Radhanath Swami describes Hanuman’s Finding Mother Sita, 2014 Yatra, Hampi, Day 3, Morning

 

Radhanath Swami on The Nature of Compassion

Hare Krishna

We are meeting in the very place, according to Sri Valmiki Ramayan, where Hanumanji, Ram and Laxman first met. This is Pampa Sarovar. We were explaining yesterday…  (could everyone hear, they cannot hear, could everyone hear. Hare Krishna) Kabandha, after he took his celestial form, in a spirit of service to Lord Ram, he expressed that the best person to help you is someone who feels what you feel. This is the principle of compassion.

“The primary characteristic of a saintly person, one who is truly intoxicated with ecstatic love of God, who wishes to do the most essential service for the Lord within this world, they are para dukh dukhi, that means the suffering of others is their own suffering and happiness of others is their happiness.” –Radhanth Swami

Kabandha explained that there is a monkey chief, Sugriva, whose brother had stolen away his wife and exiled him from his kingdom and similarly Lord Ram, Ravana had stolen his wife and he was also exiled from his kingdom.  So you will understand what Sugriva is feeling and he will understand what you are feeling. And in that spirit you will give your lives for each other.

Radhanath Swami on Developing Love and Surrender

Many pages of Ramayan describe Kabandha’s description of pampa sarovar. At that time where we are sitting was one of the most beautiful places on all of earth. Forests, flowers and just behind us, Pampa Sarovar, it was at that time a very large lake, a very holy place. And on the banks of this lake, as we explained yesterday, Sabri was living. And even today, you may have already been there (if not after the lecture, just there are the caves, the cave of Sabri) if you want to experience what’s it like to be in a cave, its quiet spacious five-star cave.  A long, long time ago she performed her tapasya there.  After Sabri–– where we are sitting–– worshipped Ram after waiting for him in great anticipation for many, many years, with his blessings, by his grace, she attained the highest perfection. And Hanuman came down from Rishimukhya Mountain in the guise of a brahman and introduced himself. When Ram heard beautiful poetic speech of Hanuman which was invested with such pure unalloyed devotion, such a selfless spirit to serve, Ram was very pleased and it was here at Pampa Sarovar that the connection of the hearts of Hanuman and Ram was first truly manifested forever. Upon Hanuman seeing Ram, even though he didn’t know who he was, his heart over-flooded with love, with surrender. What is that love and surrender? How does it manifest? With a willingness to serve. The purpose of service is to please the object of our service.

Samsidhir hari toshnam

Lord Hari steals the heart of one who puts the first priority of life in serving with the will to please. This is the essence of humility and humility is the essence of the service attitude. When we take ourselves out of the center of our life, it’s so easy. The whole world is oriented toward the powers of ego, ahankar to put yourself in the center. –Radhanath Swami

 

janasya moho ‘yam aham mameti

 

When we can see ourselves as our body and that which is in relationship to the body is mine). But bhakti is to put Krishna or Sri Ram in the center.  That means I orchestrate every aspect of life in such a way that I could give happiness to my beloved Lord. Happiness, distress, honor, dishonor, pleasure, pain, life, death, they are all beautiful if they are endured for the purpose of seva, giving pleasure to Krishna. –Radhanath Swami

Bhakti Vinoda Thakur, great vaishnav saint, he prayed, “My dear Lord the inconveniences and even apparent suffering that I undergo to serve you and to please you are the sources of great happiness in my life. Because pleasure and pain and all of these dualities will come and go like the winter and summer seasons inevitably.

tams titiksasva bharata.

Sustainable happiness is not when its dependent on those dualities, it’s when its dependent on our will to express our love through seva and Krishna is pleased with our seva and that’s our happiness. Whether I am living or dying, if I am pleasing Krishna, that’s my highest happiness because that’s  ananda or the nature of the soul.

Radhanath Swami Conveys the Danger of Distraction

Pampa Sarovar represents this to us. It is the place where Hanumanji first manifested the surrender of his heart to Lord Sri Ram.  Laxman told Hanuman here at Pampa Sarovar the story of Ram’s life, his exile and the abduction of Sita and Hanuman explained briefly about Sugriva and it was here that he put Ram and Laxman on his two shoulders and jumped to the top of Rishimukhya Mountain. In our talk yesterday, we discussed up to the point where the monsoon rainy seasons had just ended and several weeks passed and Ram was still waiting, but Sugriva became very infatuated and intoxicated by all the luxuries that he was deprived of for many years, and he was distracted.  Can you imagine, even in the association of Hanuman! Even when Ram was, where we were yesterday at Malyavanta sitting in a cave yearning, crying every moment like millions of years waiting for the rains to end  so that they could start searching for Sita! But he was so distracted that he forgot all about it and even if he remembered, there were so many nice things all around him that he really didn’t remember. It was just something at the back of his mind. Sometimes in our sadhana, in our duties or seva, we become distracted. Even in the best association we can be distracted if we are not very careful.

The Search for Sita Begins

But Hanuman reminded him, and Laxman really reminded him. He was very angry.  The arrangements were made where they would begin their search and Ram gave Hanuman his own ring with his name on it because it was Sugriva who actually sent Hanuman in the southern direction with Angad, Jambavan and others. Sugriva was saying to Hanumanji, “I know you are the one who is going to find Sita.” And Ram heard that and he, he walked up to Hanuman and gave Hanuman his own personal ring. I have this confidence that by your determination to please me that you will find Sita. Just to prove to her that you are my messenger, give her my ring. They began the search. Sugriva ordered four divisions of vanars, who went in North, South, East and West, that they have to return within one month and they had to find Sita. A month had passed. Those who went to the North, West and the East, they had already returned but Hanumans’ group, headed by Angad, the son of Bali, they still had not returned. The others explained to Sugriva and then to Ram, “We searched everything, everywhere, but we could not find.”

They were so thorough, they were going to the towns, to the cities, to the villages, they were going in every cave, practically to every house, they were looking everywhere, so thorough. They had to find Ravana and bring back Sita but they could not find. Six weeks passed. Hanuman, Angad, they were still looking. They came to one place where there was no food and there was no water. They were literally on the verge of death. They became so weak and just then, out from a cave they saw some birds flying and birds had water on them. So they realized that’s water in the cave. So they all went in a line. There were lots of these monkey soldiers. They were holding each other’s tails because it was really dark in this cave. They were walking, each one holding the person in front of their tail. They walked long distance in this cave. They had screeching of birds and bats flying in and out but they could not see anything and suddenly after a distance in this cave they came upon what appeared like paradise. It was illuminated by golden trees and on these trees there were such wonderful fruits and there was lakes and waterfalls and fountains and so much food, they were everywhere. There were elegant jewels, gold and silver, the monkeys were really astounded, “Where are we, what is this?!” And suddenly in the midst of the most incredible luxury, there was an ascetic woman. Hare Krishna.  She just wearing tree bark, she was very thin, she was meditating, performing tapasya. Hanuman approached her and asked, “Who are you, where are we, what is this?” She introduced herself as Svayampraha and she explained the history of that place. Maya, he was the architect for the asuras, the demons and he resided in that cave. He designed everything. Before he left, he gave residence a celestial heavenly lady named Hema. And Svayampraha explained that Hema was my best friend and after she left, she gave charge of this place to me. She said, “Please drink as much water as you like and eat these fruits and herbs and they will completely satisfy you.” So they were very happy. It was like by the grace of Ram and they were completely rejuvenated but then she told them that there is certain rule here, anyone who come here, if they try to leave, they will die. Now it was a nice place to stay but Sita was captive somewhere in the world. They had no idea where by Ravana and Ram was in the cave in Malyavanta here in Kirshkinta crying, “We have to get out and find her!” The ascetic woman understood this. She told them, “Close your eyes, If you try leaving you will die but by my ascetic power, I will chant the mantra and transfer you outside.” So they close their eyes and she chanted some mantras and by her mystic yogic powers, they found themselves, along with her, outside the cave and she blessed them.

