When Hanuman was a monkey, why did Sita see him as a man and decline to be carried by him?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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Hare Krishna question when Hanuman offers to carry Sita from Lanka with him Sita says that she cannot touch any other man except for Ram and when Ravana abducted her she was helpless but she doesn’t want to touch any other man but Hanuman is a vanara why does Sita consider him to be a man? answer we should understand that the vanaras are in the Ramayana not like ordinary monkeys which we might see around here they were celestial apes and they had prowess not only equal to but in some cases higher than that of humans and they were in many ways very similar to humans so in some of their laws they lived like animals but in some of the laws they were very much like humans we see that Vali had a wife he had a family Sugriva had a wife so normally they were living together, they had their palaces so they were practically for all purposes like human beings and that’s why we should not consider that they were just like ordinary monkeys so from that perspective for Sita Hanuman although he was a vanara but he was very much a masculine vanara and he resembled very much human beings and human men and she therefore did not want to be carried by him and she wanted to avoid male contact, that’s the reason that she gives, another reason she gives is also that she doesn’t want she wants Ram to have the glory of having rescued her and of course we know ultimately that Ram had descended so that the atrocious Rakshasas who were troubling the world they could be annihilated he is Vishnu who has descended for that purpose and from the overall Leela point of view for the continuation of this Leela Sita tells that Varanuman you should just inform Ram and let Ram come and rescue