Association reminds us of our spiritual glory

Talk to children at ISKCON, Seattle

You know, our default preference should be the devotional culture as much as possible.
Thank you. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. So several of you have seen, have heard the Mahabharata characters, and how many of you have heard? So several of you have also mentioned that something about the Ramayana characters.
So I will today give you a sneak preview of the Ramayana characters. The Ramayana series is being recorded, it’s not yet completed. So in the Ramayana, when the Vanaras are going out in search of Sita, at this point, Rama and Sugriva, they have formed an alliance, and Sugriva sends his messengers, his seekers, to search for Sita in all four directions, North, West, East and South.
And he sends his most trusted associates on the South, because he has seen that when Ravana was seeking Sita, he was going southwards. So therefore, he sends several strong members towards the South, and then he sends Hanuman, Angada, Jambavan, three main, three big generals. They all go towards the South, and they keep going South, South, South, South, and they face many dangers over there.
And at one time they are completely starving, about to die. And they come to a cave, where they think, oh, maybe there is some water here. Because they see some birds coming out of it, with some water dripping from its lips.
Maybe there is water inside. They go inside, and they find this fabulous palace over there. And Hanuman pleases the lady who is in charge of the palace, and then she brings them out.
And now, when they come out, they are right on the coast of the ocean. And when they are on the coast of the ocean, at that time, they start thinking what to do. Suppose, sometimes you go for travelling.
We make a plan. Okay, we go here, we go here, we go here, we book a return ticket also. This is the time when we will come back.
But now, when they are in the Vanara, they are going for searching, they don’t have any plan, because they don’t know where Sita went. Just going south, south, south, and they have gone very far. And still now, they think that what to do.
So now, he had told, Supriya had told them, come back within one month. But then, one month is almost over. And at that time, when they see that one month is almost over, they start thinking what should we do.
So, Angada, you know, Angada is related with Sugriva. You know, what is the relationship? Yes. Zwali’s son.
It means, what is the relationship in the world? Nephew. Very good. So, he is the nephew.
Now, although he is the nephew, Angada still has some resentment against Sugriva. Because, Sugriva was the cause of it. He felt Zwali had been killed.
Actually, Zwali had only done injustice to Sugriva. And he got the punishment for that. Just punishment for that.
But Angada is suspicious. And starts thinking, if I go back now, and if I am a failure, I have not been able to find Sita, then Sugriva may use this as an excuse. And he may have me killed.
And there are some people, some of the Vanaras who are coming there, they are followers of, they are with Angada. And they also start saying, yes, Angada is right. Sugriva will kill us.
Have us killed. And they become fearful at that time. So, when this happens, they start becoming fearful.
So, what to do? So, Angada suggests, it is better that we, instead of going back, we will fast to death here. Because anyway, after going back, we will die over there. And there we will be killed, executed.
All our family members, relatives will see us being killed. It will be disgraceful. So, better we will fast to death over there.
And they sit down to fast. Hanuman says, what are you doing? Sugriva is a virtuous person. And he will never execute us for something which we could not do.
We have not done anything wrong. If we don’t go back in time, then that will make Sugriva suspicious. Therefore, we should go back.
And now, some Vandaras are saying that, oh, yes, Hanuman is right. Others say, no, Angada is right. And this way, sometimes, what happens? Two groups are formed.
And then, you will see sometimes, you know, among friends also. Some people want to do one thing, others want to do other thing. It depends, a nice group is there, but there are groups that divide into two.
And they are wondering what to do. So, Angada sits down to fast. And suddenly, all of you are sitting so nicely.
Suddenly, a giant bird comes over there. Anyone know who is that bird? Sampatti. Very good.
So, all of you know this story, is it? Okay. I will tell you something from that story, which is important. So, anyway.
So, when Sampatti comes over there, Sampatti becomes very happy. Sampatti is actually old, not able to move very fast. He is slowly moving along.
And when he sees that all these Vandaras are just sitting there nicely, not, wherever he would go, he is such a big bird, that any animal would become fearful and run away from him. So, it would not be able to catch and eat. Sampatti would go hungry.
And now, when he sees these Vandaras are sitting as if in yogic meditation, he says, oh, he says, Providence has been very kind to me now. So, Providence has sent this food for me. And I am going to eat this food and I will have a nice feast.
These Vandaras, they sit in meditation. They have the intention of dying. But one thing is to fast and die.