They continued their search everywhere. They had no clue where to go and finally, after it was weeks passed, the month already ended, Anagad, the son of Bali, because again they were very hungry and very thirsty, he said, ‘We can’t find her, we don’t know where else to look and Sugriva he is going to kill me if I return without any news of Sita!” and the others were expressing the same thing. So Angad said, we are disappointed, we have failed in our mission. The time is up and we have no news. Angad said, “I am going to stay here and fast till death.” And except for Jambavan and Hanuman, who were saying, “No No, we should continue looking”, all the others following Angad decided to fast till death because they couldn’t bare coming back and seeing Ram and disappointing. So they were fasting, they were actually dying and as they were lying there, just lying in rows, from above in a mountain a gigantic bird, like a vulture with no wings, he was really old, he came out and he saw all these big monkeys laying down, fasting till death and he spoke so that everyone could hear him: “I am also very hungry, it seems like you are gonna fast till death, after you die I will eat you.” Angad, seeing this massive bird, he was thinking that we failed. Ravana stole Sita, we don’t know where he is and even the great bird Jatayu, like us he tried to protect Sita but he failed, he was killed by Ravana! When this big bird heard this, he said, “did you speak the name Jatayu? I happened to be Jatayu’s elder brother.” He asked Angada to tell the whole story. When he heard that Jayatu had died trying to protect Sita from Ravana, Angada told him the whole story. (Should I tell it briefly?) Just outside of Nasik or Panchavati, there is Sita Harana, it’s a holy place even today, we should have yatra there once again. Ram and Sita and Laxman were living there and it was there that Ravana disguised himself as a sadhu, a holy man, because he knew that Sita was very fond of serving holy people. And Marich. who was a mystic yogi, changed his form to most incredible beautiful dear and Sita knowing that their fourteen years in exile only had a couple of years left, She said to Ram (actually only about a year is left)  She said, “wouldn’t  it be nice to bring back deer back to Ayodhaya with us?! We can make him happy and it will make everybody so happy. Please bring that deer back.” Ram told Laxman, “You stay here with Sita.” Because Dandakaranaya forest was a very, very dangerous place. So he went out to catch the deer and then the deer cried out in a loud voice exactly with Ram’s voice, “Laxman save me, help me!!” And Sita said Laxman, “Go help!!” And Laxaman said, “No that’s a demon named Marichi and he has taken the form of this dear and he is pretending to be Ram just to allure me away so something could happen to you.” And Sita, she was so much emotional, “My husband!!!, My beloved Ram is in danger, go, go!!!” And he said, “I will not go.” She said, “Is it that you came on this trip just waiting for this moment when you would be alone with me and Ram would be away so that you could enjoy me?! I will not allow you to do this, I will take my life.” Laxman said, “How could I– I have never ever looked above your feet! I would never do such a thing.” Sita said, “Then go and find, help Ram!” Laxaman is heartbroken, he went to find Ram and it was at that time that Ravana stole Sita away by force and as he was going ahead, because he was a mystic who  could fly, he had a chariot, that was going through the  air.

Radhanath Swami Explains The Lord and his Devotee’s Intimacy

Jatayu who was really old, who was a beloved devotee of Ram, He heard Sita’s voice crying out, “Jatayu please tell Ram what happened to me but don’t try to help yourself, you are too old, you will die.” But when Jatayu saw the helpless condition of Sita, he could not just sit there in his old age and watch it happen. Yes it was for sure that he would die if he tried to help, but he would rather die than do nothing. He challenged Ravana to a battle and he jumped off and he really fought. He destroyed Ravana’s chariot, started beating and beating and beating Ravana. Ravana was screaming in pain. The fight went on and on for hours and hours and but ultimately, because of his age, he became extremely tired and, taking advantage of the situation, Ravana with his sword, cut off his wings and he fell to the ground bleeding,

Unable to stand up, Sita ran up to him and embraced Jatayu, crying, “Such a devotee you are, you were willing to die for me, I bless you, I pray for you.” And then Ravana came and grabbed Sita and took her away. Sometime later when Ram and Laxman discovered that Sita was gone, they didn’t know where she went or what happened. They were asking the trees, the sun, the moon, the animals, the insects where is Sita and some deer, simple little lotus eyed deers, they looked in the south east direction and Ram understood, that’s where they went. And he followed that direction and ultimately found his beloved devotee Jatayu laying in the pool of his own blood. He also saw the broken chariot of Ravana and Jatayu explained to Ram exactly what happened, “It was Ravana, the king of rakshas, that has stolen Sita! And they have gone in this direction.” Ram put the head of Jatayu in his lap, and embraced him. He told Jatayu, “Because you have given your life for me, I promise you on this very day, I will grant you the highest perfection of liberation, prema bhakti, ecstatic love for me. And on this day you will be my eternal servant in the spiritual world.” Jatayu, looking up at Ram’s beautiful lotus face, chanted his holy names, and Ram took his soul back to the spiritual world, Vaikuntha. Ram started to cry. He said “The death of my father Dasrath and even the loss of Sita is not paining my heart as much as the loss of such devotee as Jatayu from this world.” The feelings of separation on the spiritual platform are something very intimate and sweet. “In order to serve my beloved Sita, he gave his life. How could I ever repay him? How could I ever forget him? How could I live without the association of such a devotee?”

Radhanath Swami Speaks Jatayu’s Glories

Angada told this story to this big bird and then the big bird, he said, “My name is Sampathi, I am the elder brother of Jatayu. I have not seen him for so many long years. This is the first news I have heard of him. He gave his life in the service of Ram!” Sampathi was crying for his brother. And then he told his own story, how when he was very young, he and his younger brother, Jatayu, were flying in the air. And they were so empowered, they could go anywhere they wanted, they were flying higher and higher into the sky to the heavenly world and they became very close to the sun. Jatayu, his little brother, he was exhausted; he was being burnt by the sun. Sampathi, who wanted to protect his brother, he flew over his head and shielded him with his wings, and in doing so Sampahti’s wings were totally burnt and scorched and they fell off, to protect his brother. And Sampathi came falling down to where he was there. It was a forest near a hermitage of a great sage named Chandrama. And Sampathi, from that day, he never saw Jatayu again and he never heard anything about where he was or what happened. He went to the rishi Chandrama and explained to him what happened, “Save my brother! I have no wings, I can’t do anything!” and the sage told him that, “By my yogic powers I could give you wings back but I am not going to do it. Because that will deprive you of a service. Many years from now, the devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead– Bhagavan, who will descend in this world as Ram, by my yogic powers and devotion, I know that Ram will come and when he descends to this world, his wife Sita will be stolen and his devotees, who will be in the form of monkeys, they will come here searching for Sita. And you will tell them where she is. Because by your incredible vision, you’ll be able to see where she is.  When you serve the servants of Ram, you will attain the perfection of life. And Ram will be so pleased with you being the servant of his servants in this very, very special way, at that moment your wings will grow back.” He told this story. Sampathi, he said, “Even though I can’t fly, I have been waiting here for you for 8000 years. And I can’t fly and I can’t go anywhere!  My son was bringing me food for a while but now even he is gone! So I have just been living in this cave, helplessly, just waiting for the servants of Ram to come so that I can perfect my life in devotion.” He said, “But my eyes are still fully powerful and I am seeing there is an ocean, the southern ocean. And across 800 miles away, I see an island called Sri Lanka. In the center of this island there is a mountain named Trikuta and on the peak this mountain is the palace of Ravana. It’s a huge place with huge grounds. And I see there is a garden of ashok trees, and there under a tree, is Sita. Crying in separation, she is emaciated, she practically refuses to eat and drink anything constantly meditating and chanting the holy names of Sri Ram.”

