Let us turn to the itihAsic presentation of hanumAn.

Let us turn to the itihAsic presentation of hanumAn. sumeru is a mountain full of gold and it was ruled by the vAnara named kesari. kesari's wife was called anjana. vAyu created his own son through anjana and Anjaneya was born. Leaving the child alone the mother went to the forest to procure fruits. Due to hunger the child began to cry like skanda in sharavana. Seeing the red color of the rising sUrya the child jumped at him after mistaking him for a fruit. It was the day of solar eclipse when rAhu the son of siMhika tried to catch sUrya. When the child jumped into the car of sUrya, rAhu became afraid. He ran upto indra and informed him of this. Indra mounted on his elephant airAvata and went to the spot accompanied by rAhu. hanumAn jumped at rAhu and airAvata. Indra grew furious and struck the child with his vajrAyudhaM. The child fell down on the mountain below and its left jaw (or cheek?) was broken. vAyu was highly enraged and carried his son to a cave and stopped his work. This stifled the three worlds and all the devas, headed by Brahma rushed to the cave to pacify vAyudeva. Brahma revived the child lying almost lifeless. Now vAyu started moving in all directions. indra gave a boon to the child that he will be immune to vajra. He was also named hanumAn due to his bent jaw. All the Gods poured their blessings on him and granted boons. varuNa's noose and water shall not cause him harm. sUrya offered to teach him all shAstras. yama said that his daNDa shall not affect hanumAn. shiva and vishvakarma granted immunity to their weapons. Brahma then caused even more joy to vAyu by blessing him for victory and also said that hanumAn shall perform wonderful deeds and would help rAma in the annihilation of the laMka and rAvaNa. Armed with a score of boons, hanumAn grew as a powerful young vAnara and began to tease the mahaRshis in their Ashrama. The mahaRshis of bhRigu and angirasa cursed him to forget his own prowess but he shall grow powerful when reminded. Thus when vAli and sugrIva were rivals hanumAn did not remember his prowess - he could have easily killed vAli otherwise. hanumAn studied the nine vyAkaraNa-s and their commentaries from sUrya within one day, walking behind and facing sUrya from morning to evening. hanumAn is thus an expert in the nine vyAkaraNa-s and will become the next Brahma by the grace of rAma. This is the basic itihAsa of hanumAn. What does it mean philosophically? We are now ready to explore the allegorism of hanumAn's itihAsa. There are various facets of this character called hanumAn, and we will explore them one by one. These ideas will be needed when we interpret the shlokas of Hanuman Chalisa. We will limit ourselves to a brief description, without rigorous exposition, though this topic is a very vast one. hanumAn as rudra: The word kapi denotes the number eleven according to the kaTapayAdi saMkhya that is used as an esoteric expression throughout the scriptures. ka is 1 and pi is 1 and kapi is 11. The kATapayAdi table, along with the rules is reproduced below. 1. All stand-alone vowels or svaras like a, A, i, I etc are assigned a value of zero. 2. Consonants or vyanjanas have numerals assigned as per the table shown below. 3. In case of a conjunct, consonants attached to a non-vowel will not be valueless. 4. Consonant without vowel will be ignored. 5. Decimal numbers with a "dot" cannot be represented using this system. 6. Numbers go from left to right, reversed from our normal notation for numbers. Most leading digits are at the far left. In sAra kANDa of Ananda rAmAyaNa the kapis are identified as follows. sugrIva - vIrabhadra; nala - shambhu; nIla - girISha; sushena - mahAyasha; jAmbhavAn - ajaikapAt; angada - ahirbudhnya; dadhivaktra - pinakadRk; tAra - ayutajit; tarala - sthANu; mainda - bharga; hanumAn - bhagavAn This episode was narrated by garuDa to rAma when they were felled by indrajit. garuDa furnished more information as follows. "I shall tell you the janma rahasya of kapis of kiShkindhA. In those days when the ocean was churned by the devas and asuras terrible diseases like leprosy, fever etc originated and spread all over