HANUMAN THE SAGE: Son of the Wind God

After the legend of Nala and Damayanti told by the gold swan Hamsa (Hamsa A Loving Swan), here is the story of the monkey demigod, Hanuman, who narrates in a condensed way the great Indian epic of the Ramayana.

In ancient times, Bhumi Devi, the Goddess Earth, found herself once again engulfed in thick darkness. She could no longer tolerate the excruciating torments caused by monsters of limitless cruelty, the rakshasa clan, a category of demons. They caused all sorts of abominable diseases, famines, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, all the suffering they could inflict on humans. They persecuted and massacred the wise, virtuous and noble beings. Those who escaped this destruction prayed and begged for help with all their might. Together they performed countless rites to stop these dark forces. Their only desire was to free Bhumi Devi from these evil beings and to recover harmony and prosperity. No human force could stop these massacres and they appealed to all the gods. Powerless to restore peace on earth, even they could not come to their rescue. A supreme power like that of the most luminous and protective force at work in the universe was needed, that of Lord Vishnu.

So all the gods and goddesses gathered and implored Vishnu to intervene as quickly as possible. This had the effect of awakening Vishnu who was leisurely lying on the Ocean of Milk in his abode of Vaikuntha. He realised that the danger was great and that his imminent descent on earth was once again becoming inevitable.

Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma, accompanied by their respective consorts Lakshmi, Parvati and Saraswati, and all the celestial beings appeared together on earth by taking human forms in order to remedy to this chaos. So many times we had seen this happen before!

These divine descents or avatars always happened whenever people were in utter danger of destruction or when the supreme values of knowledge were threatened. Let us remember the main avatars of Vishnu from time immemorial: 'Matsya' - the Fish, 'Kurma' - the Turtle, 'Varaha' - the Boar, 'Narasimha' - the Man-Lion, 'Vamana' - the Dwarf, 'Parashurama' - Rama with the Battle-axe, then Rama - the hero of the Ramayana, Krishna - the hero of the Mahabharata and then Buddha! And the next one to come, 'Kalki', who is expected to incarnate anytime soon in our own times, the Kaliyuga Era, the Iron Age, to eradicate all sorts of demons and to protect the Earth!

Shiva assumed the modest appearance of a monkey of great wisdom, Hanuman, the fervent devotee and most faithful servant of Rama. In order to bring victory over the dark forces, Hanuman was given secret and sacred powers. He became an instrument in the service of Vishnu-Rama and thus participated to the return of harmony on Mother Earth.

This story tells us how Vishnu came down to earth at Ayodhya, in the kingdom of Koshala. He incarnated for the seventh time in the form of Rama, the perfect epitome of a just and virtuous king.