Chapter 6: Birth and youth of Hanuman

Hanuman is originally the son of Vayu, the air god. And he is alsoan expansion of Lord Siva. All the demigods were helping LordRamacandra in his battle. Lord Siva was thinking, "I must also helphim." So long before Lord Ramacandra incarnated, Lord Siva had apastime. Once Siva and Parvati were playing in Kailash, and they sawa monkey. Lord Siva, by looking at this monkey, he also took theform of a monkey. Parvati also took the form of a monkey, and theyplayed. During that time, Lord Siva gave Parvati a conception. Thenimmediately she became Parvati again and said, "I'm not going to givebirth to a monkey." So Siva said, "Well you have a conception so nowyou have to give birth to it." Parvati said, "No no, when you gavethe conception you were a monkey, so my son will become a monkey.Already I have an elephant, that is enough. I can't have this." SoSiva said, "All right then, I will make some arrangement." Siva thencalled Vayu, and Vayu came there. Once before Siva had given aconception and Agni had carried it, and Agni had said that he wouldnever do it again. So Vayu came, and Siva said, "Vayu, you have notdone anything to me up till now, so please do this for me. Take thisconception and look after it." Vayu said, "But you are the most hotperson, and I am going to be carrying this around when I am supposedto be cooling everything. The wind will be hot." Siva said, "Youmake some arrangement." So Vayu was carrying this conceptionwondering what to do, and then he saw the sapta-rishis goingsomewhere. He went before them and asked, "This is a conception fromLord Siva. This has to be preserved until the Supreme Lordincarnates as Ramacandra. That is a long time away, but it has to bekept. Please make some arrangement." The sapta-rishis said, "Oh wewill make some arrangement." So they went to origin of the Mandakiniriver and they took a leaf which was made of metal, and put theconception there. In this way it was preserved, and Vayu wassupposed to come and see that to the heavenly planets. You do notwant this?" And then she remembered all her previous activities.She took that conception, and what was this conception? It wasoriginally conceived by Lord Siva, carried by Vayu for so long, andVayu gave it to her, so it was Vayu's son and it was Siva's angsha,or expansion. And then Anjaneya was born. As soon as he was born hegrew into a sixteen year old boy. That was the potency of Lord Siva.So then Anjana immediately rose up to go to the heavens, and Anjaneyacaught hold of her cloth and said, "Wait a minute, where are yougoing? You gave birth to me, and now you are leaving? What will Ieat?" She was looking around, and it was sunset so she said, "Anyfruit which is as red and as ripe as the sun planet, you can eat it."Then she left, and he was very hungry. He thought and then said,"Why as red as sun and as ripe as sun? Why not just eat sun?" So hejumped up, and straight away went to the sun planet and jumped on thechariot of Lord Suryadeva. He was extending his hands, and he tookthe whole sun planet and reduced it to a small ball and put it in hismouth. Just then he looked and saw Rahu coming. "I am going to eatthe sun," Rahu said. Rahu always says this but he only ever halfeats it. So then Anjaneya said, "Oh you are going to eat the sun?Well I have already eaten the sun and now I will eat you also." Sothen he swallowed Rahu. Indradeva had been sitting in his seatdiscussing politics, but suddenly everything had become dark. Agniwas there, so due to his light he could see. He asked Agni, "Why isthis? Why is there no light?" Agni replied, "Somebody has taken thesun away." "What? Somebody has taken the sun away?" Agni said,"Why are you wondering who has taken it? Just use yourshabda-viddhi." Shabda-viddhi means that just by hearing the soundyou shoot your weapon. So he threw his vadra. While throwing it hewas already jumping on his white elephant, Airavata, and he wascoming. Anjaneya looke that everything was dark, and then he sawthis white elephant coming. "Oh, I will eat that also," and then hejumped on Airavata. While he was jumping on Airavata, the vadracame, and hit Anjaneya on his teeth. Anjaneya quickly caught hold ofit. Indra turned around and saw Anjaneya holding the vadra, and hethought, "This must be some big Visnu avatar. I'd better keep quiet.Out of living entities, only Indra can hold this thunderbolt, so hemust be some incarnation with a tail." So Indra went back. NowAnjaneya had the sun, Rahu and this vadra weapon, and he went back tohis place in Kishkinda to eat it. He sat down looking at this vadra,and thought, "Should I bite it or chew it?" At that time