Hanuman Jayanti

Hanuman Jayanti

Hanuman Jayanti is celebrated on the full moon day (pournima) of the Hindu lunar month of Chaitra. A special feature of Hanuman Jayanti is that according to some religious almanacs (panchangs) the birthday of Shri Hanuman falls on the fourteenth day (chaturdashi) in the dark fortnight of the month of Ashvin while according to others it falls on the full moon day in the bright fortnight of Chaitra. On this day, in a Hanuman temple spiritual discourses are started at dawn. Hanuman was born at sunrise. At that time the spiritual discourse is stopped and the offering of food (Prasad) is distributed to everyone.

Incidents in Shri Hanuman’s life and their significance

v     To provide assistance for the establishment of the Divine Kingdom: The main objective of Shri Hanuman’s life was to destroy obstacles in the establishment of the Divine Kingdom by providing the required warrior element. As a result, the embodied souls who would assist in the establishment of the Divine Kingdom were protected. For this reason itself Shri Maruti manifests Himself in various forms during different Yugas. His task in the manifest-unmanifest form never ceases. Shri Maruti has humility in serving (i.e. Dasyabhav) to the extent of 100%. Thus He is constantly active.

v     Assisting embodied souls in performing spiritual practice: Shri Maruti has always helped embodied souls do spiritual practice in various Yugas. In the Tretayuga Shri Maruti taught the right path of spiritual practice to the monkeys and helped them.

v     Liberating many souls: The embodied souls with an intense desire for spiritual practice were granted liberation by Shri Maruti even at the cost of His own powers. He liberated many souls from existence in their cursed class by using His mace.

v     An example of a perfect Sevak: Shri Maruti presented an example of a perfect sevak. As a result, many embodied souls attained Final Liberation by following the same path i.e. Dasyatva. Due to His humility only He was able to narrate the good qualities of Shri Rama to Ravan and when Ravan denigrated Shri Rama, Maruti burnt Lanka and returned safely.

Ritualistic worship

Ø      Ritualistic worship of Shri Hanuman (Maruti) There is a specific science to the ritualistic worship of each Deity. This means that, actions done in a particular way during the ritualistic worship, have a specific underlying science. Just by following these actions, we can get maximum benefit of that Deity's Principle. The following questions and answers contains the divine knowledge received by the seekers regarding exactly how some routine actions should be performed during the ritualistic worship of Shri Hanuman (Maruti).

Ø       Applying sindoor - How should a worshipper apply sindoor before starting the ritualistic worship of Maruti ?
Ans. - Sindoor should be applied with the ring finger.

Ø       Offering flowers - Which flowers should be offered? In what number? What is the method of offering the flowers ?
Ans. - Flowers and leaves of calotropis (ruee) Five or multiples of five. The stems of flowers should be turned towards the Deity.

Ø      Waving incense sticks - Incense sticks of which fragrances should be used? How many incense sticks should be used ? What is the method of waving? Ans. - Kewda, Chameli (Jasmine) and Ambar. Two incense sticks. Holding them between the index finger and thumb of the right hand, the incense sticks should be waved thrice, in a clockwise direction, in a full circle.

Ø       Circumambulation - How many circumambulations should be performed around Maruti ? Ans. - Minimum five but if a worshipper wants to perform more, then they should be in multiples of five.

Prevalent ritualistic worship:

In Maharashtra, Saturday is considered to be the day of Maruti while in rest of India (Bhaarat) both Tuesday and Wednesday are considered to be His days. There is a custom of offering sindoor and oil to Maruti on these days. Breaking a coconut in front of Maruti also appears to be an age old custom. For spiritual progress, Maruti with His face to the left (Vaammukhi Maruti) or Maruti with an attitude of service (Daas Maruti) is worshipped.

·         Maruti facing the south (Dakshinmukhi Maruti): Here the word south (dakshin) has two meanings - one is the south direction and second, the right side.

South in context to the direction: Here since Maruti faces the south He is named so. Black magic like jaran, maran, etc. are done primarily in front of this idol of Maruti. Such idols of Maruti are found in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, etc. in Maharashtra and in Basavgudi in the district of Karnataka in India.

