Hanuman’s Journey to Maturity 1 – How a curse can be a blessing – HG Chaitanya Charan Das

How many of you were there yesterday? Okay. How many of you were not there yesterday? Okay. How many of you are not there today?

Alright. Okay. So We’re discussing on the topic of Hanuman’s journey to maturity, not a physical place. But we are going to talk about how we can grow toward maturity by learning from Hanuman’s example. Yesterday, we had played a game.

Can you also raise your hands how many were there yesterday? Okay. More than 50%. Thank you. 70%.

But this game will be for those who were there yesterday already. So I’ll give you a yesterday we had played a game where I give a word and then you construct a sentence based on the Ramayana or Mahabharata using that word. Today’s game will be a little different. A little difficult, a little easier. Both ways.

I’ll give you a word, and through a series of words that I give, we will construct a summary of yesterday’s class. So I’ll give you a word, and you can think of in what context that word can be used to connect with a point or especially a pastime, an incident that was described yesterday. Okay? Mischievous. Mhmm.

Yes? Lord Hanuman, he wanted to, he he had he thought that the sun god is fruit, so he wanted to go and grab. So that shows the mischievousness of the child. Yeah. So Hanuman was as a child, he was mischievous demigod.

Yeah. You said there are two connotations to that. You’re a semi god, what profile uses. But the other connotation is that it’s a child of a celestial being and a human. So Yes.

Hanuman ji falls in that category. Yeah. Actually, later I thought about Hanuman falls in both categories versus He’s also a great devotee. He’s a celestial being himself. He’s a devotee, so he’s not officially having a position of a devta.

So the second meaning is more appropriate. Good. So then, panic. Panic? Yes?

Moment while they stop the air, after seeing Hanuman in a, in a very, hurtful state, the Arduyutas go to panic mode. Yes. So when they saw Hanuman in a which state? Hurtful state. Hurtful.

Okay. In a lifeless state, you can say. Hurt state. Yeah. That’s true.

They they get panicking, then they shower blessings on him. Very good. Thank you. Oh, God. He’s moving forward nicely.

Now. Blessing and curse. Yes? Whatever, Hanuman got blessings from all the devatas because Voirideva was angry with the Correct. Yeah.

Some god. Yeah. It’s excellent. So you blessings twice and curse once. That’s good.

That’s good to very nice. Yesterday, we’re discussing that there is ability or power, and there is maturity. Okay. See, I don’t have much maturity losing this. Okay.

So we have so child Hanuman to adult Hanuman is this journey. Edibility, but not maturity. And we’ll today see how he went on this journey. And so when he was cursed, that curse was not out of hatred. That curse was also not so much out of anger.

It was more for protection. And then, we discussed later about graceful and grateful. Do you remember those two words? Yes, two? When, there is maturity, but power is there, then one is grateful.

But when power is not there, but maturity is there, one is grateful. Yes. Yes. I just use I use I try to use rhyming words. So ability and maturity are used, and later power with Character.

Character. Yeah. So if you have character, character and maturity are somewhat similar. They’re different, but we’ll explore that here. It is the same same point.

So if we can be grateful so there’s a there’s a four patterns that is called second pattern because so what are the four words over here? If we have power sorry. If I have power, if we have character. So we have both, then we are? Grateful.

If we have character and lack power, then we’ll be still? Graceful. Yes, Krishna. I accept gracefully whatever happens. If we have power but no character?

Yes, we become arrogant, prideful. And it means that? Resentful. This is where why is this happening? From resentful, we can also become hateful, you can become vengeful.

Why should anyone else have anything good in life? And then, Okay. So now I’ll be talking about Hanuman’s journey towards gratitude. And so not gratitude, towards maturity. So here also we will have the same word game, but in a slightly different way.

I’ll be talking about four incidents broadly, which indicates Hanma’s maturity. And after each incident, I’ll describe each feature I’ll describe. So I’ll stop and I will use a word which I have used in the previous section. That means, in that section, I have used the word. You can try to spot where I use that word.

Okay? So I’ll be using an acronym CARE. That mature when we have maturity, then we truly care. We care for the things that matter for us. Now if you see, one of the characteristics of maturity is commitment An immature person, somebody says when the going gets tough, what happens?

Tough. The tough get going. But there are other people, they get going away. They’re not so tough. They go away from there.

They don’t get going. So now the test comes. See, Hanuman’s right entry itself. When we have baby Hanuman. Actually this is described later now.

When we in the Ramayana’s natural narrative when Hanuman enters where is he? Where is the in which kanda does the entry happen? Yes. In the kishkin, the kanda. And then after that, in the he like sometimes, you know, sometimes in a movie or a TV series, there is some character that character comes in and then that character becomes the show stealer.

Mhmm. That character is so attractive that everybody is talking about that character only. So it is Ramayan but in Sundarkand, Rama is absent. And like Hanuman steals the show from Rama. He doesn’t steal the show, of course.

He is serving Lord Rama. But then his character is so captivating and endearing. So he enters into into the Ramayana in the section before that. So we have various kandas in the Ramayana. So what is the first kanda?

Palakanda. Palakanda. That is where Lord Ram’s Then? Ishkindakanda. Then?

Sundar Kanda. Then after that? Indakanda. Indakanda. And after that?

Utter command. Yes. So now Hanuman enters over here. Because Hanuman enters over here and then he becomes the central character over here. He becomes the guy as a show stealer over here.

So interestingly when he enters, he is it’s who is he with? He is with Sugri. Now, if you consider there has been a tragic misunderstanding between Sugri and Vali. And if we consider what happened, that Vali misunderstood Sugri first, and And so, he misunderstood that Wali is dead. And Wali misunderstood that, ‘Suguri tried to kill me so that he could take over the power.’ So now, Wali attacked Sugri, and Sugri had to flee to save his life.

Now, at that time, Hanuman had no obligation to go. Hanuman was not a blood relative. Hanuman was one manara in the Manara Kingdom. He was powerful in his own right. But he did not have to go with Sugriva.

And going with Sugriva meant that Hanuman lost everything. He himself said, Sugriva could not go back to Kishkirta. And Lakshman followed him. Now Lakshman is also nobody was obligated to do go. Sentence was only for Ram.

Sita insisted that she will go because she’s his wife. But when, Lakshman went, we could say that he’s his younger brother and so he went. And it’s not a it’s not an obligation, but he felt that I am duty bound because I’m the younger brother. But when Sugriva went to the forest, there is a brother’s wand over here. But when Sugriva was sent to the forest, Hanuman went with him.

And that is actually simply friends. And if you see, overall, it is not even friends. It is one of the servants born. The relationship between Wali, sorry, Sugriv and Hanuman is not exactly friendship. They’re always conscious that actually, Sugriv is the king, or Sugriv is a member of the royal family.

So Hanuman, the very fact that he left it all to be with Sugriv shows that he was a person of principles. He could have chosen you, this is not my fight, they are their misunderstanding, they resolve it all. But he did not do that. He stuck with Sugriyu. This also shows to some extent.

Sometimes Sugriyu has seen him, Sugriyu forgets his promise and other things. But and sometimes Sugriyu may not be seen as someone such a stellar character. Good character. But the fact that Sugriyoo would attract friends like this, that also shows his character. So Hanuman and Jamaran both came with him.

We’ll focus here on Nooman. And in general, what is the opposite of commitment? Abandonment. Okay. One is abandonment.

Let’s see. Abandonment. Sorry, in? Irresponsible. Irresponsible.

If committed, it’s irresponsible. Right? Indifference. Indifference, apathy. Not?

Not committal. -Non committal? Okay. That’s a synonym. That’s an antonym, basically, from the words itself.

But how will non committal be seen in terms of actions? -Um, it’s wishy washy. -Yes. Wishy washy, we could say. Some people are like a chameleon.

With whatever people you are, you take that form. And it’s basically somebody who does not have commitment for their primary criteria would be convenience. Whatever is convenient, whatever is ex the English word on the news is expedient. Expedient is whatever is the easiest thing to do. So some politicians, they just, they will blow whichever way the wind blows whatever position the voters want to hear they’ll speak those words and by that they say it is said about politicians before the election they shake your hands after that they shake your feet so what happened is sometimes people just they’re expedient so it could have been expedient for Hanuman.

I don’t want to get involved in this. But the fact that he was with Sugriha, that itself shows his commitment. And commitment is a sign of maturity. Maturity has many different meanings to it. One aspect of maturity.

Now, how is maturity related with commitment? It requires maturity to understand that good things they take time. They cost effort pain. Good things in life don’t come easy. That is commitment.

It can arise only when we understand it. So this is the aspect of maturity. A baby who is immature now, babies are immature not intentionally, but they’re just immature. Or a baby, they feel hungry, start crying. They expect that somebody else has to come and feed them.

That’s understandable. They can’t feed themselves at that particular point. But an adult person understands, okay, I cannot just depend on others to feed me. I have to make some arrangement. So for that, maybe I have to learn cooking, I have to earn money so I can employ someone who will cook for me, or I’ll go out and make some arrangements by getting at some food.

So that when somebody is immature, they just go by the path of least resistance. And the fact that Salman has chosen this particular option of being with Sugreen itself shows his great maturity. And that’s one aspect of maturity. And sometimes when we are criticized or we are unfairly accused or something that accusation itself hurts but there are people who we may not want enemies, but we all have people who are opposed to us in some way or the other. Now the harsh words of our opponents, it hurts us.

But what hurts even more is the silence of our friends. And at that time, those whom we thought we could count on, they don’t come and support us. And that feels very painful. We feel abandoned, we feel rejected. So that commitment, that’s where- that’s why sometimes it’s called fair weather of friends.

Now as long as the weather is good, then I’m afraid. As soon as the weather becomes bad, then goodbye. So those kind of friends are not not the kind of friends that we can count on. So commitment is whether it’s friendship or servitorship, servitorship in the mood of friendship, friendship in the mood of servutorship whatever is the particular flavor of the relationship that is there Hanuman shows his commitment. And to some extent, one’s maturity is seen by how one sticks through the tough times.

One of the truths that only a mature person understands is about happiness in the moda buddhi. What Krishna says in 1837, All the good things in life, they take time. So the mature person is able to see and push through the poison till they get to the doctor. This is a mature person. Now when there’s somebody immature, they look at the poison and they say, bye bye.

It’s too much. I can’t push through this. So sometimes it happens in youth. Sometimes, students want to choose a career. I was in Stanford a couple of years ago.

There was one young woman, young, girl and her mother had come, and they’re telling that this girl, obviously she’s in Stanford, she’s brilliant, but she this was her sixth year in the first year. So what happened? She’s been changing her major for six years. And I said, I wanna find my passion in my life. Well, there’s your whole life to find your passion.

First, get a degree. And sometimes people nowadays, this whole idea is that if you can’t find your passion, your life has no meaning. No. It’s not that you have to find our passion. Sometimes we have to create meaning in our life.

So uncommitted means that I’m not criticizing her in that sense, but it is you can’t be so fickle. You can’t just keep changing your ego from one year to the next year, second year. Commit to one thing. Sometimes this may not be the best thing for us, but but let’s do it, let’s learn, let’s grow in character, let’s grow in commitment, and then we can explore other things later. So commitment means that sometimes what happens is we ask a question.

We are all determined to a large extent by the question that we are asking. So when it is said that the the animals are always asking questions, where is food? Where is sex? Where is where is strength? Where is shelter?

That kind of things. So we humans can ask bigger questions. The question will be: what is the meaning of life? What is the purpose of life? But even then, commitment means that we could ask two questions: what is the meaning of life?

That’s a very important question. Now, that question is a philosophical question, and that takes time to find an answer to it. But we can ask a much more practical question: what can I do right now to increase the meaning in my life? What can I do right now to increase the meaning in my life? What does this mean?