everyonewent to Brahma and asked him, "What is happening in this universe?Rahu is gone, sun is gone." Brahma said, "Don't worry. This is thepotency of Lord Siva, and this person is a great devotee of LordRama." Brahma lives for a long time, and so many Ramayanas arehappening. So he knows that it is almost the same every time, butthe pastime is a little different in each kalpa. So he said, "Thisis Hanuman. All of us have to go there and touch his feet and beghim. If you do that you will get the sun, otherwise no sun." So allthe demigods came, thirty three crores of them. They all came therewith folded hands. "Please Anjaneya, open your mouth." He was upsetbecause Indra's vadra had hit him on his teeth. "You have alreadybroken my jaw. If I open my mouth you will just break my other jaw."So then Brahma said, "My dear boy, I will give you anything you like.You can live as long as I live." Anjaneya was not satisfied. ThenAgni came forward and said, "Fire will not burn you." Still he wasnot satisfied, so Indra came forward. "You are already holding myVadra, so what benediction can I give you? But I tell you this, youwill become the most famous, as famous as me." Still not satisfied.Then Vayu came. "You will be as fast as me." He smiled a littlebit. One by one they all came and offered benedictions, and aftereveryone came and offered benedictions, still Anjaneya was notsatisfied. Brahma said, "Don't worry, I will use my mystic powers."And he read Anjaneya's mind. Anjaneya was thinking "Why is there nofruit in this world?" Brhaspati came to know of his desire and hecame forward and said, "Anjaneya, I will give you all the fruits inthis world, and I will give you the knowledge of Ayurveda by whichyou will know all the fruits, all the plants, and all the trees. Anyplant in the creation, you will know it, and what is the use of ityou will will also know. This is my benediction to you." ThenDhanvantari spoke, "I will be at your command. You put any medicineon anyone and they will come alive." So Anjaneya opened his mouth,and the Sun-god was there, and the demigods were very much satisfied.So then Brahma called him "Hanuman." Hanuman means one who has gotsome kind of a defect in his teeth. That is the meaning of Hanuman.Hanuman is also known as Vajranga, which means the same thing. Vajrameans teeth and anga means missing one part. One other name for himis Marut-suta, the son of the wind god. He is known as Anjaneya, theson of Anjana. And lastly he is known as Mahavira, or a great king.These are some different names of Hanuman. And then Brahma gave hima diamond necklace, and told him, "This is the highest benedictionyou can get. You will be the eternal servant of the eternal Lord,and only the eternal Lord will be able to recognize this necklace.That means you will be recognized by him, and he will be recognizedby you as the one who recognized the necklace." When Ramacandraasked the beggar, "What kind of a beggar are you? You have awonderful necklace on your neck." So Hanuman immediately recognized,that this is my worshippable Lord. And he immediately surrendered toHim. In this way he went to Sugriva, and Hanuman had so many otherexploits too, when he was a small boy. After the sun-swallowingpastime there were so many other pastimes. He used to take elephantsand tigers and play with them. One day he caught hold of a very wiseelephant. He was holding it by the tusk, and he was also holding atiger by the tail, and swinging them around. They were making somesound. This was Hanuman's fun. And then he saw an ashrama. Thesage who lived here had never gotten angry in his life. He was knownfor his sense control. Hanuman thought to himself, "Now we will testhis sense control." So he put the tiger and the elephant tied uptogether in front of his ashrama. This was early in the morning, during the brahma-muhurta time. So the rishi slowly opened the doorand took his lota for taking bath. And then he looked out and sawthis tiger, so he closed the door quickly. Up to that time he hadconstipation, but when he saw this tiger suddenly he felt naturecalling. So he had to go out. But what could he do? There was atiger outside his door. He looked out the door again, and this timehe saw the elephant as well, so he quickly shut the door again. Hehad to pass. But how could he pass inside? He had to go out of thewindow, and there was a tree outside of the window, and he looked upand saw Hanuman at the top of the tree. "So you are the cause ofthis mischief. Come here!" Hanuman thought, "He's becoming angry.I must go." So he came down, and he became small and entered thewindow. The rishi gave Hanuman a curse that limited his