The Devotion
We are all familiar with the great epic of the Ramayan, and most of the characters in it. Of course, with the name Ramayan the epic’s main character is Lord Sri Ram. Lord Sri Ram had many devotee’s and had loved all of them as much as they loved him, but who was Lord Sri Ram’s greatest devotee? The obvious answer is the great vanara Hanuman. We all know that Hanuman is the greatest devotee because of all that he did for Lord Sri Ram, Lord Sri Ram rests in his heart, and because he still chants the Rama Namam. Hanuman devoted his entire soul to The Lord and cared for him without any bounds and his reward was godly powers beyond imagination. I think that Hanuman was in the Ramayan to set us an example that people or any other creatures shall reap endless rewards if they do one highly significant thing. BE COMPLETELY DEVOTED TO GOD. Now when I mean be devoted to God I don’t mean you have to spend most of your life doing poojas and Bajanas like the great Hanuman because, even though it would be an eternal bliss if we could most average humans can’t achieve that because of our needs such as hunger or tiredness. Hanuman on the other hand was capable of great powers. But since we can’t do great feats like Hanuman we could stick to doing little things at a time like waking up early in the morning to do a small pooja in the name of God and going to the temple as much as possible and it would still achieve you many rewards. But it is still entertaining to hear about Hanuman and his great feats that he did towards the happiness of the Lord, so let us recall the two situations that proved Hanuman’s devotion and greatness to the Lord by starting with the time that Hanuman had found Lord Sri Ram’s Bride, Seetha Devi.
After Ravan had abducted Seetha, Lord Sri Ram was determined to get her back and set off on his journey to find and rescue her. At the beginning all seemed hopeless, but as soon as Lord Sri Ram found his devotee Hanuman and had taken a hold of an army of Vanaras hope was returning to him. Lord Sri Ram had Hanuman at his side every time he looked, and he knew that Hanuman loved Lord Sri Ram with all of his soul so he entrusted Hanuman with his ring knowing that Hanuman would be the one to find Seetha and show her the ring and Hanuman didn’t fail the Lord. Hanuman flew with the speed of Vayu (the wind god) to Lanka although he had obstacles in his path. The first one being the Mainaka Mountain which was asking him to rest for a little while to catch his breath, but Hanuman was so dedicated to reach Seetha that he politely said no and went on to face the more dangerous next obstacle, the Nagamatha Surasa. Surasa told Hanuman that he could not pass her without entering her mouth and Hanuman agreed but on one condition that she had to fit him in her mouth. Surasa agreed as Hanuman got bigger and bigger while Surasa followed him by opening her mouth wider and wider but all of a sudden Hanuman shrunk as tiny as possible, quickly flew into her mouth and then came out saying that he completed her task and that she should allow him to go. Surasa was amazed by his cleverness and told him the Devathas told her to test him to see what he would do and she allowed him to pass. There was a third obstacle, Simhika the water demon that uses suction to pull flying enemies into her mouth and eat them. As Hanuman was flying over her she tried to pull him in thinking that he was a big, tasty, dimwitted meal but Hanuman becomes tiny once again and goes inside Simhika and rips open her chest to kill her and finally Hanuman cleared all of the obstacles to reach Lanka but there was one more obstacle guarding the gates of Lanka, Lankini. But Hanuman fought Lankini and defeated her to enter Lanka, find Seetha, and complete his mission using his willpower, dedication, and most importantly his devotion to Lord Sri Ram.
Just like that, in another situation, Hanuman saved Lord Sri Ram’s brother Lakshman from dying by bringing him the Sanjeevini. After Lakshman was away from danger Lord Sri Ram hugged Hanuman because he was so grateful and once again Hanuman earned more and more respect from Lord Sri Ram and proved himself to be Lord Sri Ram’s greatest devotee.
So we need to know that Hanuman is there to guide the way and give us strength and courage. After all, Hanuman is the embodiment of strength, courage, and most importantly devotion. JAI SRI RAM.
– Madhavan V Panchangam VI Grade