Hanuman Chalisa- doha-2

 

                                     Hanuman Chalisa        Doha - 2




        Buddhi hina tanu janike

                     Sumirau  pavana  kumara,

       Bala budhi bidhya  dehu  mohi

                     Harahu  kalesa  bikara .



 Knowing that I am ignorant, I meditate on you, o' Hanuman , the son of wind god. Grant me strength, intelligence and true knowledge and remove all my afflictions and blemishes.



    In this verse,Tulasidasa approaches god with humility. He surrenders himself  to Hanuman expressing the inadequacy of his intellect and pleads with him  to give him strength, intelligence and knowledge.

Bala means not only physical strength but it also includes moral strength and strength of character
. Buddhi, the intellect is the faculty through which we gain knowledge ( vidhya ). Knowledge is the discrimination between good and bad and the knowledge of the Absolute leads to liberation or moksha. This knowledge alone can remove the klesha i.e afflictions which are negative tendencies and cause misery. Vikara is the vagaries of mind.

The Yogasutra of Patanjali enumerates five kinds of afflictions. They are :

1     Avidya  - It is the ignorance of our spiritual nature. Our spiritual nature is eternal, pure and bliss. Ignorance is to regard the non- eternal as eternal, the impure as pure.

2    Asmita   - asmi means ' I am ' in sanskrit. Asmita means ego. As soon as this idea of ' I ' arises, it itself creates one and differentiate others from it. This is born of ignorance and causes misery whereas the reality is there is only one entity, one truth,no second.

 3    Raga    - attraction, attachment. When one develops the ego, he begins to develop relationships with those whom he considers  others. Then that ' I ' seems to experience suffering, because somehow it responds to the environment in two ways - one which it likes and one which it does not like called raga and dvesha. The mind in ' I ' begins to distinguish ' this is beautiful, that is ugly ', ' this is pleasant, that is unpleasant ', ' I love this, I hate that.' Raga means attraction or approval. We like something because it gives us pleasure. It gives us pleasure we like it. It is a vicious circle constantly torturing the mind without revealing the truth.


 4   Dvesha    - It means repulsion or disapproval. This is unpleasant. I hate that. We dislike something because it gives us pain because we do not like it. This thought also tortures the mind always.

5  Abhinivesha  - It is a mad clinging to one's physical life. Patanjali says this is universal. Because of ignorance, egoism, selfishness, attachment and hatred we cling to what we have and to life itself. Though we know that life is full of miseries we still cling to it, for the simple reason that we imagine that future after the life is going to be some thing dreadful. The ignorance is the ground on which all these psychic disturbances arise, thrive and exist. They disappear once the ignorance goes. The ignorance can go only when we realize our true blissful nature. The impurities of mind are called  vikaras. They are lust, anger, anger, greed, hatred, attachment and jealousy.


These can be destroyed only when self- knowledge dawns. Self- knowledge can come after a clear understanding of the eternal and blissful nature of the self.

Tulasidasa says that the worship of Hanuman frees the devotee from all these afflictions and blemishes.
Tanu means body and buddhi hina means ignorant, absence of wisdom. To consider ourselves as body is ignorance. The body itself is inert. It is only when this body is enlivened by the Lord and permeated by His power, then it comes to life and functions. So people who give importance only to this body and ignore the Lord are not very wise.

We must cleanse our mind by prayer. Once our mind is clean , the glories of the Lord will shine clearly in our heart. All our sorrows will end and our ignorance will vanish. Here Hanuman is called Pavanakumara, the son of the wind god. Wind is the symbol of selfless service and purifier. It is within us in the form of vital air without which we cannot live. Similarly Pavanakumara , Hanuman served Rama with humility and devotion , without any ego. We should also imbibe such qualities of humility, devotion and service to humanity.

Tulasidasa had the vision of Lord Rama by praying to Hanuman. Hanuman possess a spotless character and when he is adored,a devotee's mind will be cleansed. Automatically the devotee will get strength, intelligence and knowledge as Hanuman is the epitome of all these and all sorrows will vanish. Once mental purity is there ,thebody and the intellect become strong.