strength."Why did you curse me like this?" Hanuman asked. "This is only goodfor you. You are having your strength controlled so you can use itonly for the Lord's service. And when the service is coming, theLord will arrange for someone to remind you." So then Hanuman said,"I will never tie an elephant to a tiger any more. And I willcertainly not put it in front of your ashrama. I'll put it somewhereelse." So then he came back, and he did not play for a whole week.Ketari was asking, "Hanuman, how come there have been no complaintsfrom anyone for a whole week? Have you become a good boy?" Hanumansaid, "I don't want to give trouble to anyone." Then they heard asound, a very nice sound. Ketari said, "What is this? It is NaradaMuni coming!" Hanuman asked, "Who is this person?" Ketari replied,"He is a very great soul. He doesn't need any introduction. Youjust go to him and you will find out the greatness of this man."Immediately Hanuman jumped up and Narada was just on his way pasttheir place, going to see some rishi, so Hanuman jumped in his wayand paid pranams. "Narada Muni, I heard that you are a very greatperson, so you must b less me. Without blessing me, you are notallowed to go." Narada said, "What blessing do you want?" Hanumansaid, "Already the demigods have given me so many blessings. Icannot think of anything else, so you think of a blessing, and yougive it to me." Narada thought, "What blessing does Hanuman nothave?" And so he said, "You will become expert in music." That wasthe only benediction left to give. So Hanuman got that benediction,and Narada Muni said, "So I have given you the benediction, and nowI am going." Hanuman said, "One minute, one minute." "What do youwant?" Narada asked. "How will I know that I am the most expert inmusic?" Hanuman inquired. "My father told me that you are the mostexpert in music, so you must do me a favour today. Give me thebenediction that I will be more expert than you." So Narada said,"All right, I will sit somewhere and listen to you." "Shall I startsinging?" Hanuman asked. "Yes." Narada Muni put his vina on arock, and he sat down on the ground. So Hanuman selected that tunewhich would melt the rock, and he began to sing it. The rockmelted, and the vina was in the liquid. He was singing and singing,and the vina was floating in the liquid rock. Narada was closinghis eyes and enjoying, and he said, "All right Hanuman, you are thebest musician. You can stop singing now." Hanuman said, "You openyour eyes and tell me if I should I stop singing." Narada said,"How do you mean?" Hanuman replied, "You open your eyes." SoNarada opened his eyes and looked around. He didn't notice the vinafloating in the stone water. "Yes, you can stop singing." So thenHanuman stopped singing, and the liquid stone became rock, and thevina got stuck. Narada said, "I am going," and he took his vina,but it wouldn't move. "What did you do, Hanuman?" Hanuman said, "Ionly sung a song. You told me to sing a song, and you also gave methe ability. Now you are complaining. I have been a good boy for awhole week." Narada said, "One week of doing nothing means thatbefore that week you did too much." And then Hanuman told him allabout what he had done, swallowing the sun etc, and Narada becamevery pleased. Then he said, "Now whatever it was, you please singthe tune again, so I can get my vina." Hanuman said, "Well, I don'tknow...." Narada Muni said, "Please do it!" "No I won't," Hanumansaid, and he jumped up and ran inside the palace. Narada Muni camein there and called out, "Hey Hanuman, come and get my vina out! Ihave to go." Just then Ketari came out, and when he saw Narada Munihe touched his feet. "What is my son doing, he is giving you sometrouble?" Narada said, "Oh no, no trouble, just that he got my vinastuck in the rock." Ketari said, "Oh no, he has started his mischiefagain. Hanuman, get Narada's vina out of the rock!" And thenHanuman said, "I want Narada Muni's feet to touch every room in thispalace, that is why I was doing this. Now he has touched all therooms, and I will release his vina. The dust from his lotus feet isso rare that what is the use of just having it in one part of ourkingdom? We should have it all over." Narada said, "You are alreadyblessed, because you are Lord Rama's eternal servant." So Hanumanwent and sung for Narada, who quickly took his vina and left. Inthis way, Hanuman had so many wonderful pastimes. Then he toldKetari, "I want to get education. I have so many benedictions, but Ineed some education too, I need vidya. I am very much hankering forvidya." Ketari said, "But who could give you vidya? You have somany benedictions, but you also have uncontrollable