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

He said that, “By the mercy of Lord Ram, one could easily cross over the vast limitless ocean of birth and death. So by the mercy of your beloved Lord Ram, you will certainly be able to cross over this little 800-mile ocean. I bless you to have all success.” And with a grateful and loving heart when he gave that information, magnificent wings sprouted from his body, he became youthful again, and he smiled and he resounded with loud voice, another benediction upon all the monkeys and he flew in the air.

Radhanath Swami on Hanuman’s Empowerment

So now they knew where exactly where Sita was. But how to cross 800 miles ocean? Angada, who was the leader, he said, “I could jump across the ocean 800 miles but I don’t think I have the power to get back.” and Jambavan said, “You are the leader, you shouldn’t be the one who does it, somebody else should do it.” and Angada said, “Can anyone else get the message of Ram to Sita?” And each of the powerful monkeys was expressing the extent of their abilities. One said, “I could jump 10 yojanas, [that’s about 80 miles], but that’s as far as I could go.” Someone else said, “I could jump 30 yojanas!” Another said, “I could jump 50 yojanas!” but nobody could jump 800 miles and then back, that’s 1600 miles. So there was a dilemma. Jambavan, he said, “When I was young I could do it but now I am very old too.” He looked over Hanuman, who was very humble just sitting in meditation and prayer, how to get Ram’s message to Sita. At that time, Jambavan said to Hanuman, He said, “You can easily do this!” And then he reminded Hanuman of his life and his childhood in front of all the others! He explained how Hanuman was born, and how when he was just a little baby, he jumped to the sun! And he actually already made it practically to the sun planet with a desire to eat the sun! And then Indra stopped him. And because of that thunderbolt of Indra touching on his chin, he went unconscious. And vayu stopped the air of the universe, and all the various devas gave benediction to Hanuman. But the sages gave another benediction, that he would forget all the blessings he has and all his powers unless he is reminded. He [Jambavan] said, “All these years Hanuman, no one has reminded you.” Hanuman could have single handedly helped Sugriva and vanquished Bali but he didn’t remember his strength.  Jambavan said, “Hanuman, these are the different benedictions that various devas have bestowed upon you.” and when Hanuman heard this, he understood with total confidence that there is nothing that he could not do without the grace of Ram. And he roared, “I will cross the ocean!” And all of the great vanaras, headed by Angada, were cheering and cheering! Hanumanji climbed to the top of mountain Mahendra and then he expanded himself to very, very large size. And Jambavan blessed him, “Now go and give the message of Ram to Sita!” With folded palms, Hanumanji offered a prayer to his beloved Lord Ram. As we spoke yesterday, Ram got the order to do all the incredible things he did from Sugriva and Jambavan. Even the most intimate, celebrated, immortal servant of Ram, in his heart, was always in the mood of servant of the servant of the servant of the servant. He shouted out, he roared, “Jai Shri Ram!” Hanuman still lives here. So let us say it in such a way that he is very happy with us. “Jai Sri Ram.!!”  10 million times louder please. “Jai Sri Ram!!!” Again please. “Jai Shri Ram!!!” Hearing Hanumanji roare, all the monkey raised their arms… Jai Sri Ram!!!

Hanuman Sets Out for Sita

With his palms folded in a prayerful, heartfelt mood of saranagati, (total surrender), Hanuman jumped. He expanded himself to a large size. Being the son of Vayu, and the son of Shiva, what could he not do? The force and the power of his leap, the whole mountain, it’s a giant mountain, it started going into the ground. And the force of his foot on the mountain put so much of pressure in the mountain, that all the trees and the animals and insects, the snakes under ground, they all started coming out– what’s happening, what’s happening– and Hanuman leapt through the air and the velocity of the wind that was behind him because of the force of his body, is the trees were being uprooted from the mountain following behind him, completely immersed in this dasyabhav, in his love in the spirit of a servant of servant of Sri Ram.

He was soaring through the sky. Even the demigods were astounded. They wanted to glorify Hanuman. They also wanted to prepare him because going to Srilanka was going to be an incredible, inconceivable challenge. Here is Ravana, kumbhakarana, Indrajit ,Vrihastha ,the most powerful rasksasha demons by the millions all living together and everything in the whole Srilanka was directed toward satisfying Ravana’s desires. And he had only one desire, to enjoy Sita. And Hanuman was, all alone, going there, so the devas approached. Actually first, the Lord of the ocean, he wanted to do some service for Hanuman, das das anudas. Because he was already flying for so many miles, he was half way across the ocean, 400 miles, he needed some rest. When you are going off the ocean. There was a mountain, the Menka Mountain. This Menaka Mountain was underneath the ocean. It was in the water. Actually its an incredible thing, there are many huge mountains in the ocean, some of the mountains in the oceans are actually larger than the mountains on land.  We just can’t see them. So Varuna dev appealed to Menaka to rise out of the ocean, to be a resting place for Hanuman. This gigantic mountain with golden peak emerged from the ocean and Menaka personified himself as like a human being and he stood before the Hanuman way way up in the sky and said, “I have come to provide you a resting place.” And Hanuman was really grateful, but he was so enthusiastic, “Sita is in such a deplorable situation and my beloved Ram is in Kishkinta Kshetra, in a cave, waiting for some news– I can’t waste a moment.” He said, “I accept your service but, I cannot waste any time.” So to honor the offering, with his hand he touched the mountain and kept flying. This is an important principle.

