Four Life Lessons from Hanuman’s Adventures in Lanka | Chaitany Charan | Washington DC

Hare Krishna.

Principles means see, generally, as we say, a friend in need is a friend indeed. So now our choices have consequences. For Hanuman, that meant if he would go with Sugriyo, Walli would always permanently blacklist him. When Walli would send people to assassinate Sugriyo, if Hanuman came in the way, Hanuman would also not be spared. So there’s a heavy cost to pay.

It’s a heavy, heavy price to pay for him to make that choice to go with Sugriev instead of going with Wally. So this itself shows see, if somebody is very powerful, security guards and everything. Okay, you can take on the mafia there. It still requires courage, but actually at that time you have protection. But here what happens is he chooses side, and he has no idea how long he will have to stay practically in exile.

Just as Lakshman had no obligation to go with Ram when he went to the forest. Similarly, Hanuman had no obligation to go with sugriy. In fact, we could say that at least Lakshman was a brother. So a brother, brothers might want to stick with the brother. Now Hanuman and sugriy had no relationship, no blood relationship at least beyond that Bharat was not trying to constantly assassinate Ram.

So that choice of Lakshman going with Ram meant a sacrifice, but it was not that because of that choice, he will be persecuted. So Hanuman, it was principles. He calls principles. He paid a heavy price and that itself chose the opposite of having principles as being expedient. Expedient means whatever the easiest thing you do that, whatever is convenient to do that.

Some people are like chameleons. With one person, they speak one thing, another person, they speak another thing. Whatever will please that group, they’ll speak that. But here itself, Hanuman has made a very, very serious choice. And that too, if you see, he doesn’t have power.

If he had his powers, then he could have countered value itself. But at this point, he does not have powers. So to stick to principles without powers, that’s actually a very heavy price to pay. That itself is a sign that he’s no longer impulsive. Impulsive person, a shortsighted person, a mature person would not make such a choice.

And even if a person made such a choice, they would not stick to this. They say, oh, you know, this is too much. I’ll go back. I want to be I’ll it’ll go and apologize to Volley and make it good with Volley. So he doesn’t do that.

Then after that, then what is seen is his speech. The first meeting that is there between Hanuman and Ram. So Ram and Lakshman are walking through the forest, and Hanuman comes in the garb of a Brahmana. The Sugri has told him, check it out. Check out what’s there over there.

So Guru has become super suspicious. So anybody who comes in is very suspicious of that person. So when he sees Ram and Lakshman going through the forest and in the Kishkinder area, and Ram is lamenting. Now will we ever find Sita? It’s it’s so long now.

Who knows what has happened to her? And he’s crying. So Guru becomes alarmed, and he runs to his associates. And they peer through and Jammu and said, what is there to be alarmed about? These are just two hermits.

No. But they’re not hermits. If they were hermits, why are they carrying weapons? And look at their physique. It’s not like that of a sage.

So he’s suspicious. And he says, you know, if they’ll come to assassinate you, they would have come discreetly. Assassinate doesn’t come making a loud noise. But what are they doing over here? Who are they?

So they depute Hanuman. And Hanuman changes his form and goes. Now it’s interesting. He does not lost all his power, so he’s able to have some of his powers and he’s able to change his form. But then when he starts speaking, his speech, he just greets Ram and Lakshman, We all have our own natural voice.

As I mentioned, this fingerprint analysis we do for identifying a person, now it’s called voice print. We can try to mimic other people’s voices, but we can’t change our natural voice too much. Sometimes people can nowadays there are voice changer apps, or you can try to mask our voice, but our voice is what it is. So some people just have such a sweet voice about Krishna, the Gopis, and the Gopi get describe. They say your voice itself is sweet and your words are also so endearing.

Some people may have a sweet voice and they speak very harshly with the sweet voice. It’s terrible. Now, some people may not, may not have a very sweet voice. Some people have a little bit of raspy voice, but what they speak with that will be very pleasing. They’re very encouraging.

They’re very appreciative. So now with respect to communication, there are these two things. There’s our voice and there is our words. So now the best is if our voice is sweet and our words are pleasing. Our voice can be harsh.

Our voice can be graph or rough or raspy or whatever word you wanna use, and our words can be agitating. So now for a communicator, what is the best to be in among these four quadrants? Fourth, yes. You have a sweet voice and you have pleasing words that you speak. So they say about a diplomat.

A diplomat is a person who lies abroad for the good of their country, you know, lies abroad. So stays abroad but also applies to lie abroad. And to be diplomatic means what? If a diplomat says yes, he means maybe. If a diplomat says maybe, they mean no.