The other is to be chewed and eaten by someone. They become scared. What is this? They open their eyes, a giant bird coming.
And some of the Vandaras start lamenting. So, alas, although we have tried, we have been unsuccessful in helping Ram. Just as the great Jatayu tried to help and yet Jatayu died.
Similarly, it seems we will also die in vain now. Now, when Sampatti hears this, what happens? Jatayu is dead. He is shocked.
He is trembling in fear, anger. He says, what is this I am hearing? He comes close and he is all animosity. He is about to pounce on those monkeys and eat it.
But all his animosity, his anger, his predatory instinct, it all goes away. What is this I am hearing? Please tell me, what has happened? What has happened to Jatayu? You know Jatayu? The monkeys are thinking, we have sat in meditation. Should we run away or should we stay here and answer this question? But then they see, actually, there are tears in his eyes.
Oh, he is really in distress. Then they say, oh, Jatayu, it tells the whole story of how Jatayu was killed. And then tears start streaming from his poor eyes.
And Sampatti tells his story. And after he tells his story, then he says, please, take me. I cannot go to the water, but please take me to the ocean so that I can offer some water for my brother.
When somebody has passed away, this Pindadan that is there, he offers water in the river. So then the Vanaras take him up. Initially, they are afraid.
Really pounce on leaders. But they go close to him. They see that he is really in great grief.
They come up and take him there. And then he offers prayers over there, offers water. And then he turns and he says, alas, now I am too old and weak.
I cannot arrange the killing of my brother. But I can still assist in ensuring that Ravana is punished. And that I will do by telling you.
Although my body strength has gone down, my eyes are still strong. And I can right now see in Lanka, Ravana is there. And I can see in Lanka in a forest, Sita is also there.
So Vanaras, please go there, rescue Sita and punish Ravana. In that way, Jatayu’s death will be arranged. And saying like this, Sampatthi kills Ravana.
So sometimes there are some things which we may not be able to do. But rather than just resenting why I can’t do it, we help others who can do it. Some of us may be able to think better than others.
Some of us may be able to draw better than others. Some of us may be able to make something better than others. So we don’t have to be competitive.
Each of us can do what we can. Now further, on one side, the Vanaras, they are sad that their Sampatthi has died. But they become jubilant also.
Yes, now we know where Sita is. They are just thinking that we are going to be defeated. We haven’t defeated, we have not been able to find Sita.
But now, yes, we have found Sita. We are soon going to find her. They become jubilant.
And they start running towards the ocean. And suddenly, they come close to the ocean and all their energy goes away. They stop over there.
Like somebody runs, you know. They want to go out of this room. They run very fast.
Maybe there is a nice, sweeter, there is a feast outside, you are told. Prasadhan time, there is a feast outside. Go and take Prasadhan.
And you all run there. And suddenly you find the door is locked. There is no way out.
All the energy, you just check yourself and stop. So like that, all the Vanaras are running. And when they are running, suddenly they stop.
Because the ocean is so big, the wheels are so giant. What are they going to do? And they start looking at each other. And sometimes, when we know that something should be done.
But no one wants to do it. The room is to be clean. But no one wants to do it.
So we look at you. So we keep looking at everyone. So like that, the Vanaras start looking at each other.
Who will go across the ocean? Who will go across the ocean? And no one is ready. At that time, Angada decides to cheer up everyone. He says, oh Vanaras, all of you are heroic.
All of you are powerful. And I am sure that any of you, if you desire, you can go across this ocean. So please come forth and tell what you can achieve.
And then they all start running. How much, how far they can jump? So some of them say they can jump 10 yojanas. Some of them say 20 yojanas.
Yojana is a particular distance. Like we have miles. So yojana is roughly 8 miles.
So now, they know that the ocean is how much? 100 yojanas. Oh, all of you are right. 100 yojanas.
Good. So then nobody says that they can jump 100 yojanas. Then Angada says, actually, I can jump 100 yojanas.
But I don’t know whether I will be able to jump back. I don’t know because it will require so much strength that I will be able to go there, but I will not be able to come back. Jambavan says, oh prince, you are the successor to the king.
You should not go on such a risk. Somebody else should go. He says, when I was young, what to speak of 100 yojanas? I could jump across the whole earth, go round and round.
But now I have become old. I cannot do that. And while everyone is speaking like this, there is one person who is silent.
Who is that? Hanuman. Now, what does Hanuman mean? Yes? It is a broken chain. Oh, broken chain.