South in context to the right side: This Maruti has His face turned towards the right. What do you feel after looking at the following two figures? First decide with which you experience more energy and only then read the following section.

At a workshop in Mumbai twelve out of thirty-six seekers gave answers. Nine out of these twelve experienced energy with figure ‘B’ and only 3 experienced energy with figure ‘A’. In figure ‘B’ (facing the right) since the sun channel (surya nadi) of Maruti is active more energy was felt by most seekers looking at it. In figure ‘A’ the moon channel (chandra nadi) of Maruti is operational hence people felt less energy. Just like Ganapati with the trunk towards the right the Maruti facing the right is a powerful deity. He is worshipped to overcome problems due to distressing energy. The sushumna channel (nadi) of Ganapati and Maruti are continuously operational but with the transformation in Their forms the sun or moon channels too become operational to a small extent.

Shani (Saturn) and Maruti

‘Although there is close association between Shani and Hanuman prevailing in our society its explanation is equally complicated and incomprehensible.

·         1. In the verse with a thousand Names of Hanuman (Hanumansahasranam stotra) Shani is one of the Names of Hanuman.

·         2. In the Surya Sanhita it is said that Hanuman was born on a Saturday (Shanivar).

·         3. It is given in holy texts that Rudra is one of the ten names of Shani.

·         4. Just like Shani one occasionally comes across Hanuman with a dark complexion.

·         5. Since Shani is popular in the Gadhval region Hanuman is also seen sporting an iron whip akin to Shani. As a result unknowingly a relationship between Shani and Hanuman must have been established and Hanuman’s worship on Saturdays and His inclusion in the vowed observance of worshipping Saturday (Shanivarvrat) must have commenced.

Differences

The differences between Shani and Hanuman are more than their similarities.

·         1. Shani is the son of the Sun deity hence is born from the tej (absolute fire) element whereas Hanuman is the son of Vayu hence is born from the vayu (absolute air) element.

·         2. There is discord between Shani and the sun whereas Hanuman is a devotee of the Sun deity. He has learnt all the skills from the Sun deity who has imparted a hundredth portion of His radiance to Him. Due to the conflict between Shani and the Sun deity the latter helped Hanuman, the enemy of His enemy (Shani). At that time the vayu element and energy had not manifested completely in Hanuman.

·         3. Shani is slow whereas Hanuman is swift like the eagle.

·         4. Shani is an evil planet while Hanuman is definitely not so.

·         5. It is said that one should not sell oil on Saturdays yet it is customary to offer oil to Hanuman on that day.

Demigods (yakshas) and Maruti

Brave and miraculous are adjectives used to describe the demigods. In the Valmiki Ramayan Hanuman is referred to as the miraculous one. Mahavir (the courageous one) is Hanuman’s popular Name. This indicates the relationship between Hanuman and the worship of the demigods. Hanuman is included in the fifty-two brave ones (virs) by the name of Kapilumbir. In Maharashtra, India in the month of Phalgun of the Hindu lunar calendar people dressed as warriors (virs) dance in a procession on their way to a Maruti temple.’

Ganapati and Maruti

Both of Them have a red complexion (like sindur) and both of Them possess the eight supernatural powers (ashtamahasiddhis).

Importance of Maruti as described by saints

Saint Ramdas Swami has said “Hanumant is our deity”. He is a symbol of energy, ingenuity and devotion. Hence Samarth Ramdas began worshipping Him. Eleven idols of Maruti installed by Him are famous. In North India too saint Tulsidas erected a number of temples and strengthened the worship of Maruti. Madhvacharya is considered as an incarnation of Maruti. Various other saints have also placed Maruti as the ideal through Their various compositions.

Worship

Since the manifest energy in Maruti (70%) is much more in comparison to other deities (10%), Maruti is worshipped in the context of energy for the following reasons.

·         To overcome distressing energy: To overcome problems due to spirits, black magic, ancestors’ subtle bodies, suffering due to Shani, etc.

·         To control pleasant energy: If there is any obstacle in the pathway of the activated kundalini (spiritual energy) then to overcome it and channelise it appropriately.