And if diplomat says no, that means he is no diplomat. So the ideal situation is where the speech is the words are pleasing and the voice is also very sweet. Sometimes some people, they have this combination. We might come with agitated mind, but if that’s the person that’s speaking, just calm down and calm down. Listen, like, babies, if they’re restless, mother, somebody sing a lullaby.

The idea lullaby itself has a soft soothing tone to it. And mother when they’re singing with love that also has a sweetness to it. The baby becomes peaceful and goes to sleep. So like that now for adults, we don’t sing a lullaby for them, but the idea is our mind can get agitated and somebody speaks very sweetly and pleasingly then the mind becomes peaceful so here Hanuman exhibits this quality that Ram is agitated because he feels a personal sense of failure. You know, Sita came out of her faithfulness to me.

I couldn’t protect her. Lakshman also feels guilty, but after she’s his wife, Ram feels the primary responsibility. And he’s feeling this. He’s so long we’re not able to find what is going to happen. And just when Hanuman starts speaking, that’s not Hanuman speaks any profound words of wisdom.

Just the speech of Hanuman. Ram turns to Lakshmi and he says, surely, this person must be learning all the Vedas. Surely, this person must be trained by the greatest of sages. Surely, this person must have done some great punya in a previous life. Surely, this person must have been brought up by cultured parents.

He infers all that from what is spoken. So this capacity to speak in a sweet and pleasing way is also a sign of maturity. So what has happened? Hanuman is not as impulsive. He doesn’t blow up his cover.

He doesn’t confront who are you. He is according to time, place, circumstance, behaving in a very appropriate way. What you mentioned about social awareness that is being depicted over here. So that also shows Hanuman’s maturity. Now just to complete this four quadrants, sometimes we really can’t control our voice.

We can to some extent, but not much. So we may not be able to always have a sweet voice, but we can always from wherever we are, we can move if you can move in this quadrant, that is the best. But if that is not in our control, if you can have our words pleasing and our voice sweet, that is the best. But if you can’t, this is the this is the best, but going at least second best. Let’s not speak in ways that agitates others.

Some people think that as a sign of their cleverness, they’re sarcastic and they are not there’s a time and place for sarcasm, but on a habitual level being insulting, using, using bad names to call others agitating speech and especially nowadays with social media available. People’s one person’s agitating speech can agitate hundreds and thousands and millions of people. So we need to be careful. This is the second sign of Anuman’s maturity, the speech that he speaks. And just by that speech, he helps in the forming of an alliance.

An alliance means sugri and Ram become friends. So if somebody’s playing a particular role, they need to play that role well. So Hanuman has his own relationship with Ram, which will manifest in due course. But at this point, what he does is he shows he is able to do the job that he is sent to do. He does it well.

He, by sweet speech, he pacifies Ram. He connects with Ram and helps build a bridge so that Ram and Sugri, you can form a relationship. So his speech forms a bridge. With he’s on the side of sugary at this point, a bridge between sugary and rama. So that is what is formed by his speech.

Now after that, the third stage is that he is also able to go back to the kingdom after Vali is killed. Now Sugri goes back to the kingdom, and what happens to Sugri? Sugri has been in a zone with no Wi Fi for many years. And suddenly, he gets full Wi Fi and he goes on a Netflix blinch. Binge.

He goes on a complete Netflix blinch, forgetting everything else. He just there’s there are all kinds of royal pleasures that are available to him and just loses himself in that completely. Now Hanuman has also been living in austerity, living in austerity and in fear. Hanuman doesn’t have so much fear himself, but fear of safety is there. Hanuman doesn’t get drunk.

Hanuman doesn’t get intoxicated. Hanuman stays sober. And when the four months of get over, he reminds, reminds whom? So we discussed that earlier, you know, that he, he, he cautions, He doesn’t, get he cautions to grieve. So this is again the opposite of impulsiveness.

So he’s showing his maturity that he’s aware that this is a like we talk about responsibility. Responsibility is being aware of what needs to be done when. So that is also sign of, responsive. Now he does it in a very appropriate way. Actually, Sugriyu, Sugriyu’s character itself is very interesting and, in many ways that is a separate subject.

Sugri is first told by Hanuman. Now although later on, Hanuman will seem to be much more powerful at this point, Hanuman is a assistant or minister of Sugri. So he is subordinate to him. Now after that, Tara wants him. Now Tara is in a peculiar position that she is being Sugri’s brother’s wife, but when Vali passed away, Vali told him that that, you know, you should stay in his shelter.

