Hanuman Janmotsav : Five Qualities of Bajrang Bali
- Shri Bhupendra Bhai Pandya
Today marks the festival of Hanuman Janmotsav, the day when we celebrate the birth of Shree Hanuman. On this day, we make the prayer that “O GyanGunSagar (ocean of wisdom and virtue) Mahavir Hanumanji! Bestow us with strength, wisdom & dedication for RamKaaj (the work of Lord Ram)”.
If we were to begin describing Shree Hanuman’s qualities then this article would be of infinite length. Therefore we wanted to present to you a specific description of the secrets of success from the Hanuman Chalisa on career management. We pray that these teachings bring you innumerable benefits in your life and inspire you to perform great deeds for RamKaaj (the work of Lord Ram).
The world has yet to have a manager like Shree Hanuman. We want to clear up one misunderstanding: Hanuman is not a monkey God; the word in Sanskrit is vanar. There is no translation of this in English and there does not have to be: it is just vanar. Therefore let us never make the mistake of addressing someone so great as a monkey God. The word “Ram Dut” (ambassador of Ram) is only used for Hanuman and not anyone else. There are many devotees of Ram in the world today but there is only one “Ram Dut” (ambassador of Ram) and that is Hanuman. We are Indians in the UK representing Indians, Hindus, our family lineage and our own selves whereas Hanuman represents Ram. The greatest lesson we can learn about career management from Hanumanji is the way He interacts with people and manages relationships with people. Remember one fact of life dear friends: people will not remember you for what you told them or for what you gave them, but what they will remember is how you make them feel. If you stay with someone for half an hour and they give you warmth and love then you will remember them all your life. Hanumanji knew this and that is why He is the best manager the world has ever seen.
There are five things about Hanuman that we must understand. First, he is an absolutely successful person. He has never failed in life. And we all want to be successful and never fail. One of the names of Hanuman is Sanchak Muchak meaning He removes all obstacles. There are six reasons why He is successful. The first is a positive mind and a joyful mind. Joy of mind is not in objects around you but in attitude of mind. People like Meera and Narsihn Mehta never complained no matter their circmumstances. If you have read the Ramayan then you will know that He is initially a low profile character but he takes centre stage towards the end when He sweeps the Sundarkandh and the Lankakandh. There is the scene in the Ramayan when in their search for Sita, a group of vanaras reaches the southern seashore. Upon encountering the vast ocean, every vanar begins to lament his inability to jump across the water. Jambavan said that this was no job for ordinary mortals. Jambavan asked prince Angad that “I have grown old and infirm. In my younger days, I would not have hesitated. Can you do this?” Angad replied “Jambavan, I could perhaps cross the sea, but I cannot guarantee that I will be able to get back!” What is the use of this? He was meant to report on Sita’s whereabouts so if he cannot come back then the purpose of the mission is defeated. Jambavan asked all of the vanars and they just said “we are just vanaras, how can we cross this sea?” Jambavan then got to Hanuman who was sitting there with His head down. Jamabavan said “what about you Hanuman? You are the minister of the vanara kingdom?” No reaction. Jambavan said “Your strength, courage and intellect are unmatched”. No reaction. “Hanuman, You are the son of the wind god. You can find your way around any obstacle”. Still no reaction. Jambavan then said “Will you not serve Lord Ram, whose work you were meant to do and rescue Sitaji from the hands of Ravan?” As soon as Jambavan said this and Hanumanji heard Ram’s name, Tulasidasji writes in the RamCharitManas that Hanuman immediately grew in size of a mountain of gold and crossed the sea to reach Lanka.
This is number two: His motive and His goal inspired Him. Have a goal in life. We must ask ourselves: what is the purpose for which I have been sent in the world. This is what the Gita describes as Svadharma. Each and every individual in unique and each and every individual has a gift inside them that is unique. It is such a pitiable state that the entire human race is manipulated by marketing. Hanuman is eager to do RamKaaj (the work of ShreeRam). He does whatever pleases ShreeRam and that gives Him a joyous mind. If your purpose in life is to please yourself then it is a difficult task but if it is to please others then it is an easy task. Decide who is at the centre of your life. Whenever Hanumanji begins a new endeavour, it is mentioned in the Ramayan that He has a joyous mind. Third we learn from this same example to accept challenges properly. No challenge will defeat you until you accept defeat. When people begin a task then their state of mind is important. He said He was going to be joyous because His heart was joyous.
