Worship of Sri Hanuman

Worship of Sri Hanuman

By worship of Sri Hanuman, the servant of the Lord, we can rechannel our self-serving interests to become a selfless servant, and teach our consciousness to witness the movie of the divine lila, the drama of every day life with the similar conviction and strength as displayed by Sri Hanuman in all his endeavours. Hanuman puja, the worship of the blessed servant of the Lord, will fill our monkey minds with divinity. The orthodox system of Hanuman puja includes worship of Ganesha, Guru, Navagrahas, Siva, Durga and Sri Rama. The text includes the Hanuman Chalisa, Hanumath Badavanala Stotram, Sree Sankashta Mochana Stotram, Homa and offerings.

Mantras and Popular Songs

Mantras work on the theory of physical and emotional resonance. When one string of the guitar is plucked the next string will also vibrate due to physical resonance. Emotional resonance means that music influences feelings which in turn affects the health. All diseases are psychosomatic. Edgar Cayce has claimed that sound would be the medicine of the future. Ayurveda, the Indian system of medicines, refers to crystallization around muscle fibers due to stress which corresponds to unresolved emotional conditions. Specific pieces of music can resonate the crystallization patterns, thereby loosening them.

Man means profound meditation and tra means to expand or illuminate. Mantras were revealed to the sages in states of supreme consciousness or samadhi. It is said that there are 108 psychic centres in the human body with 108 wave lengths projecting from the brain. Perhaps this is the reason why mantras are repeated 108 times. Correct invocation of a mantra would effect an energy charge in the psyche which is transmitted to the body. It produces not only sound waves but also thought waves. Several muscles must operate to produce a sound. The main function of the mantra is to provide adequate exercise to the entire nervous system. When each phonetic sound activates the corresponding region of the body the mantra leads to the rhythmic pulsation of the nervous system.   

Worship of Lord Hanuman

There have been many such devotees, who have attained liberation through single-minded devotion and singing God’s glory. They include Azhwars, Nayanmars, Haridasas of Karnataka (Srinivasa Naik/Purandara Dasa, Kanaka Dasa, Vijaya Dasa), Jnanadev, Namadev, Ekanath, Tukaram, Samartha Ramdas, Narasimha Mehta, Mirabai, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Akho, Kabir, Tulsidas, Raidas, Daadu, Sankaradeva of Assam, Bhadrachala Ramadas, Saint Tyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshithar, Sridhara Iyaaval of Thiruvisanallur, Upanishadh Brahmam of Kanchi, and many others. Sanath Kumara, Vyasa, Sukha Brahmam, Uddhava, Aruni, Maha Bali, Sri Hanuman, and Vibhishana followed the path of surrender.

About the Gopis (the cow maidens) of Vrindavan, the Srimad Bhagavatham says that, "They never learnt the Vedas; they never served any teacher; they practised no austerity; but by association with holiness, they attained Me." - Bhagavatham XI: 12-7 & 8. In an earlier canto, the Srimad Bhagavatham has revealed the different ways of attaining God’s grace. "The Gopis through desire, Kamsa through enimity, the Vrishnis through clannishness, the Pandavas through affection and the sages through devotion attained Him." - Bhagavatham VII:1-30. 

Naama sankeerthan is said to be the most efficacious method of realising God in this Kali Yuga, where righteousness is on the decline. Words have tremendous power; they are potent forces that bring up great reserves of strength and wisdom. The present age is described in the scriptures as very conducive to Liberation for, while in past Ages, rigorous penance was prescribed as the means, the present Kali Age requires only Namasmarana to win Liberation. When the name of the Lord is remembered with all the glory that is associated with it, a great flood of happiness wells up in the mind. The Lord is full of bliss and in fact He is Bliss itself. All this bliss is to be experienced through the name. 

Worship of Lord Hanuman

Sage Vyasa remarked, "How fortunate are those destined to be born in the Kali Yuga! It is so easy to win the grace of God by namasmarana in the Kali Age." When questioned whether it was Ramanama that enabled Sri Hanuman to cross the ocean, Sri Rama replied that since His Body was called Sri Rama, the name that combines the Bijaaksharas of both Siva and Vishnu, He Himself was able to conquer Ravana and his hordes. Sankirtan (holy chanting) is the essence of the Vedas. The four Vedas originated from sound. There are four kinds of sound, namely, Vaikhari (vocal), Madhyama (from the throat), Pasyanti (from the heart) and Para (from the navel). Sound originates from the navel. The Vedas also originated from the navel. Sankirtan and the Vedas are born from the same source. Nama and Nami are inseparable. Nama means the name of God and Nami means that which is denoted by the Nama or Name. Nama is greater than the Nami; Nama is nothing but Chaitanya. 

Importance of Thaaraka Mantra

Anjaneya crossed the ocean with the power of Thaaraka Mantra. Valmiki rose from the level of a savage to a great sage with this mantra. Ahalya, Swayam Prabha, and Sabari got liberation with the mantra. The mantra protected Sita Devi from Ravana’s advances. Saint Tyagaraja is believed to have recited the Thaaraka Naamam of Sri Rama ninety six crore times and had the fortune of darshan of Sri Rama with Sita Devi, Lakshmana and Sri Anjaneya. 

Aditya Hridayam

This is a hymn to the Sun God advised to Sri Rama by Sage Agastya. It forms part of the Yuddha Kanda of the Ramayana. During the battle, Ravana was whisked away by his charioteer to avoid being killed by Sri Rama. Sri Rama was aware of His divinity, but He wanted to assert only His human form and wanted to fulfil His missssion as an incarnation. It was in this situation that Sage Agastya gave this powerful mantra founded on the Vedic truth: Jivo brahmaiva naparah – That is, the individual self is identical with the Universal Self and is not different from it. Sri Rama killed Ravana after chanting this famous mantra. 

Hanuman Chalisa

Saint Tulsidas wrote this in Bhojpuri dialect in the sixteenth century. Light a ghee lamp, offer incense, and meditate on Sri Hanuman. This should be chanted eleven times on Tuesdays and/or Saturdays in a temple or in a clean room at home. This may as well be chanted one hundred times going round the peepul tree.