Now we may say the meaning of life is you want to go back to Krishna. Okay, that seems we’re a long way away and we have a whole lifetime before that. What do I do in that lifetime? Okay, is there one service I’m meant to do? How will I find that service?

Well, maybe it’ll take time. Right now, what can I do? See, all of you, you know, you could have stayed home and watched TV. You could have done so many things just to come here. You hope to learn something meaningful.

Oh, I could have been in India. I’m traveling here because I feel that sharing the message of the Gita adds meaning to my message of Shastra that adds meaning to my life. Hopefully, it adds meaning to somebody else’s life. So it is it is this question, how can I add meaning to my life right now? What can I do right now?

Maybe I can speak one kind word, maybe I can learn this particular skill, maybe I can push through this project and complete it just so that I can learn the ethos of responsibility discipline. So commitment is a sign of maturity and Hanuman exhibits that. Children can be very fickle and that’s why parents have to push children at times. Parents. Children do not feel like studying but you have to study.

So his commitment shows his maturity. So this is the first part where anyone’s very entry is itself a sign of his maturity. That where he is. Okay, so the word here is? Okay.

Commitment. That’s not the word for a second. That will be too obvious. So. Misunderstanding.

Misunderstand? Where was that word used just now? In what was described? Yeah. Can you make a sentence good?

Mhmm. Duty bound. Thank you. Duty bound. Who was duty bound?

Yeah? Hanuman ji. He he he was no. Lakshman ji. He was duty bound to Savuddha Ram, and he also followed around to the forest.

Yes, very. As contrasted with. You’re on the right track. I did the beginning. Yeah.

Hanuman. Yeah. So you could say that, Hanuman was not duty bound because he was not a blood relative. But still Hanuman went and that shows his character. Okay?

So now after that Hanuman sometimes, if you consider a movie analogy I don’t want to remind you of movies. There are two ways you become Krishna conscious. One is, you bring Krishna into your consciousness. So, you bring Krishna into our consciousness. That means, we hear Krishna’s pastimes.

We chant Krishna’s name. We behold Krishna’s little pictures. The other is, we bring what is in our consciousness to Krishna. That means whatever things naturally interest us, we try to connect them with Krishna. So now if you consider movies.

Most of us have probably watched movies and we we live in a world which is. The culture is shaped by movies. So often the entry of a character is quite dramatic or it signifies how the character is going to be. So Hanuman’s entry seems to be a bit undramatic over here. Yes.

When the one when Rama and Lakshman are entering into Kishkinda, Rama is in agony, in pain, crying out, where is it, Dabi? Is she safe? Is she not safe? We see this? Sugriva, he’s out on top of the mountain, and from there he sees he gets, Ram, who are these people?

So when we see someone, we want to put people into some identifiable categories. If somebody comes in and, you know, is this person Indian? Is this person American? Is this person Indian, South Indian? Now, somebody looks like an Indian, but they have x, they have they have very much American accent.

I mean, it’s an American Indian, or Indian American, or whatever category you want to put it. Sometimes we can’t put in categories. Then there’s a little bit of a concern. So if we see somebody coming at night, that person looks like a relative. Okay?

This person’s a relative. But then we see they have come. Okay, this was an impossibility of my relative, is it? So when Suguru sees, he sees, oh, these people are dressed like sages, but then they are carrying weapons. Who are they?

He becomes alarmed. Are these people sent by Bali to assassinate me? The way Sugriev is living is a very fearful state. He’s constantly worried whether Vali is going to get him. And for Vali, it’s very frustrating.

It’s that Sugriv wants to punish him, wants to kill him, and Sugriv is right next to him. But he just cannot go there. Why? Because of her curse. So when I was in Singapore, I was giving this class and I said that you know, Vali felt about Kishkindh.

Sorry, Vali felt about this, Prischemak Mountain and that area where Sugri was there. Vali felt the way China feels about Taiwan. So he just couldn’t get there. But then, Taipei also, China will get back in some other way. So then, while Sukhuri went to Anima, he says, you find out who are they.

So then Anima went there. And now Lord Rama is in agony, and the first thing that happens is that as Hanuman approaches them and Mahan speaks that his words are so sweet, so soothing, that Hanuman speaks a few words, introducing himself, asking who they are. He doesn’t tell his identity, but just speaks very sweetly. And Ram turns to his animal, so it’s Lakshman, and he says, ‘Who is this person? This person must be learned in all the Vedas.

This person must be brought up by wonderful parents, this person must have created some scars from previous life. Just by those words he praises Hanuman so much. And this is where actually if we consider, he talks about two things, and the gopis also talk about the same two things when they talk about Krishna. So madhuraya gira is that they have Krishna has a sweet voice, and valguakyeya. Valguakyeya means pleasing, touching, loving words.

So the most effective speech is where a person has a sweet voice and speaks very pleasing words. Now, all comedies some people may have very sweet voice. And somebody may have a great singer. And because they have a sweet voice. But if you meet them backstage, one devoted friend he had before he came to Bhakti was big into music.

So he told me he was a big fan of a prominent Indian musician, and he had a voice which is, like, pure gold. So he finally got in that studio, and he went on the backstage. He wanted to be there. And that same person, he when he went on backstage, and that person with that same golden voice was literally hurling obscenities at all the studio stuff. Like you might hear on the streets of some of the more violent areas in his cry.

All kinds of obscenities, he said. It was just the biggest disappointment of my life at that time. Some people may have sweet voice, and they sweetly speak hurtful words. So Now so it’s good to have a sweet voice. Now some people just they can’t be help.

They have a they just have a raspy voice. Their voice is maybe because of some speech deformity or whatever, throat problem, whatever. We all have an actual voice from birth. We can’t control how sweet our voices, but we can try to please speak in a way that is pleasing. So Krishna says, ‘anutvega karam vakya’ He says in 1715 that the character and the austerity of speech doesn’t say speak sweetly.

That’s not in our control, in the sense that our voice is not sweet. We can try to speak sweetly in this and that. We can speak words that are pleasing, that are encouraging, that are appreciative. So Hanuman, hate, falls in this category. He has sweet voice, and he’s speaking pleasing words.

And life is tough. We all can find faults with each other, and there are many faults to find with each other also. But if we can just appreciate and encourage each other, one encouragement will just change the spirit of a person. Sometimes, you know, you speak some words of appreciation and the other person says, you made my day today.’ It will cause one heartfelt appreciation. You can mow a person for a whole day.

You sometimes You can mower a person for weeks. So Hanuman exhibits this ability that he is he at this particular point is a character. So interestingly, Haruman was earlier known for power. But now, he’s not his power is not seen only. He is subordinate to Sugriv also.

And Sugriva himself is not the most powerful monkey. Sugriva is being persecuted by Vali. So that same man who had such extraordinary blessings in his childhood, first we show his commitment. See his commitment. And then we see that he’s praised for his sweet speech.

And then what Hanuman does is, he ensures that there is an alliance formed between Ram and Sugriva. So what is the economy we are discussing? Care. So I’m right now discussing about alertness. Now one aspect of a mature person is they are they’re not just caught in their own head and their own thoughts.

They’re alert. Okay. This is the purpose I’m here for. And as a purpose that you are supposed to do. Do sometimes we send somebody to okay you go and inform them and get this from that place and they go there and they start talking with that person and they get so caught in talking and they come back oh did you get that why forgot you know they become yoga blessed when Sugri offers a seat to Ram, Sugri neglects Lakshman.

But you know Hanuman and Lakshman have a have a special bond. It’s because they are both in similar situations that Hanuman is there in the forest not because of any any target on him. So Lakshman is on the forest not because of any target. Right? So he offers a sleep to Lakshman.

And then later on, when Sugriva gives the kingdom back, then what happens? Sugriv has been, for years, in an area with no Wi Fi. And he comes to an area with full Wi Fi. And he goes on a four month Netflix binge. So he just forgets everything.

So now as these four winds go forward, what come to the end, then it is that Hanuman. Hanuman alerts him. So three people alert him. First is Hanuman alerts him. Then Tara alerts him.

And then after that, Lakshman. Lakshman just alerts him. Lakshman agitated him. Lakshman agitated and he educates him. But either way, at that particular time, true friendship is okay that when the friend is in trouble, you stand by the friend when they’re in trouble.

But true friendship also is when the friend is getting oneself into trouble, we don’t stand and go with them into trouble. We try to stop them. We try to warn them. That is also friendship. So his his alertness is seen and I am talking about alertness primarily in terms of his relation his so first, you know, when he enters, at this particular point, he doesn’t have a relationship with Ram.

So it is our cap. Generally a person’s character, a person’s maturity, a person’s virtues they are seen in relationships. It’s in isolation. I can be very humble when there’s no one with me. Isn’t it?

What does it require? As the American comedian said. I love humanity. It’s only human beings I can’t get along with. So most of our virtues are seen in relationships.

So here, first, he shows his commitment. His alertness is in forging an alliance for Sukhin. And then after that, in war mink. So both of these, he does. And in this way, again, mature person, one of the characteristics is that they’re alert.

They’re not just caught in their head. For many people, there’s so much drama going on inside their head only that they’re not even aware of what’s going on in the world or to speak of having an opportunity or noticing an opportunity and tapping an opportunity. So he’s alert over there. So so here so this is the second part. I’m going to the last two parts now.

But with respect to alertness, this particular incident, agony. Agony? I’ll be in agony if you don’t remember the word agony. Who was in agony? Yes?

When, when when Hanma was sent by Sugreev to, to find who these two persons were, Lord Rama was in agony in separation of the temple. Yes. True. Good. Good.

So category. Okay. Maybe category is a little complicated word over here. Just simple. What would you put in this context is?

Yes? Abhijit, Lakshman and Hanuman ji wearing the same Excellent. They’re the same category. Actually, I didn’t think of that side, but that didn’t translate to the mind. And we tried to put people into categories and we observed them.

So Sugri was alarmed because he could not put Ram and Lakshman in the category. Are they sages? Are they warriors? They’re sages, but they have weapons like warriors. He just couldn’t make sense, but that’s a brilliant sentence.

Thank you. So now, the third part we’ll discuss is responsible. Now if you see, after this what happens is that they decide to go on a search for Sita. And this is where Hanuman starts coming into his own that there is this whole concept of, like, leadership without position. Leadership position without position or influence without authority.

Sometimes somebody may get a position of being a leader. Now when the Vandaras start searching for Sita, the group that goes south who is the leader of that group? -Jamal. -Angat. So now it’s interesting that Sugriv and Angad have a bit of a tense relationship.

Although, Vali had tried to pacify things, Vali had told Angad, Don’t hold Sugriv responsible for my death. It’s my own karma that is guilty. And he tells Sugri, please, whatever I I persecuted you, but neither Anwar nor Tara had anything to do with it. Please don’t get back at them for what I did. So he tries to create reconciliation.

And yet for Angad, one day his father is the king and the next day not only is his father dead, but the person who was directly or entirely responsible for his father’s death is now the king and he has to serve that person. It’s not an easy situation for him to be in. And because Sugriv also wants to bond with Angad, So Sugriv goes out of his way to respect and accommodate him. That’s why he makes Angad the leader of the group. And this is the most important group because the Vanaras have seen Raoul going southwards.

And they also heard that Raoul is in the South. Whether he has gone to his abode or he’s gone somewhere else, we sit down, we don’t know. But that’s the most that’s the most clue that they have, and that’s why that’s the direction they are likely to find. So, Sugriva entrusts a big response into Angad. And that’s how he wants to have a relationship with him also.

