|| om tat sat||

Sundarakanda
Sarga 42

Tattvadipika 42
Hanuman's victory chant

At the end of Sarga forty-one, Hanuman decides on the course of action.
Accordingly, he goes on a spree of destruction in the Ashoka van.

The Sarga starts with the following line.
'ततः पक्षि निनादेन वृक्ष भङ्गस्वनेन च।'.

The sounds of birds in panic and
the crackling sounds of trees being felled,
are the sounds that woke up residents of Lanka

The beasts and birds in the grove became scared.
They ran and flew away in different directions.
Then the Rakshasis guarding Sita, woken up from sleep,
saw the devastated grove and the Vanara.
The Rakshasas saw fierce portends.
The powerful mighty hero Hanuman seeing the Rakshasas,
assumed a very huge form to create more fear.

Then seeing the mighty Vanara, of the size of a mountain,
the Rakshasas asked the daughter of Janaka.
'Who is this?
Where did he come from and for what purpose?
What was the dialog with him?
Oh, wide eyed Lady! You may tell.
Oh, auspicious one! Let there be no fear.
Oh, dark eyed one! What conversation did he have with you?'

Sita replied feigning ignorance.

'How do I know the fierce looking Rakshasas?'
Implying that he is a Rakshasa.
'Only you know who he is, and what he is about.
A serpent alone knows the movement of another serpent.
I am also scared of him.
I do not know who he is.
I think the one who has come is a Rakshasa, who can assume any form'.

Here Sita does not tell the truth.
Hanuma has come to protect her.
If she were to tell the truth,
the Rakshasas may capture him and hurt him.
Not telling truth is a sin too.
Thinking that protecting Hanuma is more important,
and thinking that she can bear the sin of telling a lie,
Sita decides not to tell the truth.

Hanuma is the Teacher.
Sita is the disciple.
To protect the teacher, the disciple may tell a lie.
Disciple ought to be ever ready to protect the teacher.
Following that dictum Sita tells a lie.

In Ramayana we see such an incident on one other occasions.

When Rama leaves for forest along with Sita and Lakshmana on a chariot,
Dasaratha calls out Sumantra, the charioteer, to stop.
Rama tells Sumantra to proceed.
Rama also tells Sumantra that he can inform the King,
that he did not hear the king's directions.
Rama, 'the best of men' spoken of by Narada, tells Sumantra to lie.
This leads one to question, why did Rama do that?

If Dasaratha with his powers stops Rama from going to forest,
then Dasaratha would be committing the sin of not keeping his word.
Dasaratha's order to Sumantra was out of his love for his son.
But that clearly makes him default on his moral duty.
Rama realizes that.
In the event of a father defaulting on his "duty",
it is the duty of the son to uphold "that duty".
King Dasaratha is his father.
King is the ruler of the country.
King cannot be defaulting on his duty.
To keep the king from defaulting,
the minister or the son may tell a lie.

The same message is seen in Kathopanishad.
Nachiketa sees his father giving away barren cows.
He realizes that such gifts will not lead his father to a world of merit.
So Nachiketa asks his father to whom will he be given away.
The pestered father, being busy in giving away, says "to Yama"
Once Nachiketa gets ready to go to Yama,
his father realizes his mistake and tries to backtrack.
But Nachiketa would not let his father back track.
Convincing his father, he proceeds to Yama loka.

So, to stop a father from committing a sin is son's duty.
Rama telling Sumantra not to stop is thus proper.
Sita telling a lie to protect Hanuma too is thus proper.

Applacharyulugaru has another thought on this.

Sita said
"अ हि रेव ह्यहेः पादान् विजानाति न संशयः"||9||
Here the word अहि has two meanings.
One is snake and the other is internal enemy.
Rakshasa women are the internal enemies of Sita
Hanuma is the internal enemy of the Rakshasa women.
The sentence will read as Sita saying,
Rakshasa women (her enemies) only will know
the footsteps of the destroyer of the grove (Hanuma) who is their enemy.
In that interpretation there is no lie!

Now we see what happened in the Sarga.

Hearing those words of Sita,
some Rakshasas ran in all directions.
Some stayed there.
Some went to report to Ravana.
They tell Ravana about the fierce looking Vanara.
अशोकवनिका मध्ये राजन् भीमवपुः कपिः|"

"Oh King! A very powerful fierce looking Vanara,
having had a dialog with Sita is standing in the middle of the Ashoka grove.
Sita, asked by us in many ways, is not willing to disclose.
Maybe he is the messenger of Indra or
Maybe he is the messenger of the Vaisravana.
Or he may have been sent by Rama in search of Sita.
That fierce looking Vanara destroyed the beautiful pleasure garden.
There is no single place that is not destroyed by him.
Janaki's place is the only the place that is not destroyed.
It may be to save Janaki or may be not destroyed due to exhaustion.
Else why she alone is saved?"

"The one with whom Sita spoke destroyed the grove.
That one with fierce form ought to be punished.
Unless one has given up hope for life,
who else can talk to the one who captured the mind of the Lord of the Rakshasa?"