Time is so precious. Srila Prabhupada quotes Chanakya pundit that even one moment lost cannot be bought back by all the wealth in the world. Therefore time is the most precious thing we have. –Radhanath Swami

And these concepts are even catching on the material level.  These business managers they say, “Time is money” because how you spend your time, is how you are going to you’re your money or lose your money, whatever it is but

athato brahma jijnasa

Manushyanam sahasreshu Kaschid yatati sidhaye

Gita explains that human life is so rare. Out of thousands of people, hardly one even endeavors for life perfection and out of those few that endeavor, it’s very difficult to know the Lord because we cannot know Krishna by our own efforts. We can only know Krishna by Krishna’s grace, by Radha’s grace which comes through her devotees. Through that grace, Krishna reveals himself to us. Hanumanji, we cannot imitate him. Go ahead and try. How many of you today climbed up to the top of the Anjana Parvat? So you know what it’s like to climb a mountain. Hanumanji, he was born up. When he was infant child he could jump from the top to the bottom within seconds. So we cannot imitate great souls but

mahajano yena gatah sa panthah

but they teach us by their examples  the most essential truth. And unless we follow in the footsteps of the examples, there is no other way to spiritual enlightenment. They teach us how to please the Lord. Hanuman was the perfection of dasya, the devotional principle of rendering service, selfless service and he wanted to teach us through this pastime how precious every moment is.  The six goswamis

Rupa Goswami, Raghunath das Goswami, Sanatan Goswami, Gopal bhatt Goswami, Jeev  Goswami, Raghunath bhatt Goswami, they hardly slept one to one and a half hours a day and sometimes they just didn’t have time to even do that because they were so enthusiastic to serve. They didn’t want to waste a moment. They were constantly chanting Krishna’s names, writing books about Krishna, discussing Krishna about one another, excavating holy places, discovering the places of Krishna’s lilas, doing seva for their deities. With every moment we are getting closer to death. Srimad Bhagvatam, there is a beautiful verse, with every rising and setting of the sun, we are one day closer to inevitable death but those who utilize these precious moments in understanding how valuable they are, to engage those moments in remembering Krishna and serving Krishna, with every rising and setting of the sun such a person is one day closer to eternal life. And the easiest way, that Hanuman taught us and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu broadcasted to the word, the easiest way to remember the Lord is to chant his holy name.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

nama cintamani krsna caitanya rasa vigraha

Radhanath Swami on the Glories of the Humble Position (Suras Lila)

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has many, many names and each of these names, he is personally present with all of his potencies, his beauty and his grace. The devas wanted to prepare Hanuman and show the world who is this Hanuman. So they approached the mother of the nagas, her name: Suras. She came from the ocean and she appeared like a big rakshasa and she said to Hanuman, she came out of the oceans and into the sky and placed herself right in front of Hanuman as he was flying and she said, “You cannot pass by me, I have received a benediction from Lord Brahma that no one can come by me without me eating them. So today you are my food and there is nothing you could do.” And she opened her mouth to swallow Hanuman. Hanuman expanded his body to be really big and Suras expanded her body to be even bigger, her mouth, he became a mile high and Suras’s mouth became 2 miles wide and it kept getting bigger and bigger no matter what he did. Her mouth was practically covering the sky and Hanuman, he instantly reduced the size to be the tip of a thorn and he went into Suras mouth and walked around for a while and then he came out and then he stood before her and said, “The blessing of Brahma has been fulfilled, you ate me but I am a servant of Ram and I am doing the service of Ram. So please bless me to continue” And Suras became a beautiful woman then and she said, “Hanumanji, you are very intelligent. I have come on the behalf of the demigods just to inspire you. Now I give all blessings, go and perform your service to Sita.” Hanuman was travelling through the sky with great determination and suddenly in the middle of the sky he could not move. There was a rakshasi. She was really a rakshasi, evil, envious. Lets go back to Suras, a lesson there, she was making herself bigger, bigger, bigger. Hanuman was making himself bigger, bigger, bigger. Ultimately he made himself very small.

“You see when we humble ourselves, we can overcome all obstacles because maya is like that Suras, she is all devouring.

daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya

We cannot overcome the powers of maya. The power of lust, envy, anger, greed, illusion are beyond any human capacity. They are beyond the capacity of a conditioned jiva. But Krishna tells in Gita that he is the controller of material energy, if we can take shelter of him, we can cross beyond everything.” –Radhanath Swami

 

In fact, the Srimad Bhagvatam explains that trying to resist the powers of maya is like an ordinary little person trying to swim across a shoreless ocean. Now there are many Olympic swimmers and everything but have you heard of anyone who has swam across the Pacific Ocean? No one ever tried its possible, and these are the greatest athletes who have medals. The ocean of material existence is infinitely greater than the pacific ocean, with infinitely more dangers, but when we take shelter of the grace of  God, of Krishna, Bhagavatam says  that by the grace of Lord, that ocean reduces to the amount of water contained in the hoof prints of a small calf and even a small child can jump over it.

 

trinad api sunicena

taror api sahishnuna

amanina manadena

kirtaniyah sada harihi

 

(Sounds like you are supposed to take shelter of Krishna. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.  What has come there, a small lizard. I think someone back there was falling asleep and lizard came there to wake him up. Hari Hari)

Draupadi, when Dusasan was trying to tear her sari off from her, she looked at her husbands, the Pandavas and Bhima was also a son of Vayu. See, Hanuman didn’t have a wife but Bhima had a wife. Even Bhima wanted to help her but Yudhisthira said, “no, no, we cannot do.” She turned to Dhristrar, she turned to everyone, She tried with her own powers. Material existence is like Dusasana, so much greater than ourselves. And ultimately Draupadi completely humbled herself and put her arms in the air, in total humility and helpless surrender, she cried out the holy names:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

And Krishna came to help her. So in our path of Krishna consciousness and bhakti, humility is the essence. And like Hanuman, he was supremely humble, but his humility didn’t make him afraid or lazy, he was fearless, he was determined. That’s the symptom of true humility. It doesn’t disempower us, it empowers us with the infinite grace of God. –Radhanath Swami

So he made himself very small and overcame Suras, who is, in this sense, the ego that wants to make itself bigger and bigger and bigger. But now, he is flying by and he can’t move and he looks down and he sees this rakshasi named Simika. She had the mystic power where she could actually control people by holding on to their shadows. So the sun was there, it was daytime and Hanumanji was flying and his shadow was on the ocean and she grabbed his shadow and he couldn’t move. And after she captured him, she opened her mouth to eat him and Hanumanji, he again became very small and jumped in her mouth and dove right down in her throat. While he was inside, he expanded himself, and with his nails he ripped open her heart. He went right down to her heart and went to her kidneys and lungs and all her others, she was dead. She opened her mouth and Hanuman flew out and then she fell into the sea.  Simika represents this egoistic tendency to find faults with others. She grabbed on to Hanuman’s shadow, the dark side. Similarly even the great personalities, people want to find faults with them, what to speak of people who actually have faults.

The symptom of a true devotee is that they have no tendency to find faults with other. Lord Chaitanaya Mahaprabhu in Chaitanya Bhagavat, he declared that I will personally liberate with highest perfection anyone who just do two things. Always chant Krishna’s names and do not criticize others. –Radhanath Swami

But this tendency to find faults with others is simply the symptom of ahankar or false ego. When we are actually enjoying and finding great happiness in Krishna’s infinite glories we don’t have any tendency to find fault with others. We want to share those glories and see the good in everyone because everyone is a part of Krishna. But if we do find a fault, it’s like a doctor. A doctor sees a disease with compassion to cure a person.

The ego wants to find fault just to show that I am better; to beat somebody down, to put myself up. That’s completely conflicting to the principle of devotion. When a devotee sees fault in others, it’s with compassion, to lift that person up or to protect others from that condition. But Simika was very eager to grab and exploit the shadow. So, following in the footsteps of Hanuman, we have to overcome this fault finding tendencies. –Radhanath Swami

And he continued his journey. Ultimately he came to Srilanka. He saw what a magnificent place, it was like a jeweled island surrounded by the oceans on all sides and he landed and decided that he would wait until the night time to enter Sri Lanka. He was looking. He saw it was protected by huge walls, and Hanuman saw on the walls there were millions of gigantic raksha soldiers with the most deadly weapons, constantly running about looking at every inch to make sure things were safe. And he saw that between the walls, there were these enormous motes of water and in some of the water you have to swim across it. They were literally filled, swarming, not just with little lizards, but the most venomous snakes and lizards. And there were gigantic man-eating crocodiles and man-eating fish; nobody could possibly cross it and live it.