Now interestingly, Lord Rama, whom does he entrust this particular task of finding Sita? Hanuman. He calls Hanuman, and he gives his own signal. He gives a, memento by which Sita will be able to identify and remember him. Hanuman could have said, ‘You’re tasking me with this responsibility.

You make me the leader of the group. You make me the official leader.’ See, many people, when responsibility is given, or when responsibility is available, they wait first for the position. Let me take the position. So, this is this book which I have written about ‘Mita for the CEO’ where I talk about these two things in leadership. There is the position of a leader, and there is the disposition of a leader.

Now, if we see Krishna himself never becomes the official king of Dwarka. Of course he’s glorified as Dwarka Dheesh, he’s the king of all kings, but he in the Dwarka’s hierarchy he remains the servant of Ukarsi, who is the actual king. So Krishna doesn’t take the position of leadership officially, but still he is the protector of Dwarka. So many of us, we feel, ‘Yes, I want to do a lot, but I just don’t have the resources, I just don’t have the position. Once I have that, then I do it.

So now the real test is that if we now we could say if we have position and disposition, we can be maximum effective. It’s true, but sometimes we don’t have that. So Hanuman, he earns the position of leadership and that is a remarkable journey. How he does that? So, being responsible.

Now, we could say, sometimes if we are responsible, we could be responsible in either of these categories. That we have the position and we use the position. But even if we don’t have the position, we can be responsible. And now he is given this special task, the bandra’s start off. And as they’re going south, they’re trying to search and search.

Initially, they have huge enthusiasm that they’re going to find Sita. But then as they keep searching and searching, there’s no clue of Sita anywhere. And then they start getting discouraged. And they go into the into a deserted area. Or it is an area where they can’t even find any water.

And they started getting out. What do you mean words today? So this is where Hanuman is observing. When Jamban is there, Jamban has become a little old. Hanuman is there, Hanuman is there.

So Hanuman is there, Harnaman is there. So Harnaman objects. Harnaman objects. There’s a cave, and there’s a bird coming out of the cave. And the bird is dripping water.

So, okay, Harnaman points to the other one, and the cave seems to be huge. They can’t see anything inside. And now Angad, he’s young, he’s born in royalty, and they respect him because he is the prince. But still, when Bali was the king, Bali was so powerful that nobody was there to threaten Kishkindha. That’s why Angkad does not have much experience of the real world war.

He is very powerful. He is a hero. And he has not let anyone experience any of that experience. He just doesn’t know how to do it. So Hanuman, without sidelining and without, minimizing his position, Jaindl suggests that all hold each other’s hands and go inside so that nobody gets lost in the cave, and they all start going inside.

They go in and in and in. For a long distance, they point to their cave, and finally, they see a light over there. And as they come closer, okay, where’s this light? And they see that there’s lush greenery, and there are fruits, and there’s a lake, and there’s wonderful water over there. And the vanara starts running to try to eat and drink.

And once he says, wait. Wait. Wait. They start to find out what this place is. And he keeps everyone to wait, and they look around and they see that there’s a yogini sitting over there.

He’s sitting, the effulgence coming from her body. And she looks very silly, Hanuman goes there and offers her respect his respects to her. Who is your meaning? Mata Anasuya. Sorry?

Mata Anasuya. Okay. Anasuya is whom? Ram and Ramakshmasita meet earlier. Yes.

This is Swayamprabha. Swayamprabha is a celestial male. She said that. She has been Indira long ago had an apsara whom for whom he had created a replica of heaven on the earth. And then later on, that apsara went with him to heaven, and she wanted to have this as a retreat center.

No. She said she had entrusted Svayun Prabha as the person to take care of it. And she is just, she explained all this. She says, you have come here, the servants of Brahma, you can have whatever you want. Vayampraha has mystical power, she’s aware, she recognizes who there.

And then the Vanalas eat and they eat, and they eat tree water, and they get rejuvenated. And then anger turns. It’s been a long long way inside. How do we go back from here? Can you tell us the way?

As Swami Prabha says, Indra has arranged so that anybody who comes in here will never be able to go back. So you’re telling this to us now. That anybody who comes in here will never be able to go out. Now Angad gets angry. Tell us how to go out, otherwise No one says, come down.

Gently, montage of jewels. He says, And we saw that bird going out. These birds are no threat to the treasure here. Yes. Yes.

We are also not a threat. We don’t want any of this wealth. We may not be able to go, but I’m sure you have the power. You please help us come out of this. And we are only here to serve, Lord.

We have no interest in the treasure over here. You have helped us, you have given us food, you have given us water, we are grateful. Please bless us so that we can go on our mission.’ So what Rams said earlier, Hanuman’s sweet speech, pleasing words, that’s not just a one time observation. That’s what Hanuman uses over here. So sometimes when we have to get things done, we can try to use force, and it’s required at times.

But generally, trying to force others to do things it over a period of time backfires unless we can actually connect with them and with our earnestness, with our sweetness, appeal to them. We can’t really be sure. So responsibility is like a leader is supposed to have power, but the biggest power a leader is supposed to have is not just over others. It’s a leader needs to have power over one’s own temper, one’s own emotions, one’s own speech. And that’s the responsibility that Bhumman shows over here.

So, Amprabha says, ‘Yes, I can help you.’ But he says, ‘I have I have to honor Indra’s words. Indra wants this place to be secret, and he says, all of you will have to close your eyes. Close your eyes, and then I will take you out. They all close their eyes their eyes are in one moment. So Emperorva uses mystic powers, and she brings them out.

And then she brings them out. Once they’re on the same side of the mountain, they’re on the other side of the mountain. And they’re closer to the ocean. And this is over here, we’re talking about how Anman you don’t have to have a leadership position. That influence without authority comes from capability.

If somebody has capability, they will be recognized. They will be able to fix problems. And now after this, they keep searching. And they search, and then what happens is that they hear. They’re searching close to the ocean, and they’re thinking that, okay, across the ocean is yes.

But then as they are waiting, they start seeing the huge ocean. And this ocean is so big what do we do? And now at this point they’re not even sure the lunga is across the ocean. They just see this is where it end we’re at end we don’t even know whether they should work or us. If you’re going to scale the ocean, they have to have some assurance that one guy has caused the ocean.

So as they’re sitting, they just they they work very hard, and they’ve not got anywhere and closer to find Seetha. One danger has passed, they seem to have come out of the danger, but then another danger is there. This is that Sugriva had told all the come back within one month. If anybody is later than one month, they will be executed. You say, that’s very harsh.

Why execute him? But the point is that you may not have executed them, but that was a way to ensure compliance that you could take this issue seriously. As Vandana, you can’t just wander around and eat fruits and not do your mission. So now one month has already passed. And the other two minds, when they go into Swam Prabhas Cave and come out, they realize that no time has passed.

And now some of the Vandana says that, you know, Subhriya told us to come back within one month and so on. We should go back. We should inform him what has happened. Adarmana said we should keep pressing on phalis phalisita. Adarmana said, down.

He’ll be angry, angry with you. And in hunger, you know, he he becomes he explodes, he says that. But if you go back, he’ll have all of us killed. And no one says, no, why would he kill you? He said he had no hesitation to get his brother killed.

Now if we go back and we have failed the mission and they’re also late in coming back, he will have us executed in front of all of our family and friends and we’ll be humiliated. So Angad still has that bitterness. Over here, this comes the biggest test of Hanuman. That’s the last part to talk about. What is that coin?

Care. So, let’s skip the part of the game which you’re having, because you wanna finish the class in time. So ‘E’ is empathy. Generally, in an army, at one level there is hierarchy. Where is your leader?

You have to follow them. Another level, speaking against the king or speaking against the leader. That’s considered, rebellion, that’s considered treason, that’s considered to be insurrection. A very serious crime. So now when Sugriv starts speaking when Sugriv is spoken of negatively by Angad, Hanuman faces a test.

Hanuman got a good anger with Angad. But Hanuman understands that Angad has been given this huge responsibility. This is the new political dispensation. Like, say, normally what happens is if one political party is in power, that political party goes, and quite often, many of the top leaders in diplomats or bureaucrats, they also resign. Because and they are also seeing the previous part.

New people come in. If somebody from the old dispensation is they have to prove their loyalty. Are you here for this? So so great. Angad has been given this assignment, and he’s not able to fulfill it.

He’s frustrated. So is he really, suspicious of Sogreep? Does he really think Sogreep is malicious? And should Anuman get on his case. Anuman just stays calm.

He’s an angad, he’s just at this point he’s a teenager. He’s a younger child, if not a teenager. He’s been interested in this huge responsibility, and quite often, anger or even hateful speech or hurtful words, they come not from a they can come from two different places. They can come from a place of enmity, you know, that or they can come from a place of insecurity. The two are very different.

Enmity is where that person wants to destroy us, and they’re just venting it out. They’re just bringing it out at particular times. But sometimes they can come from a place of insecurity. Somebody spreads some nasty rumor about us. What kind of person would do something like this?

It’s a terrible thing to do. But, you know, they could do it because they hate us, they’re enemies, or they could do it because, you know, I thought that, you know, you are so good now. If I, you know, if if everybody respects you, then nobody will care for me, and I’ll be lost. And I feel great fear because of that. It’s not a good thing to do, but some action coming from place of insecurity is very different from action coming from place of enmity.

Everybody has insecurity in their life. So, Anwar tries to pacify the answers. So greed is just ruler, and let’s try to stay calm, let’s make a decision on what to do. See, any big expedition, any big project that we try to do, there’ll always be differences of opinion. And now, when there are differences of opinion, there’s a problem.

How do you solve a problem? Sometimes the only way to solve- sometimes you just can’t solve a problem. Especially the problem that comes from difference of opinion, the only way to solve that is that Krishna sends a bigger problem. And that bigger problem forces us to forget our differences and unite to face that problem. So the vanaras, some of the vanaras, is for those we are not finding Sita, we are searched and searched.

And we cannot go back. We’ll be humiliated, we’ll be executed. It’s better that we end our life here since we will fast to death. And so there is- there is this act suicide. Interestingly, everything can be the three modes.

So there can be suicide in sathogna. Now how can suicide be sathogna? Normally we’ll think it’s tamas. Let’s do it say tamas normal. But suzary atogona means that if a person feels that there is no point for me to live anymore, then they decide that I will no longer maintain my body.

Just stop eating and stop drinking. And that can be done out of frustration, but that can also be done out of enlightenment. Some sages. This is called as. Traditionally this is called as Prayavratha.

Prayavratha. The first sannyasin ISKCON who got, got Parkinson’s dose, an Indian sannyasin in Marwada Maharaj. So he went to Rindavan, and it was incurable for him at that time, at once. This was many years ago. So he just stopped eating food.

So, somehow his godmother said, ‘Please eat something Maharaji.’ He said, ‘This body is meant to serve Krishna. If I cannot serve Krishna, why should I maintain this body?’ And then nothing another. He passed it for somewhere thirty two-thirty three days, and then very gracefully left his body. So Prayavrata is very different from suicide. Suicide is often where people use some artificial means to end their life.

But it has naturally stopped me. So the manaras decide that kids are going to fast with. And as they stand in their room, Hanuman is trying to pacify them, Hanuman is trying to encourage them, But things are just going out of control. And not all the mandaras sit there. But the annuman is torn.

Should I just go back? They keep searching. Should I abandon these mandaras? And at that time, a giant vulture comes over there. A giant vulture like being starts walking over there.

Walking. Not even walking properly, they’re not drawing and walking. And he starts looking at all the vanadas and licking his lips. Today, I’m going to feast. Apart by someone.

