Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 4

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 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
बुद्धिहीन तनु जानिके सुमिरौं पवन कुमार
बल बुद्धि बिद्या देहु मोहिं हरहु कलेस बिकार


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
  3. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 3 -https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2024/12/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to_22.html

Today, let us look at the first couplet or Chaupai of Shri Hanuman Chalisa -  

जय हनुमान ज्ञान गुन सागर
जय कपीस तिहुं लोक उजागर

In the previous blog articles we prepared our mind to make it eligible for invoking Lord Hanuman. Once we start to invoke Hanuman, we also state what is our request from him. 

In this first chaupai, the poet starts to rise Lord Hanuman saying "Jai Hanuman". The word "Jai" in Hindi means victory in English. However, in Hindi there are two different words that mean Victory in English - "Jai" and "Vijai". The two words have different meanings and implications in Hindi - 
  • Vijai - Victory over other! One must duel with another and defeat them - either emotionally or physically
  • Jai - Victory over your own self! you duel with your own thoughts, fight the battles within and win over them to gain peace. This is the path of nonviolence as there is no harm to the other.
Hanuman is being worshipped in this opening lines of the Shri Hanuman Chalisa as one who has conquered the battles within and is at peace with his own self. The battles from within are the thoughts that cause greed, jealousy, anger and many other feelings that drive us away from peace within ourselves. More than outside, we need to focus within ourselves and fight the battles to gain happiness in life. We are able to expand our mind and focus on other's needs rather than our own as we would have overcome the desires that cause us grief. Lord Hanuman is a perfect example of one who has won over his own thoughts and is happy looking out for others needs - be it Sugreeva or later Ram. 
In the Indian thought, one who is victorious over others is known as "Veer" or powerful, while one who attains victory over self is "Mahaveer" or powerful amongst the powerfuls. The Jain scriptures also talk about Mahavir as one of their most powerful tirthankara, as he showed the path of controlling oneself. 

Lord Hanuman is also depicted as an ocean of knowledge and great qualities - "ज्ञान गुन सागर". This is an important part of Hanuman being worshipped. Hanuman is usually visualized as a symbol of physical prowess and power that burned down the city of Lanka and killed many demons bare handed. but we are remembering Hanuman not for his physical strength, but for his knowledge and wisdom. This is actually celebration of Hanuman having an exalted mind that pairs up with the strength of an animal and makes him a human. Humans have an ability to think and imagine unlike animals, which is due to their mind. Hanuman is known to have a body of a monkey. And he is referred to as the king or the god of monkeys. Per science, monkey is the closes species to human in the evolution theory. Thus, it can be inferred that Hanuman is an highly evolved monkey who has the traits of a human - possibly much more - and is close to being a god himself. 

Hanuman is said to light up the three worlds through his knowledge and wisdom. The definition of the three worlds is quite left for interpretation. Per Indian thought, the three worlds are either - Heaven (Land of the gods), Earth (Land of the humans) and Patal (Land of the asurs) or Sky, Earth and the Space between the two! Given Hanuman's exalted state of mind, another interpretation of the three worlds could be my mind, your mind and all the other minds around us. With the wisdom and knowledge from Hanuman, may we see all in clarity!





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