The Hanuman Chalisa

See where Tulsidas begins. He starts by cleaning his own mind, and only then turns to praising Rama. In the first doha he wipes the mirror of his mind with the holy dust from the lotus feet of his guru, and only then sets out to sing that pure glory of Sri Rama which grants the four fruits of life: dharma, artha, kama, and moksha. Clean the mirror first, and then something will show in it. In the second doha, holding himself to be dull-witted and incomplete, he calls the son of the wind to mind, and asks for three things, strength, intelligence, and knowledge, along with the removal of all his suffering and the flaws of his mind. Notice this: a great poet is calling himself “dull-witted.” This is the true openness without which no teaching ever settles inside you. And the three boons he asks for here, the whole Chalisa in a way turns around these three.

श्रीगुरु चरन सरोज रज, निज मनु मुकुरु सुधारि।
बरनउँ रघुबर बिमल जसु, जो दायकु फल चारि॥

Now the Chalisa sets its own key, and in the very first wave it opens with an introduction to Hanuman. The first line holds the word “sagar,” ocean, meaning no single virtue, but virtues past all sounding. He is an ocean of knowledge and good qualities, the lord of the monkeys, the one who spreads light through all three worlds with his radiance. Then Tulsidas names his roots: he is the messenger of Sri Rama and his strength stands beyond all comparison, the son of mother Anjani, and, born from a portion of the wind god, the son of the wind as well. The third chaupai hides a small thing inside it: he is the great hero, valiant, “Bajrangi,” his body firm as the thunderbolt, and he carries far more than strength. He clears away wrong thinking and confusion and becomes the companion of those with clear minds, “the friend of sound judgment.” Strength and understanding, both together, each incomplete without the other.

1

जय हनुमान ज्ञान गुन सागर। जय कपीस तिहुँ लोक उजागर॥

3

महाबीर बिक्रम बजरंगी। कुमति निवार सुमति के संगी॥

The next wave draws the form of Hanuman right before your eyes, and by design. The color of his body is golden as gold itself, fine garments and ornaments, earrings swinging at his ears, curling hair that steals the mind. In devotion the image works as an anchor, tying the mind to one place. Then Tulsidas sets strength and restraint together in that same image: in one hand the thunderbolt, that is, the mace, in the other the flag of victory, and across his shoulder the sacred thread of munja grass, a sign of his austerity and his learning. Strength in one hand, restraint on the shoulder, this pairing is the real point. The sixth chaupai opens his two roots: he has sprung from a portion of Lord Shankara, one tradition calls him an avatar of Rudra, and he is also the son of King Kesari. One root divine, one of the earth, joined to both above and below, and his radiance so vast that the whole world bows.

4

कंचन बरन बिराज सुबेसा। कानन कुंडल कुंचित केसा॥

Here comes the loveliest turn in the Chalisa. The seventh chaupai counts out Hanuman’s gifts: he is a storehouse of learning, knower of all four Vedas, master of grammar and music, exceedingly clever and wise. And with all of this, the end of the line arrives, “eager to do Rama’s work,” always eager for the service of Sri Rama. Every gift, and still ready to serve, this is his greatest mark and the true test of great strength as well. The eighth chaupai tells of his dearest habit: he takes delight in hearing Rama’s deeds and stories, and in his heart Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita, all three, always dwell.

8

प्रभु चरित्र सुनिबे को रसिया। राम लखन सीता मन बसिया॥

A small story: After Rama’s coronation, mother Sita, in her joy, gave Hanuman her necklace of pearls. Hanuman broke each pearl open with his teeth and looked inside, then said, “My Rama is not in these.” Someone asked, laughing, “Then is Rama inside your body?” Hanuman tore open his chest with his nails, and everyone saw Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita seated there. For centuries this scene has been a favorite subject of painters and sculptors.

Now the Chalisa descends into the heroism of the Ramayana. The ninth chaupai holds two opposite forms in a single line, the smallest and the most fearsome, and both by his own will. Taking a tiny form, Hanuman gave mother Sita his sight in the Ashoka grove, so the demons would not recognize him, and later, taking a terrible form, he burned all of Lanka with the fire of his tail. The real strength lies exactly here, in being able to decide which form is needed and when. In the tenth chaupai he takes an enormous form, destroys many demons, and sets right every hard task of Sri Ramachandra. The word “sanvare,” set right, is a tender one; it says more than “did.” The work was made beautiful, not merely finished. Then the immortal scene of the eleventh chaupai: for Lakshmana, fallen senseless from Meghnad’s shakti-arrow, Hanuman brought the sanjivani herb from Dronagiri in the Himalayas and saved his life, and Rama was so glad that he held him to his heart.