Or before I die, I’ll be the body’s going to be ripped apart. Who knows? So, Nirvana started panicking, and then Ambeda speaks, Alas, it seems that we are going to fail in our service to Lord Ram despite our best efforts, just as the valiant jitteryun failed in his service to God. Now, there is this whole thing called coincidence. Nowadays the word coincidence is not so much common.

In New Age there’s another word called synchronicity. Any of you heard this word? Synchronicity is where multiple things happen at the same time. So sometimes when we it is a coincidence that God’s ways of staying anonymous. Krishna is not something.

It’s when making two things happen at the same time. So now Angad, why would he remember Jatayu at this particular time? And why would he speak about Jatayu? That itself shows that how Angad was also dedicated, devoted to Ram’s service. Jatayu fought valiantly till his last breath and was just too much for him because he was elderly.

And Angad is thinking about Jatayu at a moment when he’s good about to pass to death and he sees this giant vulture going to eat them up. So that phrase, that those sentences itself and that memory itself shows his devotion to Ram. And Hanuman, he could have antagonized Angadha, he could have fought with Angadha, he could have criticized Angadha, but he saw he’s frustrated. But he basically still has that position. He wants to serve, he wants to serve Ram, he wants to be first sister, he’s just frustrated.

Everybody in life gets angry, And sometimes anger is not because the person is short-tempered. Anger is just because the person cares so much. Anger shows how much we care. Now, of course, anger is not the only way we show how much we care. If that is it, then it’s not good.

But Sukri, Anmaan, by his empathy, he keeps Anmaan. Although Anmaan doesn’t stop from wanting to end his life, his attitude is not lost for him. He speaks those words and suddenly then, Sampati? Jesus. Jesus, what did you say?

What happened to Jatayu? Oh, Maharaj, please tell me. -Oh, Vanaras, please tell me. Then the one suffers, so who are you? You know Jatayu?

-Yes, Jatayu is my younger brother. I am Sampati, and I have not seen him for many many years. Then, Sampati starts telling the story of how he and Jatayu had both tried to rise up high into the sky and close go close the sun. And then they both are getting burned, so Sampati, the elder brother, spread his wings to shelter Jetaey. So his wings got burned, and he fell to the ground, and since then they have been separated.

So then, Angadya tells Jetaeyu about the story of Jetaeyu, and Sampathis are lamenting. I protected my brother at that time from the sun, but how unfortunate I am that I could not protect my brother from this demon. I am old and weak and free. I cannot do anything right now. And we request the one that has said, Please take me by the waters and help me to do the ask to offer some water for my brother.

He did that, and he’s still avenging, and asked, I cannot do anything for my brother. I cannot avenge his death, I cannot punish the demon who killed him. And at that time, Angadhar thinks, just, you must have the sharp eyes. Do you see Rama going by? Do you know where Rama is?

And hearing this, some baddie perks up. He says, Yes, I can do some service for the cause for which my brother laid his life down. And he says, Although my body has become free, my vision is too sharp, as I can see that across the ocean Lanka there is Sita, and Rawal has her. And I feel confident that he will soon go there and find Sita and come back. So this is where the Vanara’s joint mission finally brings them to a place where now they can leave at Kosnaka.

And then all of them are eager to do the service, but none of them is capable of doing the service. And that’s when everybody is talking and falling silent. Then Jambavan turns towards Anima. And that’s when he reminds him of Hanuman. And then from here onwards, there’s Hanuman’s solo mission.

He’s alone going to Lanka and doing extraordinary things in the service of Ram. But before he gains his power back, he has shown how he has matured so dramatically. So that maturity is what will stand him in good stead when he faces the obstacles in the ocean, when he faces the obstacles in Lanka, and when he finally meets Sita and is victorious over there also. This is the journey of Hanuman to maturity. And as he- as Jambavan speaks to him, Hanuman, who has been silent all this time, till now Hanuman has done wonderful things, but it is not primarily by his power.

It is by his intelligence. It is by his expertise, by his sensitivity. One of the qualities of Hanuman is Buddhimatham Among the wise people, he is the best. So his wisdom, his maturity, his empathy, all these are seen over here. And then Hanma will go on his glorious journey to Lanka, which will be like a spectacular success for him.

So, we will summarize what we discussed today. Broadly, today we discussed about how an Hanuman regains his power before regaining his power that is his. How his maturity is seen. The maturity of Hanuman it is seen in broadly four ways. What is the acronym?

Care. C was? Commitment. So all the good things in life often require time and effort. So the opposite of committed is often fickle.

Like a chameleon. A person. Then things get tough, and some people just go away from those things. But hanuman sticks with sukhreev. So Hanuman being with sugrib, even when he had no reason to be in terms of a blood obligation, that shows that he has become committed.

That is self assigned of a possibility. A of maturity is alertness. For all of us, we all can think about our maturity in different ways. Can am I committed to things? Am I ready to persist in something even I will create difficulties?

Prabhupada is committed to sharing Krishna’s wishes no matter what happened. Prabhupada is alert to look for opportunities. Where can I serve Krishna? What can I do to serve Krishna? So, Hanuman’s alertness is seen in two ways.

One is his speech by which he forms an alliance with Supreme, and then alliance between Ram and Supreme, and then there is this warping. He doesn’t get get infatuated like Sugri does, but he keeps he brings well so. Sugri will come to separate. And r was? Responsible can be many different things, but But here, I specifically use a heads up heads up.

If you take the service take the service even without waiting for the position, the position may or may not come. So a truly responsible person somebody’s leadership quality is that they may have the position on their own other position, but they always have the disposition. So we discuss how an Oman, especially his his responsible nature is seen in his dealings with Swayampara in the cave. So there he does not lose his school. He does not attack.

He respectfully acts over them. Last was? Empathy. So this is especially seen with Angad. And Angad starts speaking rebellious words against Guru.

That is so his his hurtful words or his harsh words or his aggressive actions, you could say. His aggressive or rebel treasonous words, whatever you can whatever you use. Those come not from a place of enmity. They come from a place of Insecurity. Insecurity.

So sometimes when somebody speaks something which is very shocking, you say, how could you speak like this? You are committing a Vaishtha of Prad, you go to hell because of this. And so I said, okay. I don’t understand where the question is coming from. When Ram says, help me.

Thank you very much. Let us pray to Hanumanji that by his mercy we all can in our life and our service. We all can stay committed despite temptations, despite the appalling shortcuts, despite our mind’s tendency to be overcome. That we may all may always be all alert to find better ways to do our dharma, to do our seva, and try to improve by finding new ways as well as doing what we’re doing better. In this way that we can be responsible so that we don’t complain, we don’t have the facilities, but that we tap whatever opportunities we have without waiting for the position.

And then when we are working with other devotees, with other people, other family members, rather than judging them and condemning them, we can all have empathy by which we can help them go through difficulties and not just get breakdown, but rise up stronger and better. We have few minutes for questions. Any questions or comments? Question in one of the slides. You mentioned about, Krishna consciousness in two ways.

Can you please go back to that slide, Prabhijana? And can you please explain the difference between those two? I’m flattered that you consider these two as lines. Okay. Yeah, I can slide through them.

So now bring Krishna into our consciousness is something just straightforward. You all understand that. That it basically means that we come to a temple, we go to a holy place. And that’s how we bring Krishna into our consciousness. So now, what does bring what is in our consciousness to Krishna mean?

It means it can mean two broad things: one is that when we live in the world, there are certain internal things. Internally, we are attracted to certain things, and externally, there are some attractive things. Now we can call the external attractive things as maya, as sense objects. And that is true, but that’s one way of looking at it. We could call them as these external objects, we could call them as visaya.

Visaya is sense objects. But another way of looking at it is it is vibhuti. It’s what Krishna also wrote in the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. So there are many attractive things in this world And if we can develop the vision to see that the attractiveness of these objects comes from Krishna, then this is already in our consciousness and we can connect it to Krishna. So if somebody has a great interest for art or music or decoration or whatever it is that they have interest in, then those things will naturally be there in their consciousness.

And can they connect that with Krishna? Okay. So for them they can remember Krishna in many different ways but if they have to do some art they just get completely immersed. If they are like they are getting to some music they are completely transported to another domain. So what is naturally in our consciousness, that could be because maybe that person grew up in a place where there’s a lot of beautiful art, a lot of musical culture was there, whatever it is.

It Could be external. It could be internal. So internally, when we’re internally attracted to something, we can say that that is in a negative sense, it’s our vasana. We all have lust, anger, greed, all this. But our internal attraction could also be the vrutti that we have according to our varna.

Varna means this is not simply a category of brahmacharya shiva. It’s actually the natural attraction of our consciousness to certain things. So if we are naturally attracted to some things, then we could use those to connect with Krishna and to serve Krishna thereby. So what does this mean practically? That if we already have some natural interests or talents, so say if somebody has a lot of interest in say architecture, Then, let’s say their interest in architecture is mundane, or maybe they say I’d like to see different architecture, but let me look at say architecture that is connected with with sacred things.

Maybe what kind of temples are we building? What is the architecture in that? So the interest in architecture is already in our consciousness. We can bring it to Krishna. So to bring what is in our consciousness to Krishna, that is also one way to cultivate Krishna consciousness.

And that way, because that thing is already in our consciousness, it will be easier for us. We can very, you could say, comfortably and joyfully connect with Krishna in this way. So it’s important for all of us to find that. It’s important to help our children find that. I was in America and stayed at one devotee’s home and it wasn’t like America I see it all the time so I thought that so anyway so this, it’s the only that, mother is a double PhD, the father is a PhD, they’re brilliant, you know, those combined genes are there, they’re a kid.

So this kid, he was 10 and he was in the he’s in the part of the American National Robotics team. Apparently, the robotics Olympiad is there. And he was going to represent America. And talking with the kid was brilliant. And then his mother was telling me, till five he was very interested in Russia.

And then he discovered robots and he forgot Krishna. Oh, how does he say? I don’t know. He always is talking about robots and So then I was talking to the parent, then this boy came and started talking with him. And then I asked him that, when you make robots for these competitions, what kind of robots do you make?

So he said that, mostly it’s Amazon which is funding funding the robotics industry. They want very efficient robots for packing, unpacking, transporting. They want to replace labor with robots as it’s possible. So they are the main drivers. So robots with efficient movements of body.

That’s what we look for. So then and I’ll ask you a few questions about robots. It was he was so enthusiastic. It was like the Ganga flowing through his mouth. -When Nimal Pandit asked Kishokashvili to glorify Ganga, he spoke hundred verses spontaneously.

So I find he was so enthusiastic. -I asked him that, do you. In these robotic competitions, do they like innovative ideas? Yeah, innovation is appreciated very much. Then I said, what do you think about making a robot of Krishna speaking the verses of the Gita?

So I said, oh, that’s not a good idea. And he walked away. And he walked away. Then I continued talking with his parents. Then after five minutes he came back, you know, it’s not such a bad idea.

Nobody else would think like this.’ And then he said, ‘Nowadays there’s this whole emphasis on diversity and inclusivity.’ So, yeah, think about it. And a week later his parents called me and he says, you know, he’s now reading the Bhagavad Gita to find out which verses will sound cool or his robot. So the idea is that if there are some things you’re naturally attracted to, we don’t have to simply dismiss them as mundane. Sometimes we have to be a little more creative in seeing how those things can be connected with Kashi. So let’s bring what is in our consciousness to Kashi.

Okay? Thank you very much. Any other questions? So thank you very much. It’s wonderful to be here in Portland.