So Hanuman waited till night time and the sun was setting and he decided to make himself very small. He was still Hanuman. Did all of you at Anjanaya Parvat see that Hanuman deity, sitting in the lap of Anjana, his mother? He became like that. He took the size like the little kitty cat and he approached the wall, the outer wall entrance in the northern side of Sri Lanka. And there was a gigantic rakshasini named Lankini, she was the protectoress of Sri Lanka and she saw Hanuman, he was very small and she started blasting him. “I have a benediction of Brahma that nobody could cross me!” And Hanuman was trying to be really respectful and nice to her. He explained what his mission was and she was so rude and cruel and harsh, she took her hand and slapped Hanuman and said, “On this day, I am going to kill you!” And Hanuman gently punched her, very gently. Because if he would have gave any seriousness to it, she would have been finished. And she fell on the ground. Then she got up and she was really happy. She said, “I have been waiting for this day. Brahma told me that someday a monkey is going to hit and you are going to fall on the ground and on that day you should know that Sri Lanka is going to be destroyed.” And she said to Hanumanji, “I offer you my obeisances and to your beloved Lord Ram. Now I bless you. Go and perform your mission in Sri Lanka.”

Radhanath Swami Describes Ravana’s Riches

And little Hanuman, he jumped over the walls, he entered Srilanka. He could not believe what he was seeing. There was no place on earth, even in the heavens it’s very rare to see anything so elegant and opulent as what Ravana has created.

He had plundered the riches of the greatest kings on earth and even Indra and the devas of higher planet and brought the choices of their wealth to Srilanka. The palaces, the walls, they were primarily made of pure solid gold and decorated with limitless quantities of ivory, silver, emeralds, diamonds, rubies, crystal beautiful parks with flowering fragrant trees. And he was seeing these monstrous rakshas everywhere and it was night time. Some of them were wrestling with each other. There was certain kind of rakshasa who were brahmans rakshasas and they were in temples constantly; 24 hours a day they were reading, not reading, they were chanting, reciting Vedic mantras and performing yajnas, meditating and doing pujas and mudras and tantras and yantras and mantras. All to bring blessings to Ravana, to protect him and give him power, and happiness. That was the focus of everyone. Hanuman was looking for Sita. He was seeing, he ultimately came to Ravana’s personal palace. Ravana’s palace was 8 miles long and 4 miles wide and it was the most luxurious place on earth. The Ramayan goes in great detail, of what kind of luxury were there in the palace but I am not going to get into detail because I think you are hungry. This world is so nice. If someone comes to you with the most precious diamond in the world, but you are hungry, will that diamond give you any happiness? You can’t eat diamonds, you can sell it to get money but if you are in the middle of Kishkinta Keshetra, you just want some Prasad. I understand. Hanuman was seeing such elegance to live like this and he entered into Ravana’s palace.

And most beautiful females, Ravana had kidnapped tens and thousands of the daughters of demigods, celestial apsaras, the daughters of great, great rishis and sages and ultimately they all surrendered to him to give him pleasure. Everywhere around, he saw gigantic rakshasas totally intoxicated, enjoying with these apsaras and in Ravana’s court, some were playing beautiful music. And he came to this incredible bed made out of crystal and in the center of it was an ivory platform and in that was laying Ravana and around him there were thousands of beautiful ladies and finest foods were spread out everywhere and so many intoxicating beverages. Everyone was drunk but it was not the kind of drunk like they do in Mumbai, that stuff is not worth anything. This is heavenly intoxicants. It really gives and pleasure and power, the other stuff is just the mode of ignorance, this is also the mode of ignorance but it really gives. Ravana was a kind of asura, the finest intoxicant, he stole it from heavenly worlds. So they were just laying there and Ravana was sleeping. At that time he only had one head and two arms because he could change his form according to his will. And Hanuman looked at Ravana. He was thinking, he is so strong and he is so beautiful, he is so charismatic, if he was only pious, a devotee, he could be the Lord of the entire heavenly and earthly world and God will give him all powers and all blessings but somehow or the other he was envious and all the incredible blessings and boons he had received, they all were utilized for wrong purpose. Hanuman was not attracted by the riches; he was not attracted by the beauty of the most elegant, enchanting women in the universe. He was just looking for Sita. Beside Ravana on another bed was Mandodri, his wife, his principle queen. She was far more beautiful than anyone else and at first Hanuman was thinking that maybe this is Sita but because she was wearing beautiful jewels and fine clothes and she was sleeping with a smile on her face, Hanuman understood that Sita would never do this in the separation of Ram. He looked palace after palace everywhere, hour after hour, he could not find Sita and he was thinking in his heart, how could I go back to Ram? I can’t, I can’t face him and tell him that I could not find her. And then he saw an incredible garden, giant garden. It was the Ashok van and in that garden, he went inside and he saw, he actually climbed a tall tree to look down and he saw a big crowd of rakshasis. Now Ravana was so strategic in his planning. He had the most beautiful ladies in the universe with him to enjoy, but he also empowered certain rakshasis who were the most ugly things that you could imagine.  They were so fearful. They had all kinds of animal heads and claws and sharp teeth and there is great description of what these rakshasis look like. They were crowded around Sita praising Ravana, and Hanuman first saw Sita, she was very thin, she had not bathed and practically eaten anything for so many months. She was laying in the ground, surrounded by people harassing her, crying out Ram’s holy names. Hanuman understood that this is Sita. He was so deeply moved by her chastity and purity and her complete absorption in remembering Ram in separation. The sun rose and Hanuman heard from a little distant place, musicians singing beautiful poetic songs to wake up Ravana. He woke up, he was all disheveled from the night before, he took his bath, he put on perfumes, he combed his hair, he put on nice clothes and immediately went to Sita. He was thinking of Sita twenty four hours a day and there was a whole entourage of beautiful ladies and guards and soldiers following him as he marched into Ashok van. And Hanuman was still in his kitty cat form of a monkey size and he was in a tree, hiding behind the leaves watching. Ravana was so majestic.

