is filled with many such incidents of wisdom and strength. Will talk about some more interesting incidents in the next post. Till the stay tuned.

I am Ravana and I am not a blacksmith

Amid the recent backlash against the movie "Adipurush" , a lot of questions have been raised regarding the dialogues, cast and plot of the movie. Internet is flooded with memes making fun of all the characters of the movie. From hairstyle of Ravana to moustache of Lord Rama in the movie, every single aspect has been under the radar of film critics, influencers, celebs and even the Aam Aadmi. People are even filing legal complains against the movie across India.

In this series, want to talk about the revered characters of the Ramayana.  Will start of with the most famous villains of all times based on Hindu mythology i.e. Ravana. 

Though the movie Adipurush has shown Ravana as a blacksmith forging iron in his black Lanka. He is a trained bat feeder who sleeps with snakes. I don't know if any of this is correct or not. Attempt is not to question or disrespect someone but to put some light on the characters.

Ravana's lineage can be traced back to Lord Brahma who was his great grand father. He was the son of sage Vishravas and demon mother Kaikasi, which made him half demon (asura) and half brahmin. But Ravana was different from all the demons. On many fronts he was even better or at par with lord Rama.

In some parts of Sri Lanka, he is even worshipped as god. Even lord Rama knew that Ravana was more revered and capable than him, but it was his arrogance which led to his demise 

Following 4 traits not only make Ravana one of the most flamboyant villains but also a great person. 

1. Inordinate scholar - Ravana was a learned scholar who was expert of the Vedas and Puranas. He was one of most learned scholars of those times. He was author of  many books i.e. Ravana Samhita (book on astrology), Arka Prakasham (book on medicine). He was adept at Ayurveda techniques as well. 

2. Music maestro - Ravana was a great musician. In order to please Lord Shiva, he even composed the " Shiva Tandav Shrotam", which is considered to be one of the best compositions on Lord Shiva

3. Greatest devotee of Lord Shiva - Ravana had 10 heads, that's why he is also known as Dasanana (man with 10 heads). In order to please lord Shiva he even cut his heads. Later lord Shiva restored all his heads and gave him boon. As per certain scriptures, he made a Rudra Veena with one of his heads and played music to please Lord Shiva.

4. Knowledgeable than Lord Rama -  Lord Rama always knew and respected the knowledge and traits of Ravana. It was only his arrogance which led to his demise. When Lord Rama killed Ravana, he immediately asked Lakshmana to go to Ravana and get some knowledge. Lakshmana was hesitant to take knowledge from a demon, but followed his brother's command. When he went to Ravana and asked for his wisdom, Ravana summarized the all the learnings of his life in 2 words - Shubhasya Sighram i.e. Do good/right things as soon as possible. He even mentioned that he was aware that he had done wrong by abducting Sita but was not able to do the right thing due to his ego and arrogance. These last words from Ravana are one of the key tenets most of the organizations have in their culture books today. 

Hope we are able to see Ravana with a better lens after reading this. Thanks for reading. Will be talking about more mythlores in the next version. Till then stay tuned.

(Note - Views are personal and not intended to effect harm any sentiments)