Very good. Hanuman. So, yes, Simli? Yeah.
So it also means that Hanuman, another means man is honoured. Hana is to destroy. So Hanuman is extremely powerful.
But rather than being an independent God, he doesn’t think I am great, I am so powerful. He always remains the servant of Ram. So one who gives up his man to promote the man of Ram.
One who gives up his position so that he can glorify Ram. That is Hanuman. So Hanuman is silent.
Now, why is Hanuman silent? Because he doesn’t know. Yes. Why does he know? Yeah.
He has got a curse because he has forgotten everything. Suppose now there are video games. Sometimes the small children are very good at computers.
Now they are very good at devices. Suppose there is a mischievous child. And he does something and all the computers in the house stop working.
And now nobody can fix it. Only he can fix it. And he says, I will not fix it.
And everybody will be in trouble. So then what somebody will do is, you should not have so much computer. You will pick up a mess of things.
So like that, the Rishis tell Hanuman, forget. And Hanuman forgets everything. And he has been told that when you are reminded of this, and you are reminded of this for the service of the Lord.
So you see, Hanuman, when Sugriva, you know before that Sugriva was in the forest. At that time, Hanuman was also in the forest. So now was Hanuman stronger than Sugriva or weaker than Sugriva? Stronger.
Yes. Okay. Now among Sugriva and Vali, who was stronger? Vali was stronger.
Okay. So Hanuman is stronger than Sugriva and Vali is stronger than Sugriva. So what about Hanuman and Vali? Who is stronger? How do you know? Did they fight? How do you know? Yes, because Hanuman got a lot of wounds.
All the Devatas are blessed. So now the question is here that, see, Vali had driven Sugriva out of the kingdom. So now Sugriva would fight with Vali but he was not able to win.
So Sugriva would have said Hanuman. And Hanuman would have fought and defeated Vali. Why did Hanuman do that? Because he? Because he forgot.
Okay. And Sugriva would have reminded him. It was not for the service of the Lord.
Yes, it was not for the service of the Lord. So very good. So the benediction was that when he needed to be reminded of his strength for the service of the Lord, at that time if someone reminds him, then he will be able to win.
Otherwise, anyone could have reminded him at any time. So Jambavan was here and Jambavan realised this is a time when nobody else can help. Only Hanuman can help.
And he started speaking. He started speaking about Hanuman and how such a mind being of his childhood. He had got this benediction from Brahma.
He had got this benediction from Shiva. He had got this benediction from Vayu, from Indra. All these Devatas had blessed him with enormous powers.
And Hanuman starts hearing this. Each thing that he hears, there is more, more, more. And he starts rising, more and more confident.
And by the time Jambavan stops speaking, Hanuman gives a roar of joy, roar of power, roar of confidence. And that roar practically shakes the mountains. The birds that are flying, they start trembling and falling down.
What happened? Where did this roar come from? And Hanuman says, I will immediately jump across. I will. So Hanuman becomes so confident.
He says, oh Jambavan, oh Angad, tell me what should I do? Should I go across the ocean and lift up the whole Lanka and bring it back? We will get Sita and we will get Rahul also. Then Ram can do whatever he wants. So Jambavan says, cool down, cool down.
Wait. We have been sent to search for Sita. We shouldn’t fight unless it is necessary.
Just go and find out where Sita is. Just check whether she is safe. And then we will go and report back to Ram.
And let Ram decide, let Ram and Sugriv decide what we should do. Then Hanuman goes to a nearby mountain. Sometimes you see there is this, in Olympic athletes, there are people who do long jump.
What do they do? They come running, running, running. Then the first jump across hurdle. They come running and then they have momentum to jump across.
So now Hanuman does not have momentum. So what he does is, he goes on top of a mountain. He doesn’t have a long place to run.
So he goes on top of a mountain, nearby hill. And then he crouches down. And he presses the hill down with the full force of his legs.
And he has actually assumed a giant form at that time. And as he pushes the hill down, what happens? The hill is firm. The hill pushes him back up.
And he pushes himself down and then jumps up. And as he jumps up, the force of his jump is so strong, that there are elephants who are playing on the hill. The elephants are thrown off.
This has never happened in their life. What happened? You know, they are just flying. And you see, he just leaps into the sky.
As he leaps into the sky, the elephants who were flying all the time, and then they come falling down. And then some trees get uprooted. The trees also are moving by.