Radhanath Swami on Sita’s Unbreakable Chastity

He came to Sita and spoke such poetic flattering romantic words to her. He was praising her beauty, he was praising her limbs and glorifying her character: “I am willing to live and I am willing to die for you. I will make you the principle queen of the entire world, you will live and all my other queens will all be your maid servant. I will focus my whole heart for you only. You have captivated my mind. I have given my heart to you. My love, accept me as your husband and be happy forever.” Sita would not even look at him. She just looked at the ground and condemned him: “My heart belongs to Ram. Ram is like a lion and you are a like a miserable jackal. Beg forgiveness from Ram, return me to Ram and Ram will give you all blessings and empower you, otherwise you will be destroyed.” She would not even look at him. And Ravana was speaking so many sweet romantic words to her but ultimately she said you are just like a coward. Ravana said, “If you do not surrender to me within the next month, I vow that I will have my cooks chop you into pieces, cook you and I will eat you for my breakfast. What is this Ram? He is not worthy of you. You are the most elegant princess in all the creation. Ram was such a coward, he was exiled into the forest and he didn’t even fight for his rights. And now he is wondering around like a hermit in the forest, what can he give you? Sita put a piece of grass between herself and Ravana, would not look at him. Ravana was so angry, he ordered the Rakshasis, “By any means convince her to surrender to me!” Then he roared in great anger being insulted by Sita and marched away. The rakshasis were really harassing and she was just lying in the ground, crying out the holy names of Ram.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hanuman was so joyful, he actually found Sita but he was also in terrible agony to see the pitiable condition of Sita being exploited and harassed in separation of Ram. He was gonna go down and start fighting those rakhsasis but he was thinking, If I do then there will be a great conflict here and I won’t be able to get my message to Sita. So he was just quietly hiding was behind a tree in a tiny form, watching,   and as these rakshasis, these evil people, were torturing (emotionally) Sita. Srijata was one incredibly devoted lady. She came out and she told all these others, “I had a dream.  In my dream I saw Ram victorious with Sita. They are blazing in enlightenment like fire, wearing jewels and fine robes and I saw Ravana, dead with blood all around him being pulled by a wagon of donkeys.” Hare Krishna.

Hanuman Pacifies Sita

So, this sobered those ladies and they went to tell Ravana about this dream. And they all kind of went to sleep because it was morning, they would stay up all night then they will go to sleep in day. So Sita was sitting all alone and Hanumanji, he was very concerned that if he came before Sita, she might think that he is disguising himself but he was actually Ravana. So from a secret place, in a very sweet voice, he sang the glories of Lord Ram. He began to describe every limb of the beautiful transcendental body of Sri Ram. He told the story of his birth and his childhood pastimes and his wonderful pastimes with Kaushalya and Dasrath and he talked about going to the forest with Visvamitra muni and first meeting Sita and in Mithila, marrying Sita and coming back to Ayodhya with her and then being exiled into the forest.

He was telling the beautiful stories of living in the forest at Chitrakuta with Sita and going to Dandakaranya and Nashik and how Lord Sri Ram was now in Malyavanta hill in a cave in Kishkinta yearning and longing to find Sita and how he Hanuman had jumped over the entire ocean as Ram’s messenger just to give confidence and hope to Sita. He was telling all these stories. He revived the heart of Sita. For the first time in almost a year, she was hearing the glories of Ram; otherwise all she heard was blasphemy, criticism and condemnation. And she looked around, who is speaking these things, who is speaking? And she saw in a tree behind the bushes, a tiny little monkey, and he was smiling. And she looked at him and he jumped down and he came in front of her. Immediately Sita said, “You are Ravana, you have taken this form just to trick me!” and Hanuman, he spoke with such love. Sita understood that “By the countenance of your face and the sweetness of the love of your words I could understand that you truly are the servant of Ram.” Hanumanji told the whole story and then from his cloth, he presented to Sita, the ring inscribed with the name of Ram, and told, “From that mountain cave in Kishkinta, Lord Sri Ram, in great love, removed this ring from his finger and presented it to me to give it to you.” When Sita held the ring at her hand, she pressed it to her head, pressed it to her heart, she cried and cried and cried in ecstasy. She was feeling Ram’s presence in such a special way in that ring. Hanuman then told Sita a story. He said, “Ram shared this with me. He told me that no one else in all the world knows this story except you and him. When you were returning from Mithila to Ayodhaya after your marriage, you were sitting next to each other and Lord Ram touched your feet with his feet. And Ram’s feet are soft and elegant like lotus flowers, but when he touched your foot, your foot turned red because your lotus feet are so much more soft and delicate than even his. Do you remember that? And when you were going through Dandakaranya forest, barefoot walking over stones and shrubs and thorns, Ram was reminding of that incident of how he was appreciating your sacrifice for him, that you were willing to walk barefoot for 14 years in the forest with him despite having such soft and sensitive, delicate feet.” Sita wept. Hanuman said, “Get on my shoulders right now, I will take you back to Ram” And Sita said, “No I cannot do that.” Hanuman said, “why? I will bring you back to Ram on this very day!” She said, “You are Hanuman, how can I get on you? You are so small.” (Because he was still in little kitty cat size) She said, “I can’t even fit on you.” And then Hanuman expanded himself into a mountainous size and said, “Get on my back, I will send you back to Ram. I will personally carry you.”

She said, “You are the son of Vayu, as you are flying over the ocean, I am not going to be able to hold on to you, the wind is going to be so great, I will fall into the ocean. And if you start flying away, all the rakshasas and Ravana and everybody will challenge you to fight and you will have to fight them all and how can you do that when I am on your back, on your shoulder? And besides that, my chastity to Ram, although I was forcibly grabbed by Ravana, I will not touch another man except Ram. And most importantly, for Ram’s glory it is only be befitting that he personally rescues me.” And Hanuman smiled and said, “yes.” Then Sita took some beautiful jewels that she was hiding from Ravana. One particular jewel that was given to her by her father on the day she married Ram and put on her head and she gave that jewel to Hanuman to give to  Ram and then she told a story that no one in the world knew except the two of them. Would you like to hear the story?

When they were in Chitrakut together, Ram and Sita, they were so happy. They were sitting on a rock on the banks of Mandakini-Ganga River, that rock is still there today. When we will go on a yatra to Chitrakut, we will visit that rock. In Chitrakut, it was so peaceful, Sita Ram lived together in the simplicity of the forest, just eating roots and herbs collected by Laxman, living in simple little cottage made out of simple wooden leaves that Laxman made. And she would collect flowers and bring it to the yogis and rishis and sages for their puja, it was like Vrindavan in Ram Lila. Sita expressed to Ram that: “The simplicity and the beauty of our life in Chitrakut is so much more enjoyable than life in Ayodhya, the big city, capital of the kingdom.” One day they were sitting on this rock together and a crow landed on the rock. Meanwhile, Lord Ramchandra was sleeping on the lap of Sita and the crow, with his beak and his claws, started scratching Sita! And Sita was trying to shoo him away but she was not wanting to wake up Ram. And the crow kept scratching her and scratching her until she was bleeding and crow just wouldn’t stop harassing her. And finally Ram woke up and he saw blood on Sita  he was very angry; and he saw this crow. Ram knew who it was. It was Indra’s son, Jayanta who took the form of a crow. So Ram, he took a single piece of grass and chanted a mantra and threw it at the crow and that piece of grass became an astra, a weapon, and it toward the crow  and the crow flew away because he was the son of Indra, in a crow form, something like Durvasa muni with Ambarisa. He was flying to all corners of the world and all these different places and no matter where he was this piece of grass was always right behind him and so finally he came back to the rock on Mandakini Ganga in Chitrakut and the crow begged forgiveness from Ram. And Sita and Sita smiled at the crow and said to Ram, “Please forgive him.” And Ram said, “I forgive him.” He said to Jayanta, “I forgive you, but still when I throw a weapon, it has to do something.” So the weapon touched his eye and he became blind in one eye, that was prasad. She told that story to Hanuman and said, “Please tell Ram.” And she presented the jewel to him and she blessed Hanumanji and gave him one more message for Ramchandra. She said, “Please know that twenty fours a day, I don’t even sleep, I am reciting your holy names within the core of my heart, I am meditating upon your beautiful form and your wonderful loving pastimes day and night but if you do not come within one month, it will be too late, Ravana will kill me, please come soon.”

