Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 3

Shri Hanuman Chalisa

By RahulKSaini - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113402769

श्रीगुरु चरन सरोज रज निज मनु मुकुरु सुधारि

बरनऊं रघुबर बिमल जसु जो दायकु फल चारि

Please find the links to the previous posts here - 

1. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 1 - https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2024/12/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to.html
2. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 2 - https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2024/12/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to_21.html

Today, let us look at the explanation for the second Doha. 

बुद्धिहीन तनु जानिके सुमिरौं पवन कुमार

बल बुद्धि बिद्या देहु मोहिं हरहु कलेस बिकार

In the opening Doha, the poet prepares the mind to be able to invoke Lord Hanuman. The poet uses the blessings from the teacher to cleanse their mind where the invocation of the Lord Hanuman shall happen. 

In the second doha (the current one) - the poet requests Lord Hanuman, that consider me as a person with no brain. I pray to you, Lord Hanuman - the son of the Wind. Please help me with strength, wisdom and knowledge and take away all those traits that cause sorrow in my life.

When we go to someone asking for help, we praise them and then we state our problem statement to them upfront. When we request for help, we must offer something in return as well. We must let the person know clearly what we want, this will make it easy for the other who does not has to guess in how to help us. At the same time, it is important to add a disclaimer and ask for forgiveness before you make a mistake. This is a wonderful tact when you meet with a person of superiority. 

In easier terms, we are invoking Lord Hanuman in our minds that has been cleansed with blessings from our teachers and others. Hanuman is referred to here as the son of the Wind or the Vayu god. In the Vedic though, Wind is considered as the god of life sustenance, while in the Pauranic thought, the Wind is the life itself. We are worshipping the god of life, the one who is making the life sustainable and grow. We pray to the Lord requesting for forgiveness in case we make any mistake in worshipping him or mistakenly make any offer that might irritate him. We are requesting the Lord to grant us three important qualities in life and in return take away any of the things that may case sorrow for us or others. 

The qualities we request from Lord Hanuman are - 

1. Strength - To lead a happy and a courageous life, we all need strength. Whether it is physical or mental strength we need it both to fight the battles within our mind or outside our body. Who better than Hanuman can provide them to us, when his physical strength is so well known to the world - in the way he defeated and killed that Ravana's Army or he lifted the entire mountain looking for Sanjeevani. His mental strength is mismatched in tales that we see in Ramcharitmanas and later in Mahabharata too. A person without strength but with wisdom or knowledge has no meaning as they can not implement or spread their wisdom or knowledge. 
2. Wisdom - Strength without wisdom can lead us to being a weapon that has a high destruction potential and can be misused by someone who can control us. A person without wisdom is just like an animal, who can be tamed or will react as his master tells him to. Hanuman is known as an epitome of wisdom the way he deals with Sursa or even Lankini. It was his wisdom that baffled Ravana more than the fact that he destroyed his gardens. Hanuman is also seen with his wood in humbling Bhim during the Mahabharat age. Hanuman is seen as a monkey, but has the ability to talk in Sanskrit and can reason with any sages or learned people. 
3. Knowledge - Hanuman is known to have immense knowledge and is known to have read all the vedas in his childhood. It is said that Rishi Yagnavalkya gained his knowledge of vedas from the Sun. Sun is known to be most learned as he is observing everything as he is always present. It is said that Hanuman wanted to learn and gain knowledge so badly, that he requested Sun to teach him. But Sun refused as he had to continuously travel from east to west. Hanuman then flew constantly in front of the Sun's (Surya's) chariot facing the sun at all times. In another story, Hanuman had knowledge of all the vedas by the age of three, by the grace of Lord Brahma. But when as a child he jumped to eat Sun, believing it to be a fruit, Indra and other gods conditioned Hanuman in such a way that he forgets his knowledge until it can be put to use for others. A person with knowledge, wisdom and strength has a mind that is well expanded to think about others, their own self and is fully grown to be a human from an animal. 

We thank Lord Hanuman for the three most powerful gifts that he can give to us. 

In return we offer our qualities back to Lord Hanuman that can be a cause of quarrels, sorrows and displeasure amongst us. These qualities include - 

1. Anger
2. Disobedience
3. Jealousy
4. Addiction
5. Pride

These qualities can cause issues within our mind and also with others. We request Lord Hanuman to take them away thus giving him the title of "Sankat Mochan" - One who removes all obstacles.