And there are some birds, big birds. Eagles are there in the sky. You say, who is this creature who is suddenly coming to the sky like this? They are flapping their wings.
But when they flap their wings, they think this creature will go away. But Hanuman just keeps moving. And they run away from there.
I mean, I know what is this creature. So, Hanuman creates a sensation over there. And when he just jumps like this, there are devatas who see from the sky.
And they start blessing him. Oh, how heroic is this Hanuman that he is just flying through the sky. So now there are two different things.
Hanuman is a monkey. Monkey, he also has special powers. Raoji has special powers.
Monkeys can’t fly. They don’t have wings. So then, when he is going across, how is he going? It is, he is jumping.
So now, he has to be very careful. When he is jumping, if you jump too far, then he will just overshoot across Lanka. If he doesn’t jump strong enough, then he will fall short of Lanka.
And again, he falls into the water. How will he leap out of that? So Hanuman just charges across. He is speeding through the sky.
And as he gets more and more speed, then Vayu. What is the relationship between Vayu and Hanuman? Father and son. Yes, Vayu becomes very happy.
He thinks, oh, yes, my son is going to do a great service to the Lord. So he, Vayu, starts flowing behind him and offering him free air-conditioning. With that free air-conditioning, Hanuman is just going, going, going through the sky.
And the devatas see from above and they become very happy. And they just have to bless him. And they tell him, they say that, oh, such service that Hanuman is doing, nobody has done before.
How he has leapt like this and come across very far. And this particular section of the Ramayana is called as the Sundar Kanda. Now, if you see, the Ramayana has several divisions.
And all the other divisions are named as per the location or the action. For example, Bala Kanda is the first kanda. Bala Kanda means what? Kid.
When Lord Rama is small, his activities are discreet. Then the next kanda is? Yudhya Kanda. So this is when Rama is married and he comes back and stays with Sita.
And then the whole conspiracy happens. The third kanda is? Aranya Kanda. Very good.
So Aranya Kanda. This is again. So Ayodhya is location.
Bala is action. Ayodhya is location. Aranya is also location.
Then after Aranya Kanda is which kanda? Kishkinda Kanda. Very good. Kishkinda is also location.
Then Kishkinda after that is? Sundar Kanda. So Kishkinda is the place where Rama and Sugriva meet. That is where the Vanara kingdom is.
And after Sundar Kanda is which kanda? No, before that one no. Yudhya Kanda. Yudhya is describing the? Action, war.
So there is. So most of the kandas are named either after action or the location. And Uttara, Uttara is about the content.
Uttara means remaining. So remaining story. And Uttara Kanda, the background history of who Ravana was, how he got powers, who Indrajith was, how he got powers.
All the stories are described. So now this particular kanda itself has a special name. Sundar Kanda.
So why is it called Sundar Kanda? Because Hanuman is Sundar? What is Sundar? Beautiful. Is it because Hanuman is Sundar? No, Hanuman is not Sundar? Yes, I guess. Yes, we will not use the word Sundar for him.
He is powerful. He is heroic. Peacefully.
Peaceful. But there is a lot of action, a lot of fighting. Hanuman fights with the demons, isn’t it? He fights and defeats the demons.
So Sita is kept where? Ashokvatika. So what Hanuman does is, you know, he destroys that Ashokvatika. So that becomes Shokvatika for him.
Ravana becomes angry. He says, oh, my favourite forest has been, my favourite garden has been destroyed. Who is this monkey who has done this? Very angry.
So what is Sundar about this is the beautiful nature of the bhakti of Hanuman. So Hanuman is doing heroic activities, but he is doing them in the mood of bhakti. And especially Sundar is when, see in all the Kandas, Ram is there and Ram is active.
The whole is the Ramayan. What does the word Ramayan mean? Rama’s story. So story, but more than Ayana means journey.
So it is Rama’s journey. Interestingly, in all the Kandas of Ramayan, Ram is there. But in the Sundar Kand, Ram is definitely not there.
At the start of the Sundar Kand, Ram is seeing the Vanaras off and he gives a signal. He gives a special token for Hanuman to give Sita. And then throughout the Kand, there is no Ram.
And then at the end of the Kand, Hanuman comes back. And when Hanuman comes back, at that time, Hanuman tells the news of how Sita is and describes all that has happened. Ram becomes so happy.
And he tells Hanuman, he said, you have done such spectacular service. Single-handedly gone to the enemy camp and penetrated over there. And you can come back.