the world. The Rishis and kings complained to Brahma. Brahma requested the rudras for their help. The eleven rudras incarnated as sugrIva, hanumAn etc. They roamed and roared all over hills and all the diseases were exterminated. Brahma was pleased and this spoke to the kapis - "You have the power of reviving the dead. Several mantra-s including the gAyatrI are prescribed for worshipping you who represent all rudras and vaisvAnaris and those who worship you accordingly will be freed from all diseases and secure immortality in the end." Thus, according to the account given in the Ananda rAmAyaNa, the kapis of rAmAyaNa represent the eleven rudras and their gaNas of which hanumAn is the chief rudra called bhagavAn shaMkara. The Ananda rAmAyaNa also furnishes this story regarding the birth of hanumAn. When anjana was seated on the top of the mountain pAyAsaM dropped on her from the beaks of a vulture that had carried it away from kaikeyi (at the time of putrakAmeShTi yajna). anjana ate the pAyAsaM and hanumAn was born in the month of chitra, bright fortnight, ekAdashi day, on makha naxatra. In some accounts it is also said that hanumAn was born on the fullmoon day of chitra. hanumAn is here described as having originated from a portion of the pAyAsam given to kaikeyi by dasharatha. The bRihadAraNyaka upanishad clarifies that the eleven rudras denote the ten prANa-s and the Atma - dashemepuruShaprANaH AtmaikAdashaH. rudra technically signifies removal of misery. rutdukhaMdrAvayatItirudraH || rudras also denote the vedas that furnish jnAna. hanumAn denoting the highest of the rudra-s is different from the public imagination of hanumAn as a monkey who lived in a distant past in the forests of the Deccan area. Hanuman is not a part of past history of India – he is an eternal yogic principle and power. The eleven rudra-s are ten prANa-s and the Atma. Since prANa and vAyu are conceptually similar ideas, hanumAn is nicely and elegantly portrayed as the son of vAyudeva. The tArasAra upanishad equates hanumAn with axara 'makAra' ( the third pAda of OM) and shiva. hanumAn as practical working knowledge of the Veda: hanumAn is mentioned to be the son of kesari who ruled over sumeru. Meru refers to the spinal column, and also the pure mAya, devaloka, AkAsha and vedas. kesari therefore refers to knowledge of the vedas. anjana the name of his wife means unfolding or manifestation. It is naturally clear that hanumAn refers to a very high stage of knowledge of the vedas. hanumAn's fascination for the Sun: Curiously, hanumAn is said to have leapt up towards sUrya on a solar eclipse day which occurs only on a new moon day. So how could he be born on the full moon day of chitra? hanumAn is said to have attempted to catch rAhu whom indra has permitted to afflict sUrya and soma at the time of the eclipse. The reason why indra has permitted this mischief is also mentioned by Ananda rAmAyana. Whenever rAhu by his nature as an asura attempts to tease the devas, indra orders him to attack sUrya and soma instead knowing that people in the world will perform their religeous karmas at the time of eclipse and by pleasing rAhu will relieve sUrya and soma from his clutches. We have already explained the philosophical meaning of Brahmanas performing religeous karmas to save sUrya from the clutches of demons called mandehas. Its literal explanation is obviously a silly superstition. When hanumAn was a child he saw the rising sun and thinking it to be a fruit jumped towards the sun. He also attacked rAhu at the same time who fled from the scene and sought help from indra. Now, we have noted that the religious sun of the shAstra is the internal sun seated as the Atma of all beings. Needless to say, this was the sun that hanumAn was naturally attracted to even as a child, as if it were a tasty fruit. This is an itihAsic presentation of the concept of bhakti towards the Atma. When hanumAn takes birth in the microcosm, the yogi is naturally attracted towards the internal sun and "jumps" towards it. Even as a child hanumAn was a nemesis to rAhu who represents an obstruction to the sun. But the young hanumAn was not protected from danger and was struck down by