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
He was introduced, he introduced himself, or rather not so, when Ram spoke to Wali, he introduced himself as the servant of Bharat.
And all the monkeys assembled there were intrigued why such a powerful warrior was so humble. Any other one? Kids? Dasraj? Small. Okay.
Matajis? Desire. Prabhus? Yes. Service.
Even when the service that the squirrel did in building the bridge was small, Ram saw her desire to serve and appreciated that. Any other words? Comment. Comment.
That’s an interesting word. Okay. Matajis? Serendipitous.
Serendipitous. Okay. This is becoming more interesting now.
Now, Prabhus? Courage. Courage. When the Vanaras had lost all their courage in being able to find Sita or even to survive, when the giant vulture Sampatti came marching towards them, serendipitous comment by Angada that they would meet the same fate as had befallen Jatayu suddenly changed the disposition of Sampatti and then Sampatti revealed to them where Sita was.
Yes. Okay. Okay.
So, now one last and then we’ll turn on you now. Alright. Okay.
Yes. Sorry? Audacious. Okay.
Okay. Audacious. Yes.
Enthusiasm. Okay. Yes.
Prabhus? Sorry? Service. Service already done. Okay.
Yeah. Okay. That’s good.
Anger. Enthusiasm, audacious, anger. When the Vanaras came back after finding Sita, they were filled with so much enthusiasm that they started celebrating by plucking the fruits from the garden of, private garden of Sugriyu and his guards felt that this was so audacious.
They went and reported to Sugriyu but Sugriyu realising they are celebrating victory he felt no anger. So, this is not a sentence, this is a paragraph. Okay.
So, from my side. Happy. Not that Sita was happy.
We need some situation where somebody became happy. Okay. For the kids, it’s happy.
For the Matajis, it is unhappy. And for the Prabhus, it is confused. Happy? Or Ram was happy when Hanuman returned after finding mother Sita.
Oh, excellent. Unhappy? When when Hanuman said Hanuman could not take Sita back, he was unhappy. Yes, thank you.
Good. So, confused? Okay. You got confused? What did you say? You were confused in the book.
Which book? Which book? Confused? Any other Prabhus? Okay. Confused. I am not sure whether he was confused.
He was suspicious a little bit more. You could say that I’ll borrow your sentence. Hmm? When Sugriva, when Vibhishan approached Lord Ram, the various monkeys had different reactions.
Hanuman, who knew Sugriva’s heart, was happy. Some of the other Vanaras, like Sugriva, who saw that this was Ravan’s brother, was unhappy. And other Vanaras were confused.
Okay. Hmm? Careful, cheerful, fearful. Hmm? Careful.
Any of the other kids? Okay, careful. Actually, it’s unfair to the kids. First they have to answer.
It goes the other way. Prabhus first. Careful, cheerful, fearful.
Fearful. All the Prabhus have become fearful now. Yes.
Fearful. Or Asraj, you want a sentence? Yes, Prabhu, please. When Hanuman couldn’t find Sita in the palace of Ravan, he became fearful whether Sita has come true.
If he cannot find Sita, then all the calamities that will happen, Ravan will give up his life. Yes, contemplating the consequences of his not finding Sita, Hanuman became fearful. Yes.
Good. Thank you. So now we have Mataji’s cheerful.
Cheerful. Yes. When Lord Ram couldn’t find Sita, he became fearful.
Yes. Beautiful. All of them are cheerful.
Good. Thank you. Yes, careful.
Oh, that’s a carefully crowded sentence. Good one. Okay, so now the first Mataji’s then ends and then Prabhus.
Okay, last one. Surprised. Shocked.
I already did shocked. Surprised. Bewildered.
And tempted. Surprised. Surprised.
Yes, please. You are being very kind to Kaikeyi. Surprised would be the mildest of reactions.
I think we could apply it earlier that when… Yeah, but surprised would be like he was shocked, he was devastated. Yeah, but you could take it earlier. Initially he was surprised then he was shocked, you could say.
That is true. Generally, do we have unhappy surprises? The word surprise generally has a slightly positive connotation. Yeah, sorry? Yeah, shock is an unhappy surprise.
That’s a good definition of shock. So, initially you were surprised. Thank you.
So, what is boy’s word? Go ahead. Bewilderment. Bewildered, yeah.
Understanding Sita was nowhere to be found. Ram was put into a state of bewilderment. Ram was bewildered.
Yeah. The sentence is grammatically correct, devotionally incorrect. Can you say Lord Ram was bewildered? Yeah, in the Leela Ram was bewildered.
Yeah. Seeing that Sita could not be found. Later incident is there, Ram became so bewildered that he became angry and he said I will shoot the weapons that will destroy everyone.
So, then Lakshman calmed him down. Yeah, he became bewildered. Yes.
Boys? What was your word? Hmm? Oh, you are those bewildered? You stole their word? So, you have to decide whether it is a compliment or an insult. She is confusing the boys. She is confusing you more now.
Okay. So, I was surprised bewildered not at all shocked. It was, I am surprised.
Okay, we will give you a simple word. Simple. Simple.
Do you want complicated? So, this is a simple way. This game I found is a simple way to do Leela Smaran. You know you Yeah.
Simple. Thank you. Simple act of devotion.
That is a simply I don’t know whether to think that it is simply brilliant or simply lazy. Simply lazy. It’s a brilliant sentence.
But because somebody had spoken earlier, so it is simply lazy. Good work. So, as an author for me, words are the tools of my trade.
Like somebody uses flowers and somebody is a pujari, somebody is decorating the deities, they will always look for flowers which is the most beautiful and in the most beautiful combination how can you offer them to decorate the lord with them. So, for me wherever I see words I think of how words can be used in Krishna’s service. So, whenever I learn a new word the first thing I think is what sentence I could use it in.
So, thank you so much for participating in this. Are you confused now? But interestingly, did we do any sentence with Hanuman? One or two sentences we did. So, we will talk about Hanuman today but we will start with a theme.
Many of you may have got this book. I think you can go to the text 259. Do you have a copy of that book? 2.59. You have enough for two people can share if required.
Can you tell the page number? I have an older version of the book actually. 2.59 verse. Page 78 is it? So, this is this is a book that is titled prayers inspired by the Bhagavad Gita.
For me, among all the scriptures, the Bhagavad Gita is the book which I have connected with the most. And the Gita’s verses are not just sources of wisdom for me. They are personal friends.
And I feel I have a relationship with all the verses some more than others. Just like if you have a friend then you want to know more and more about the friend. One way you know more about the friend is by meeting them in different contexts or different places.
We know somebody at work then we meet them at their home. We meet them in some recreational place. We meet them in a temple.
We meet them in some high pressure situation. So, we learn more. So, like that I have been, I mean, I was writing Gita daily articles and writing books on the Gita.
Try to approach the Gita’s verses from different perspectives. Srila Prabhupada also said that study scriptures scrutinizingly means study from different perspectives. So, when I had read Vishwanatha Jagadguru’s commentary on the Gita that’s one of my favourite commentaries he approached, he shows how the Gita is filled with so much devotion for Krishna.
So, I was thinking about how when we approach the Gita’s verses if we could approach them not just in a mood of understanding but seeing them as sources of praying. Wisdom can inspire a well informed prayer within our heart. And then I was going through Mukunda Mala Stotra which is a composition by Kula Shekhar Maharaj and there I saw something which to me seemed to be a literal replication of this.
In 12.6 and 7 Krishna says, I will lift you out of the ocean of mortal existence. And Kula Shekhar Maharaj seems to be taking that same theme and converting it into a prayer. He says, He is saying, I am drowning in this ocean my lord, please deliver me.
Arasi, especially that word Arasi it behoves you to deliver me. Why does it behove you? Because you have promised that you will do this, oh lord. So, how can we take the Gita’s verses and offer prayers based on that? That’s what I have been trying to explore in this book.
So basically, when we have prayers the prayers can be generally when we sing prayers we have scriptural or traditional prayers. That means we have Mangal Aarti, we have Narasimha Aarti we have so many Vaishnav songs and now these have the weight of authority to them. That is coming from scripture, it is coming from tradition and when we sing these we recite these following the tradition that connects us with the lord.
At the same time now we could offer personal prayers because we all are ultimately meant to develop our relationship with Krishna. So when you offer personal prayers, that brings authenticity. Because this is what we are feeling.
We are going through certain situations we are facing certain challenges and in those situations and challenges, how can we approach the lord? So I thought that if we could have prayers that were scriptural plus personal that means we start with a scriptural verse and then compose a prayer based on that. That would have the weight of authority and authenticity together. And we see Srila Prabhupada does this in his Markine Bhagavad Dharma.
The song which he composed when he was approaching America so there he is pouring out his own heart but in the middle of that what he does is, he is bringing Bhagavatam verses. So what he is praying is actually very much based on the Bhagavatam. So he prays for example that that if anybody hears Bhagavatam repeatedly they will become sober.
And then Prabhupada is making this statement but then he is quoting the Bhagavatam verses where he says the whole series of the how one becomes sober, how one becomes So this is my attempt to do that over here something similar following Kulshikar Maharaj and Prabhupada There are five components in each of the prayers the first is that we have the first is we have beautiful picture of Krishna over here and then with the picture of Krishna there are different deities from different temples which deities they are mentioned in right bottom then the way I am approaching this particular prayer let’s move it unpredictably yeah the way I am approaching this prayer this verse and this prayer that is summarised in one sentence so please change the memories replaying inside me and then I have taken the Gita’s verse which one which it is based and then I have translated the verse in English poetry so because the Gita is a song and sometimes we forget that when we approach it philosophically we will get a poetic devotional feel I have translated and then based on that there is a prayer that is inspired so let’s look at this now so let’s recite the verse together most of us know the verse so not responsibly but let’s do it together vishaya vinivartante niraha rasya dehinah rasavarjam rasopyasya param drishtvani vartate from sense pleasures the wise person abstains yet the taste in the heart remains but seeing the supreme sweet and bright even that craving loses its might so param drishtvani vartate the craving loses its might this is Bhagavad Gita 2.59 so I would request different devotees to read one one paragraph and then we will discuss the topic about Hanumanji today who would like to read the one paragraph do we have a second mic or does anyone have a mic in their throat here please my dear lord it is impossible to live completely free from exposure to temptation in a world that is filled with temptations yes that is a basic fact of life you can’t live with closed eyes you can go ahead next paragraph even when I resolve to turn away from them so that the images playing in front of my eyes do not get imprinted in my mind my mind simply switches gears and replaces them with images from my past replaying them on an endless loop yes this is our predicament we can turn away from tempting objects in the outer world but those impressions are there inside us and those impressions keep replaying the temptations interestingly are generally associated with pleasure but the mind is such that it replays memories not just of pleasure but also of pain if somebody has spoken something hurtful to us they may have spoken it one year ago but as soon as we see them those memories get triggered and sometimes we decide I don’t want to associate with this person also but still I keep a distance from that person but still those memories still stay so for us when technology is advancing so much we have created so many comforts in the outer world and we are creating more and more comforts but what we are terribly lacking in today’s world is the capacity to form healthy memories or the capacity to change the memories that go on inside us in fact many people nowadays grow up with various kinds of trauma and trauma means that some terrible thing happened in the past it may have some physical impact but more than that it has an emotional mental psychological impact and in many ways the greatest cause of unhappiness in the world at a practical level is not the events that happen in the world yes there are many distressing painful events that happen but actually it is the memories that are there inside so the events can cause some unhappiness but the memories cause far greater unhappiness and when we say remember Krishna this might seem just to be like a religious doctrine for those on the path of bhakti and it is true but it is much much more than that the process of remembering Krishna is meant to change the memories in our heart the memories that keep playing inside us we all seek to create happy memories if we go to some nice place we take some photos if we have some celebration we click some photos we want to keep some memories and those are physical memories they are important and those physical memories can trigger our internal memories but irrespective of what triggers are present or not present there are certain memories that are playing inside us constantly and when Krishna says he says he comes and performs extraordinary past times one of the things that he does is through these memories through this past time through meditating on these past times we have the opportunity to form memories that lift us up memories that purify and elevate us so actually recognising we have so much technological advancement but there is no technology to change memories there is nothing you can put on your brain all memories are changed you can wipe out the memory of a person you can give them some drugs or electric shocks wipe out the memory sometimes but then that person just becomes dysfunctional when I say change memories change memories for the better through technology there is so much entertainment available now sometimes some entertainment people just consume entertainment and they forget it because they are consuming so much entertainment some entertainment may be very captivating so it forms some memories but are those memories really better memories so the purpose of performing leela of remembering leela the lord’s performing leela and for our remembering the leela is to help us change the memories inside us and among the various things yes the past times purify us the past times entertain us the past times can captivate us but through them all in one sense the purpose of life I will be doing this thing tomorrow also from a psychological purpose perspective not a psychological perspective but the purpose of life is to make our memory our treasury now right now for many of us our memory might be our prison so our memory might be our prison means the memories that are playing inside us they trap us in suffering this person did like this to me this happened over there and this mistake happened sometimes the memories may be about what others did