So in that culture, the had their own culture, then it was accepted. So she was like a senior to him in the sense that she was so she had certain position and Valley also told him, listen to. She’s very wise. I didn’t listen to her, suffered because of that, but you should listen to her. Tara wants him.

And then Lakshman comes. Now Hanuman, according to his position, is gently cautioning him. Tara is a little more blunt. And when Lakshman comes, Lakshman is super blunt. All you put is super sharp in what he speaks, and then, Subhri jolted out of his complacency.

And then Sugriva takes on responsibility thereafter, but just being aware of the responsibility. Now after this, then comes the next thing. So this is at this particular point, when they are about to go on a search, on the search for Sita. So this is the last part and this is fascinating and we could have a whole session on this, but I’ll just explain this here. There is, you could say, there is influence without position.

This is what Anuman demonstrates over here. If somebody appointed the leader of a particular group, then they have the position Then also and they have to get to get people to work with them. But if you are the boss, if you are the if you’re the boss in a company, a, people don’t listen to you, they just fire them. But if you’re just one of the members in the team, but you have some good ideas. Now to get others to go along with your ideas is not that easy, isn’t it?

So if you don’t have position and at that time we have to get things done, not just from ourselves, but from our peers and even our seniors. That’s not easy. So this is what Hanuman really, this is the Sundarkand begins when Lord Ram sends Hanuman, sends the whole team to go, in search of Sita. But it’s interesting that Sugriyo appoints whom as the leader of that group? No.

Angad. Angad is appointed as the leader of the group. We’ll talk about that. At the same time, now the it’s a very interesting group over there. Now Angad is the leader of the group, but Angad is neither the oldest nor the strongest.

Angad is appointed because there is still some tension between Angad and Sugri. Wally told Sugri Wally I’m sorry. Wally told Angad, don’t blame Sugri for my death. It was my own deal that led to his death. But Angad was just a young he was he was from our perspective would be a little in the late teens.

He was a young adult. And suddenly, he saw his father who was a king, one day just comes out and is killed. And he understands that Ram is not responsible, but he he there is some tension between him and Sugri. So now if we are working in a team or we are working in a company, and we have our boss and the boss has his boss or her boss, whoever it is. And if we know that we are accountable to this boss also, we are accountable to that boss also and the tension between the two of them.

It’s very difficult to manage that. And who do we listen to? We don’t want to annoy or anger our immediate boss, but in doing something that our immediate boss want, you don’t want to anger our bigger boss also. So here, Angad, he is dutiful. So Angad, what happens is that Sugri also wants to win Angad over.

Sugri also actually Sugri doesn’t celebrate when Vali is killed. Suguri regrets it. Suguri says, oh, my brother could have killed me anytime, but he didn’t. And I, as soon as I got the first opportunity, I killed him. What a vech I am.

I don’t deserve the kingdom. So that is very painful scene over there. But then Ram tells him, this is what what he wanted. This is your duty. You should become the kingdom.

So now Sugri wants to make overtures to Angad. And the Sugri makes Angad the leader of the team. The Lord Ram recognizes that Hanuman has Hanuman is special. That’s why he calls Hanuman and he gives him a special ring. That is this, you find Sita, show her this.

That’s how you will know that. She will know that you have come from me itself. And it has a confidential story also to Hanuman. So at this particular point, when they are going, initially they’re very enthusiastic. Yes.

They’re going out, they will find Sita and this is the group in which Angad is there, Hanuman is there, and there’s one more senior person. Who is that? Oh, wow. Yeah? Jambo.

Jambavan is has been far more powerful, but now he’s big aging. So he’s not that powerful now. There is two characters in the in the Ramayan who are actually confronted by the problem of aging. When I speak to, people who are older, I talk about this one. One is Jatayu and other is Jumbo.

And both of them are affected. Their names are from and they’re also affected by what is called a Jara. Jara is old age. So how they deal with it. It’s a challenge.

But at this particular point, when they go out search, they’re enthusiastic initially. But then things start going south. Just not able to find Sita anywhere. And then group start forming. You know, if any teamwork is to be done, they say the cricket team is there.

Then maybe around the captain of group forms, around the vice captain of group forms. And some of the tensions between the two can rip the team apart. So like that tension start forming. See, tensions, if we are winning, the tensions are not so messy, but we start losing and who is blamed for the loss, who should be blamed for the loss. That’s when the tension starts surfacing and they start escalating.