Fourth, He bowed down to everyone. He is not an egotist at all. The very definition of Hanuman is Hanu (to destroy) and maan (ego); therefore one who has destroyed His ego is Hanuman. He even bowed down to those who were apparently inferior to Him. Humility is missing in this world. The more fruits that there are on the branches of a tree then the more than the trees recline. That makes your mind joyful. Have you ever seen an arrogant person smiling wholeheartedly? The more successful a person is then the more modest they should be. Humility attracts respect. People show an arrogant person respect but as soon as His back turns then those people change. There is bliss in bowing one’s head. A pitcher needs to bow down to get water from a river. In fact the pitcher just has to bow down and the river does everything else. And one pot whose thirst is quenched will get rid of the thirst of many pots. When we bow down then the power of blessings comes to us. This is the power of blessings. At the beginning of the Mahabharata war, Yuddhistir wanted to get the blessings of Bhisma on the other side. Duryodhana was on the same side as Bhisma but still did not touch Bhisma’s feet. Yuddhistir bowed down to Bhisma’s feet. Tears rolled down from Bhisma’s eyes and Bhisma, despite being on the other side, said “may you become victorious because you are humble and righteous”. Pandavas had no preparation because they were in the forest for 13 years and had to build all their contacts for one year yet they still won.
Fifth, Hanuman had faith towards His mission and faith is a big power. There are various stages to this: (a) you are attracted to a goal; (b) you appreciate that work; (c) you have respect towards that work; but what makes you successful is (d) deep faith in that work. People have faith towards other people, ideas and thoughts, but it is so difficult to create faith in your duty. When you have tremendous faith in your work then your work will be worship. To create a deep faith, you must first ask yourself: are you doing the right work? Most people in this world are doing things because they have to do them. Select the work you have faith in. Svadharma is your built in programme. Ask yourself two questions: if you had no limitation of time and no compulsion to earn money then would you do what you are doing now? If the answer is “yes” then you are doing Svadharma as prescribed in the scriptures. If not then you will feel that you are postponing life. Have deep faith in what you do. If you do then eagerness will come and all the resources will automatically come.
Sixth, emotional intelligence. There are three concepts in psychology. First is IQ: the intelligence quotient. This has been there for so long. Then around 30 years ago came the concept of EQ: emotional quotient. If an intelligent person is not emotional then he will not be successful. IQ must be substantiated with EQ because the EQ will show a person where to use her IQ. IQ is disastrous if it is not based on EQ. In the last 10 years there has been SQ (spiritual quotient). A person must be spiritually orientated to use his intelligence and his emotions in the right combination. Hanuman has all three. In the Hanuman Chalisa He is described as “Jai Hanuman Gnyan Gun Sagar” meaning “Victory to You, O Hanuman, ocean of wisdom and virtue”. Having only an intellect makes a person arrogant and having only emotions makes a person weak and indecisive. A person who is intelligent alone can be ruthless and a person who is emotional alone can be indecisive. Both individually have limitations then you will be intelligent and you will do good to others. It is said that the Hanuman Chalisa contains the least of qualities of Hanuman; such is His greatness. But if we incorporate these qualities into our lives then we will be successful. The Samurai in Japan say “control your emotions otherwise your emotions will control you”. They are trained physically and also emotionally. Even though they are strong, they have a steady mind. In the Ashok Vatika garden, Hanuman was hiding in a tree and he saw Ravan abusing and mistreating Sitaji. But He controlled His emotions and first throws Ram’s ring and then He coolly narrates Ram’s story.