to us sometimes memories may be about what we did to ourselves also mistakes we made but we need to go beyond these memories actually Prabhupada in 17.16 purport he says the purpose to change the state of the mind is the purpose it is for changing the state of our mind that the lord performs various past times and we can turn towards those past times remember them and become purified so with this context we will elaborate on this more again later but just a couple of days ago was Hanuman Jayanti so we will discuss some past times of Hanuman but before we go into this lets get back to this theme of what our purpose is to change our memories and how do we change our memories by finding within the past times something memorable memorable could be some point could be some incident could be some statement whatever it is and then that forms fresh impressions inside our mind so when the lord’s past times are approached the lord’s past times the lord’s devotees past times I will talk about one philosophical theme tomorrow about the way in which we are approaching the past times but right now I will talk about the purpose so have any of you heard this word hmm what does it mean demigod devi and devata yes so I was at one actually where was I actually I was giving a talk at the English department in Cambridge and there I used the word demigod I said this is the wrong usage of the word I said what do you mean then we had nice discussion on it but it seems that Prabhupada uses the word demigod almost in the sense of semi-god like somebody who is more powerful than us but not as powerful as the supreme lord now in the modern context in the way the word is used the word demigod is used in slightly different sense demigod is a child of god plus human that is the way so for example Arjuna would be considered to be demigod in today’s usage so Arjuna was born of Indra and Kunti so somebody who is in that sense is a partly god so that is one way of using so Prabhupada is using it more in the Prabhupada usage in the position that person has a power greater than ours but not as great as god’s now this current usage is more in terms of origin that the person is born partly of humans and partly of god therefore not fully god if person is born fully of god then they would be a god directly so anyway Hanuman in this sense is a demigod who were his parents Vayu and Anjana Devi so now Anjana was a human lady on the earth and Vayu was a celestial being so now when he was born there are many stories associated with his past time but I will focus on one particular theme we will discuss the topic of maturity now children by nature are restless now when Anjana was taking care of her child she just kept her baby down and she went to nearby room to do some house work and children they are naturally curious and normally if we have our home, we have a small baby we will baby proof our home now Anjana was just sitting around Anjana had gone next to Hanuman Hanuman was just lying there looking around and he looked up and he saw hey there is a shiny object maybe this is a toy kept by my mother for me now developmental psychology is a fascinating subject now when children understand what things so some children just don’t have a sense of distance not children, small babies so he thought it is not very far away he just jumped up and he jumped up he just jumped up and he didn’t know how much power he had he just kept streaking through the sky and streaking through the sky and he came closer and closer to the sun, now this was not the blazing sun of the afternoon this was the gentle sun of the morning so it looked red but not blazing red, it looked attractive red and then initially when Suryadev saw this child is coming first he was worried about the for the child this child will get burnt, what is the child doing but then he saw the child kept coming and coming and coming and the child seems to be charging right towards him then initially he was worried for the child then he became worried for himself if you are going on a if you are driving a car and suddenly we are driving the car fast and suddenly we see somebody standing in the middle of the road we were worried, get out of the way but then as our street lights fall that person has a machine gun pointed at us then that worry will shift from that person for ourselves so Suryadev started increasing his race kept increasing, increasing but this child seemed to be unaffected by it and then he panicked and now there is natural rivalry between Suryadev and Indra but in this case Surya felt it is an emergency, I need a help so he immediately went to Indradev and said Indra what happened, he said help me he said look at it so this child is tweaking straight even he was surprised and now for Indra Surya coming to his help coming to ask for help was also a special thing I cannot fail him, I have to show him my power so Indra didn’t think carefully just took his Vajra and hurled it at Hanuman Hanuman was just a small baby at that time now Hanuman was powerful but when we look at the stories so what happened was, Hanuman was powerful he also didn’t know how powerful he was so first this shiny object is coming and see another shiny object is coming so he didn’t do anything, just came and hit him and hit him on his face especially hit him on his jaw and he reeled back and he came crashing down on the ground now Vayu saw what was happening like a father may see the child’s antics and may be happy so Vayu was happy, what is my child doing but then everything happened so fast Vayu didn’t expect that Indra would throw thunderbolt this is a small child, he is mischievous he is not malicious he is not destructive but when the thunderbolt was hit Vayu immediately rushed forward and softened the fall of the child child fell gently on the floor and then he became enraged he said what did you do with this small child so Indra said he was not acting like a small child he said, no he was just a small child you could have stopped him anyway he said, no this was the only way to stop him so now what happens is that when some action is performed at that time two people may have different evaluations of the nature of that action somebody says it is very dangerous, somebody says it is not at all dangerous it is just fun so Indra felt it was dangerous and Vayu felt it was outrageous or excessive use of power like sometimes it happens here in America people have guns and in the small some stranger comes and somebody takes a machine gun and shoots the stranger who knows the stranger might have a machine gun and shoot me but sometimes the stranger might just be like a harmless elderly person who is lost and doesn’t know and is looking to find the way so there is always a danger of excessive use of power so Indra used power excessively and Vayu was enraged Vayu said you did this to my child I will punish all of you and he suddenly stopped flowing and while he stopped flowing everybody started suffocating when everybody started suffocating then the Devatas became alarmed and then they realised this was very serious so they all came to pacify Vayu and they realised the way to pacify Vayu is to profusely bless Hanuman and Hanuman seemed to be as if lifeless but by the blessings of the Devatas he all came back to life he came back to life and of course the blow that hit him on his face slightly shifted the anatomy of his face and that’s how he got the name Hanuman, his name was Maruti now the various Devatas blessed him and now when they blessed him he could do extraordinary things even without blessings he could do extraordinary things and now with blessings he became extraordinarily extraordinary and that is not a compliment what happened is that we will be discussing this broad theme in today’s and tomorrow’s session, there is ability and there is maturity by maturity means the ability to use ability wisely so now if you consider the four quadrants over here we have ability and maturity so we could have ability but no maturity, no ability no maturity maturity but no ability, maturity and ability both now which of these is the situation in which Hanuman was now sorry so which quadrant quadrant yes so now baby Hanuman was or baby child Hanuman was in this quadrant now as he grew up he had his extraordinary powers and he started doing mischievous things now all kids do mischievous things but if a kid has lot of power the kid will pick up and throw something but if a kid has the power to pick up a huge boulder and throw then that would be a huge problem isn’t it so baby Hanuman he was mischievous but that mischievous was no longer fun it was dangerous it was not dangerous for him it was dangerous for everyone else and then that became a problem now of course for many people if they have ability without maturity they may go far beyond being mischievous they may become malicious malicious means they may use that power deliberately to hurt others and they may not be hateful people but at that time a surge of anger a surge of negative emotion comes and they may do something which they may themselves regret afterwards so what we will be discussing in today’s and tomorrow’s session is this journey so we have from baby Hanuman to the adult Hanuman that we see in Sundarkand and especially the Hanuman who goes to Lanka now we could see these are transcendental characters and they are always all perfect and that is true but for the purpose of our learning lessons we can see how the journey toward maturity happens the best situation is where a person has ability and the ability to use the ability wisely that is where so we could say ability plus maturity, this is a person who is powerful and helpful their ability and they know how to use the ability here what happens is powerful and helpful, here they become powerful plus may be helpful may be harmful, so we don’t know because they don’t have the maturity they are powerful plus unpredictable now some people are unpredictable and some people at this level may actually not be, they may be predictable but they may be predictably destructive, that’s also not good, now if somebody has no ability and no power, no ability no maturity, what happens they are basically powerless they may want to harm others but they are powerless to actually harm others also because they don’t have much ability now if somebody has maturity plus no ability, what will happen they can do good but they don’t have much ability to do good, so here if you want to describe all of this in one word this will be this person will be under effective because they don’t have suppose a batsman has a very cool head but the batsman doesn’t have a very good batting talent they may not get hot they may not make a rash shot and get out, but that batsman can’t hit very extraordinary sixes or anything like that so that batsman is under effective here it is effective here it will be ineffective and the last will be it is destructive destructive in small or big ways so when Hanuman was growing up he was mischievous and initially his mother tried to restrain him but soon he outgrew her in strength in capacity yeah so as he was growing up afterward now children often don’t have a sense of sense of time place circumstance what to speak when what to do when it is ok to be mischievous with other kids but now Hanuman was just mischievous in the forest and in the forest there were sages and sages are known for their ages sometimes sometimes they get angry they get angry they can be cursed in the Vedic context being cursed by a sage is considered to be one of the most dangerous things but Hanuman is carefree, sometimes the sages would go out of their hermitage for some work and he would lock the hermitage they would be inside and he would lock them inside sometimes he would just they would be doing the sacrificial sacrifices and they had a pile of food which would be there for doing the sacrifice and then he would just take the whole pile of food and go away somewhere and they would do yagya and he would say where is it so now he was not malicious but he was just mischievous and then the sages decided to what did they do curse him now the word curse is a little harsh word over here when they were angry with him well yes they were displeased with him but they didn’t really want to harm him so they thought it is a very curious curse what was the curse that they gave him he will forget his powers not that he will lose his powers he will forget his powers and for how long for how long that seems very strange they curse someone they curse him and then maybe Hanuman’s spirit reminds him and all the curse is gone no longer effective but the idea was the curse here the point was that they wanted that Hanuman become mature so when he was reminded it is somebody has to remind him but the reminder has to come at the right time so that reminder has to come at a time when the world actually needed his power and needed very acutely where it was something which is vital so normally when we think of the word curse curse it can have two different meanings curse can refer to external curse can refer to internal normally we think of curses as externals that if somebody suddenly loses their business gets a sudden sickness they feel it is like a curse situation of a curse so we have curses where peoples external situation changes in one moment so Nalukuram and Maniguru were very powerful and what happened one curse went just became like trees everything was lost so curse can mean external changes so there can be an external loss that can refer to curse but quite often when there is internal loss that can also seem like a curse I started by talking about memories sometimes if a negative memory keeps replaying inside us again and again we feel as if I am cursed something terrible somebody has done something terrible to us we may go to a beautiful scenic place also but even at that place we feel as if if that memory keeps playing inside us what has happened over here why am I remembering this so much we sometimes feel as if I am cursed we want to forget something, we want to forgive someone but it just doesn’t happen so in one sense if you consider memory many of us think that the loss of memory is a curse as soon as we are studying for exam and we forget at the time something we feel it’s a curse we meet someone and that person remembers us and we don’t remember that person it happens very often it just feels like a curse and now some people have the innocent habit but it’s do you remember me that’s understandable but when that happens what happens you feel as if the loss of memory occurs but sometimes the presence of memory can also be a curse isn’t it that if I want to forget something I just can’t forget it so conversely the loss can be a blessing and the presence that can also be a blessing so for I’ll be getting this we lose memory of something unpleasant, something unpalatable that’s a blessing I was talking with one devotee he said he met some devotee recently and that devotee had terribly hurt him so I told him how was the interaction he said it was quite nice there was no one, nothing unpleasant he said no it was nice then I said you remember this had happened oh I had forgotten it so I said when he had told us to be he was very hurt and he needed some counselling I tried to pacify him so I said you know I don’t know whether to appreciate your forgetfulness or to curse my remembrance he was interacting with that devotee and that devotee spoke very hurtfully to him but he had forgotten that and now whenever I see that devotee I remember he spoke like this so sometimes loss of memory can also be a blessing and sometimes the presence of memory can of course be a blessing so in that sense memory is a funny thing so now if we consider that when Hanuman was cursed to lose so we could say there is memory memory is present and memory is absent and it’s a blessing or it’s a curse so now at one level Hanuman forgetting his power it was a curse but was it really a curse no he was mischievous and yes children will be mischievous but you know that that mischievousness it was no longer having that