Due to the benedictions given to him by the various demigods and sages Hanuman possessed great physical and mental strength. His play was to catch tigers and elephants and other wild animals. He was completely fearless.
One day he caught hold of a tiger and an elephant and began swinging them around and the sounds emitted by these animals created a huge commotion. Hanuman sighted a hermitage in the nearby clearing in the forest. This hermitage was the residence of a sage who was reknowned for his sense control and more especially for his tolerant nature. Nothing could make him angry. “I will now test his sense control” thought Hanuman. He then tied the elephant and the tiger together by their tails and left them outside the hermitage.
As the brahma muhurta hour approached, the sage awakened, and opened the door to go to the nearby river to take bath and perform his morning ablutions. As he opened the door he saw the tiger and hastily closed the door. Due to seeing the tiger, the call of nature became even stronger and he again opened the door. This time he saw the elephant and rushed back inside. Nature’s call was now even more stronger than before. He did not know what to do. He could not desecrate his hermitage. He decided to go through the window. There was a tree outside the window and as he looked up he saw Hanuman sitting on a branch. “So you are the cause of all this mischief. Come here immediately” Hanuman thought “he is becoming angry and he is renowned for not getting angry. I must appease him”. Hanuman reduced his size and stood before the sage. The sage immediately cursed him saying “you will forget your immense strength and will only remember it when you are reminded .” “ Why are you cursing me in this way? Hanuman inquired .” “ It is for your own good and protection” the sage replied. “You are having your strength controlled so that you can use it in the Lord’s service, and you will render invaluable service in the name of the Lord. When the time comes, someone will remind you of your unlimited strength. In this way Hanuman performed many wonderful pastimes.
His meeting with Lord Ramachandra and the kidnapping of Sita devi led to the prophecy of the sage being fulfilled. As the monkey army stood on the shore of the ocean, they began to contemplate as to how they could reach Lanka. “I can jump 8 yoganas said one monkey”. “ I can jump 20 yojanas” said another. In this way the monkey warriors stated their prowess. Then they all looked at Hanuman. “ I can’t jump over the ocean” said Hanuman. “I don’t have the strength or the ability”. “Oh yes you do” said Jambavan as he recounted the various exploits of Hanuman. In this way Hanuman was reminded of his great strength, his unparalled prowess and ability. Taking the sacred name of Lord Rama, he easily jumped across the ocean.
LESSON OF THIS PASTIME
In the course of executing our various material obligations we may lose sight of the real goal of life and there is every possibility that we may again become materially entangled. But by taking the association of one’s spiritual master and other saintly persons one is forced to look deep into one’s heart and the strong desire to practice spiritual life more determinedly and enthusiastically again burns like a forest fire razing all material desires to ashes. Like Hanuman we have to be constantly reminded. SO LETS SERVE TO GROW AND GROW TO SERVE. SRILA PRABHUPADA KI JAYA!