||om tat sat||

Sundarakanda
Sarga 11

Tattvadipika

The story in the eleventh Sarga can be summarized as follows.

Having been delighted on seeing Mandodari,
Having mistook Mandodari to be Sita,
Hanuman stopped for a moment and thought about Sita again.
In separation from Rama,
"सा न स्वप्तुं"- meaning she will not be able to sleep,
"न भोक्तुं" - meaning she will not able to eat,
"नाप्यलंकर्तुम्" - meaning she will not be able to decorate herself.
Concluding that it must be some body else "अन्येयं इति निश्चित्य",
Hanuman continued his search for Sita.

With all his determined search,
what Hanuman saw was Ravana who was sleeping,
having had love games with"रूपसल्लाप शीलेन"-
women with pleasing disposition and willing to play,
"युक्तगीतार्थभाषिणा"- women who were capable of speaking and singing appropriately.
He was being served by "अंगनानां सहस्रेण"-
thousands of pretty women.

Moving about,
he saw "मृगाणां महिषीणांच वराहाणां च"
food made with meat of variety of animals.
Wonderful eatables and wonderful drinks were visible everywhere.

There the women were sleeping embracing one another.
In the deep sleep they are tugging at the clothes of other women.
They were in varying postures having participated in acts of love.

The place was filled with air blowing gently with pleasant smelling scents,
making one succumb to the power of sleep..

The powerful Vanara searched all over in the inner chambers.
But he could not find Sita.

While seeing those women,
suddenly a thought gripped Hanuma.
That he might have transgressed the line of Dharma
by looking at other women up so close.

But that निश्चितैकान्तचित्तस्य- the one who is very focussed ,
कार्यनिश्चय दर्शिनः - meaning one who is well versed in focussing on a task,
then said to himself the following.
" It is the mind which leads to senses to indulge in good as well as bad acts".
But that his mind was perfectly stable unaffected by anything.
Thus having satisfied himself,
Hanuman continued his search.

That was the story of the eleventh Sarga.

Hanuman continued search.
In the inner palaces of Ravana, he sees of hundreds of Ravana's women.
They were in different postures after having entertained Ravana.
He sees many objects of enjoyment, and objects of feast.
But Hanuman's mind is not affected.
He is focussed in the search for Sita.

But while searching for Sita ,
having looked at all Ravana's women from close quarters,
Hanuman gets a doubt whether he crossed the line of Dharma.
But in search for Sita he had no choice but to look at those women.

Then Hanuman says

"मनोहि हेतुः सर्वेषां इंद्रियाणां प्रवर्तने।
शुभाशुभः अवस्थासु तच्च मे सुव्यवस्थितं"॥

"It is the vagaries of mind that leads the senses to indulge in good or bad behavior.
But my mind is pretty stable."

Here we see Hanuman
who has seen women is various erotic poses.
Yet he is utterly unaffected by what all he is seeing.

This state in which he is unaffected by anything
is an essential stage in the search for "Self".

This is the state of "Sthita pragnya".
"Sthita pragnya" is one who is unaffected by objects of enjoyment ,
the good or the bad.
That is the state one ought to be in search of "Self" too.

While seeing women, or the items of food ,
it did not occur to Hanuman that those are objects of enjoyment
or objects of a feast to be enjoyed.

His mind is focussed on Sita only.
Thinking of her all the time,
his mind was not affected by all those objects of enjoyment or feasts or drinks.
We see Hanuman fully in control of his senses and
focussed on the search for the wife of Rama. .

Mumukshu, the one in search of "Self",
too should be in a similar state.

In Gita , when Arjuna asks about "Sthita pragnya" ,
Krishna says the following :

"दुखेष्वनुदिग्धमनाः सुखेषु विगतस्पृहः
वीतरागभयक्रोधः स्थितधीः मुनिरुच्यते"॥

"One whose mind remains undisturbed amidst misery,
who does not crave for pleasure,
and who is free from attachment, fear, and anger,
is called "Sthita pragnya",
a sage of steady wisdom".

In the search for Sita ,
Hanuman is indeed like a "Sthita Pragnya".

|| om tat sat ||
|| This is what we understood from Appalaacharyulugaru's Tattvadipika ||
|| om tat sat ||