Radhanath Swami Tells Hanuman’s Unconditional Compassion

She blessed Hanumanji and Hanumanji, since he did his service, he fulfilled everything and more than Ram asked him to do but he wanted to do something extra. He understood that this Ashok Van was the favorite place of Ravana in the whole of Srilanka. It was incredible, there were fountains and the most priceless trees from all over the universe were planted there, flowers twenty fours a day, twelve months a year were blooming, was just amazing.Hanuman, he destroyed the entire garden and all the beautiful buildings in it. And the rakshasis who were guarding it, they went and told Ravana. Ravana was very upset. He sent 80000 soldiers to kill this monkey that was disturbing his garden. Hanuman went to the gate entrance of the garden and sat on top of it waiting for Ravana’s response. And there was one iron bar that was in the gate and he took that out, and that was all he had. The eighty thousand soldiers came and they were all–– they were monsters with the most sophisticated weapons trained to kill and they all had mystic yogic powers. I am not going to go into too many details, but Hanuman, with that one iron club, not even a club, a bar, he liberated all of them. When the news came to Ravana, he was even more angry.  Jambumali was one of his greatest generals, he came charging on a big chariot with the entire army and it was really a good fight and ultimately with the iron bar that was taken right from Ravana’s gate he destroyed the whole army and then smashed the head of Jambumali and he was liberated. Seven generals came, sent by Ravana. And Hanuman, with his feet and fist, defeated all of them.

Ravana sent his youngest son Aksha.  Mandodri. The mother, she was begging Ravana: “don’t send him! This monkey is not an ordinary monkey!!” But Ravana was convinced, someone personally trained by him, born of his blood is undefeatable. And Aksha covered Hanumanji with arrows and Hanumanji grabbed Aksha by the legs, whirled him around, and threw him on the ground. He was liberated. Now Ravana became really disturbed. Meanwhile, Sita was watching from a distance, she was very happy, this is my beloved Lord’s servant.  Ravana sent Indrajit, his eldest son who had defeated Indra, the king of heaven, who was undefeatable. And who had the most enormous powers due to his austerities and the boons he received from devas. There was a great battle between Indrajit and Hanuman. And Hanuman decided, I want to be captured by Indrajit because I want to give good katha to Ravana. I want to give this Rakshasa a chance to save himself and his whole dynasty before its too late.

He was actually. He, despite all the horrible things that Ravana had done, Hanuman was willing to give him a chance to rectify himself, that was the compassion of his heart as a vaishnava. Indrajit had a particular arrow and he chanted a mantra and empowered that arrow, a certain type of a naga. He shot the arrow and it created a rope, a snake rope around Hanuman’s body, and Hanuman fell to the ground. Then Indrajit had his army pick up Hanuman, who appeared to be all bound up and helpless, and they brought him into the center court and put him in front of Ravana’s throne, magnificent throne. Now Hanuman was face to face with Ravana. And Hanuman spoke after hearing the terrible words of Ravana [Which were,]: “Who are you? Why you have done this? What are you doing here?”

Hanuman said, “You saw what I did to your armies, to your generals and to your son. I am only the humble servant of the servant of the servant of Ram. I am his messenger to give you this message: release Sita and Ram will protect you forever, but if you persist in torturing her in this way, then he will come with an army of millions of monkeys as powerful as me to destroy you and your entire dynasty. Ravana, you are a coward, you distracted Ram and, when he was not there, you stole Sita away single handedly. Ram will destroy you and your entire dynasty– give Sita back.” Ravana was so insulted by those words of Hanuman. He ordered his soldiers, “Kill this monkey.”

Radhanath Swami Speaks on Hanuman’s Wrath

Vibhisan, the youngest brother of Ravana, jumped up. He said, “No, you cannot kill him, he is the messenger. According to the codes of dharma, you can punish a messenger but you cannot kill him.” Ravana said, “He is not just a messenger, he killed my son, he destroyed my gardens, he killed hundreds and thousands of my soldiers.” And Hanuman said, ‘I am a monkey, its my nature to destroy gardens like this, and I was just doing my monkey nature and all your generals,  your son and your armies,  they came to kill me, it was self-defense.” and Vibhisan was arguing really strongly with Ravana and finally, Ravana knew that Vibhisan always spoke the truth with wisdom in compassion and love for his elder brother. So finally, he said, “Alright, I will not outwardly kill him, but monkeys are very proud of their tails, light his tail on fire and, just to humiliate him while his tail is blazing with fire, march him, bound with ropes, through the streets of Lanka, so that everyone would laugh at him and after he is mutilated totally, if he does live, let him go.” They took huge volumes of clothes and wrapped it around Hanuman’s tail, then they soaked it in barrels and barrels of flammable oil and lit it on fire. And Hanumanji was still bound up with ropes and they took him to the streets of Lanka and were beating him and insulting him and Rakshasas were laughing at this monkey and at a certain point, Hanuman was thinking. Actually Sita was told by Vibhisan’s wife what was happening with Hanuman. And Sita, out of her love for her servant, she prayed to agni, the god of fire that please do not cause any discomfort or burning to Hanuman, let that fire be cool and pleasing to him.

So here is Hanumanji, massive fire is pouring out from his tail directly and he is feeling it very cool, soothing experience. And he could immediately understand that it was Sita’s grace, she was praying for him. Now in that situation Hanuman was thinking, how can I serve Ram? This is bhakti. In whatever situation, how could I best serve? –Radhanath Swami

He expanded himself and he made himself a little smaller and he jumped out of the ropes that was binding him. Then with his flaming tail, he started beating all the rakshasas that were around him and then he jumped on the top of the palace, and with his tail he touched it. The whole palace lit on fire.

And then, like a playful monkey he jumped to the roof of the next palace, to the next. Soon hundreds of buildings were blazing with fire and Hanuman was just playful jumping from one to another, very interesting.

When we try to cause harm to a great devotee of the Lord, that very thing comes back to harm us, that’s the law of karma, for every action there is an equal, corresponding reaction. If we cause pain to another, that pain is going to come back to us and if that pain is caused to someone who is beloved by the Lord, which everyone is, especially those who are dedicating themselves to reciprocate with the Lord’s love, then that pain is going to come back multiplied. The very fire that Ravana put on Hanuman’s tail was now burning his entire kingdom to the ground. –Radhanath Swami

 

Hanuman was watching as he was jumping from place to place. Everything was in chaos, nobody knew what to do. A single monkey had created all of this. People were, their buildings were burning, they were jumping out of the top floors, they were on fire, nobody knew what to do, they were running in circles, they were screaming, they had armies, they had weapons, they didn’t know where to go, he created total chaos. And Hanumanji then jumped to the ocean to put his tail out, then jumped on a high mountain and was thinking, what about Sita? Has she been harmed by the fire that I created? If so then I have totally failed.  He was so worried about Sita, but then a divine being came to Hanuman and told that Sita is safe, under the same tree in Ravana’s garden. Hanumanji then, with thunderous voice, spoke so that every single person in Sri Lanka could hear him, without a sound system. He said, “Ravana, I am just one insignificant servant of Ram! Send back Sita now, otherwise Ram, Laxman and army of millions of monkeys like me will come to destroy you!” And then, with a roar, “Jai Sri Ram!”