10

भीम रूप धरि असुर सँहारे। रामचंद्र के काज सँवारे॥

The next wave tells how Rama himself sees Hanuman. In the twelfth chaupai Rama praises him greatly and says, “Hanuman, you are as dear to me as my beloved brother Bharata.” In the Ramayana, Bharata’s love for Rama is counted among the deepest of bonds, and to place someone in that same rank is to give him room inside your own heart. In the thirteenth chaupai Rama says that even the thousand-mouthed Sheshnaga forever sings his glory, and saying this, Rama, the lord of Lakshmi, embraces him. The meaning is plain: to sing Hanuman’s glory, one tongue is nothing, even a thousand tongues fall short. Sometimes the truest form of praise is just this, admitting that words are falling short.

13

सहस बदन तुम्हरो जस गावैं। अस कहि श्रीपति कंठ लगावैं॥

Now the whole of creation gathers to praise him, and that is the force of this wave. In the fourteenth chaupai the four Brahma-sons beginning with Sanaka, gods such as Brahma and the great sages, the divine seer Narada, Sharada the goddess of learning, and Sheshnaga, all of them sing Hanuman’s praises. Those who are themselves so high are bowing too, and this is the mark of real height. The fifteenth chaupai goes further: Yama, Kubera the god of wealth, and the Dikpalas who guard the eight directions cannot fully describe his glory either, so how far can an ordinary poet or scholar hope to sing it? Tulsidas is placing himself in this same line, I too am a poet, my words too will fall short, and this is a poet’s lovely honesty.

The sixteenth and seventeenth chaupais move as a pair, and both show how one right step at the right moment turns the course of history. In the sixteenth, Hanuman did a great kindness for Sugriva, king of the monkeys, bringing him together with Sri Rama, and the result was that Sugriva won the royal throne of Kishkindha. One right introduction, and the whole further story of Rama stood up. In the seventeenth, Vibhishana took the counsel Hanuman gave, left the side of the unrighteous Ravana, came into Rama’s refuge, and after the war became king of Lanka. In the sixteenth a right introduction changed history, in the seventeenth a right piece of counsel did, and there is a strength in saying the right thing at the right time.

17

तुम्हरो मंत्र विभीषण माना। लंकेश्वर भए सब जग जाना॥

Now two chaupais of childhood and journey, and in both an impossible feat is shown as something easy. In the eighteenth is that famous scene: the sun, thousands of yojanas away from the earth, which Hanuman as a child took for a sweet fruit and swallowed. In the nineteenth, holding Sri Rama’s ring in his mouth, he crossed the vast ocean in a single leap, and the line says this was no wonder at all, it was an easy thing. So great a feat, and it is called “no wonder,” nothing to marvel at.

18

जुग सहस्र जोजन पर भानू। लील्यो ताहि मधुर फल जानू॥

A small story: One day in childhood Hanuman took the rising sun for a ripe red fruit and flew up toward the sky. That same day Rahu was coming to lay an eclipse on the sun; he took Hanuman for another Rahu. Indra came in anger and hurled his thunderbolt. It struck Hanuman on the chin, “hanu” in Sanskrit, and he fell senseless. From this he got his name: “Hanu-man.” Then the wind god in anger stopped the air of the world, all the gods came to beg his pardon, and they left Hanuman with a wealth of boons.

(There is a puzzle of arithmetic hidden in this “thousand yojanas” as well; some people connect it to the sun’s actual distance. It is interesting, though not for everyone. If you want to go down, head into the deep dive.)

19

प्रभु मुद्रिका मेलि मुख माहीं। जलधि लाँघि गये अचरज नाहीं॥

A small story: To leap the ocean, Hanuman climbed Mount Mahendra and sprang. On the way the god of the ocean raised up Mount Mainaka so he might rest, but Hanuman, at Rama’s work, pressed on without stopping. Then Surasa, mother of the serpents, tested him, and he faced a demoness named Simhika. All along the way his speed, his intelligence, and his restraint, all three, were tried. And a lovely thing: so great a feat, and the line says “no wonder,” nothing to marvel at.

Here the key of the Chalisa shifts; now it turns toward the one reciting it. The twentieth chaupai gives a plain assurance: however hard and all but impossible the tasks of the world may seem, once Hanuman’s grace comes they all turn easy, and the distance between “hard to reach” and “easy” is not as fixed as it looks. In the twenty-first he is the guardian of Sri Rama’s door, the chief doorkeeper; without his leave no one may enter there, meaning whoever wishes to reach Rama must first pass through Hanuman, the road of devotion runs through service. In the twenty-second, whoever comes into his refuge finds every kind of comfort with ease, and when the guardian is Hanuman himself no one has anything to fear, “no fear of anyone.” The Chalisa returns again and again to this one feeling, the lessening of fear, and this is perhaps its greatest gift.