So here Hanuman slowly starts taking leadership without threatening anger, without undermining anger, without sidelining Angad, it’s organically start to lead us. So they are searching. They go into the heartland of Southern India. In the middle, it’s very, very hot, and they’re searching. Not only they don’t even find Sita, they can’t even find any food.

They kind of find the water, and they’re starving. And then they’re searching around. Suddenly, Hanuman notices that there’s a cave, and from a cave, a bird is flying out. And when the bird is flying out, its wings are dripping water. So then Hanuman points it out, and they all go in that direction.

And they’ll peer into the cave. These are one of us. They can send get a sense of what’s happening over here. Is it it’s a very dark cave and how long it is, nobody knows. So Hanuman suggest that let us all form one line and let each one hold on to the next one before and after.

That that none of this will get lost. Let us go in. And then Angad wants to lead, but he doesn’t have really much experience. When his father was the king, his father was so powerful that Ranga really didn’t have to fight any major wars. He’s heroic, but he doesn’t have experience.

And Ranga agrees. So Hanoi does it very discreetly. And the whole story of how they go inside this cave and there’s the there’s the celestial lady, Swayampraba. She she is she offers all kinds of foods and drinks, and she says, well, you just stay comfortably over here. No.

No. We need to go on this. His said that this is, I mean, arranged by Indra and he has arranged in such a way that anybody who has come into this cave, they can never go out. And Angad started getting angry. Tell us how to get out, otherwise I’ll destroy you.

And Jammu gently calms Angad. Sorry. Jammu says, wait, wait. Says, you know, we we mean no harm. I’m sure Indra must have had some purpose in that giving that boon.

He said, yes. He said he had created a lot of opulence over there and he didn’t want that opulence to be plundered. So anybody who comes in, they cannot go out. But he said, we saw the we saw this bird flying out. His the bird does not destroy the opulence over here.

The bird will not bring other birds who will destroy the opulence over here. Because we also do not want to destroy any opulence. We don’t want to plunder anything from here. We just want to serve Lord Ram. But but nobody who can come comes in can ever go out.

Then Angad is getting angry and Hanuman comes and says, but I’m sure, you know, you have the power to go out. You please take us out. So Hanuman here maintains his school. And what happens is here in this particular situation, if we go back, he is naturally taking leadership. Yeah.

So one he cautions sugary, and then he he keeps his cool. So there’s a procreate situation. He could have got angry. He could have got angry with or he could have got angry with Angadha, but doesn’t get angry with either of them. Both with and with Angadha, he keeps his cool And then so Emperor takes them out.

And they they come out and then they are searching. And she says, you’ll soon find you’ll come across the ocean and across the ocean, you’ll find Sita. And the one has become jubilant. You know, this is a this is a whole search for Sita is a high octane ride. This is a lot of emotions.

At one moment, there is hopelessness and despair, there’s starvation, and I’m with the excitement and jubilation. And then the vanaras, they charge toward the ocean. So I’m so they are actually in a mountain. So so emperor not only gets them out of the cave, but she gets them out of the cave on the side of the river. So side of the ocean so that now they don’t have to scale the entire mountain.

They charge ahead and they charge ahead. At that time, they’d say, oh, across the ocean, Sita will find her, but then they come charging to the ocean and then they stop. Wow. How are we going to this ocean is so big. How are we going to cross the ocean?

Their mouths their their this jubilant and their mouth shut, their eyes become droop, and they’re just completely confused. And it is this time that Jambavan speaks to Hanuman. But before that, we’ll talk that in the next session. But before that, one more thing happens. Actually, they come out of the cave and they start searching.

They, they, they start moving toward the ocean. They’re looking around the ocean to try to find out how will we get across. And I just can’t find it. So it’s not who tells them. They know that across the ocean, you’ll find.

That’s what has happened. They they they also known that around across the ocean. So they have that sense, but they just can’t see any way to go ahead. And the ocean is so big, they just don’t know what to do. And again, their spirit start dimming.

And this time, Angad just loses it. And Angad says, better we never go back. So Sugri, you see there are different ways of administering justice. There there are different ways of administering administering justice and for that matter, enforcing discipline compliance. So one of the things that he has told so, yeah.

So one of those things that Guru has told us, All the one of us should come back within one month. Is there anybody who delays returning beyond one month, they will be executed. That’s so harsh. You are executed. See, this is a serious and time bound mission.

Now Angad takes that and Angad says, we have been searching for Sita. Now what has happened is they have been searching for more than a month and they not found Sita. And already two opinions are formed. Should we keep searching? Should we go back?