Radhanath Swami Describes Hanuman’s Return

Hanumanji jumped back across the ocean. Meanwhile, Angada and the whole group of monkeys that were waiting on the other shore, they didn’t know what was happening, they were just waiting for Hanumanji. Some of them were fasting and standing in yoga posture on one leg until Hanuman would return. And when Hanuman came, they saw on the horizon as he was soaring through the air, and he was chanting Ram’s name so blissfully. As soon as they heard his chanting and saw his face they knew that he was successful and they were cheering and jumping and clapping and celebrating. And Hanuman came down and told the whole story to them.

Their whole life was just to please Ram. See, this is the nature of devotees. They don’t care who gets the credit. They just want to see the Lord happy. No one was envious. Their hearts were bursting with joy. Hanuman is successful. Ram will be so pleased with Hanuman. That was the perfection of all of their life, that Sita was pacified. –Radhanath Swami

Angada said, “Now that we know exactly what’s happened, let’s go to Srilanka and destroy the rest of the city and bring Sita back.  Jambavan said, “No, it is the glory of Ram, that he should do.” “That is the will of Sita.” Hanuman said. So they immediately very fast they went back to Kishkinta, where we are sitting today and just in the outskirts, some of you will go there tomorrow, it is still there, there is a place called Madhuvan, its very sweet forest.

That was Sugriva’s favorite garden. It had nice fruit trees and there was honey there and bees, and there was a keeper, a very close associate of Sugriva, named Dadimukha and he was protecting that garden. Angada, Hanuman and all the others, they went into Madhuvan to celebrate the great victory of Hanuman. And they were drinking the honey and eating the fruits and jumping around and the garden was being destroyed and he was trying to stop them and they were just laughing and celebrating. And Dadimukha went to Sugriva, who was in Ram’s cave. Four months, during the monsoons he was in that cave and then practically another month he was waiting for Sugriva while he was enjoying. And then, it was almost two months that Hanuman and the others were away, Ram was in that cave in separation for Sita between five and six months. And Sugriva was there with him just waiting for the devotees to come back. And as soon as Dadimukha came and said, They are destroying your garden, they are celebrating, they are laughing!” Sugriva was so happy. He said, “That means they must have found Sita, send them here immediately!” and Angada began to explain to Ram everything that Hanuman told him. And then Ram asked Hanumanji, “Please tell me, tell me everything that Sita has said to you, everything and what is her condition.” Hanuman said everything and Ramchandra said, “Tell me again, everything!” And Hanuman explained everything, and Ram said that, “Tell me again.” Hanuman told the secret message of the crow on the stone in Chitrakut and then he presented Ram the golden jewel of Sita.

The Inconceivable Love of Ram and Hanuman as Told by Radhanath Swami

When Ram saw he began to cry incessantly in love. He put that jewel tightly to his heart and he said, “On the day of my marriage with Sita, king Janaka placed this jewel on the head of my beloved Sita. It was given to him by Indra.” And Ram was describing with so much affection how beautiful Sita was wearing that jewel. He told Hanuman, “You risked your life, you jumped across an ocean and back, you faced Ravana directly, you burnt down the majority of his city and most of all, you gave such happiness to Sita and you brought her message and her love back to me! There is no way I can repay you. I am living in a forest, I have nothing. The only thing I can give you is my heart, my life, in the form of my embrace.” Sri Ramchandra then, with tears pouring from his eyes of love and gratitude for Hanuman, he embraced. One of the greatest events in the history of the world, where we were sitting yesterday, is the very place where all of Hanuman’s innermost desires were fulfilled. Ram was pleased with him and embraced him.

Ram was conquered by the love of Hanuman and the Hanuman was conquered by the love of Ram, this is bhakti. When we conquer our ego through humble devotional services, then we become totally conquered by the sweetness and the love of Lord Krishna and that love conquer Krishna. In this spirit Hanuman with great happiness cried out the holy name. –Radhanath Swami

 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

And all the monkeys around, seeing Ram’s love and gratitude to Hanuman, they had no envy. They had the greatest happiness to see another devotee getting the special blessings and mercy of the Lord. And they all raised their arms dancing to celebrate the good fortune of Hanuman by chanting the holy name:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Ram then asked Hanuman, “We will go to attack Srilanka; tell me what you saw.” Hanuman was so meticulous, he memorized when he was jumping from building to building with his tail on fire. He was doing so many services. He was constantly chanting the holy names, he was giving happiness to Sita, he was teaching Ravana a good lesson, but he was also looking at everything and gave a complete report of how Lanka was built and all the different military phalanxes and gave strategic explanations of how they could march into Srilanka. Laxman jumped on Angada’s shoulder; Ram jumped on Hanuman’s shoulder. There were all the monkeys from all the directions who had assembled; they all marched from Kishkinta kshetra to the shore of the ocean.

Radhanath Swami on Govardhana Lila

There is a story of Hanuman and the Govardhan. Tonight at the pandal, we will speak the lila of Govardhan puja and then we will have kirtan, and Damodar ashtakam, that will start in a few minutes. Sometime around 6 O’clock or 6:30 we will begin Govardhan puja lila. We will have nice festival for Govardhan puja this evening, and tomorrow I believe in the morning everyone is going to different places. And in the evening we will meet at the pandal and we will have our final session of  Ram katha tomorrow evening. We will discuss the building of the bridge across the ocean to Srilanka, Vibhisan’s surrender to Ram and some of Hanuman’s incredible services to Ram during the battle of Srilanka and their return to Ayodhaya. So that will be tomorrow evening. This evening will be Govardhan Puja but we know the story as the monkeys were building this bridge across to Srilanka, should I tell something. Haribol. Ok.

They came to the shore. Once I start, then It will be another talk, but they were getting all these big stones. And Hanuman was bringing mountains to build the bridge across the Indian ocean and he was going all over and he came to Vrindavan and he came to Govardhan hill. And Hanuman was going to pick up Govardhan hill and bring it to be part of the bridge across the Indian Ocean. And Govardhan hill said, “No no , I am here waiting for Krishna or Ram” And  Ram told Giri Govardhan about his mission, how Ram is building a bridge to get  Sita to come back, to get Ram to be reunited with Sita. So Govardhan was enthusiastic to go. She said, “Ok, take me.” It was just at that time Hanuman was sent a message that the bridge was complete, they  didn’t  need any more hills or mountains or stones. So Govardhan was really sad, she wanted to do some seva for Ram. She said, “Please tell Ram that I really want to do some service.” So Hanuman had such love for Giriraj, he jumped all the way to the shore and told Ram how Giriraj wanted to help. And Ram said, “Go back and tell Giriraj that he should be in Braj bhumi. In my next incarnation he will give me the greatest pleasure by serving the gopis and Sri Radha and the gopas and the cows and I will even lift him up with a little finger of my left hand.” So Hanuman jumped back to Govardhan hill and gave that message to Govardhan and Govardhan said, waiting for Krishna to appear. So we will just have a few minutes kirtan and then everyone I believe we could bathe in Pampa sarovar, and visit the cave of  Sabri, if you have already haven’t done so, then we will return for Prasad and please do come this evening for our Govardhan puja celebration.