Video details
Hanumanji
The divine play between God and devotee involves tests to purify ego.
God and devotee are ultimately one, appearing in two forms to enact a divine play. Hanuman, an incarnation of Shiva, is the perfect devotee of Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu. After Rama's victory, he tasked Hanuman with remaining on Earth to protect devotees. One day, while Hanuman chanted Rama's name, he reflected on his own indispensable deeds in Rama's mission. Sensing this rising ego, Rama devised a lesson. He praised Hanuman extensively and then gave him a simple duty: to deliver a ring to a sage in the Himalayas. Hanuman journeyed there and found the sage, who instructed him to throw the ring into a water pond. When Hanuman hesitated, the sage told him to retrieve it. Hanuman found the pond filled with identical rings. The sage explained that each ring represented a past divine incarnation, and Vishnu performed similar heroic deeds through each. Hanuman's great feats were not unique but part of the eternal divine play, accomplished through divine grace. The lesson was to dissolve the devotee's ego.
"Hanuman, whenever Vishnu incarnates on this earth, he has to pay the tax."
"Go and say to Rāma that... 'Your duty is finished, now you can go back.'"
Filming location: Wellington, New Zealand
This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.
The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:
- Yoga in Daily Life - The System
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2000. ISBN 978-3-85052-000-3 - The Hidden Power in Humans - Chakras and Kundalini
Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda. Ibera Verlag, Vienna, 2004. ISBN 978-3-85052-197-0 - Lila Amrit - The Divine Life of Sri Mahaprabhuji
Paramhans Swami Madhavananda. Int. Sri Deep Madhavananda Ashram Fellowship, Vienna, 1998. ISBN 3-85052-104-4
