Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 10

 

  Shri Hanuman Chalisa

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

दोहा
श्रीगुरु चरन सरोज रज, निजमन मुकुरु सुधारि। बरनउं रघुबर बिमल जसु, जो दायक फल चारि।।
बुद्धिहीन तनु जानिके, सुमिरौं पवन-कुमार। बल बुधि बिद्या देहु मोहिं, हरहु कलेस बिकार।।
चौपाई
जय हनुमान ज्ञान गुन सागर। जय कपीस तिहुं लोक उजागर।।
राम दूत अतुलित बल धामा। अंजनि-पुत्र पवनसुत नामा।।
महाबीर बिक्रम बजरंगी। कुमति निवार सुमति के संगी।।
कंचन बरन बिराज सुबेसा। कानन कुण्डल कुँचित केसा।।
हाथ बज्र औ ध्वजा बिराजे। कांधे मूंज जनेउ साजे।।

शंकर सुवन केसरी नंदन। तेज प्रताप महा जग वंदन।।

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
4. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 4 - https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2024/12/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to_24.html
5. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 5 -https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2025/01/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to.html
6. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 6 -https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2025/01/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to_5.html
7. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 7 -https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2025/01/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to_19.html
8. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 8 -https://nitswe.blogspot.com/2025/02/shri-hanuman-chalisa-attempt-to.html
9. Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 9 - Shri Hanuman Chalisa - an attempt to explanation - 9

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

बिद्यावान गुनी अति चातुर। राम काज करिबे को आतुर।।

“Vidyavaan guni

ati chatur.

Ram kaj

karibe ko aatur.”

Goswami Tulsidas is continuing to praise Lord Hanuman and his qualities. In the same theme, the poet describes some more qualities of Hanuman and his actions.

Tulsidas ji praises Hanuman for his knowledge as well as his smartness. He says that you are so smart and full of knowledge and always ready to do the actions for Ram. This is a quality we all should imbibe.

In one of the stories, Hanuman asks his mother that he wants to learn and gain knowledge. With her understanding, his mother suggested him to go to the Sun god who is supposed to travel all over every day and probably has all the knowledge possible. Inspired, Hanuman goes to the Sun requesting knowledge. Sun suggested that he continuously travels East to West and takes no breaks. Hence he has no time to sit down and teach Hanuman. Hanuman then comes up with two different solutions per various stories - 

1. Hanuman flies in front of the Sun's chariot facing the Sun continously and absorbing the knowledge in this process
2. Hanuman stands tall with one leg towards east and the other towards west, following the Sun's chariot all the time to learn from Sun

Looking at Hanuman's methods, not only Sun gave all the knowledge, but also praised Hanuman for his smartness. 

The lesson to learn from this portion of the couplet is to have the smartness along with the knowledge from the books. A person may have read all the books and could be called learned as he knows how to read, but unless he knows how to utilize his learnings he can not be called as knowledgeable. Along with smartness, the will to learn is also very important. Hanuman shows all the traits - he has the will to learn, he is ready to pay the price for learning, he finds his teacher and he is ready to apply his learnings.  This is the definition of an ideal student. 

Hanuman's cleverness is also seen in another story from Ramcharitmanas, when he jumps over the ocean to go to Lanka in search of Sita. While he was flying over the ocean, a serpent named Sursa looks at him hoping to catch him for her food. She had supernatural powers and hence is successful in catching Hanuman. Hanuman requests her to leave him as he is on a task for his Lord Ram. Sursa wanted to test Hanuman's intellect and says that she has been hungry for a long time and it would not be correct for Hanuman to go without satiating her hunger. She suggested she would only leave Hanuman if he could go inside her mouth and come out. Hanuman then prays to Sursa that he is too small to satiate her hunger. He recommends to grow his size so that Sursa can have a sumptuous meal. Just as he grows his size, Sursa opens her mouth widely to consume Hanuman. When Sursa's mouth was open too large that she could not see him, Hanuman shrunk himself and flew inside Sursa's mouth and came out. He bows down to Sursa who then blessed him with all praises for his smartness, tact and devotion towards Ram. 

Hanuman's knowledge and smartness is also coupled with another facet - self-awareness. Hanuman is so self aware that he does not looks at others to gain his powers or energy. He is not looking for anything as he has overcome his own hunger. He is so devoted that he is always known as a servant to Ram, despite of his knowledge and power.Hanuman has offered himself and all his identity to Ram. Contrasting Hanuman is another learned person in the forest - Ravana. Ravana has all the knowledge of the Vedas and Puranas. yet, he is looking at others to praise him, boost his ego. Ravana expels his brother when he praises Rama over Ravana. 

There are a few folk stories as to how Ram and Hanuman met each other. 

In Ramcharitmanas, we know that Ram and Lakshman were in the forest looking for Sita when Ravana had abducted her. During their search, they met Hanuman who took them to the exiled monkey king - Sugreeva. 

In another folk tale, when Ram was a little boy, he felt lonely and wanted a pet. knowing his desire Shiva came to Ram's palace as a juggler with a pet monkey - Hanuman. On Kaushalya's (Ram's mother) insistence, the juggler gave the pet to Ram. When Vishwamitra takes Rama to the forests for learning, Hanuman goes to kishkindha waiting for Ram's return. 

Later in Ramayana, when Ram defeats Ravana and returns to Ayodhya, Hanuman accompanies Ram. He continues to serve Ram and stays with him till his last time on the earth. When Ram was returning back to Vaikunth as Vishnu's time on the earth was over, he requested Hanuman to stay back on the earth and carry his name and legacy forward. Ram suggested Hanuman to stay and support when he comes back as Krishna and later help humans when they worship Ram.