While growing up in a religious Hindu family, Hanuman Chalisa has always been a very prominent part of our daily schedules. We would recite Hanuman Chalisa every day, and later it became our weekly schedule. I was always very fascinated by the words in Hanuman Chalisa; and later I wrote a Marathi book explaining the meaning of Hanuman Chalisa. In Hanuman Chalisa, there is a line as
सूक्ष्म रूप धरि सियहिं दिखावा ।
बिकट रूप धरि लंक जरावा ॥
There is a story about how Hanuman met Sita in the Ashok Vatika, and later also Ravana. Whole Vanar sena was looking everywhere for Sita. While the first confirmation had arrived from Jatayu, they were still looking for what happened with Sita after Ravana kidnapped her. At this time, one of the teams met Sampati, the elder brother of Jatayu. Sampati informed them that Ravana has taken Sita in the southern land of Lanka. And once has to cross the sea to reach the land.
The question now arose about who will cross the sea to reach Lanka. Angad showed willingness to reach Lanka by swimming across the sea. But Jambuwant thought it would be wise not to send Angad, because Angad was leading the army at this moment. Jambuvant was aware of the powers of Hanuman, and he made Hanumana aware of his physical strengths. Hanuman, on request of Jambuvant, agreed to go to Lanka to find out Sita and deliver message to her. At this moment, Rama handed over his ring, to be given to Sita as a token of identification. Hanuman held the ring in his mouth and took a long leap towards Lanka.
On reaching Lanka, Hanuman searched for whereabouts of Sita. With Vibhishana’s help, Hanuman could find the location and he reached there. When he saw one Aryan lady sitting in center of many attendants, he immediately realised that this is Maa Sita. The question vexed Hanuman’s mind as to how to present himself before Sita. The problem had two dimensions:
- Sita was surrounded by many attendants, and
- Sita might take him to be a demon in the form of an impostor-monkey!
She would refuse to accept him as a friend and devotee of Ram. Hanuman was sure that the second problem would be solved as he had brought the ring from Ram which Sita was sure to recognize as authentic.
He saw that Sita was sitting under an Ashoka tree; surrounded by hundreds of guards. Realising that Sita may be very afraid in the situation, Hanuman shifted his body to a small scale. He appeared in front of Sita as a very small monkey. He introduced himself to Sita and handed over the ring given by Ram.
Sita also handed over a piece of jewelry to him, to be handed over to Rama. But at this point, she had a doubt about how such a small monkey could cross the big sea to reach here. Hanuman realises this doubt and he plays a trick. He asks Sita if he could eat some fruits as he is hungry. Sita says “you can it, but only eat the fruits that have fallen on the ground.” Hanuman, at this point, grows his size and jumps vigorously to make lot of fruits fall on ground.
Irked by the destruction being done by him, Hanuman is arrested by the guards of Lanka. Hanuman is taken to Ravana’s court. When Hanuman reaches there, he starts speaking in impeccable Sanskrit language. Ravana feels anguised by the monkey who speaks Sanskrit, and orders to put fire to his tail.
He aimed to have some entertainment, by putting fire to tail of a monkey and see him jump here and there. But what actually happened was more frightening than entertaining. Hanuman took a big and wild form, and started to jump from one building to other with the tail on fire. In this process, Hanuman burnt down the whole city of Lanka.
This whole incident tells a lot about how an effective communication should be. Hanuman, on seeing that Sita may be afraid, reaches to her as a small monkey and talks to her in a homely Prakrit language. However, when he reaches the courtroom of learned but arrogant Ravana, he makes sure he talks to him Sanskrit. Hanuman also changes his body based on the situation. He appears in front of Sita as a small and timid monkey. But in front of Ravana, he appears as a giant and fearsome one. Thus, he changes both verbal and non-verbal communication based on the situation and the person he is communicating with.
This perfectly showcases how communication should be in corporate in social environment. Your verbal and non-verbal communication must be based on the person you are interacting with. And in the course of the discussion, he realised what is going on in the mind of Sita. And he changes his non verbal ways, to clear the doubt in the minds of Sita. Thus, he isn’t only focusing on self communication, but also continuously reads the cues on the face and in words of the other person.
In Ramayana, we can see many examples about how Hanuman had the best communication style. But, in this article, I have only included two incidents, that are suited to the lines in the Hanuman Chalisa. I hope this gives you some thought to ponder about. Look forward to meeting again with another article..