HUNGRY HANUMAN

ॐ हनुमते नमः

The Hanuman Mantra for getting physical strength and power

There lived a beautiful apsara (fairy) Anjana who fell in love and married a vanar (monkey) called Kesari. Anjana and Kesari prayed for many years for a son. One day the great Wind God, Lord Vayu, brought them a magic kheer (rice pudding) and after eating the kheer Anjana gave birth to an adorable baby boy. From that moment the baby was know not only as the son of Kesari and Anjana but also of the powerful Lord Vayu.

The little one had several names. He was called Anjaneya after his mother and Kesariputra after his father. He was also know as Pavanputra after the wind God, his celestial father. It was only later that he got the name that we all know him by - Hanuman.

Now like most children Pavanputra too was a mischievous little fellow. He would always be up to some adventurous pursuit. One day he was bored, as he could not find anything to entertain him. He happened to look up and there, shining brightly in the blue sky was the golden Sun. Little Pavanputra had never noticed the sun before and he thought that the big orange ball was a giant ripe delicious mango. All of a sudden Pavanputra began to feel very hungry. He decided to pluck the fruit and eat it.

Being the son of Vayu, Pavanputra could fly and so he flew off at full speed towards the Sun. At the very same time Rahu, a heavenly planet was also heading towards the sun. Suddenly on his path towards the sun Rahu saw a little monkey boy heading at full speed towards the sun. Pavanputra too saw Rahu and as he was in no mood to share his special “mango” he increased his speed and started chasing Rahu. The faster Rahu fled the faster the little monkey boy flew. Rahu realised he could not match Pavanputra’s speed and got very frightened as to what might happen if this little monkey caught him. In order to escape, Rahu suddenly changed direction and rushed off towards Lord Indra’s palace.

Rahu fell at Indra’s feet and with folded hands begged, “please please Lord Indra save me from this fearsome little monkey that has chased me away from my route to the sun. He flies very fast and is totally unafraid of anything. I rushed away to save myself from him. Please you must help me.”

Indra the God of the Heavens was furious that one of his planets had been thwarted by a tiny monkey and he said to Rahu, “how dare this monkey stop the great Rahu. This naughty little monkey must be taught a lesson. I will not tolerate this”, and then in anger he tossed his mighty weapon the Vajrayudham at the flying Hanuman. The Vajrayudham, was such a powerful weapon that it shot through the skies and hit little Hanuman with a mighty blow right on his chin.

Hit by Indra’s mighty weapon, little Pavanputra dropped from the skies with a thud. Vayu saw his beloved son falling to the earth and rushed to the child who was by now lying motionless on the hard ground. Vayu was very very angry that someone had dared to hurt his little son. He decided that the whole world would pay for this terrible wrong. So he took all the air from the universe and picking up his little son Vayu, went into a deep cave and refused to come out.

Now as Vayu had taken all the air with him all the humans, animals and plants were unable to breathe and feared they would die. The Gods in heaven were greatly distressed to see their devotees suffer and they went to Lord Indra for help. Indra knew he had made a mistake and did not know how he could rectify this. He did not know how to soothe and calm the angry Lord Vayu.

So together with all the other Gods, Indra went to see Lord Brahma. Brahma listened to them and after some deep thought said, “you, Indra being the King of the Gods and so very powerful, attacked an innocent child. You used your mighty power to harm a small boy who was looking for food because he was hungry. You will have to first go to Vayu and beg his forgiveness for hurting his son. Only once Vayu forgives you will I be able to do anything to sort out the problem.”

Indra now was very ashamed of what he had done. He knew it was his anger and pride that had made him act so foolishly. He bent his head, folded his hands and humbly said to Lord Brahma, “I know now that what I did was very wrong. I will go right away to Lord Vayu and beg for his forgiveness.”

Brahma accompanied Indra to the cave where Vayu sat with his son lying on his lap. Brahma said, “Vayu please forgive Indra for acting foolishly in anger and hurting you dear son. He made a mistake and is truly sorry for his actions.”

Indra too with folded hands begged Lord Vayu for forgiveness. Lord Vayu, realised that Indra had acted without thinking in a moment of fury and forgave him.

Brahma then lifted the little the child onto his lap and breathed life back into him. Immediately Pavanputra opened his bright eyes and seeing all the great Gods assembled around him with folded hands said, “mighty God’s please give me your blessings.”

Indra was the first to respond he said, “I’m so ashamed that I attacked you with a deadly weapon that I wish to bestow on you the blessing that you alone will decide your death and no one will ever be able to kill you not even me with my powerful thunderbolt.”

All the Gods assembled also granted Pavanputra several blessings.

Brahma blessed the little one and said, “yes, you will live for ever and no weapon will be able to harm or kill you. I also bless you with the power to destroy fear in good people and create fear in bad people. I give you the power to change your form at any time and travel wherever you wish.” Having given the little monkey boy all these special gifts Lord Brahma then touched Pavanputra’s broken jaw and fixed it. It was Lord Brahma who then named the boy “Hanuman”, which means the one with the broken jaw.

Lord Shiva blessed Hanuman with the boons of long life, wisdom and the ability to cross oceans. He also gave him a band that would protect him throughout his life.

Lord Varuna, the God of the oceans, blessed him with the gift of immunity from water which meant Hanuman would never drown.

The Lord of Fire, Agni Dev, blessed him with the protection from ever burning by fire.

Surya Dev gave him two blessings of yoga “laghima” (to become lighter than the lightest) and “garima” (to become heavier than the heaviest).

The God of Death, Yama, blessed him with health and immunity from weapons, thus securing him completely from death.

Kubera, the treasurer of the Gods, blessed him with eternal happiness and satisfaction.

His father Lord Vayu also blessed the little boy with even greater speed.

All the many Gods granted Hanuman extraordinary powers and the little boy grew up to be a a very special superhero.

Hanuman always uses his mighty powers to help us when we are in difficulty and brings us good luck.

LESSONS

1. Lord Indra became too proud of his powers and did something bad. We must never be too proud because pride always comes before a fall

2. Remember if you have certain abilities, others too, have their own abilities. Little Hanuman simply asked the great Gods to bless him and they showered him with so many gifts that it made him more powerful than any of them. Yet, Hanuman never used these great powers for anything other than doing good deeds.

3. If you pray to God you too like Hanuman will be showered with God’s blessings

4. Like Hanuman you should also use your strength and ability to help your friends and those in need.

5. Always remember only bullies attack those weaker than themselves.