behaviour. Ican't find a guru for you, because you are so strong, and so naughtyalso." Hanuman said, "This means that you are not going to performthe duty of the father. You're not giving me any education." Ketarisaid, "I have to give you education, but you do one thing. You go tothe Sun-god. He is the most powerful. Some time ago he wassuppressed by you, but I can't think of anyone else. So you go tohim." Hanuman went to see the Sun-god, and when the Sun-god sawHanuman coming, he said, "It's Hanuman again. What is he here for?He's grown up now, so he must have stopped playing his mischief."Hanuman came up and paid his obeisances. The Sun-god said, "What areyou here for now? Whom are you going to swallow?" Hanuman objected,"No, no, all that was because I was in ignorance. I still have somuch ignorance, but I want to get some knowledge. I've heard thatyou are a great pandit, so please teach me. I've come to join yourgurukula." So then the Sun-god looked down. He has a big sittingplace in the front of his chariot. There, there are six millionrishis sitting, and they are constantly reciting Yajur-veda, Rg-veda,Sama-veda and Atharva-veda to the Sun-god. So he looked to see ifthere was any vacant seat, but the whole place was filled up, so hesaid, "Sorry, but no admission." Hanuman said, "If there is no seatthen I will stand and learn from you." The Sun-god said, "But I haveto keep moving. If you stand in front of me then I won't be able tomove and the seasons won't be there. I will be in trouble." Hanumansaid, "Then I will move and learn." The Sun-god said, "All right.But you have to face me and move backwards. In this way you have tolisten to me, and whatever I say you have to learn. I won't repeatit." So Hanuman was there in front of the Sun-god, and he waswalking backwards. He was so sense-controlled that he could join theorbit of the sun. In 60 orbits he learnt everything, Rg, Sama, Yajurand Atharva. The Sun-god spoke it, he heard it and immediately heknew it. And then he said, "Now I have finished. Everything youhave said I have heard and I remember it." The Sun-god said, "Verygood, but you have to give me some dakshina." Hanuman said, "Wellwhat do you want? Do you want Indra's crown? You tell me anythingand I will get it for you in a second." The Sun-god said, "No, Idon't want any of that. Only one guru-dakshina I need from you. Ihave a monkey friend. You must become his minister. You must alwaysprotect his life." Hanuman said, "Oh? You have a monkey friend, andI should protect him? This is only glory for me. I will do it, Iwill protect him as my life." And then the Sun-god told him who wasthat monkey. It was Sugriva, and he is the son of the Sun-god. HowSugriva became the Sun-god's son is a wonderful story. There was onelady who was known as Narayani, and her husband was calledugra-tapas. That means "ferocious austerities," but he never did anyausterities. He was only engaged in sense gratification. He becameso diseased and paralysed that he had to be carried in a basket.Narayani would carry him in a basket so that he could go to differentplaces and get sense gratification. Ugra-tapas told Narayani, "Youmust take me to such and such prostitute today." So she was carryinghim. While Ugra-tapas was in the basket and Narayani was carryinghim, there was one rishi whose name was Bishmanda Rishi, and he hadbeen put on a trident by a king because of some misunderstanding, andwas suffering in that condition. He had tri-kala-jnah, knowledge ofpast, present and future, and when he saw Ugra-tapas he knew he wasgoing to a prostitute's place, and that he was crippled and beingcarried by his wife. So he got so upset, and forgot about his pain.He called out, "Hey Ugra-tapas, what are you doing? Your name isUgra-tapas, and what is your life like? And now you are asking yourwife to carry you to a prostitute's when you are paralysed. Whatkind of a person are you? You should die immediately. When the sunrises tomorrow you will die." When Narayani heard this she said,"When the sun rises tomorrow my husband will die? Then I curse thatthe sun will not rise." She cursed the sun. So the sun becamemotionless. The Sun-god's charioteer Aruna was getting ready,packing the horses etc, and then he looked back and saw the sun hadbecome static. "Oh? It is a vacation for me. I never got anyholiday, because t here was never any chance. Let me have some fun."So he went and asked the sages that sit on the Sun-god's chariot,"How come the sun is not moving any more?" "This is the curse of achaste lady," they replied. "How long will this curse last?" Arunaasked. "At least one day." "That's good," Aruna said. "One day