Ritualistic worship (puja)

Popular worship: In Maharashtra on the full moon day (pournima) of the Hindu lunar month of Chaitra Hanuman’s birthday (jayanti) is celebrated. In Maharashtra Saturday is considered as an auspicious day for His worship. In the rest of India Saturday and Tuesday both are considered as auspicious days for His worship. On these days people offer Him sindur and oil. In some places coconuts are offered. To make spiritual progress worship of Vamamukhi (facing the left) Maruti or Maruti as the servitor (Dasmaruti) is used. The reasons for offering oil, sindur, leaves of the coral (rui) plant are given in ‘Why are tulsi leaves offered to Vishnu?.

Influence of Shani and worship of Maruti: The relationship between Shani and Maruti has been explained earlier in point ‘Shani and Maruti’. Hence when there is an influence of Shani, to reduce the resultant/resulting suffering Maruti is worshipped. The ritual should be performed as follows: Take some oil in a cup (vati), put fourteen bengal gram grains (udid) in it and then look at the reflection of one’s face in it. Only then offer it to Maruti. If one is unable to visit the temple due to illness one may worship Maruti in this way. (Information on why bengal gram is used is described in ‘Science of Spirituality : Vol. 20 - Chapter 43 - Possession, Black magic and Manifestation’.)

A real oil vendor will never sell oil on Saturday because the distressing energy for which a person is offering oil to Maruti may start troubling the oil vendor itself. Hence instead of buying oil from oil vendors seated outside the temple one should carry oil for the offering, from home.

Meaning: We are quite familiar with Maruti, the son of Anjani. We meditate on that Maruti, the son of Vayu. May that courageous Maruti inspire our intellect benevolently.

Maruti in our lives

If Maruti is in our breath then Rama [the embodied soul doing spiritual practice (jivatma) or atmaram] is within us.

|| Shri Marutaye namaha ||

Hanumna: ‘There is no mention of Hanuman made anywhere in Vedic literature. Researchers feel that “Hanumant” must be the Sanskrut form of a Tamil word. When translating Dravidian words into Sanskrut there is a practice of mostly prefixing the alphabet “h” to the word, for instance Idumbika (proud woman) becomes Hidimba, so also Anmandi (an meaning monkey and mandi meaning man) when translated to Sanskrut becomes Hanuman. Hanuman is also known as “Anumandan” in South India. This implies that “h” from the Sanskrut word has been omitted here.’ The story behind the birth of Hanuman is given in Valmiki Ramayan (Kishkindhakand, sarga 66) as follows: Anjani gave birth to Hanuman. After birth, thinking that the rising sun was a golden fruit He leapt into the sky for it. That day being a solar eclipse (parvatithi) Rahu (the dragon’s head) had come to engulf the sun. Thinking that Hanuman was another Rahu Lord Indra attacked Him with His thunderbolt. It struck Hanuman’s chin (hanuvati) which got cut and developed a cleft. Thus he acquired the name Hanuman.

In a way Maruti also becomes Rama’s brother because along with the queens of King Dasharath, Anjani who was also performing austerities received the sweet (payas) from the sacrificial fire (yadnya) and it was because of this that Maruti was born. It was the full moon (pournima) day of the Hindu lunar month of Chaitra. This is celebrated as the birthday of Hanuman (Hanuman jayanti).

‘Hanumant is also known as Maruti. In the Mahabharat He is referred to as Marutatmaja. The word Maruti has originated from the word Marut. There are many schools of thought regarding Maruti and Rudra.

Maruts are the sons of Rudra and so is Maruti.’

‘There are eleven rudras. Since Hanuman too is a rudra He is included in these eleven. Bhim is one of the Names of the eleven rudras. Hanuman has also been referred to as “Bhimrupi Maharudra”. It is believed that probably Hanumant’s five faced idols have been derived due to the influence of the five-faced idol of Rudrashiva.

Hanuman is considered an incarnation of Lord Rudra. Researchers opine that the relationship between Hanuman and Rudra must have originated in the era of the Purans. In the story from the Ramayan narrating Hanuman’s birth, Vayu (generated from absolute air) is referred to as His father. Later due to His innate qualities He became an incarnation of Lord Rudra. The relationship between Hanuman and Lord Rudra has been clearly illustrated in the Skand Puran, Brahmavaivarta Puran, Narad Puran, Shiva Puran, Bhavishya Puran, Mahabharat Puran, etc.’