indra. This indicates the limitations of bhakti at its early stage of jnAna yoga, after the vision of the internal sun at the level of prAtaH sandhyA has been procured. So it is not bhakti in the ordinary sense, but this bhakti pertains to the devotion towards the Atma after the first vision of the Atma, from where much refinement has to be procured by continued devotion and sadhana. hanumAn's broken jaw: We already noted that hanumAn's jaw got broken after he was hit by Indra and he fell on the mountains. The name hanumAn itself comes literally from the fact that hanumAn has a powerful jaw. But we observed that the jaw is a yogic symbol denoting destruction of materialism and procurement of Brahma-jnAna. When a thing gets broken, it becomes two. Hanuman's broken jaw refers to the two fold vedic idea presented earlier - adharA hanu and uttarA hanu. Broken jaw here is therefore not a mishap, and it indicates the beginning of manifestation of uttararUpam from pUrvarUpam. And naturally, this incident is associated with Hanuman obtaining immortality through blessings from all gods. hanumAn forgetful of his powers: This hanumAn of the shAstra is thus a microcosmic yogic idea, who within us represents the yogi's urge or natural instinct to "catch" the internal sun as soon as it comes into view. As a child he cannot accomplish this objective and he was mischievous and invited the curse of Rishis to forget his prowess. We have to let our hanumAn's grow and receive the blessings of all Gods. Then he assumes a power of unheard of proportions. The power of bhakti and guru anugraha is unlimited but we mortals are not made to think that way. When we constantly remind our own hanuman about his powers, then he will remember them. This is the meaning of the curse on hanumAn that made him forget his powers. hanumAn as the philosophical prANAyAma of jnAna yoga: The birth of hanumAn to kesari and ajnana, together with his birth through vAyu denotes the philosophical prANAyAma. The inhalation of the philosophical Truth "Brahman is Truth" is the philosophical in-breath. Retention of this Truth as "I am that Brahman" in the heart is kumbhaka. Rejection of the false conception of jagat "World is untrue (World has no independent reality and is less real than Brahman)" is the technical recaka or out-breath. prANa thus technically represents the knowledge "Brahman is Truth". apAna represents the knowledge of falsity of the empirical world. The union of prANa and apAna is kumbhaka and represents constant abiding in the Highest Truth or Brahman with the knowledge "I am the eternal and blissful Atma". These are the philosophical ideas connected with Lord rAma and hanumAn. This is the interpretation of the philosophical prANAyAma when applied to gAyatrI for the sAMkhya shAstra. hanumAn as anugraha and sva-prakAshatva of Lord Rama: His birth on ekAdashi day, bright fortnight and chitra month point to the purified mind.( mind is the eleventh, after the ten indriya-s). The full moon on which he was born denotes the completion of karma yoga, only after which hanumAn originates. The sUrya that hanumAn tried to catch as a child was Atma itself. Naturally, he was obstructed by rAhu, a sun obscuring principle. hanumAn is also said to have originated from the portion of the pAyAsaM given to kaikeyi by dasharatha. This makes it clear that hanumAn and bharata are brothers and closely connected in the yogic sense. The Self-revealing power and grace of sarveShvara or rAma to the yogi is itself called hanumAn or guru tattva and it is a natural result of the birth of the microcosmic hanumAn or bhakti in the yogi. Thus hanumAn is used in two closely related ways in rAmAyaNa - one as the personification of the higher bhakti of the yogi (adhyAtmik bhakti following the vision of Atma) and another as personification of Lord rAma's anugraha upon the yogi. hanumAn as the higher bhakti pertains to the jIva-tattva. hanumAn as bhagavAn's prasAda or anugraha pertains to rAma-tattva. In the former sense, hanumAn is different from rAma and in the later sense hanumAn cannot be differentiated from Lord rAma. hanumAn's shortcomings and frailties in rAmAyaNa pertain to his relationship