Now Hanuman is of the opinion that we should keep searching. Some other of the opinion should go back. And now Angadha, he says, one of the one of the one of the side, he says that we should not go back. He says that actually, if we go back, then Sugri will have us executed. Then one of the Wanderers who is is more on human side, he says that, no.

No. Sugriva is a fair person. He would not do that. We tell him that we were actually searching for Sita and we got some clues. That’s why we kept searching.

Okay. So then Angad speaks. Angad says, you know, Sugriva had his own brother killed. Now he killed his own one who killed his own brother. Why would he spare an ordinary soldier?

Now in the terms of war, this is called as sedition. No. Sedition is what? You inspire rebellion against your boss, against your own authority. So sedition, it could also be called as treason.

Treason is where you go against your own authority. Now Hanuman could have taken Angad to task. Now how dare you speak like this about your king? You are saying your king is cruel. You are going against your king.

This is a punishable crime. But Hanuman does not do that. Hanuman understands that Angad does not have a bad heart. Angad is just frustrated. He’s lost his father.

He has been given an opportunity to prove his mettle and the challenge is so much that he’s not able to do it. So what Hanuman does over here is, this is where the maturity shown is, he shows empathy over here. He does not judge or condemn Angad. He he just keeps his calm. And one of the Vanaras from Angad’s side says that maybe we should go back into the Cave Of Swayamprava.

And we’ll hide there and we’ll live there forever. Swayamprava already had said we can stay over there. So now once one of the manas on Hanuman’s side says that, you know, if you anger sugary you, he will not spare us. He will find us and he will punish us. And then Angad said that’s what I was telling.

He’s a cruel person. And then while this fight is going on, finally, Angad says, no. We have just failed. Let’s accept it. He says, rather than going back and being humiliated in front of our family and friends, he says, better that we die over here.

And Angad sits down. He says, I’m going to fast to death. And he says, I’ll do a or that is called a prayavrata. Prayavrata, you know, it is very different. There is, have any of you heard this word?

You know, it’s, it’s something unfortunately not uncommon in today’s world, but everything in this world can be in the three modes. So Sattva, Rajas, and Thomas. So now suicide itself, you may say it’s Thomas, and it is, but somebody, they fast to death. That is considered way of ending one’s life. That is called as.

Means that one does decide that my life is enough now. I don’t want to live anymore. So they decide to abstain from food, abstain from drink, and then the body lives on as long it lives on and it ends the life. So that’s a respected way of ending the life, and many sages would do that. So that is basically, what are what he says.

Now, Angadasa says, this is what I’m going to do. Now as contrasted that, most suicide is tamasic. This is basically because of hopelessness that it is not only life is terrible, it’s I. I am no good. Generally, if we will all face loss in our life, that is just inevitable.

Now when we face loss, if in, you’ll understand, I have lost. That’s a reasonable, okay. I tried to get this interview. I tried to get this job. I tried to get this into this college.

It didn’t work out. If I’m somebody might say, I am lost. I am lost means I just don’t know what to do. I’d spent so much time and energy in this particular thing, I am lost now. But somebody in Tamoguna, they’ll process that same thing as I am a loser.

So they will take that failure too personally and that failure will become a part of their self definition. I am a loser. Now what happens is if we were if you’re in a relationship with someone and and if you start thinking that person is a loser, then we would want to end that relationship. I don’t want to stay in a relationship with the person who is a loser. We want to break up.

But if we think I am a loser, what are we going to do? We can’t break up with ourselves or can we? So suicide is actually a tragic way to try to break up with oneself. So now Sugriyu, so sorry, out of while anger is expressing anger at Sugriyu, it is basically he is hurt. So as they say, my word hurt people, hurt people.

Hurt people who are hurt, hurt others. So the harsh words spoken towards they’re not coming from a malicious heart. They’re coming from a hurt heart. So Anuman understand this, but even this is beyond his power. Because Angad, these are not he says, no.

The two opt the three options now for them. Either they keep searching or four option, they keep searching, but they don’t know how to search because where how far will they go? Where will they go? How will they cross the ocean? That’s one thing.

Second is that they just stay over there. That’s not an option. They are going to. That’s not really good option. They go back.

Angad doesn’t want to do that. It’s a difficult decision, and Anuman is not the team leader. So the one are split into a group. And some of the sit down, and they said, we are going to fast. They are supportive of Angadha, and they say, we’ll fast to death.

