Spiritual practice and Deity Hanumān (Māruti)

1. Introduction 

Deity Hanumān (Māruti) has intense desire to attain Shrīrām. This means attaining His grace. The same desire is present in every human's heart in the form of God-Realisation in a manifest or unmanifest form. The manifest intense desire is similar to Deity Hanumān's (Māruti 's) form. Thus Māruti is subtly present in every person's heart. Let us see how the spiritual practice of a seeker is analogous to Deity Hanumān, qualities of Deity Hanumān and incidents from Deity Hanumān's life and their purpose.

2. Spiritual practice of a seeker and its connection with Deity Hanumān (Māruti)

2.1 Chanting (nāmjap)

Māruti, who is present in the subconscious mind, gives thoughts to the embodied soul's mind regarding chanting Shrīrām's chant and about spiritual practice.

2.2. The Company of Truth (satsang)

   Māruti has an intense desire to meet God. Māruti , who is very eager to meet Shrīrām, loses awareness of the body when the Rāmāyaṇ is being recited or in the search for devotees of Shrīrām. Similarly when Māruti  , who is present in the subconscious mind, develops an intense desire to meet God then such an embodied soul also develops an intense desire for meeting God or Guru. Such an embodied soul may not have a vision of Guru or God but starts feeling the need to attend satsangs and then starts attending them.

2.3  Service to the Truth (satsēvā)

Māruti, who is present in the subconscious mind, feels intense love for God and thus He is constantly engrossed in the service (sēvā) of God. In such an embodied soul, the service attitude (sēvā-bhāv) is manifested at every moment. When any embodied soul has an intense desire for God's love then Māruti graces him. 

2.4 Spiritual Love (prīti)

Māruti sees God in everything, that is, He gets a vision of Shrīrām in everyone, due to His intense love for God. He performs sēvā with an attitude that everyone is a form of Shrīrām. As a result, by serving everyone He is serving Shrīrām's expansive form, with devotion. When the embodied soul develops an intense desire to meet God, a desire which is more than the desire to survive, then he becomes like the Chaatak bird (who only drinks the purest rain water or goes thirsty). Like Māruti, he also starts seeing God in everything and starts feeling prīti for everyone.

2.5 Following Righteousness (Dharmaacharan)

Māruti performs every action, at every moment, with devotion and follows righteousness. Thus Shrīrām's energy gets activated automatically when necessary. As a result of the energy of Dharma, evildoers experience distress in the presence of Māruti. The reason behind worshipping Māruti   (who has attained energy through following righteousness) is to attain the energy of Dharma by being devoted like Him. The embodied soul that starts worshipping and being devoted at every moment, like Māruti, also gets the energy of Dharma and devotion. As a result of this energy, the embodied soul can face all kinds of attacks in the gross and the subtle. In the presence of Māruti, destroyer energy and Chaitanya are emitted from Him. They have an effect on all kinds of distressing energies in Pātāl and Bhūlok , and their energy reduces.

2.6 Establishment of the Divine kingdom

When an embodied soul's devotion increases, a Divine kingdom is established in his heart. Such an embodied soul can then establish a Divine kingdom externally also. We have to activate the Māruti within us by intensifying our spiritual practice. Only then can we establish a Divine kingdom, internally and externally.

3. Qualities of Deity Hanumān (Māruti)

3.1 Intense faith in the chant

Deity Hanumān had intense faith that the chant does everything. To obey Saint Vishwāmitra 's order, Shrīrām had to conduct a battle with Deity Hanumān. He targeted Deity Hanumān and sent many arrows towards Him. Deity Hanumān kept chanting Shrīrām's name continuously during this. Due to His devotion towards Shrīrām's chant, Deity Hanumān was not hurt even when Shrīrām's arrows sped towards Him. Also He crossed the sea and reached Sri Lanka just due to His intense faith in the chant.

3.2 Not getting attached to the manifest form

Deity Hanumān has more unmanifest (Nirgun) principle then manifest (Sagun) principle. He is loyal to the principle and not to the person. Thus He performed sēvā  given by Shrīkrushṇa     with complete faith.

3.3 Strict follower of abstinence

Deity Hanumān  is a strict follower of abstinence from sexual commerce with women, for the whole term of His life.

3.4 Making prayers without any worldly expectations

Shrīrām gifted Angad with prince-hood and gave kingdoms to Sugriv and Vibhishan. He also gave valuable presents to many other people but did not give anything to Deity Hanumān. When Shrīrām offered a boon to Deity Hanumān, He prayed to Shrīrām, 'O God, please give me a place at your feet. Let your presence be in my heart at every moment. Let me constantly get opportunities to serve You.' This shows us that Deity Hanumān does not have any worldly expectations.

3.5 Free from attachment

Deity Hanumān sacrificed wealth, respect, physical comforts, women, a kingdom, etc. He wanted only God. When Goddess Sita gifted Him with a golden necklace, He broke that necklace saying, 'these beads do not contain Shrīrām.' He wanted only Shrīrām.

3.6 Performing fight while chanting

3.7 Not having any doubts

3.8 Having a servant-like attitude

3.9 Performing activities which are  beyond knowledge

3.10 Performing devotion which is beyond knowledge

3.11 Usage of Brahmatēj  and Kshātratēj as per necessity

Deity Hanumān wears janeu (a sacred thread which is worn by priests), which is a symbol of Brahmatēj . Deity Hanumān  has the ability to destroy as He is an incarnation of Shiva. As He worships Vishṇu, He has Vishṇu (saviour) principle as well. Thus He has both destroyer and saviour principles. So during a battle, as per necessity, He utilises Brahmatēj  and Kshātratēj. At the time of the battle between Kouravs and Pandavs, Shrīkrushṇa asked Deity Hanumān to sit on top of Arjun's chariot. Thus when there were any attacks of arrows or other weapons on Arjun's chariot or on Arjun himself, Deity Hanumān destroyed those arrows and weapons in the air, before they reached their target.

4. Incidents from Deity Hanumān's life and their purpose

5. Rangolī (colour and shape) emitting Deity Hanumān's (Māruti) principle

Māruti 's colour is a specific shade of orange (shēndūrī). The figure below attracts the Māruti principle. While drawing the rangolī if the symbol below is utilised more, then one gets more benefit of Māruti's principle. Coloured rangolī can attract 20% of the Divine principle out of 30% (which is the maximum capacity to attract the Divine principle in a rangolī) if a specific colour (which attracts the maximum Divine principle) is used to fill the shape. If the rangolī is drawn by an embodied soul having spiritual emotion (bhāv ) then it can attract up to the full 30%. So an embodied soul who does not have bhāv  can also get the benefit of drawing a rangolī by just filling in the colour. When the rangolī is not filled with colours but the spiritual emotion (bhāv) of the doer is more than 60%* then the Divine principle gets attracted to the shape, even in the absence of colour. In this case the Divine principle is attracted based on the shape of the outline. Whereas in the case of an embodied soul whose bhāv is more than 80%, any Divine principle gets attracted towards the shape of any rangolī based on the bhāv of the doer.

* Based on the Divine knowledge received by some seekers doing sādhanā as per Gurukrupāyoga.
  To know more about this divine knowledge please visit the about us section of this website.
**Ref: Spiritual Science Research Foundation - Levels of spiritual evolvement

Related Links

• Gaṇēsh Jayanti: a spiritual celebration

• Hindu New Year - how to celebrate?

• Sādhanā per Gurukrupāyoga

• Hanumān Jayanti

• Shrīrām Navami