By Srikant
Author of the renowned book: "Power in Temple -- A Modern Perspective."

There are people who feel a paradox in extolling and worshipping a monkey-faced figure, Sri Hanuman. What is the rationale of a subhuman is being depicted as the greatest devotee of Sri Rama!

Some of the intellectuals and historians, who had not explored deep into the profound symbology of highly evolved spiritual concepts of Hindu philosophy, project their superficial views that either this is part of a primitive animistic worship or a distorted view of some historical situations! Recently I read an article by an intellectual expressing his contempt for the Puranas because there are some Puranas even about animal-Gods. Evidently the westernized scholar is familiar only with the extra-terrestrial superman-God of the western religious concepts, who is partial and who needs the help of his human followers to execute his whimsical programmes, and not with the omnipresent Spiritual Power immanent in everything highlighted by the wisdom of India's ancient sages.

While the Upanishads contain deep and direct inquiries on the aspects of Supreme Truth, the epics like the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas present the same knowledge in scintillating story forms. The Puraanic approach can be compared to that of the surrealistic style in painting. While presenting subtle spiritual ideas and values through stories and strange characters, they sometimes creatively 'disturb' us, nourish our faculties of imagination, help us break the patterns of routine thought and give us solace, reassurance and joy by pointing out the higher potentials of life. They are repositories of traditional sciences, high philosophical knowledge and devotional hymns potent with spiritual power. In their own way they are serving an educative and cultural purpose, and as is evident today, interest in them is increasing with the march of time because of their inherent value. They offer treasures for research.

The profundity of India's spiritual symbolism should be made clearer to the modern man. According to Hindu philosophy, the very Source of all phenomena is Brahman, the Supreme Reality, which is defined as Sat-Chid-Aananda (Existence-Intelligence-Bliss). Mind and matter are two aspects of Reality and are interlinked. While matter evolved into living beings and the evolution progressed, as the neo-Darwinists like Sir Julian Huxley presume, "the mental factor reached in higher animals a high level of intensity" ('Philosophy in a World at War' by Sir Julian Huxley). There has been a step by step progress to greater degrees of freedom as the mental factor gradually thus got intensified. Man in his evolutionary stage is characterized by a predominant presence of mind. Even the very word 'man' has a close link with the Sanskrit word 'manas' which means 'mind'. In Sanskrit man is termed 'manushya', the being having the mind.

In the evolutionary scheme man stands a step ahead of the monkey. Man is also known as 'nara' in Sanskrit and the monkey or ape, as 'vaa-nara', the words 'vaa' and 'nara' posing the question, 'is not monkey almost a man?' (This emphasis on the 'mind' and the terms nara and vaa-nara, etc., indicate the knowledge of the sages regarding the trend of evolution. It should be remembered that Indian philosophy has its basis an evolutionary concept of the universe, of man and his spiritual freedom).

Despite having the facilities of mind and therefore the freedom of choice and action, man is in a critical stage of evolution where prevails a strong conflict between his subhuman tendencies and the evolutionary destiny that has to take him to higher stages of existence. The instinctive fears of the animal kingdom pester him while he is only dimly aware of the possibilities of freedom his further evolution would lead to. This situation keeps him in a state of constant agitation and fear. All the deadly weapons he has created and all the terrible wars he wages are the outward expression of these animal instincts in him. This conflict has to be overcome through an effort for the further intensification of consciousness. This is the goal of all true spiritual striving.

Sri Hanuman shows the way

His subhuman body symbolizes this general human situation and he is depicted both as a great devotee and profound scholar. He possesses immense physical and spiritual strength, which he has acquired by getting mastery over the animal instincts through devotion and knowledge. Animals usually can only react to the environment. In some higher animals only there are some traces of the ability to act with discrimination. This is a great potential possessed by man. Get mastery over the animal instincts and the mental flux through devotion and knowledge, consolidate the faculty of discrimination and evolve to the freedom of divine consciousness -- this in the great message of Sri Hanuman.

This destiny of man to evolve from animal to the Divine is so graphically revealed by Sri Hanuman in the depths of his own heart by showing us the Divine within! The sage-author of the Ramayana reveals the essence of Vedantic philosophy when Sri Rama asks a very significant question to Sri Hanuman: "Who are you?" Sri Hanuman replies, "As body, O Lord, I am Your humble servant, as an individual, I am a part of You, and as the Supreme, I am Yourself." The great message is that every one has the potential and right to realize one's Timeless Reality even in a time-bound plane of existence.

The ancient sages were well aware of the relationship between a form and the ideas represented by the form. It is no wonder that those who worship Sri Hanuman acquire the strength and courage to face the situations of life and receive guidance in spiritual unfoldment. When we worship Sri Hanuman, we are imbibing the qualities represented by Him such as selfless service, one-pointed devotion, etc., which will lead us to Self-realization. There are several temples of Sri Hanuman with vibrant Divine Power in all parts of India.