Kids Hanuman Chalisa ~ K-tales (Apr)

Having cleansed my mind with the dust of the Guru's feet,

I speak of the glory of the Raghu family's Sri Ram, who gives the 4 fruits sweet

Inadequate in my intelligence, I pray to the son of the wind,

Give me strength, intelligence, knowledge and take away my faults that bind

Victory to you, O Hanuman, the ocean of virtue and wisdom,

The one who enlightens the 3 worlds and is the lord of the monkey kingdom

O messenger of Sri Ram, to endless strength you can have claims,
Born to Anjana, O son of Vayu, 'PavanSuta' is another of your names

O great hero with a body as strong as a bolt of thundering,
You are the companion of wisdom and remover of evil thoughts that sting

Your golden colour makes you look great in the fine clothes you wear,
Along with the shiny ear-rings and your beautiful, curly hair

In your hands, you hold a flag and mace,
Across your shoulder, the sacred threads are in place

O son of Kesari, you are Siva in another form,
With your glow and strength, you've taken the world by storm

You are learned, full of virtues and very intelligent,
Always ready to do the work of Sri Ram, upfront

Listening to the glories of God makes you happy,
In your heart stay Ram, Lakshman & Sita - all three

In a subtle form, you revealed yourself to Sita,
and in a terrific form, you burnt down the city of Lanka

You destroyed all demons by taking the form of a giant
Achieving the goals of Sri Ram with every stunt

You brought the Sanjivani herb and Lakshman was revived,
Seeing which, into your embrace, Sri Ram immediately dived

Sri Ram praised you greatly,

And declared you to be as beloved to him as his brother Bharata dearly

Your glory, even Adisesha, the thousand-headed snake sings,
Saying so, Sri Ram takes you into his embrace & clings

The sages Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana & Sanat Kumara, Brahma & other Gods including Siva,
Narada, Sarasvati & Adisesha...

Yama, the Lord of Death, Kubera, the God of wealth, Digpalas, the guardian deities,
Poets & scholars, none have been able to express in full splendour, your glorious activities

To Sugriva, an invaluable service you'd shown,
By introducing him to Sri Ram and restoring him to the throne

Vibhisana took your advice and became Lanka's king,
The whole world knows how, in his favour, you made it swing

Thinking it to be a sweet fruit, you gulped down the Sun
from a distance of 16,000 miles! Now, that sounds like fun

You carried Sri Ram's ring in your mouth, no wonder!
Crossing over the ocean like a flash of thunder

All difficult things in the world, you help us face,
They are made so easy, thanks to your grace

Of Sri Ram's kingdom, you are the gate-keeper,
Without your permission, no one can enter

Those whom you protect, enjoy every bit
With you as our protector, unafraid, we can easily sit

The control of your power, you alone can take,
In front of such force, all the 3 worlds shake

There appears no bad monster,
Around those who remember your name 'Mahavir', the great warrior

All diseases & viruses are destroyed and pains go away,
When your powerful name in repeat, is all we say

Hanuman frees those from all trouble,
Who remember him in every action, word & thought bubble

You completed all the work of Sri Ram,
Who fulfills wishes of all who continuously remember 'Ram Nam'

Those who worship you may have many wishes they await,
But, in the end, they will all get the ageless fruit to liberate

Across all 4 ages, your name will lead,
Across the world, your greatness is spread

Of all Swamiji's, you are the protector,
O favourite of Ram, of all monsters, you are the destroyer

Of 8 magical powers & 9 types of wealth, you are the giver
- Of this blessing to you, Mother Sita was the giver

The essence of Sri Ram's love - with you it stays,
You always are the loving servant of His ways



To reach Sri Ram, your love is the way,
And all the sadness of many lives is taken away

At the end of a life of such love - no stress,
One shall reach Sri Ram's address

All wishes of those who pray to Hanuman among us,
Are granted if the prayers are with full focus

All our pains & problems go away,
Thanks to most powerful Hanuman, if we pray

Victory to you, O Hanuman, you are our Guru,
May we always receive help & love from you

He who says this prayer 100 times,
Will surely be free from chains of the world and will enjoy happy times

Those who read these 40 verses cheering Hanuman are blessed,
I say in the name of Shiva, they will become the best

Tulsidas, who wrote this prayer, is in God's service, always
And wants God to stay in his heart, he prays

May Hanuman, the master of wind, who looks so good and takes troubles away because he's very smart,
Along with Sri Ram, Lakshman & Sita, always stay in my heart

On the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti, devoted to our beloved Sidhbari, H.P. Hanumanji
Pictures Credit: Shri Hanuman Chalisa by Charuvi Design Labs

Social Distancing 2.0

Life, simply put, is a series of experiences to help us grow and evolve with each occurrence, incident or event.

The current Covid-19 situation brings into the open a gnawing question about what's this experience trying to teach us all? And the experience here being referred to is not only the pandemic problem at hand, but also more importantly, the only possible solution that's emerged to prohibit an onward march of the problem.

At a time when socializing, mixing, sharing, collaborating, acknowledging the team spirit that we're all endowed with, is an aspect of 'being human' and to be celebrated, isn't it surprising that 'social distancing' has arisen as the only potential immediate solution to 'flattening the curve' and putting an end to the spread.

After all, 'social distancing' is almost an antithesis to the rich, philosophical concept of 'Vasudeva Kutumbakam' or that 'all humankind is one large family'. Logically, what's the message being conveyed to us via the need to maintain distance from another family member, if the world were to be considered as one big family. 

Whilst fortunately, 'social distancing' is only physical in nature and gives us opportunity to continue to engage, by socializing in thought & word over telephonic/ technological options, the philosophical message behind this solution is a matter of consideration.

'Social distancing' is all about 'breaking the chain'; in a way, ensuring that we are all cocooned in our very own self-fulfilled physical islands for a while at least, enabling the virus to tide over, without taking all in its wave jointly. 'Breaking the chain' as a solution, essentially requires us to split into silos for avoiding the dangers that coming together can potentially expose us to, in the form of the virus being spread.

For each island or individual though, this solution of 'social distancing' is as much applicable mentally, within the psychological construct, to avoid getting drowned in the wave of the situation. 'Breaking the mental chain' of internal thoughts around the fear, anxiety, uncertainty and potential impact of the situation, is as important as 'breaking the physical chain' externally.

The mind cannot operate in a vacuum though. It requires a constant feed and if the immediate, topical feed of internal thoughts of fear, anxiety and uncertainty is to be broken, it'd need to be replaced with a higher-order, more appealing ideal that the mind can aspire towards. 

The One ideal, focused on which, the chain of lower thoughts can easily be broken; an ideal that then becomes our very own self-fulfilled 'mental island', enabling the lower thought currents to be subsided and silenced, without taking away our poise in their wave jointly.

May we all aspire and reach that One ideal in which all mental chains get broken and we realise our own self-fulfilled poise; may we all come to experience what this pandemic and its potential solution is trying to teach us in its wake. 

The mental problem and hence, the lessons of 'mental social distancing' to be learnt are longer-term in nature - going beyond the issue of Covid-19 as a pandemic and stretching beyond 'physical social distancing' as a panacea to the pandemic...

That's 'Social Distancing 2.0'!

(Photo credit: ramestudios - the artist describes it as the Indian God, Murugan taking help from his brother Ganesha’s best friend-cum vehicle, the rat so that he can go through small areas to find the Covid-19 virus)