isgood. I can enjoy nicely." So Aruna got one day's holiday. He wasthinking, "How can I enjoy this day? It never happened in thecreation before, and it will probably never happen again. The sunnever goes on holiday. I only have one day, so I must get thehighest enjoyment." So he took a book, like a tourist guide for theheavenly planets, and he found out that Indra was having a specialfeast and dinner in respect of some great personality, and Menaka wasdancing at that festival. "Oh I must go and see that," he said. Butin this party, only the invited guests were allowed. You had tobring an invitation, and you had to be dressed in a special design.It was only Indra's close friends. So he was wondering, "How will Igo? I know, I will also become a dancer." So he turned into awoman, Aruna became Aruni. And this Aruni was so beautiful, becausehe always sat with the sun and he was shining so brightly. He camein front of Indra's palace. The gateman said, "Hey, who are you?""I am Menaka's make--up assistant," she said. She forgot to put oneline on her face, so I have to do it. I am the only one who isexpert enough." "All right, you may come." So then Aruni entered.Menaka was dancing on one side and Aruni was hiding. And then Indrawas looking through the crowd, and suddenly he saw Aruni. "She ismore beautiful that Menaka," he said. So he immediately cancelledthe party, and started showing everyone out. Aruni was going toleave, but Indra caught hold of her and said, "Wait a minute! Whoare you?" Aruni said, "I am Menaka's make-up assistant. Leave mealone! I am going." "No you are not going, you are staying," Indrasaid. "I'm staying wh ere?" "With me," Indra said. "No, I am notstaying with you. I know your history," Aruni said. Indra said,"No, no, I will keep you next to Indrani." Aruni objected, "Even ifyou keep me more than Indrani, I cannot be here because I am a man."Indra said, "Don't play these games with me, I know you are a woman."Aruni said, "No I am not a woman! I am a man! I just turned myselfinto this form." Indra said, "Even then, you are the most beautifulwoman that I have seen." Aruni said, "If you were to give me aconception, who would bring up the child? I am the charioteer of theSun-god." Indra said, "Whatever or whoever you are, and whateverwill come out of it, I'm going to enjoy you." Aruni agreed, andimmediately there was a conception, and a demigod was born. And thenAruni ran, because it was getting late already, and the Sun-god wasslowly getting his movement back. At the last moment Aruna jumped onthe chariot and grabbed the reins. The Sun-god said, "You're surecutting it fine. Where did you go?" "Oh, nowhere," Aruna answered."Tell me!" "Oh, I went to Indra's planet." "What did he do to you?"the Sun-god asked. "He gave me a conception." "How did he give youa conception?" Aruna said, "It's getting late now, we only have afew moments." The Sun-god said, "A few moments is alright. It needsonly one moment. Let me see that beautiful form." Aruna objected,"No, no. This will only cause more trouble." "No, I must see," saidthe Sun-god. "You are my servant." "Alright," said Aruna, and hebecame Aruni. In the next moment there was another conception. Sothis is demigod life. Only a very few of them are thinking of Visnu.The bulk of them think of Visnu only when the demons come, and thenwhen the demons leave they go back to their sense gratification. Itis mentioned in the Visnu Purana that one who hears this story losesthe attraction for going to the heavenly planets. So now two babieswere crying. This was not usually the way that birth happened in theheavenly planets, so all the demigods were disturbed in their sensegratification. They all went to Brahma and Brahma approached Indra, saying,"You are the cause of this problem. You settle this down." "I can'thave babies in the heavenly planets," Indra said. "We'll have togive them to someone." Then he remembered the king of Varanasa,Riksharaja, who had no children. He was performing austerities toplease Indra so he could get a son. A benediction from the demigodsis usually something that demigods don't want in the heavenlyplanets, so they give it away. So Riksharaja was standing on one legto get some children, and Indra came and said, "Why are you standingon one leg? Here are two babies you can have." So they had twosons, Bali and Sugriva. Bali was the son of Indra, and Sugriva wasthe son of the Sun-god. And the Sun-god got the benediction ofguru-dakshina from Hanuman that he would always protect Sugriva. Inthis way, when Bali was anointed the king after Riksharaja, Sugrivabecame his minister, and Hanuman became the counsellor or minister ofSugriva.