Pt. Dr. Umesh Persad, Spiritual Leader, Gyaan Deepak Kirtan Mandali
In Hinduism, each form of God is not just a divinity external to myself to whom I pray, but each form of God that I see is a reflection of a quality within me. The names and forms of the Divine give me an idea of my higher self, of who I truly am.
As we celebrate Hanuman Jayanti, let us ask, what is the meaning of the name of Hanuman? If we translate the word, ‘Hanuman’, ‘hanu’ means ‘jaw’ and ‘mant’ is ‘prominent’. In other words, Hanuman means ‘he who has a prominent jaw’. In the mythology, he received this name after he mistook the Sun for a fruit, tried to eat it, was wounded and got a disfigured jaw.
If we look deeper at the individual elements of the word, in Sanskrit, ‘ha’ means Brahman, Lord Shiva, and the Supreme Consciousness; ‘ha’ also means ‘the act of killing or destroying’; it also means ‘meditation’. ‘Anu’ is a prefix which means ‘after’, ‘under’, or ‘alongside’, ‘further’ or ‘beyond’; it also means ‘atomic’ or ‘very minute’. ‘Man’ means ‘thought or thinking’; it is related to the mind. However, it also means ‘pride’ and ‘arrogance’. When the words are combined, it may be translated as: ‘Hanuman is that Supreme Consciousness, Shiva, that lies beyond thought.’ It is said that God can be found in the space between thoughts, in the awareness of thoughts. Just as the clouds pass through the sky, yet the sky remains unaffected, so is the mind. Sometimes there are light clouds and sometimes there are heavy clouds, but they are all temporary. Even though thoughts emerge in the mind and then disappear, we spend most of our lives believing these temporary thoughts and feelings. Believing what the mind says to us is the source of most of our problems.
Another meaning based on this translation of Hanuman, is that the consciousness is very subtle, elemental and always exists. When we refer to God in Sanaatan Dharma, we speak of that fundamental pure awareness that is everywhere. It is who you and I truly are. Everything else in this world changes over time.
‘Ha’ also means ‘to destroy’ and ‘anuman’ means ‘inference’. For example, if we see smoke on the mountains, we would assume there is a fire. So the inference is based on our knowledge. However, ‘ha’ means ‘to destroy’ so this understanding of Hanuman means to destroy the ‘inference’ way of thinking that we have. It is not possible to know all the answers but, as human beings, we tend to infer and look for causes. This means we should destroy that tendency to come up with a reason for everything. There is only one Supreme Cause. As Guru Vasistha said to Shree Raam in Yoga Vasistha, “Act as if everything makes a world of difference, knowing all the while that everything you do makes no difference to the world.”
The last meaning, ‘han’ means ‘to destroy’ and ‘man’ means ‘pride’. The first two meanings are theoretical but the third provides a method. We need to destroy the idea of being separate from everything else. The individual ego needs to be merged into the Cosmic Ego, the larger consciousness. Hanuman depicts this: he is both accomplished and at the same time, very humble. He is strong, heroic, assertive but also very loving and devoted towards the Supreme Being. Are we reflections of this Hanuman?
Panch Mukhi Hanuman
Hanuman is sometimes depicted in the form of Panch Mukhi Hanuman, Hanuman with five faces. He is represented by the face of a horse, a monkey, a lion, a bird and a boar. Some interpret the Panch Mukhi Hanuman as a representation of the five praan vaayu (vital airs, praan, apaan, samaan, vyaan and udaan) within us. It also represents the five mental levels of focus: from a dull mind, to a distracted mind, an oscillating or wavering mind, the one-pointed mind and at the highest level, the restrained mind.
We can also view Panch Mukhi Hanuman in terms of our own practice, both internal and external. Hanuman Baba is portrayed with four heads facing each cardinal direction: facing east is Hanuman; south, Narsingh; west, Garuda and north, Varaaha, with a fifth head facing up towards the sky (the horse’s head). All these are incarnations of Bhagavan Shree Vishnu.
They each represent one of the five elements: earth representing shape and weight, water or liquidity; fire representing heat and light; air is constant motion and ether represents the all-pervading space. For the boar, Vaarahaa, the external practice is aasana (posture); for internal practice, the boar represents digging deep into the earth, for self analysis. To begin spiritual practice you have to analyse yourself and isolate yourself from worldly concerns.
In mythology, Shree Vishnu’s vehicle is Garuda, the eagle. In Tantra, Garuda symbolises pranayam or the five vital airs in the body. Externally, the breath could control the mind. Garuda flies over the ocean; internally, this means we should fly above the waters of sensuality and control the senses.
Narsingh, with the head of a lion and the body of a man, represents the fire element, the sacrifice such as havan at the external level. Narsingh emerges from the pillar of fire to save Prahlad. Sacrifices involving fire result in bhoot shuddhi, purification. The internal practice is to aggressively destroy our internal negativities. Just as Narsingh ripped the demon in two, we should take each of our negative qualities and destroy them: lust, greed, hate, anger, pride and jealousy.
Hanuman, the air element, represents silence externally but also the silent mind. When we are quiet internally, then we surrender all of our actions to the Divine (sharanaagati).
Hiyagriva, the horse’s head that faces upwards, represents ether and is the experience of Oneness with the Divine. He is associated with the Sun, Vedas, gyaan (knowledge).
We need to understand and practise the deeper meaning of each head and then progress from praying to an external Divine Being to experiencing and becoming One with the Divine Being. The ultimate objective in life is to discover the true Self, that I am One with Divinity.