with the jIva-tattva. hanumAn's unlimited powers and wisdom are a direct result of his inseparability from rAma's own nature. hanumAn as knower of vyAkaraNa: The nine vyAkaraNa-s learnt by hanumAn from sUrya in a single day refer to the nine mystic sounds of the madhyama svara-s that are used for high class yogic meditation. The nine sounds as enumerated in the tripura rahasya are bindu, ardhacandraM, rodhini, nAdaM, nAdAntaM, shakti, vyApika, samanA and unmanI. These are madhyama svara-s and are inaudible to the human ears and can be heard only by evolved yogis. hanumAn is said to have spoken to rAma in the madhyama svara which is usually translated as a "low voice" but actually refers to the yogic sound called madhyama svara which has nine categories. vyAkaraNa is an esoteric branch of Veda and we had explained them during our analysis of the mAheshvara sUtras. hanumAn as next Brahma: What is the yogic meaning for hanumAn going to become the next Brahma? Brahma denoting the mahat tattvaM denotes the foremost of the twenty four tattva-s or divine bases within the yogic microcosm. It should be obvious now that hanumAn is the means for securing the knowledge of all the tattvams and then involuting them into their sources. The practical process for doing this is called bhakti. This bhakti as pertaining to jnAna yoga is called jnAna bhakti or adhyAtmiki bhakti. Bhakti that arises after the first vision of the internal sun at prAtaH sandhyA and continues to evolve until the final emancipation is termed hanumAn. Thus hanumAn as bhakti is the basis for meditation and grace in rAmAyana. hanumAn as messenger of Lord Rama: rAmAyaNa pays considerable importance to hanumAn as rAmadUtha, his role as messenger of rAma to sIta. This may even be considered to be the portfolio of hanumAn in rAmAyaNa. This idea is universal and the concept of "messenger of God" is synonymous with the idea of Guru tattva. Guru is God's messenger to the jIva sent to save him from the terrible ocean of samsAra. Guru is the intrinsic potential of the Almighty to reveal himself and is the means to attain God. hanumAn is the Self revealing nature of rAma through the agency of buddhi of the jnAna yogi. So hanumAn is the manifested form, face or the voice of the unmanifested Rama that is more easily accessible during sAdhana. Rama or Sita representing the unmanifest are very difficult to access in yoga through any amount of sAdhana - but relatively speaking, Rama is more easily available through hanumAn as pratyaxam-brahma. If you can somehow catch hold of his mighty Hanuman, rest assured that you can catch hold of the Supreme Being Rama also. Hanuman as naiShTika brahmachAri: One of the most conspicuous traits in the personality of Hanuman is his representation as a naiShTika brahmachAri. This is obviously a yogic concept, and the idea is much more generic than mere observance of the vow of celibacy. brahmacharya means "walking or abiding in Brahman" – it is a very generic concept encompassing a very high level of purity and devotion without any material contamination. Brahmacharya is completely observed only by a yogi who has completely surrendered to the Lord in every possible way, and is fully established in Brahmic awareness. Hanuman is said to be the very embodiment of purity because this particular yogic principle is entirely free from materiality, even a tinge of materiality is not present in him. We noticed how the very name Hanuman means the destroyer of materiality through philosophical enquiry and meditation. Being a naiShThika brahmachAri yogically means to eternally abide in Brahman – in the state of the Highest samAdhi. This concludes our brief introduction to the hanumAn tattva of the Veda, and in particular of rAmAyaNa. We will proceed with a brief study of Tulsidas, the author of Hanuman Chalisa, and then go through a brief summary of the yogic background of rAmAyaNa before taking a dive into the Chalisa. Previous: 1.4 The philosophy of Hanuman Next: 1.6 Philosophical introduction to Ramayana Please send your comments to mihiraastro@gmail.com, or alternatively post your comments below.

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