Hanuman across all Ages!

We know that Hanuman was a 'Chiranjeevi' (one who was blessed with immortality). So the question arises, was there Hanuman before Ram? Do we still have him living in modern times? Let me present the verse from ‘Chalisa’: 'Charo Jug Pratap Tumhara, Hai Prasidh Jagat Ujiara’ (meaning, your holiness prevails across all four eras). Below are the manifestations of the cosmic energy we know as Hanuman across the different 'Yuga' (Era)

Satyuga: Lord Hanuman is the avatar of Lord Shiva. In Satyuga, Lord Hanuman/Shiva came in the form of Rudra for the welfare of the world.

Tretayuga: Lord Vishnu’s avatar Ram re-established good over evil and set an example of 'siddha purush' (ideal man). Lord Shiva as Hanuman was Ram’s ardent follower and 'Senapati' (war-chief) in the war of Ramayana

Dwaparyuga: In this era, both Arjuna and Bhima (Pandav brothers) had crossed-roads with Hanuman in separate incidents which we shall look at greater detail shortly

Kalyuga: Invisible to the gross/biological human eye Hanuman lives in Gandmadan Mountain (near Rameshvaram). Per the scripture यत्र-यत्र रघुनाथकीर्तनं तत्र-तत्र कृत मस्तकांजलिं; where ever the holy name of Ram is chanted, hanuman pays his homage there and presents his strength/blessings to help us out.

Let us know more about Hanuman's most significant role in Dwapar Yuga (the era that witnessed Kurushetra battle). 'Vayu' (Wind God) was the god-father of Hanuman much like he was for Bhima. So Hanuman decided to take a test of his 'anuj' Bhima. During the 'Vanaprastha' exile of Pandavas', he appears disguised as a weak and aged monkey lying with his tail blocking the way of Bhima. Later tells the monkey (read Hanuman) to move the tail out of the way. Hanuman, refuses. Bhima tries many a times over to move the tail; but fails despite his great strength. Realising he is no ordinary monkey, Bhima prays to the monkey to reveal its true identity. At Bhima's request, Hanuman manifests as himself and grows to gigantic proportions (as he had done several times in Treta Yuga to help Ram). Bhima apologizes to Hanuman for his behavior. In turn Hanuman blessed Bhima with the strength of a thousand Elephants.

Arjun in course of his many a travels came to Rameshwar and wondered as to why Lord Rama had to take help of monkey army for building a stone-bridge instead of making a bridge of arrows. Unable to tolerate doubt over Ram's actions, Hanuman presented himself in front of Arjun, disguised as a talking monkey and challenged him to build a bridge capable of bearing Hanuman alone. Unaware of the Hanuman's true identity, Arjun accepted the challenge. Hanuman repeatedly destroyed the bridge made by Arjun's arrows at a speed beyond Arjun's comprehension. Arjun would see his bridge of arrows fall to pieces soon after it got created. This disturbed Arjun greatly and pushed him to the verge of taking his own life out of shame. Krishna was witnessing this incident all along. He decided to intervene at this point. Krishna placed his divine 'Sudarshan Chakra' (discus) beneath the bridge of Arrows and this time Hanuman could no longer break it. Lord Krishna then manifested him as Vishnu before both Arjun and Hanuman, reprimanded them for their pride and prank respectively. To make up for his actions, Hanuman promised to help Arjun by strengthening his chariot during the battle of Kurushetra.

In the great battle, Hanuman micro-sized him into his image on the flag atop Arjun's chariot. After every day's fight Krishna used to ask Arjun to step down the chariot before him. On the last day of battle, Arjun asked Krishna the reason behind the contrary practice (in those days, the charioteer alighted first and extended his help to master on the chariot). Krishna smiled and after Arjun got down, Krishna followed him and thanked Hanuman for partaking their side in the form of chariot-flag. Hanuman resumed his original form, left the flag and flew away into the sky. As soon as Hanuman left, the chariot broke down completely, began to burn and turned into ashes. Then Krishna explained, that Hanuman's presence on the chariot was the only reason why it was still intact in spite of several hits from weapons thrown at it in the war.

We need to remember that Hanuman is one of the few people to have heard the Bhagwad Gita from Krishna and seen his Vishvarupa (Universal divine form), the others being Arjuna and Sanjaya (orator of the battle to blind Dhritarashtra).

Lessons:

1. Over-confidence (like Bhima and Arjun had) is the reason we may fail in spite of strength and skills

2. Good doing strength always assist us upon honest prayers (यत्र-यत्र रघुनाथकीर्तनं तत्र-तत्र कृत मस्तकांजलिं)

3. Sometimes was have to go beyond usual tradition to suit changed circumstances (Arjun alighted chariot before Krishna)