This is not an easy combination. In order to be successful, you need this combination. Hanuman is often addressed as strong but only physical strength does not make Him successful. It is also intelligence and virtues. The intellect can be disastrous. Knowledge is like fire. You can cook food with it but you can also set someone’s house on fire. It depends on whose control or possession this energy is in. Enron went bankrupt even though they had the best staff, best brains, best technicians, best lawyers and the best of everything. Yet it is finished. Why? Because it did not have good human beings. This is what a top analyst has said. Everyone was successful but they acted like termites. On the other hand, Hanumanji never failed because He was an ocean of wisdom and virtue. As well as being being full of qualities, you still need to be virtuous. Most people fake virtues but Hanuman’s virtues cannot be denied even by His enemies. Hanumanji’s is described in the Hanuman Chalisa as vidyavaan guni ati chaatur, Raama kaaj karibe ko aatur (You are learned, virtuous and extremely clever). These qualities only come when you are eager to do something you have deep faith in otherwise these qualities do not come together. Brahmins are known to be wise but you need to be extremely clever as well like the vanik community. There is a story from the Panchatantra that three Brahmins learned in all the sciences were passing through a forest and they saw a heap of bones lying under a tree. On seeing the heap, one of the learned friends said, “Friends, this is a good opportunity to test our skills. I think these bones are of a certain animal. Let us bring it to life using the knowledge we have acquired.” The first friend said, “Fine. I will use my skills to assemble the bones into a skeleton”. Then he chanted some mantra and ordered all the bones to come together forming a skeleton. When the skeleton was ready, the second friend chanted some other mantra, commanding flesh and blood to fill the skeleton and skin to cover it. Now, it looked like a lifeless lion. The third learned friend started chanting the mantra to bring the animal back to life. The third friends put life in the lifeless body of the lion. The lion sprang to life and killed all the three learned men. Cleverness is needed with learnedness and virtue. If you are keen to do the work you are doing then God will bestow you with these three qualities. If God sees that someone is giving the right vibrations then He will take care of him.
The second reason why Hanumanji is an excellent manager is because he understands the laws of nature and breaks boundaries. When going to find Sitaji, Hanuman did the job He had to do but He is not remembered in Lanka for meeting Sitaji but for burning Lanka. The majority of people restrict their duties to their desks. If a document comes that is beyond their desk work then they put it away. Break the boundaries you have at work. Break the limits and circumferences. He told Sitaji He was hungry, Sitaji told Him to eat the fruit on the floor so that it will be discreet. Hanumanji broke the trees so that the fruits fell. One by one Ravana’s sons came after Him but He killed all of them. One of Ravan’s sons was called Akshay Kumar (meaning indestructible) yet Hanumanji still killed him with just one blow. Then Ravana’s son Meghanand fired the Brahmastra and in honour of the Brahmastra weapon, He decided to get bound but He could have easily killed Meghanand. This is an important principle of nature. Hanumanji came into bondage for God’s work. If you know when to stand steadily and when to bow down then you will be successful. First Hanumanji knows when it is time to stand up and when it is time to bow down to a situation. Second He knows how to adjust to a situation without compromising His principles (not prejudices which are ego based but principles which are for the well-being of everyone). Third, 95% of successful people have wisdom but it is always a timely decision. It is about making the right decision at the right time. The person who knows what to do and when knows everything.
Third, true freedom lies in accepting challenges with a positive attitude. A person’s own worth is determined by how much efforts are needed to break his inner worth. A person rich from within will not break under criticism. In the court of Lanka, everyone was taunting Hanumanji but it did not affect Him. Hanuman cannot be tied down but chose to be tied down. This is the bondage of prakruti (nature). One has to accept this bondage because if they do not accept it then the universe will go haywire. It is hard to win over a conflict with nature. There were two blades of grass flowing with a river; one was pushing against the river and the other enjoyed the journey. We need to be one with the cosmic system. Most challenges arise because we do not understand this system. In nature there is a tendency to adapt. The River Ganga flows from Gangotri but it does not flow in a straight way. But its flow will be easier in this way. This is because ultimately it has to reach the ocean, which is its goal. Hanuman accepted bondage for this reason. Nature works in two ways. First it supports us and second it opposes us. There are some people in society who support us without analysing or judging. And there are some people who are clear-cut opponents. They will not analyse but will just oppose you no matter what you do. They will always try to put obstacles in your path to try to stop you succeeding. Both of these extreme people are always in a minority (1-20%). On average, not more than 5% are supporters and not more than 5% are opponents. Then there is the third category who are the independents (the confused lot) who cannot take a clear stand. Our success in life depends not how you behave with the supporters or opposers but how you deal with the 90% independent people. The majority of people will try to woo their opponents, keep away from them or keep chasing them. Hanuman says that those who are not opposed to us are friends to us. He converts these 90% independents so that he now has 95% supporters. He says that independent people are not throwing stones. He therefore has this attitude towards the 90% independents. We often feel that the 5% opponents are everyone but most people do not care. The entire universe is filled with energy and there is energy constantly going around us. That energy can be used to create success in our lives. If we think that 95% of people are our opponents then that energy works against us but if we think that 95% of people are our supporters then that energy supports us. This is what Hanuman does and this is how you use that cosmic energy.