So I will bless you. I want to reward you. But I have nothing to reward you because I am in the forest.
I am penniless. So I will offer you something which I have. I will offer you my own self.
And he embraces Ram. He embraces Hanuman. I will give you gratitude.
So this, that Ram is not present, but devotion to Ram is present. There is a servant of Ram and there is the consort of Ram, Sita. And both of them meet.
That is very Sundar about this Kand. So now, I will conclude with one point and if you have some questions, we can discuss. See here, Hanuman has forgotten what his power is.
And it is when Jambavan reminds him that he realises his powers. Like that, all of us are souls. You know, we live in bodies which are temporary.
Some of us may not look so good. Some of us may not be able to speak so well. Some of us may not be able to sing so nicely.
We all, we live with others. We may say, oh, this person is better than me. That person is better than me.
And that can make us feel inferior. Or otherwise, we may think, oh, I am better than that person. I am better than that person.
That makes us feel superior. But either way, what happens is, we become always aware of what we have and what we don’t have. And that can make us feel insecure and we think, I don’t have certain things.
But just as Jambavan reminded Hanuman about his power. So like that, now we have our spiritual rights. And they remind us that we have power.
Now what is Hanuman’s power? Hanuman’s power is not just that he was physically very powerful. Yes, he was physically very powerful. He was very intelligent.
But his real power was his devotion. With that devotion, he was able to do everything. So like that, now all of us, we may have some limitations.
We may have some strengths. But it’s just like Jambavan spoke and Hanuman heard. And he became confident.
Like that, if we hear Krishna Katha from devotees, and we can hear those nice entertaining stories, that is good. But if you understand that this is the Lord who loves me. Just as Krishna helped Arjuna in so many ways.
Just as Hanuman did spectacular things in the service of the Lord. So like that, Hanuman did it by the mercy of the Lord. So like that, Krishna is also there with all of us in our own heart.
And he’s there to help us. That understanding gives us tremendous confidence. That whatever I have to do, if I pray to Krishna, Krishna helps me, then I will be able to do it.
So we focus not on what we can do or what we can’t do. We focus on what Krishna wants me to do. And now we cannot know directly what Krishna wants me to do.
And that’s why we have our teachers, we have our parents, we have our spiritual teachers. From them, we learn what I should do. And then we try to do that.
It’s like, you have seen, you know the story in the Ramayana, when Hanuman was faced with this big giant. And she would become bigger, Hanuman would become bigger. She would become bigger, Hanuman would become bigger.
Who was that? Surasa. There were two demons, one was Simbika. Hanuman went into her and he ripped apart her.
She was a demoness. And he ripped her stomach apart. But Surasa was? She was a demoness.
She had a blessing that no one can pass through without entering my mouth. So Hanuman became, she was very with Hanuman. She said, oh monkey, enter into my mouth.
You are going to be my fool. So Hanuman said, no, I have to go in the service of Ram. He says, I will come back afterwards.
After I have done my service, then I will become your fool. She said, oh, everybody will say like this. I cannot let you go.
He says, you have to enter my mouth. So Hanuman becomes very big. He says, how can I enter your mouth? She starts laughing.
She makes her mouth even bigger. Hanuman makes her mouth bigger. Her body bigger.
And she makes her mouth even bigger. Hanuman makes her body bigger. She makes her mouth even bigger.
Now it will become giant practically. And Hanuman sees the opportunity. What does Hanuman do? He becomes very small and quickly enters into her mouth and comes out.
He says, see, your blessing is done. Now let me go. So she says, oh Hanuman, you are very clever.
So Hanuman doesn’t just try to use his strength all the time. He uses his intelligence over there. So like that, sometimes we have to do something and that thing seems very big.
How can I do it? But if we pray to Krishna, Krishna uses his intelligence by which we will be able to do things also. So you know that Arjuna had his bow. Because he used to rise his bow and fight.
Arjuna put aside his bow and he was discouraged. But when he heard the Bhagavad Gita, he again became encouraged. So like that, if we hear Krishna Tatha, just like Jambavan spoke and Hanuman heard, Hanuman became confident by that.
Like that, we can also become confident when we hear about Krishna. And understand, not that it’s just a story which happened long ago, but that this is the description of how the Lord who is in my heart loves me. And how he loves his devotees.
And this is the Lord whom I’m trying to serve. And that can give us confidence and help us to overcome fear or insecurity. Thank you very much.