Prayer to Hanumanji – Welcome the Rama-duta in the heart with eagerness

Manojavam maruta tulya vegam, jitendriyam buddhi mataam varishtham
vaataatmajam vaanara yooth mukhyam, shree raama dootam sharnam prapadye.
Let me pray to the one who is swift as thought (manojavam-), the one who is more powerful than the wind (marut.tulya.vegam-), the one who has conquered his senses (jitendriyam-), the one who is supreme among all intelligent beings, the son of the wind-god (vaataatmajam-), the commander of the army of forest creatures (vaanar.yooth.mukhyam-), Let me find refuge in Lord Rama’s Messenger, the incomparable Lord Hanuman.

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Prahlad Maharaj ki jai. So, standard prayer to Hanumanji. The last line has got a variant.
Shri Ramadhootam Shirasanamami. Either way, offer obeisances or surrender. It is the same essentially.
So, Manojavami. He is as fast, swift as the mind when he jumped across the ocean to go to Lanka. He was empowered by his own phenomenal strength, by the grace of the Lord, and further by Vayu who came behind him to strengthen him further.
And he went across at blinding speed. So, Maruttu Tulya Vegam, his force, his Vega, refers not just to the speed with which he moves, but also the sheer force with which he acts in service of the Lord. Maruttu Tulya Vegam.
Jitendriyam. He has conquered his senses completely. Hanumanji is not mentioned as a Brahmachari explicitly in the Valmiki Ramayana, but neither is any consort of his ever mentioned there.
And the Valmiki Ramayana does describe how even when he went into the bedchambers of Ravana, still he was not tempted, even on seeing the oncobeles of Ravana in alluring positions. Jitendriyam, he was evaluating, although he did not feel agitated by temptation, he felt agitated by his conscience. That means although he was not tempted to do wrong, still he got the question, am I doing something wrong? Just by coming here and exposing myself to this kind of temptation.
The test of sense conquest is not just the test of sense conquest, Jitendriyam, is not just fighting with and battling against and overpowering the senses. It is essentially having a higher conscience and a higher taste so much that the senses cannot offer a battle. We don’t feel allured by the senses, the attraction of senses only.
So when we are agitated by our conscience, that means our conscience is so healthy and alive and alert that even before we actually do something wrong, immediately we come on guard. We realize, oh, there is some danger over there. Even there could be some danger, let me be on high alert.
Then such alertness because of a very active conscience will ensure that we always stay Jitendriyam. So it’s described immediately of Jitendriyam, Pruttimatam varishtam. That is conquest of the senses is not just by group power.
It is by his superior intelligence. The best intelligence is that which is fixed in Krishna because such intelligence grants us life’s ultimate fulfillment, that is eternal love for Krishna. So Pruttimatam varishtam, among the different people who have buddhi, he is the highest.
Pruttimatam varishtam, the best intelligence is the intelligence that glorifies Krishna. So buddhi vimalendu yastauti narayanam. So actually the verse in Kulasekhar Maharaj’s prayer where he describes the perfection of all the senses of all our faculties in fact, is to be used in service of the Lord.
So he says that intelligence is the best which meditates on Krishna. That tongue is the best which glorifies Krishna. So that will be described in the further glories of Lord Ram.
Lord Ram’s most celebrated servant Hanumanji. So then Vataatmajam vanarayutamukhyam. Vataatmajam.
So he is child of Vayu, Bhavanaputra. Vanarayutamukhyam. He is the foremost of the Vanaras.
Among the commanders he is the foremost. Although Hanumanji never was the king. It was Sugriva who was the king.
But that is simply because of the request. Hanumanji was a servant of, Hanumanji learnt spiritual knowledge from Suryadeva. And Suryadeva Dakshina asked that please protect my son.
Sugriva is the son of Surya. Accordingly Hanumanji acted as a servant of Sugriva. But actually in the war and in the whole Ramayana Hanuman’s heroism by far outshines that of any of the other Vanaras.
Even if their administrative position is superior to him. Vanarayutamukhyam. So in terms of heroic activities and contributions he is the topmost Vanara.
And Sri Ramadutam Shirsannamami. I go down to the Ramaduta. To Hanumanji who is, who is the messenger of Lord Ram.
He was a messenger actually not to Ravana but to Sita. He gave the message of how Lord Ram is remembering Sita is bereaved in separation from Sita and will soon come to rescue and reclaim her. And additionally he also gave a message to Ravana warning him of the imminent destruction that will come if Ravana did not return Sita to Ram.
So either way he is messenger. So Hanumanji is actually in one sense the representative of the Guru. So Hanumanji acted as a messenger in many cases.
Even when Lord Ram returned back to Ayodhya at that time he wanted to check if Bharata has become attached to the kingdom and wanted to be the king. Lord Ram said I do not want to take the kingdom from him. So he sent Hanuman as a messenger to check whether Bharata was eager to welcome Lord Ram or was unhappy that Lord Ram was returning after exile.
So that time also Hanumanji tested the response, the genuineness of Bharata’s great happiness on hearing the news of the imminent return of Lord Ram convinced Hanumanji that happiness of spontaneous profound happiness of Bharataji Bharata convinced Hanuman that Bharata’s devotion is no less than his own. And then after that after Hanumanji just went as a messenger tested then Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya. So with respect to Lanka Hanumanji came as a messenger, acted as a messenger both to Sita and to Ravana.
So if we compare Lanka to our heart then in our heart there is a devotional side and there is a demoniac side. So Hanumanji, the spiritual master the exemplary servant of Krishna comes as a messenger and now it’s up to us whether we receive that messenger with our devotional side or with our demoniac side. The demoniac side wants to delight in defiance of God and the devotional side longs for the return of God and feels that life is empty is empty without the presence of the Lord.
So it’s our choice with which side of our heart we will welcome the Rama Duta. So we can pray to Hanumanji that he bless us with a drop of his devotion and by the power of that devotion we will be able to also become fixed in service to the Lord and that whenever as he came as a messenger the Lord’s messengers come in our life we welcome them in the right consciousness we pass their test and then eventually we will be blessed enough for the return, the re-manifestation of the Lord in our heart. You know, Shri Hanumanji ki Jai.
Thank you.