Even in the most difficult situation, someone is with you. If someone is not against you then they are with you. Sitaji was with Him, Lanka was against Him and Vibhishan was independent but he was a lot of help. When this independent energy becomes in our favour then our lives become easier and we befriend nature. This is what Hanuman teaches us about accepting the boundaries of nature. Whatever work we do, even if we are in conflict, make sure that the other person’s honour is not attacked. We consciously should not attack someone’s self-esteem as then it becomes a conflict of the ego and a small issue becomes unimaginably large. Never knowingly attack another person’s self-esteem. People in the world do this all the time. You are just creating enemies by hurting someone’s self-esteem.
Fourth, what is the demand of the work Hanuman is doing: it is God’s work. Hanuman said that He is not afraid to be bound for God’s work. He can do anything for ShreeRamchandraji’s work. Therefore first your ego should not come into any activity you are doing and second inhibitions and limitations should not come. If good people shy away to do the right thing and bad people shamelessly do wrong things then this is a serious situation in society. One should remove the inhibitions to do good activities and one should have the courage to remove bad activities. Once Hanuman said that He was not ashamed to do God’s activity then the whole court room was silenced because He had defeated them. Insults do not work if a person does not feel insulted. If someone gets angry at you and you do not react then he will feel miserable. Buddha was once giving a discourse and a drunk person came and insulted Him. Buddha did not react. The person asked Him why He did not react. Buddha said that yesterday someone came to offer Him sweets but He did not accept them, so what happened to those sweets. The person said that they stayed with the offerer. Buddha then asked him that he was hurling insults at Him but if He does not accept them then where do they go? The person fell at Buddha’s feet. There is only fun in getting angry if the other person does not react. To renounce one’s ego is a big step. ShreeKrushna was the older brother of Arjuna but still became his charioteer. He had to follow his instructions. In ancient times, the warrior would pinch the back of a charioteer with his foot to instruct him to move or turn. Why would ShreeKrushna be pinched by Arjuna’s foot for 18 days? It was so that righteousness would prevail. It would have been very easy for ShreeKrushna to appoint someone else but He Himself did it. He was not ashamed of it because He was convinced of His goal in life.
Fifth, there are ripples in this ocean of the cosmic system and you control the system by firstly the size of the stone you throw (people who you associate with) and second the location of where you throw the stone (the style of your work). Hanuman had come as a spy in Lanka. But He took a self-appointed promotion and changed His role from a spy to a messenger. He told Vibhishan that He was a messenger. The success or even the survival of Hanumanji was that He was able to change His role at the right time. When Ravan said to kill Him then Vibhesshan immediately intervened saying that to kill a messenger is against political ethics. If a spy gets caught then he is immediately imprisoned but diplomats are protected. Shree Hanumanji did not remain a spy but an ambassador and so was protected. Go that extra inch and the universe will come to help you. Hanumanji then began a peace process because He knew what Ram would do. He told Ravan to hand back Sita or face death. He knew that the goal would not be immediately achieved but He put in efforts to inch towards success. In doing that, He won over the entire courtroom. He had 5% supporters and now even the 5% opponents switched. Even in burning Lanka, Hanuman did it completely. Not a building was left expect Vibhishan’s home. Hanumanji believes in the consistency of events ultimately resulting in success. It is not just you and I doing something; the energy of the universe is working with us if we align ourselves properly and know about the consequences.
Dear friends, these are only six of Hanumanji’s qualities and on this great occasion I pray that Hanumanji bestows you all with great success in your careers.
May Hanuman Ji bless you all!
- Shri Bhupendra Bhai Pandya
