A HANUMAN STORY FOR RAM DASS

For Ram Dass, the wild adventurer, teacher, sinner, blesser of beings, storyteller, and lover of God, here is a Hanuman Lila on your birthday…

Ram Dass in India with his Guru, Neem Karoli Baba.

Several years ago, I met Ram Dass at a small gathering in the San Francisco area and told him this story. He said he had never heard it before and asked me to send it to him. I did so after first recording it. Then, over 10 years, while living in the Himalayas at the house of a Hanuman devotee, I wrote a book that centered around, illustrated, and expanded that story. That single small tale is recited in the video with this posting.

Hanuman is carrying the Dronagiri mountain from the Himalayas. The mountain holds the healing herbs to save Lakshman, who had been mortally wounded in the war in Lanka. It was night, Hanuman could not find the particular herbs, and he needed to be back before dawn to save Lakshman, so he tore off the whole mountaintop and carried it back to Lanka. Lakshman was saved.

The ePUB book (see below) includes video, audio, picture galleries, and illustrations of the story I told Ram Dass, along with many other tales that embroider and expand the original, forming an introduction to the Bhakti tradition surrounding Hanuman. I drew from the vast amount of art surrounding the Ramayana: Indian Miniature Paintings, including Mughal, Indian Devotional Art, and old Poster Art from India.

'A Hanuman Story for Ram Dass' rises out of the Ramayana, one of India's two great spiritual epics, the other being the Mahabharata, which contains the Bhagavad Gita.

The Bhagavad Gita or ‘Song of the Lord’ is Krishna’s teaching to the Warrior Arjuna before the beginning of the great Kurukshetra Battle.

The story of the Ramayana speaks of the Avatar, Lord Rama, the abduction of his wife Sita by the demon king Ravana, and the great adventure and battle of winning her back (the Ramayana).

The ten-headed demon king Ravana abducts Sita and carries her off in his chariot, which the divine eagle, Jatayu, attacks. Jatayu is mortally wounded by Ravana, but he survives to tell Rama what happened to Sita.

The Battle in Lanka, where Rama and his monkey army fight the demon army of Ravana

The particular tale told in the story above relates an incident after the battle when, on a flying chariot carrying Rama, Lakshman, Sita, and the victorious monkey army back to Ayodhya, Rama gifts Hanuman his ring. After examining the ring and finding it to be without the name of Rama inscribed upon it, Hanuman decides it is useless and tosses it off the flying Pushpaka chariot, where it falls into the ocean below. Rama asks Hanuman to retrieve the ring, and the aerial chariot is halted in the air, where Hanuman dives into the ocean. There, beneath the sea, Hanuman discovers the mind-transcending Mystery of reincarnation and life and the omnipresence of Rama or God.

Although the Ramayana is the Story of Lord Rama, what many people remember most about it is the character of Hanuman. In the various versions of the Ramayana, from North to South India and Valmiki to Tulsidas, stories and images of Hanuman abound.

Hanuman tearing open his chest to reveal Rama and Sita in every fiber of his being

Hanuman expresses the ideal of a devotee of God; although he is the greatest of all the devotees of Rama, he is also a Monkey. In him, we find the extremes of a wild, simple, powerful jungle animal and a great Bhakti, or lover of God.

As far as I know, this story has not been written down before. Taken from the oral tradition of India, it presents a very small part of Hanuman's adventures in the Ramayana, addressing the nature of an individual’s life in the broader context of reincarnation. It is a beautiful, delightful, and mysterious story for children and adults.

CLICK HERE to Purchase and Download the full, 400-page- ePUB filled with stories, videos, picture galleries, hyperlinks, and much more.

Consider it a gift returned to the giver . . .