Hearing those words of the Rakshasis,
Ravana, the lord of the Rakshasas,
flared up like the blazing sacrificial fire, rolling his eyeballs.
From the eyes of that angry one fell down drops of tears
like the drops of oil from the burning lamps.

'आत्मनः सदृशान् शूरान्
किंकरान् नाम राक्षसान्'
Ravana orders Rakshasas called 'Kinkaras'
who are as powerful as himself.
The mission was to capture the very powerful Hanuman.

Then eighty thousand Kinkaras,
who are dreadful looking and powerful,
interested in fighting wars came out of that palace,
armed with hammers and clubs.

They quickly approached the best of Vanaras seated on the archway.
Poet says they approached Hanuma like the flies rushing into the fire.
They were armed with wonderful iron maces, crowbars edged with gold, arrows resembling Sun.
With hammers, sharp edged spears, tridents, barbed missiles and javelins,
they surrounded Hanuman at once and stood in front of him.
The illustrious Hanuman, resembling a mountain, roared.
He shook his tail on the ground making a huge sound.
Hanuman, the son of wind god,
enlarging his body patted himself on his chest making a loud sound.
That sound reverberated all over Lanka.
Then he proclaimed loudly.

"Victory for Rama who has great strength, and mighty Lakshmana
Victory for the king Sugriva who has the support of Rama.
I am Hanuman, the son of wind god and the killer of the enemy armies",
I am a servant of Rama, the Lord of Kosala,
who can overcome any difficulty?
Not even a thousand Ravana's can match me in a war,
while I pound them with many rocks and trees.
While all the Rakshasa are watching,
having destroyed Lanka, and having saluted Maithili,
I will return having completed my task,

This is the famous 'Victory Chant" or Jaya mantra.
These lines are said in first person.
When one reads this, it is as though he is chanting.
And he will be assured of victory.

The Sloka text is as follows.

"जयत्यति बलो रामो लक्ष्मणस्य महाबलः|
राजाजयति सुग्रीवो राघवेणाधिपालितः||33||
दासोsहं कोसलेंद्रस्य रामस्या क्लिष्टकर्मणः|
हनुमान् शत्रुसैन्यानां निहंतामारुतात्मजः||34||
न रावण सहस्रं मे युद्धे प्रतिबलं भवेत्|
शिलाभिस्तु प्रहरतः पादपैश्च सहस्रशः||35||
अर्दयित्वा पुरीं लंकां अभिवाद्य च मैथिलीम्|
समृद्धार्थो गमिष्यामि मिषतां सर्वरक्षसाम्"||36||

Here Hanuman makes it clear that he is a servant of Rama.
As we read the Sloka it is as though we are proclaiming that,
"we are the servants of Rama",
we are declaring victory for Rama.

One more thing.
Sarga starts with Sita trying to protect Hanuma's identity.
Sarga ends with a loud proclamation by Hanuma,
that he is the follower of Rama

We have seen Hanuma announcing himself
as a minister of Sugriva, and
as messenger of Rama.
After completing the search and meeting Sita,
Hanuma too seemed to have realized his self.
Now he describes himself as a follower of Rama.
The role of "Self" is also similar.
Self is a follower of the Supreme being.

It is said
"दासभूताः स्वतः सर्वे आत्मानः परमात्मनः"
Self is a natural follower of Paramatma or Supreme being.
Whatever is done, do the same as the follower of the Supreme being.
Seeing Sita, knowing her as all powerful one,
yet being dependent on Rama,
Hanuman realizes that he too is a follower of Rama.
And as a result, declare himself as the follower of the Supreme being.

Hanuma realizes that it is Rama who is getting things accomplished through him.
The result of those actions belongs to Rama only.
With that focus Hanuma goes to battle and becomes victorious.
The same thought is applicable to us.

With that roar of Hanuma,
the Rakshasas were terrified.
But following the king's orders,
they surround Hanuma and attack him,
Hanuma too takes an iron mace and jumps into the sky.
Using the iron mace, he destroys all the Kinkaras.
Having destroyed the Kinkaras,
Hanuma again occupies the high ground.
Sitting on the arch he awaits others who will come.

Talking about enemies,
Appalacharyulu garu says the following.

We have three opponents.
(1) The "I" feeling.
(2) The feeling that I can protect myself.
(3) The feeling that I am the "doer".

Winning over these three is the victory.
To win over them, the tool is a "Mantra".
That mantra is "Ram raamaaya namah!
"नमः" has been elaborated before.
It says, "this is not mine".
When one completes a work and says "Namah",
it is as though; you are offering the fruits to the supreme being.
One may offer the fruits to Supreme being and be free of bondage.
This is the same thing we hear in Gita too.

Some of the Rakshasas run away and inform the King.
That all Kinkaras have been killed.
Rolling his big eyes in anger,
The king then orders Jambumali, the son of Prahastha,
to proceed to capture Hanuma.

Thus, the Sarga 42 comes to an end.

|| om tat sat||
|| This is what we understood from Tattva Dipika of Shri Bhashyam, Appalacharyulu garu"||
|| om tat sat||