And when they see this, a a pile of gloom settles over everyone. The one who are not decide not to fast also, they also don’t know what to do now. We are already as a whole team, we are not able to search and find. If our team depletes to half, what are the chance that we will find even now? So when they are sitting Angadha starts lamenting, Angadha, he speaks, alas, we went on this mission to serve Lord Ram, but just that that heroic Jamba failed, we too are destined to fail.

Now when he speaks this, he speaks it at a particular juncture. What happens is they are sitting for fasting to death and then a giant vulture comes over there. That vulture is some is Sampati. Sampati is Jatayu’s brother. And that vulture comes along and vulture starts looking and you can see the vulture licking its lips.

So, oh, today, I’m going to feast. Another one, I’m ready to die, but it’s one thing to be ready to die and another thing to know that we’ll be ripped into pieces and you turn up. In a person who dies, at least they hope for a dignified burial or a dignified cremation. So, so what happens is that seeing this, they just get a node and that’s where Angadasa speaks, alas, we are meant to fail. And that giant vulture who is walking around them looking, licking his lips suddenly freezes.

What did you say? What did you say happened to Jatayu? And then the monk is surprised what happened. And then at that time, he says, I am Jatayu’s brother. And, please pray tell me, has something happened to Jatayu?

I have not seen my dear brother for many years, And that’s when he’s told he’s told, Angadha speaks, Hanuman speaks, and they tell the story. So some party is shattered by that. But then, Angadha and Hanuman are still thinking. See, Hanuman has not antagonized Angadha, and nor has Hanuman spoken songs. Angadha still has a heart that wants to serve.

Sangat starts thinking that the jatai that some party is completely rejected. Just please, you know, I can’t move. I was I my wings got burned long ago. It is a longer story. He says, I just want to offer some water for my brother.

Can you take me to the coast? And they help me over the coast. He offers water. They can see he’s very, very shaken by this. And then Angad says, the Jatayu, he sacrificed his life in search of Sita.

And the Sampati is lamenting. You know, I couldn’t do anything for my brother, but I can’t do anything to get back at the person who killed my brother also. Because I don’t have any things. And suddenly, I’m not the things. He says, you know, actually, he says, I believe you have very sharp vision.

Do you know where Sita is? Did you see Rawa taking Sita? Yes. He perks up immediately. He raises into this full light and he says, yes, although my body has weakened, my eyes are still strong and I can see that Ravan still has Sita with him across the ocean in Lanka.

And I can see that you will soon find him. So what happens, it’s like a this is what is called as serendipity, something accidental discovery. So the one that’s about to give up hope. At that time, the Sampati comes to eat it. That’s terrible.

But then Sampati comes to eat them and that another will speak some words. And those words lead to a transformation, and then they find the way ahead. So I’ll while Angadha has lost hope, Angadha has not been embittered by Hanuman or anyone else. So Angadha has some hope, some desire that I can serve, and then the opportunity comes up. So Hanuman’s empathy plays a significant role over here.

And then comes a time when Hanuman comes into his full prime. So here till now, he’s one among the Vanaras slowly is showing his leadership skills. But then from that, it now when he goes across the ocean, it will be like a solo performance for him. One man performance that will be showing. So that is where but this particular point through all these dangers, how Hanuman has navigated expertly shows his maturity.

And does Jam Bowman is reminded, and Jam Bowman will remind Hanuman of his great powers that we’ll discuss in the next session. So I’ll summarize what we discussed today. We’re discussing Hanuman’s life story. So I first said the c in what way we are discussing it. I said the acronym does anyone remember the acronym lead?

L was literal, ethical, allegorical, and devotional. So we are discussing from which perspective? Ethical perspective. Ethical means it’s a guide for decision making. And in that a person’s life story can con con convey the four c’s.

What are the four c’s? Choices, consequences, and the choices happen because of conditions conditions and conditionings. So if you look at these four things, then we can understand the character of the character. What is the substance of the person? Then you start in this story and then we look at this story.

There are similarities and there are dissimilarities. It’s dissimilar in terms of the ability and the arena. Arena is where the incident is happening, but it’s similar in terms of that everybody has limitations in their life. And they live within the limitation. And then there are accountability in this and that everybody has actions for which there are consequences.

The exact consequences may not come immediately and they may not come in the same way that we face them, but that principle is there. So within that, how they make choices. So we discussed about Hanuman, how he was given, he had ability and he had to develop maturity. So initially, Hanuman was in this quadrant one and that’s when he was mischievous and that’s why he was cursed. Not exactly a curse, but it was just a forgetting of his abilities.

