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fire cannot do much harm to his tail. Further, he have burnt Ravana to ashes. But, she chose not
was eager to see Lanka in day light. He had earlier to use it for that purpose. She surrendered and
toured it in the night.
As the news spread, people in Lanka came
out on to the streets to watch the monkey with a
fire-lit tail. The fire was intense, but bearable for
Hanuman. He was enjoying his punishment.
Meanwhile, the news reached mother Sita’s
ears. She was devastated with pain. She could not
digest the news.
She prayed to the lord of fire, Agni to be
compassionate to Hanuman. She made strong
vows. “If my love, service and commitment to
Rama is true and pure, if Rama’s love towards me
is true, If Hanuman recognises my chastity and
really intends to unite me with Rama, if it is true
that Sugriva will be able to help Rama win the war,
may the fire be cool and pleasing to Hanuman.”
Surprisingly the fires cooled down.
Hanuman suddenly felt a change in the intensity
of heat. He guessed, it could probably be due to
fire god Agni’s love towards Rama, Mother Sita’s
compassion towards him, Lord Rama’s grace, and
hid father lord of the wind’s friendship towards
the Lord of Fire.
This incident reveals a unique perspective of
guru-sishya, teacher-disciple relationship.
Guru should take the responsibility to
protect his Sishya’s self-protection. (Hanuman
took this responsibility towards Mother Sita).
Sishya should not worry about his/her safety
and stay confident that the learned guru will take
care of his/her needs by conveying her message to
the Lord. (Mother Sita conveyed her message to
Hanuman and felt relieved).
After getting in touch with the guru, sishya
should consider only about guru’s wellbeing and
offer services to Him. A sishya sees his/her safety
in guru's well-being. (Mother Sita’s chastity could
8 Bhakthi Nivedana
waited with intense pain for months for the Lord
to come and protect her. However, she did not
waste a minute to use her powers to cause relief to
Hanuman from fire’s heat)
A guru who surrendered to the Lord and
leading a life as per His dictate, will not worry
about his body. (Hanuman chose to endure fire’s
heat in the service of his Lord Rama. We are
fortunate to have an Acharya who cares least
for his well-being and always strives to uplift us
through never ending initiatives).
Hanuman, then choose to get to the next
stage of his mission. He chose to cause further
collateral damage to Lanka with this fire and fly
back to convey mother Sita’s message to Lord
Rama.
Thinking thus, he at once freed himself up
and sprang on to a building nearby. Going in
and out of all the minister’s houses one after the
other, Hanuman lit fire to all of them. He spared
Vibheeshan’s building en-route. He did not even
spare Ravana’s house. All those who came on
to the streets to watch his fire-lit tail ran helter-
skelter on the streets to protect their lives.
As all the buildings were turning to ashes,
Hanuman flew to the top of Triku:ta Mountain
and doused his anger, watching Lanka burning.
While his anger cooled in the fires of Lanka,
Hanuman repented his action. He regretted his
foolish move. He recollected all wrong deeds one
does while in anger.
Why did Hanuman repent? What was the
foolish move? How will an angry person act?
Let’s take a look at these next month.
- By Balaji Gorantla based on HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji's
discourses and Sriman Sribhashyam Appalacharya Swami's
book on Sundarakanda
Jan 2022