22

सब सुख लहै तुम्हारी सरना। तुम रक्षक काहू को डर ना॥

Now comes the wave on the glory of the name, and it holds some of the most often recited lines. The twenty-third chaupai makes a fine point: Hanuman’s radiance is so great that only he himself can hold it, no one else can bear it, and at a single roar from him all three worlds tremble. To have power is one thing, to be able to hold it is another and greater thing. In the twenty-fourth, when someone takes the name of “Mahavir Hanuman,” negative forces like ghosts and spirits do not come near, one name, and a dark corner of the mind grows a little bright. In the twenty-fifth, whoever keeps chanting the name of the brave Hanuman has his diseases destroyed and the pains of body and mind lifted away, and here the word “continually” is the key; a single chant will not do, it must be unbroken. The twenty-sixth sets a beautiful condition: whoever fixes his attention in all three ways, by mind, by deed, and by word, Hanuman frees him from every distress. What you think, what you do, what you say, let all three be in one key; this oneness is true devotion.

23

आपन तेज सम्हारो आपै। तीनों लोक हाँक ते काँपै॥

The next wave joins the bond between Rama and Hanuman to the matter of reward. In the twenty-seventh, Sri Rama, the ascetic king, stands above all, master of all, and it is his every task that Hanuman set right and carried through. “Ascetic king,” king meaning power and ascetic meaning restraint, Rama is both at once. In the twenty-eighth, whoever comes before him carrying a heart’s wish receives boundless fruit in life; no prayer made with a true heart goes empty. In the twenty-ninth, across Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali, all four yugas, his glory is present; he is famed and a spreader of light through the whole world. Tradition holds him unaging and undying, present in the body even in the age of Kali, and this feeling of standing past time is a comfort in itself. In the thirtieth he is the guardian of holy men and saints, the destroyer of demons, that is, of unrighteous tendencies, and the most “beloved” devotee of Sri Rama. Pause a moment on that word “beloved.” It could have called him a great devotee; instead it reaches for the dearest of the household, one small tender word in the middle of this whole saga of valor.

Now the Chalisa moves toward the deepest feeling of devotion. In the thirty-first he is the giver of the eight siddhis and nine treasures, and this boon was given to him by mother Janaki herself in the Ashoka grove, meaning what he received, he received only to hand onward. In the thirty-second there is a lovely thing: the nectar, the elixir, that is devotion to Rama, is his to hold, and still what he chooses is to remain forever the servant of Sri Rama. He has everything at hand, the siddhis, the treasures, the nectar, and his choice is to be a “servant”; the highest feeling of devotion is right here. In the thirty-third, by singing his praise the devotee attains Sri Rama himself and forgets the sorrows of birth after birth, the servant’s door, the master’s house. The thirty-fourth gives a tender assurance: at the final hour the worshiper reaches Rama’s abode, and even if he is born again, it is only as a “devotee of Hari,” the thread of devotion holding into the next life as well.

31

अष्ट सिद्धि नौ निधि के दाता। अस बर दीन जानकी माता॥

A small story: In the Ashoka grove, when Hanuman handed Sita Rama’s message and ring, and took part in her sorrow with a true heart, Sita in her joy gave him a boon, that he would be able to grant devotees the eight siddhis and nine treasures. Meaning what he received, he received only to hand onward.

(Which are the eight siddhis, what are the nine treasures, each has its own identity. The full list and their meaning are in the deep dive. If you do not want to go down, move ahead; the story is complete this way too.)

Now comes the feeling of single-mindedness, giving your whole heart to one place. In the thirty-fifth the devotee has no need to seat any other deity in his mind; from the service and devotion of Hanuman alone every kind of comfort arrives, and there is no narrowness in this, because Hanuman is himself the supreme devotee of Rama, and in his service the grace of all the gods is already gathered. The thirty-sixth repeats the very thing the Chalisa has said before: whoever remembers the strong and brave Hanuman with a true heart has all his distress cut away and all his pains erased. This repetition is like a trusted friend saying an important thing a second time, so that it settles in the heart.

35

और देवता चित्त न धरई। हनुमत सेइ सर्व सुख करई॥

The last four chaupais carry the Chalisa toward its close, and Tulsidas’s own cry comes forward. In the thirty-seventh he says victory to Hanuman three times, with body, with mind, with soul, and prays that grace may pour on him the way a guru shows grace to his disciple. The word “gosain” means the master of the senses; only one who has mastered himself can show another the way. In the thirty-eighth, whoever recites this Chalisa a hundred times is freed from bonds of every kind and finds a deep happiness, and remember that Tulsidas wrote this in a prison himself; for him “chhutahi bandi,” the release from bonds, carried the weight of a lived truth. In the thirty-ninth, whoever reads it faithfully attains success, and the witness to this is Lord Shiva himself, the lord of Gauri; this promise was not made lightly. And in the fortieth, the last chaupai, Tulsidas calls himself forever the servant of Sri Hari and asks for one thing only: “O Lord, in your grace, make a lasting home in my heart.” Forty chaupais went on singing his glory, and at the end, setting all of it down, just this one wish, stay in my heart.

The Chalisa began with a prayer, to clean the mirror of the mind, and it ends on a prayer, to seat everyone within that cleaned heart. In the closing doha Tulsidas calls the son of the wind the remover of all distress and the very embodiment of blessing, and asks of the lord of the gods only this, that together with Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita he dwell forever in his heart. The beginning and the end, tied by a single thread.