power by which you could do extraordinary things and in that sense his loss of memory Hanuman’s loss was it a curse or was it a blessing how many of you think how many of you think it was a loss how many of you think it was a blessing how many of you think how many of you lost to know whether it was a blessing laughing laughing yeah so the point is that sometimes we cannot know in the situation what something is at that situation in that situation we may feel something terrible but it may not be so one aspect of humility especially in bhakti when something terrible is happening in our life we feel why is Krishna letting this happen why is Krishna not doing anything to stop this from happening so humility in bhakti one way of understanding it is that to understand that my finite vision is not the final vision humility means that I understand my finite vision of a situation is not the final vision of the situation in my finite vision this can seem terrible and yes at that level it may be terrible but is that the final vision of the situation may be may be not so when Hanuman was cursed to lose something in that process of losing something he would end up gaining something so that loss of ability actually fostered his maturity it enabled him to grow further many of you know that I have polio that I need crutches for walking so when I was one my mother had taken me to a physician to get a polio vaccine I was very, I don’t remember any of this and we were staying in a small town in Maharashtra and unknown to our parents my mother, my father was a physician at that time that particular clinic where the polio vaccine was to be administered had a power outage the previous night and because of that the fridge temperature had risen and because of the rising temperature the germs in the vaccine had multiplied and then the attendant gave that particular vaccine to the doctor and doctor gave that vaccine and the vaccine instead of preventing polio ended up causing polio now I don’t remember any of it I was just learning to walk and I fell and I could never walk normally but my first memory is about when I was two and a half or three and at that time a distant relative had come to our place and she was consoling my mother she said oh it’s so sad your son got polio and I remember my mother’s voice calm, clear confident she said whatever he lacks physically God will provide him intellectually now I don’t know why my mother said that at two and a half or three what intellectual signs I had shown I don’t know but somehow that stayed with me not the God part the intellectually part at least initially it was the intellectually part and as I grew up I couldn’t play outdoor games like other kids could play so part of it this is unfair but then as I started studying going to school or even reading books I found that I could read quickly I could remember things well I could articulate things clearly and then a part of me maybe I didn’t articulate it like that but a part of me said that I could say that I didn’t do anything to deserve this physical disability and that is unfair but then I didn’t do anything to deserve this intellectual ability also so sometimes we get less than what we deserve sometimes we get more than what we deserve in the big picture life is fairly unfair it is unfair but sometimes we get more sometimes we get less and that’s why at that point at a particular time a particular thing might seem to be a curse but our finite vision is not the final vision of things so I am very grateful to my mother that she expanded my vision at that time so now Hanuman has been cursed but his very curse or rather the loss of his powers whether you want to call it a curse or a blessing, the loss of his powers will actually lead him to the development of his character that when he doesn’t have any extraordinary powers to use then what happens then one has to actually become mature I will make two points an actual journey towards maturity we will discuss in tomorrow’s session so now sometimes when I started this story sometimes you talk about Suryadev and a child jumping up to the sun and catching the sun, you say all this is stupid this is unbelievable, these are kids stories unbelievable stories now yes that’s one way of looking at it and I will discuss this more tomorrow but if you look at these scriptural stories there are two ways in which you can see them there are one way some ways in which they are dissimilar to us, dissimilar to our situations and they are primarily in two ways in the abilities that characters have for a kid to be able to jump up to the sky, for somebody to have ten heads so all these abilities are extraordinary and the arenas, arenas means the places where these things happen there is heavens and there is this place and that place we don’t experience those kind of places in today’s world but there are very important ways in which they are similar and how are they similar they are similar in that all the characters they have limitations every character has nobody they may have extraordinary abilities but nobody has supreme power, now of course god has supreme power and that’s true but even when god comes in this world to perform leelas, he doesn’t always describe, he doesn’t always manifest his omnipotence all the time so just as we have limitations, our particular limitations may be different, so Hanuman he could go right up to the sun but he couldn’t counter the Vajra of Indra so we all have limitations and the characters in scriptures also have limitations and the second is that everybody has accountability accountability means the actions that they make have consequences so now the specific actions that they do and the specific consequences they have, they may be different but these two principles that everybody has to deal with limitations and everybody will make choices that will have consequences and they have to deal with those consequences, they have to live with those consequences and it is this we look at this, we can get some entertainment if we wanted what extraordinary power someone has what extraordinary domains people exist in, but this is where we actually get elevation we get education we get understanding of how to live in our life now Ravan had the capacity to change his form and take on the form of a sage and whatever else he could do but he still could not do everything, he had limitations, he had boons but still he was vulnerable to humans he was vulnerable to monkeys and he made certain choices and those choices had consequences so you probably know this character superman now superman, now a days there is a whole so many movies about superheroes superman was the first superhero there is some character some author who developed in 1929, when America was in deep depression, they wanted some character who would lift up the spirits of Americans and since then he has been going on but in 1950s something very curious happened that as these characters are not created by only one person you know, one person creates another makes some more comics and then it goes on and on, so what happened that as time passed they started making not hanuman, superman as time passed they started making superman more and more powerful his power started increasing at one time in some of the stories superman flies through the sky, hanuman flies through the sky, there is some similarities we may explore them tomorrow but at one time he could just look with his eyes superman and just blow up satellites he got enormous amount of powers and what they found curiously, as his power increased his popularity decreased why? because generally in any story if there is no tension then there is no attention that if if we write from the beginning only, no this person is so powerful, he is going to win now we may know the hero is going to win over the villain but we still don’t know how he is going to win but if there is everything is so predictable, if superman is so powerful that nobody can even touch it then what happens, there is no excitement there is no suspense so when the power is enormous then there is no attraction left you can just do anything so then the hero then the comic creators they created this whole concept of what is that? kryptonite so kryptonite by which superman would become vulnerable and all his enemies would use that and then that’s where the character’s popularity started rising once again so the point is that everybody when they face limitations that’s when in those limitations how they act, how they grow how they face those limitations and how they grow beyond the limitations that’s what makes the character story interesting so hanuman had enormous power and his power will come back to him eventually but when the ability is lost that’s the time he takes to develop maturity with limited ability what can i do? how can i do it? and we will see in tomorrow’s session how the character of hanuman is developed through the choices that he makes and then finally when jambavan reminds him of his power that’s the time his abilities come back but he has developed great maturity by that time i was giving a talk maybe a couple of months ago i was in the middle east and i was telling a story about how sita was abducted and most of us know that story how maricha when he was finally shot by ram then he called out exactly in ram’s voice say lakshman sita and now and that’s when lakshman was drawn and sita forced lakshman to go to help ram so one boy asked me this question that when maricha called out lakshman sita why didn’t ram call out? that’s not me that’s maricha the whole problem could have been avoided so so i told him that actually lord ram is all powerful but although lord ram is all powerful if he simply was all powerful and that’s what he was doing then he didn’t have to chase the deer also he could have just made a long and caught the deer so when although the lord is all powerful this is the lord when he comes to the earthly level it is said that he does naraleela when he comes to this earth he acts like a human being now above the humans are the gods and below the humans are the demons now this above and below is in terms of morality devatas are supposed to be better than humans and asuras are supposed to be worse than humans but actually both devatas and asuras are physically stronger than the humans and because of that because maricha was an asura his voice was much stronger and ram because ram was playing a human role at that time his voice was not strong enough and that’s why he ran back so the point is even the lord’s pastimes they become suspenseful they become interesting when the lord also acts within limitations and within the limitations the lord does extraordinary things now of course the lord’s limitations are not imposed on anyone the lord is not cursed by anyone he chooses when he becomes avatar sometimes he acts like a finite being and sometimes he will show extraordinary power but when the power is lost at that time that is when the character is seen what does a person do when power is lost, does that person just become hateful, does that person feel sorry for themselves and just become bitter it’s understandable some does that but it’s not very helpful so hanuman will see what he does in tomorrow’s session let’s see for all of us if we have power and if we have character same in one’s ability and maturity but I am just focussing on something different over here if there is no power but no character then the person becomes prideful prideful is the least of the problems from there they can become hateful they can become vengeful they can use it for bad purposes now if somebody has no power and no character then what happens they become resentful resentful means why does anyone else have power isn’t it why is this person so good why is that person so good some people their whole lives are just filled with resentment when communism started it promised that there will be equal wealth will be distributed, everybody will have equal wealth but what happened was that it thought that everybody became wealthy it is that communism was actually driven in real life not by compassion for the poor but envy towards the wealthy and then there are some people who said we will distribute wealth equally but then they had the power to decide whom to distribute wealth with and so there was a social commentator he said that in communism all people are equal but some are more equal than others so basically there is a lot of world view that is driven by resentment and resentment does not do anything good it just hates those who are doing something good those who have something good those who do something good that’s not very helpful now if somebody has power and somebody has character then they are grateful they are grateful Hanuman will say when he gains power he never becomes proud, he never becomes arrogant and Hanuman is grateful now if somebody has character and even if they lose power then they remain graceful they don’t become resentful it is Krishna gave me power Krishna took my power away from me it doesn’t matter so among these if you consider having power without character both are harmful being prideful and resentful both are harmful and if we have character whether we have power or we don’t have power it is always positive so sometimes we may feel that some power has been taken away from us the power could be the power of wealth the power could be the power of some position the power could be the power of of good reputation sometimes some people may spread some rumours about us and that power going away is a painful thing but we can see that power going away as an opportunity to develop our character to grow in maturity and that’s what will happen to Hanuman and that’s what we will discuss in tomorrow’s session I will summarise what I discussed today mainly discussed four points I started to how life in one sense is defined not so much by wealth or power or things it is defined much more by memories the greatest source of unhappiness for most people is not the events that happen in their life but the memories that keep playing in their life so a successful life is all about creating positive memories that is what will lead us to happiness and bhakti is what enables us in bhakti the remembrance of the leela of the lord that is what is meant to help us create these healthy and happy memories now within that we discussed Hanuman’s story in Hanuman’s story we discussed three stages first was his being his childish attack ok let’s put it this way his infancy in infancy what happened was he had he had great blessings and those great blessings became mischievous he was hit and then he was blessed further so he had powers and from the powers he became almost lifeless and after that he became even more powerful and that was in my sense glorious what happened and then after that we discussed about how he with his ability what he started doing was his ability and that is maturity so was he cursed well you could say the journey of Hanuman is from having ability without maturity to having both ability and maturity this is journey we are going to discuss and then we discuss about the forgetfulness the sages cursed him so loss of not power but loss of the memory of his power so that was it a curse or a blessing it depends we discussed it could be we have we remember and we forget and that could be a blessing that could be a curse so for us whenever we look at life situations we have a finite vision and that finite vision should not be seen as the final vision what is a blessing what is a curse we really don’t know at our stage that sometimes what seems like a curse could turn out to be a blessing and what turns out seems to be like a blessing may turn out to be a curse and lastly we discuss how when something bad happens to us how do we respond to it so Hanuman I talked about when you look at these stories you see how these stories are dissimilar and how these stories are similar so dissimilar in terms of the abilities that they have and the arenas the places that they do it but similar in the sense that they all face limitations