So today, what we discussed was Hanuman’s journey from quadrant one to quadrant four. So journey from immaturity to maturity. So Hanuman is a child and Hanuman as an adult. And within that journey to maturity, we discussed five stages. The first was his living according to his principles.

Okay. So Guru was not wrong. Wally was wrong. So principles are easy to follow and there is no price to pay, but then the principles come with a heavy price that shows a deep level of maturity. Then was his speech, the way he helped form a bridge between Ram and, Sugriyu and the way he very manifested speech that is both sweet in tone or sweet in voice and endearing in words.

The voice and words. So Ram is very pleased by his speech. And after that, he exhibits his caution. He warns Sugriyu about the about his duty to Ram. And then finally, we discuss about two incidents where he shows leadership without position that he doesn’t have the official position of the leader, but still, one is it, or does he show in that queue?

He said keep stay cool. Amid provocations, stays cool with everyone over there. Swayamprabha also with Angad also. And finally, when Ambad Angad starts, express speaking bad things about sugaryu, he doesn’t get on his case. He has empathy.

He understands that he’s hurting. And in this way, in all these ways, when he shows maturity, then the time comes for him to regain his ability. This is the Mahavai Hanuman that will manifest in Sundarkand and take over the narrative of the Ramayan practically for that particular story that will, that Hanuman is going to soon manifest. So let us all pray to Hanuman ji that this he’s eternally a liberated soul, but this is through his journey. Just as you manifest Hanuman ji, the journey to maturity help us all become mature that we can also use the ability that we have fully so that we may also be blessed with more ability, so that we can do more service and make more of a positive difference in our own lives and the lives of those around us.

Thank you. Are there any questions or comments? There are some questions here. Yeah. Hare Krishna.

Thank you Prabhu for, your talk today. I wondered if you might speak on on the journey to maturity as a teacher. I see a lot of moments that you mentioned with Hanuman’s journey in his own learning. And, I want I was really curious to hear maybe, like, a short reflection just about about, a teaching incident or experience where you, like, could share with us that, it was a moment that repeated and you realize, oh, I’m I’m doing this in a more mature way or something. Okay.

So you’re asking about the the time when I noticed, something from my what my own journey towards maturity. Yeah. I’d say that, see, as we grow, we also start one aspect of maturity is that we understand what really matters. So once I was giving a class in Pune and somebody asked a really a question that I felt was a bit arrogant. And I gave a sharp answer.

Man, I said it was logical. It was it was, this person was something like it was I could I felt clearly as a completely anti feminist, like a completely aggressive feminist. And he says, you know, this all these Hindus, this Hindu religion itself is against women. And he said, that’s why we don’t celebrate Radhashtami. We only celebrate Janashtami.

That’s So we don’t celebrate festival long way. So we celebrate the dance festival. So I said, okay. Is for one day. No.

Is for nine days. Which other deity has a celebration for nine days? Even Diwali is not for nine days. So everyone clapped, and I was also happy with the clap. But then afterwards, there’s one devoted friend.

He had brought this friend, And this person, he felt very insulted. And he said, you do. Yeah. I’m never going to come back to the temple. So now I was just interested in giving a sharp answer.

And I would say that my answer was not wrong in the content, but the way I spoke it. And not just the way I spoke it, the way everyone responded to it. And then it is I was thinking, okay, how clever I am. I can say one sec. I can give a clever answer.

But then, any years later, something similar happened. Then so actually, it’s similar is exactly the same question came up. This is a common question. It’s like we’d if we try to apply today’s values to the past, then nobody will stand according to today’s values. People live with a different system of values over there.

So the feminist angle applying it, the concerns are valid, but nobody is saying that we have to go back to the past now in today’s world. So but this critic is there can apply to any religion, any tradition, any thought system. It’s just there. So anyway, so the same question came up again once, and I gave the same answer, but my first thought was that I don’t want this person to be hurt. So I said, yeah, that’s an important question.

And it is unfortunately true that there are times when, there is, there’s there’s discrimination or there’s exploitation, gender discrimination, exploitation is there. And sometimes it’s justified in the name of religion. At the same time, it’s very questionable whether I have my doubts whether this is the reason for that. And then I said the same thing that that there’s a nine days is there. And then everyone started clapping.

And then he says, don’t clap over here. He says, I’m not here to score brownie points. You know, I’m here to actually have a discussion. And then afterward, that person came and talked with me, and we had a nice discussion. He basically he was in a he had always he had grown up in a family where there’s domestic violence, and the father was, father was quite abusive.

