Over last few days, the news has become very depressing. Especially the political news. The leaders and spokeperson of political parties are all trying to attack each other using the Mahabharata analogies. They are calling each other Kauravas, and refering themselves as the Pandavas. And I am just left wondering if either of them ever read Mahabharata.
Mahabharata teaches us many different virtues. And one of them is the very basic virtue of humility. Being humble. Unfortunately, the very common virtue is not at all common these days.
Hanuman is known to be the embodiment of the virtue of Humility. In spite of all the strength and intellect he had, he preferred to be humble associate of Ram. And that’s the reason he also takes up the responsibility of teaching the virtue to others. He teaches this virtue to Narada, Ravana, Bheema, Arjun, Garuda and Sudarshan Chakra.
There is a story in Mahabharata that happens during the time of exile of Pandavas.
The Pandavas were in exile living in the forest for twelve years. One day, as they were moving around in the forest, a gentle breeze carried along with it a beautiful celestial flower known as Saugandhika and dropped it on the ground in front of Draupadi. Draupadi was wonderstruck at the beauty of the flower and the divine fragrance emanating from it. She longed to have more of those flowers and requested Bhima to get them for her. Bhima obliged and went in search of the flowers.
Bhima was on his way to find the flowers. Suddenly on his route, he found a huge, old monkey lying on a rock. Its long tail was obstructing Bhima’s path. Bhima shouted at the monkey to move away from his path. The monkey got up as if from sleep and asked Bhima who he was and why he was creating so much of disturbance in the otherwise quiet environment of the forest. Bhima boasted about himself and told the monkey that he was one of the Pandava brothers and bearer of greatest strength. Again Bhima asked the monkey to move away, but the monkey replied that he was too weak and had no energy to move his tail. He asked Bhima to push his tail aside and move on.
Bhima, the most powerful and strong who had the strength of ten thousand elephants was now being asked by an old monkey to lift its tail! He was furious by this time. He tried to push the monkey’s tail aside with his mace but could not move it even by an inch. He was surprised! Bhima tried again and again to move the monkey’s tail with all his might but miserably failed. Exhausted, Bhima realized that this was no ordinary monkey. With folded hands he requested the monkey to reveal his true identity. Then, Lord Hanuman revealed his true form. Bhima was overjoyed to see his brother Hanuman. They both embraced each other joyfully.
Lord Hanuman told Bhima not to be arrogant of his might and strength, and this was just a lesson for Bhima to remain humble.
There is another story where even Hanuman was teaching a lesson on Humility to Arjuna. But instead, he himself received a lesson.
While still in exile, Arjuna visited Rameshwaram to pay his respects to Lord Rama who had arrived on its shores after defeating Ravana. On seeing the remains of the stone bridge, Arjuna wondered aloud why a warrior as great as Rama engaged the services of monkeys and other animals to build the bridge when he could’ve done it himself using his arrows.
Watching this scene was a monkey who explained to Arjuna that Rama’s army comprised great mighty monkeys such as Sugreeva, Hanuman and Angadha among others and that a bridge of arrows would surely have collapsed under them. Arjuna scoffed at this idea and was immediately challenged to build a bridge by the monkey. It was agreed that should Arjuna’s bridge collapse, he would walk into a pyre and kill himself.
As Arjuna kept firing the arrows, the monkey kept chanting Rama’s name under his breath. After Arjuna completed the bridge, the monkey coolly walked on it and, much to Arjuna’s horror, destroyed it. Out of shame, Arjuna prepared the pyre and was about to jump into it when a young boy wandered on to the scene asking what was going on.
On learning the story, the boy pointed out that the wager was invalid as there was no third, impartial party to witness it. So the wager was made again with the rules having agreed upon in the presence of this anonymous boy.
By now, Arjuna’s confidence was shattered and so he began to pray to Krishna as he began firing arrow after arrow. The monkey, on the other hand, simply sat there watching with glee.
The bridge was now complete, yet again, and the monkey stepped on it. Except this time the bridge didn’t break despite all of the monkey’s efforts. Arjuna stood there watching with as much surprise as the monkey who by now had transformed into his real self – the mighty Hanuman!
Arjuna, having seen Hanuman in his real form, immediately prostrated before the god and begged for an apology even as Hanuman continued to bounce on the bridge of arrows with the intention of destroying it.
Despite all efforts, the bridge didn’t collapse and it was Hanuman’s turn to wonder what was wrong. He flew at the base of the bridge, and realised that it was supported by a small wheel at the base. Hanuman took no time to realise that the wheel was Krishna’s Sudarshan Chakra. He noticed the young boy smiling and figured that it wasn’t just any other mortal. Hanuman shrunk back to human size and asked the boy who he really was.
The boy now revealed his true avatar. As it turned out, it was Vishnu, who explained to his disciples that he was Rama and he was Krishna . He explained both of them that the bridge had been completed only due to his blessings. And no one can boast of power, because there is always someone else who is more powerful than you.
Arjuna again begged for apology from Hanuman who promised to be present on his chariot for the duration of the war. It is said that Hanuman protected the chariot from all kinds of divine weapons that were fired at Arjuna during the war. And when the war was finally over and when Krishna and Arjuna stepped off the chariot for the final time, it was reduced to ashes. Such was the intensity of the weapons that Hanuman absorbed.
We come across numerous stories in different Puranas and epics; that teach us the importance of humility. What matters is if we have an eye for these stories. What matters is if we have an open heart to learn from them. What matters is if we are ready to embrace these stories and their learnings.