and within the limitations they are all accountable accountable we do actions and those have consequences so Hanuman also faced a limitation in the sense that his power suddenly went away and then he was not really cursed but he was held accountable what do you do at that time so we discuss this journey we may have power and we have character so if there is power but no character then what happens do you remember prideful and that could be the least of the problems they get much worse there is neither power nor character resentful why should anyone have anything good in their lives if there is power and character then they are grateful of course they are powerful naturally they have power but they are grateful for the power and if some of the power goes away then they are graceful so in many ways we will see that Hanuman’s journey will be where he will gain power so either way having power without character is unhealthy and having character with or without power is healthy but we all would like to go where we have power and character that’s where Hanuman goes and that’s where how we can go through our life journey that’s what we will discuss in our future session tomorrow thank you very much Hare Krishna is there any question or comment yes taking the finite vision as the final vision where does where does that leave our individual actions in the sense that in terms of changing or making amends like let’s say whether it’s to see the blessing or as a curse if we just say ok this is just a finite thing I have not seen the final vision so let me not do anything would it lead to complacent attitude like that yeah definitely there are two different things over here when he says don’t see the finite vision as the final vision that does not mean that the finite vision is always the wrong vision it’s just not the complete vision so just yesterday I was in Baltimore I had a whole class on this topic about how when some problem comes in our life how do we see the cause of the problem if right now I am speaking this mic stops working then should I think that ok why has the mic stopped working maybe I did some past karma in my previous life no generally whenever we try to look at causality say if somebody eats on a cold night a dozen ice creams at night they are saying ice cream ice cream I want more ice cream the next morning they have a terrible throat and they say ice cream now their throat is terrible is it because of past karma well yes but it is not past life’s karma it is past night’s karma so generally in Vedic logic it’s called Nyaya whenever we are looking for the cause of something causality is the principle of looking for causes so first we start with visible causes then we go toward invisible causes and within invisible also first we look at invisible material causes then we look at invisible spiritual causes that means that if the finite by the finite vision if there is some explanation then we should look for that explanation and we should try to fix that but if by the finite vision nothing that can be done then move forward to something bigger so the point is not so much what how we look at our finite vision it is more that how do we respond to it in the sense that for all of us it is our Dharma the right thing to do that is the most important thing sometimes the right thing that I do will have an effect and sometimes the right thing that I do may or not have the effect so then I may say that ok my finite vision is limited over here but we should not use that as an excuse for not doing the right thing say if we cook some food and say the sweet rice but there is no sweet in the rice it is only rice you should tell somebody there is no sweet in this that is your finite vision that is your finite perception fix it right now when it can be fixed it should be fixed so when Ram is exiled to the forest at that time Kaikeyi Lakshman is very enraged by all that has happened and he wants to first he is angry with Dashrath then he becomes angry with Kaikeyi and at that time he says that he starts speaking very harshly about Kaikeyi and Ram says you know how much Kaikeyi loved me her love was like the flow of the river Ganga incessant and pure so that Lakshman is not done he says that is what I can’t understand how did the Ganga dry up in one night and then Ram says that is why when I heard her speak those words I understood that this is the will of destiny when somebody’s behaviour has no explanation as far as we can see it then we can say my finite vision is incomplete there is something more going on over here but if I have spoken hurtfully to someone and that person is cold with me and I miss you know this is because of past karma no this is not past karma you did something right now so we need to see what is the right thing for us to do and our vision should be such that it encourages us to do the right thing not that it justifies not doing the right thing if a person is if some person is very sick then if we can help them we should help them at that time take them to a doctor give them some treatment but sometimes despite giving the best treatment the person will not get cured that’s when you understand a finite vision is not the final vision I have another question this is more of a clarification so Hanuman forgetting his abilities out of that curse so if somebody reminds him is that a one time thing or and then all the memories come back and it will not go away or did he require frequent reminders see generally the exact ways in which curses work and how curses are revoked that particular mechanism is not talked about much in scripture there is a mystical element to the curses to how they act and how they are revoked so now my understanding is here that the sages had a particular purpose it was not to punish Hanuman not to hurt Hanuman not to deprive Hanuman it was to help him grow like sometimes some kids may just have phenomenal talents some kids may be a 3-4 year old kid can pick up a musical instrument and be like a genius now on one side if some parents are gifted with such a child as they say gifted child then it’s important for the parents to develop the gift of that child but at the same time it’s also important while the child is extraordinary and that extraordinary talent has to be developed but just as important for the parents the child also have a normal childhood the child will naturally have that talent and that talent needs to be nourished but it’s still a child a child’s normal growth also has to happen isn’t it so both sides are there the extraordinary side has to be developed but that does not if the child is defined only by the talent then what will happen is that it can have many different psychological effects the child may just think I am so special and everybody nobody else is of any value child can become very proud and that’s not very good for that person in the long run or the child may start thinking that I have no value without this talent so I was I was I was I was at one devotee’s home and they had this kid you know he was like he at the age of four he started playing chess his father was playing chess with a friend and he said daddy I want to learn chess he says no when you grow a little older I will teach you he said no teach me now and he taught his father taught him the first game actually his father defeated him the second game he defeated his father and I went he was eight and a half nine he was like he was a canadian under 10 champion he is a brilliant boy so I was staying at their home I was talking with him so I in my childhood I also liked chess quite a bit so we were talking about it so then he told me that among all my relatives I like my grandmother very much his grandmother has no understanding of chess so I said why do you see she loved me before I was special now the child is so insightful so my point here is that sometimes we have to make sure that there is holistic growth sages are not really cursing him his powers were there with him but he want to ensure that there is a holistic growth of the person we are not just performers we are persons and we need to we can perform that’s wonderful but we don’t want unidimensional growth thank you so much any last question or any comment two questions thank you very nice lecture in the previous slide you said with limitation you can go you can get elevation right how is that possible with limitation we get elevation in the previous slide couple of slides here I am not saying with limitation we get elevation I was saying that studying scripture and looking at how even there the characters have limitations and how within those limitations they act wisely from that we can learn and we can grow if the only thing special about Hanuman is that he could leap across the river leap across the ocean there is nothing for us to learn from Hanuman because we can’t do that if somebody thinks the only thing I have to learn from Hanuman is one day I have to leap across the ocean then that character will become ok this is super hero kind of character but nothing to learn from us but even these characters have limitations in some way or the other and within those limitations or because of this limitation sometimes they also face they make some choices and they have consequences for those choices they are held accountable but in spite of that they grow so the elevation happens not because of limitations the elevation happens by focussing on this principle that how these great characters also act wisely and similarly we can also learn to act wisely ok thank you yes please pass the mic ahead Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Prabhuji thank you so much for your wonderful class always I have a question on that ability to maturity transformations one of the point you mentioned that ability kind of converted into the powerful and if you don’t have maturity it’s unpredictable right so Hanuman when he was an infant he had the power but he was unpredictable but in the same past time if you see Indradev and Vayu you can also come to a conclusion that he was powerful yet unpredictable when he threw the bajra same thing with Vayu he was powerful but unpredictable by stopping the flow of the wind was there any transition for those acts between Indradev and Vayu to move from ability to the maturity see within the vedic tradition the devatas have a very curious position the devatas are often objects of worship but very rarely are the devatas considered to be role models that often the sages are considered to be role models the wise people, the brahmanas they are considered to be imitated even the kings are said to be but often the devatas they have this curious position within the universe that they are above us humans but they are not in the spiritual world so while they quite often the way they act often shows how even good people may misuse power may get allured by pleasure may get tempted may get intoxicated so that’s why devatas they are worshipped because they can use some blessings but they are not considered as role models are the devatas held accountable for their actions well there are times when that also happens it may not happen exactly the same way it happens on earth one of the things that happens because of karma is that always action will have result but if somebody has good karma for example then what will happen is the action will lead to a result after a very long time how is that it depends if somebody is born, if somebody wastes money they will become a pauper but if somebody is born in a fabulously wealthy family and they waste money they will also become a pauper, they will also become poor but that may take a long time so sometimes karma can create an intermission between the action and the manifestation of its result and the devatas are beings who have gone to the heavenly domains because of past punya and because of that past punya their actions often don’t seem to lead to consequences the consequences are there but they take some amount of time to manifest so sometimes in the vedic literature it is said that the law of karma doesn’t apply to devatas it’s not that simple it is devatas are also held accountable in particular if they offend the sages then they are held responsible they become reckless, they are attacked by the asuras but because of the past punya they may not be held accountable immediately for their actions but the principle of we having agency and we being responsible for our actions is a universal principle the exact way when it will manifest that will vary say you know if to make a comment on the current political situation somebody may gain power and they can use that power as much as they want they may think they are using it for good they may be using it for bad different people can have different opinions about it whatever it is but nobody has absolute power while they have power they can do good, they can do havoc but then that power is going to end maybe the next election comes up the tenure ends maybe whatever happens so during that time when a person has power they can do lot of things without any seeming consequences the consequences will be there but sometimes the power can insulate one from the consequences for some time ok so thank you very much Shri Hanuman Ji Ki Jai Srila Prabhupada Ki Jai Gaur Bhakta Vrinda Ki Jai Thank you so much so do we have a copy of this I showed you this book also the latest book which I have got this prayer is inspired by the Bhagavad Gita this is actually 122 prayers if you look at the table of contents it’s a very accessible table of contents where each prayer is summarised in one one line so whatever be the particular situation that you are going through you could just read the title and you could read that particular prayer reflection, it can help strengthen your faith, calm your mind make you feel closer to Krishna many devotees told me that they find this very helpful to read one prayer before they start their chanting also the beautiful picture of Krishna and some simple reflections so this is one book that is available and then we have this Gita for the CEO this is, now a days there is a lot of interest in the corporate world for learning some wisdom from ancient texts so the art of war or so many things like that have become popular Harper Collins asked me to write this particular book this is Gita for the CEO so I have taken the Gita’s wisdom and I presented ten principles in the format of a conversation between two characters, one is a person who knows the Gita, the corporate leader who knows the Gita, the corporate leader who wants to know the Gita and like I was drawing some simple diagrams this picture also has some diagrams and concepts which are explained through such diagrams and talks about how to be resilient, how to always have a learning attitude, how to be sensitive in our speech so that we can motivate and inspire others sometimes you think of humility and tolerance as only spiritual virtues that are impractical in the corporate world, that’s not entirely true, sometimes humility if applied properly can be leveraged to actually build teams and inspire people to work together and tolerance can be leveraged to be able to keep ourselves cool and not get carried away by small things, so keep small things small and focus on big things, so this is also a very useful book which you could give as a gift to some of your friends, relatives acquaintances who may not yet be ready to read the Gita or may not be able to understand the Gita so they may read this book and that may inspire them to read the Bhagavad Gita also and this is a book especially on the mind, you are not your mind, you are better so this is 64 articles inspired by the mind, by the Bhagavad Gita’s verses on the mind, they also have some illustrations and diagrams so this is especially for somebody who has some who feels troubled at the level of the mind how the Gita’s wisdom can help them, let’s explain this book, so all these books are available and if you like to have, I will be here for some time to sign the books as well as to answer some questions, thank you so much Hare Krishna