It was all justified in the name of religion. It was a very complex situation. And then I realized at that time, everybody had laughed out or made fun of him. You know, he would have been really hurt and damaged by that. So I talked with him and then give various examples of how, you know, protection is still important thing in our tradition.

So Indhra Pradesh was dishonored, the whole war was fought for that. So it’s not a small thing that this kind of violence. Anyway, my point is that one way I have to recognize maturity is that it’s not just showing how clever you are. It is trying to help the person who’s asking a question or person there to try to get a better understanding. Okay?

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay. I’m not sure if I’m asking the right question. Did drama had limitations?

Did Rama? Had limitations. Did Rama have limitations? Well, he’s God, so he does not have limitations. But when he comes in this world and performs Leela, he often acts like a human being.

So that means he does not always exhibit his omnipotence. The one why I was giving this, telling the story of Sita being abducted and we know the story of how Maricha is a deer. He took Ram far away and then when Ram’s arrow hit him, he screamed in the voice of Ram. So I was telling the story in Texas, and one boy asked this question. You know, when Maricha screamed, Lakshman and Sita, why didn’t Ram scream?

That’s not me. That’s Maricha. The whole problem could have been avoided. But the point is that Ram is playing Narila. Narila means he’s a human being.

He is acting not a human being. He’s acting like a human being. And within that cosmic hierarchy, the rakshasas are physically more powerful than the manavas. They’re even more powerful, but the rakshas are more similar power. The others are slightly more powerful.

So the Rakshasa’s voice was much bigger than the Manuva’s voice. That’s why Ram’s calling out would not have reached across the distance. So Lord Ram does not have limitations, but when he comes in this world, he acts within limitations. He does not act omnipotent or omniscient all the time and especially in the Valmiki Ramayan, Lord Ram’s divinity is substantially downplayed. Because the Valmiki Ramayan emphasis is more on doing the right thing and understanding who’s the ideal person who does the right thing.

And you are God, then you are all powerful. They can always do the right thing, isn’t it? So that does not emphasize Ram’s divinity so much. The Ram is a person who faces adversities and he does the right thing even in the face of adversities. Okay.

Right. Yes, please. We have two more questions. Only one question we have, Aarti, after that. Okay.

Aarti, we’ll start now. Okay. Hare Krishna, Prabhu ji. I have one doubt, this choice and consequences. So basically, you are saying, like, when we make any choices, so at the back end end of the mind, we have, think about the consequences.

Like, whatever choices we made, there is some consequences. So shouldn’t we surrender it to Krishna? Like, why, why we overthink on this? Like, I want to understand this part because I face during this application, like so I want understand this part. Like, should I overthink on my choices and, all Well, if you use the word overthink, we should not overthink, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think.

And the whole point is that it’s like depending on Krishna, Krishna is not just out there, Krishna is in here. Krishna also is so depending on Krishna also means using the intelligence that Krishna has given us. If I think it is my intelligence and become proud of it, that’s different. But if I see the intelligence as a resource that Krishna has given me, then using the intelligence is my responsibility. Arjuna surrendered to Krishna.

Arjuna, Krishna, you are God. You only kill those. Ajurad took his bow and was ready to fight. So generally, in the in this world, God does not take center stage. This is the world where God allows us humans to take center stage, but we need to take center stage in a way that is in harmony with God’s will.

So, yes, we should we consider what choices will lead to what concerns? Of course, we should consider. Otherwise, what is the point of Krishna giving any scripture? Krishna basic scripture are telling us do this, don’t do this. Now there are some some situations where the choices are moral.

Some places the situation choices are just logistical. We don’t it’s not a moral moral element over there. Should I take this job or should I take that job? No. Should I stick my home over here or there?

But these choices also have results and we need to use our intelligence to make good choices. So it’s using our intelligence is not acting independent of Krishna. It is depending on Krishna by using the resources that he has given us. Okay? Thank you very much.

We stop here. I think we can take later. Sure. So thank you very much. So we will have next class at 01:15.

So we have Aarti here itself. So we have Aarti or if somebody want to get fresh, please feel free to use. And if you have any question, Pujid’s here. I think now or later, you can ask. That’s the time to ask.

Okay? So thank you so much. Hare Krishna. Very nice to have your association again. What is your name?

I’m box of Sam. Sam? Mhmm. Oh, okay. Yeah.

What are you doing currently, Sam? Now I work in, telecom, and I work Namaste.