Devatas in Level 3 – Part 4

Hanumaan Ansh

This is an article series. Please read all previous articles before reading this article. The URLs for all previous articles are located in the SPECIAL THOUGHTS section.

Earlier, we had pondered over the Hanumaan Avataara of Shree Mukhya Praana Devata. In this context, I offer to you what I learnt from watching the recently released blockbuster movie Hanumaan Ansh. I like to present this in two sections:

1. About Neem Karoli Baba and his various Siddhi-s as shown in the movie
2. About the movie Hanumaan Ansh

About Neem Karoli Baba

There is a verse in Shat-Prashna-Upanishat:

sa praanam asrujat praanaat shraddhaam kham

vaayu: jyoti: aapa: pruthivi indriyam mana: |

annam annaat veeryam tapo mantraa:

karma lokaa: lokeshu cha naama cha ||

The above verse refers to the 15 fences that a Jeevaatma is bound by. There in, the above verse implicitly approves the validity of the hierarchy of the Devata-s. Let’s list these 15 fences and their respective Abhimaani Devata-s:

1. The syllable “sa” means “He”, which is in reference to Paramaatma who’s the highest in hierarchy of all sentients.
2. “sa praanam asrujat” means “He (Paramaatma) originated Praana (Mukhya Praana)”. As explained earlier Praana in the 3^rd level in the hierarchy of sentients.
3. “praanaat shraddhaam” means “Shraddhaa was created through Praana”. The Abhimaani Devata for Shraddhaa is Sarasvati who is in the 4^th level in the hierarchy of sentients.
4. Next, we see the 5 primordial elements (Pancha Bhoota-s) namely “kham vaayu: jyOti: aapa: pruthivi” (space, wind, fire/radiance, water, earth). These originate through Shiva’s Taamasa Ahankaara. As explained earlier, Shiva is in the 5^th level in the hierarchy of sentients.
5. Next, we see “indriyam” which is in reference to 5 Jnyaanendriya-s (sensory organs) and Karmendriya-s (motor organs). Indra is the overall Abhimaani Devata for all 10 Indriya-s and he is in the 8^th level in the hierarchy of Devata-s.
6. Next, we see “mana:” which refers to manas (mind). Though Shiva is the Abhimaani Devata for the mind, Chandra is also an Abhimaani Devata for Manas (mind) at a lower level. Chandra is in the 12^th level in the hierarchy of Devata-s.
7. Next, we see “annam” which refers to the food we consume. These come from Vanaspati which grow with sunlight, which comes from Soorya. And, the Abhimaani Devata for annam is Somak.a Chandra. Both Soorya and Chandra are in Level 12
8. Next, we see “veeryam” which refers to virility, the Abhimaani Devata for which is Varuna, who is in Level 13
9. The next fence is tapas, which refers to our sense of deep thinking. The Abhimaani Devata for tapas is Agni, who’s in Level 15
10. The next fence is mantra, which refers to our well thought out, and spiritually uplifting words. Abhimaani Devata for mantra is Svaahaa Devi, one of the consorts of Agni.
11. The next fence is karma, which refers to our well thought out, and spiritually uplifting actions. Abhimaani Devata for karma is pushkara, son of Varuna (Level 21)
12. The next fence is loka, which refers to our acquisitions, accomplishments and possessions, the Abhimaani Devata for which is Parjanya (Level 20)
13. Lastly, we see “naama”, which refers to the name we are given in the Naamakarana ceremony or through popularity or fondness or nicknaming or any other way/process. Abhimaani Devata for naama is Ushaa Devi (Level 22). She’s the consort of Ashvini Devata-s.

As explained above, Paramaatma creates Mukhya Praana first who, in turn, connects the finite Jeevaatma to the infinite Paramaatma. This is the 16^th “Kalaa”, which is enveloped within the 15 fences which bind the Jeevaatma to the material world. The outermost fence is the Naama (name). All of us mere mortals are fixated on the very name that we identify ourselves with. But not the renounced ascetics. All the renounced ascetics that I’ve heard of (or read about or come across) have shown this trait. As depicted in the movie, Neem Karori Baba too was like that. He didn’t seem to show any adherence to his very name. He’s been called by many names… most of them referring to the place where he stayed, such as Tallaiya Baba (referring to his staying near a lake), Tikonia Baba (referring to his stay near a triangular shaped land) and so on.

Next, there’s an incident of Neem Karoli Baba going to a barber for a shave and casually inquiring about the barber’s wellbeing. Upon learning about the barber’s son going away due to resentment with his father, Baba asks for 75 Paise and then takes a urination break, with the shaving lather still on his face. The Baba then arrives a few minutes later… and the next thing the barber knows is his son coming back home and narrating to the father how he got 75 Paise from someone who had shaving lather on his face. Incidents such as this have been documented by Paramahamsa Yogananda in his book “The Autobiography of a Yogi”, where he specifically writes about a Yogi with 2 bodies (Swami Pranabananda).

Paramahamsa Yogananda also documents several other yogic abilities that he came across as a very young spiritual seeker. He speaks of a police officer who was chasing a notorious murderer disguised as a Saadhu. The police officer mistook a Yogi for the murderer in disguise and assaulted him. The assault was so bad that the Yogi’s arm was literally hanging by a single vein. But by next day, the Yogi’s body had healed so well that there wasn’t even a scar. Further, he speaks of a Yogi who could wrestle with tigers, another Yogi who could produce very pleasant fragrances, a levitating Yogi and many more.

Going back to the movie Hanuman Ansh… there is an incident where the young Lakshmi Narayan Das (who later came to be popularly known as Neem Karoli Baba), dunked and stayed under water for a very long time. This is referred to as Jala Stambhana and has been mentioned by Swami Ram in his book “Living with the Himalayan Masters”. In another incident, the same young Lakshmi Narayan Das catches a stone thrown by his friends at him and converts that into a sweet edible delicacy. This yogic ability too has been mentioned by Swami Ram in his book. He also mentions of the Himalayan Masters asking him if he wants wealth or knowledge… and that if he wants wealth, then they can take him to a certain spot in the Himalayas where there are hidden jars of gold coins which he could load up and leave and never return. Swami Ram declined all that wealth and stuck to seeking knowledge.

Next, in the movie, there is the famous incident of Baba being forced out of the train some distance from a village by name Neem Karori, which ultimately earnt him the name Neem Karori Baba. The train did not move after he was forced out. Also, the picture depicted that he produced the necessary tickets. There are many such incidents documented about Yogi-s being able to simply use their mental will to command the atomic mass of any object or their own body to become weightless. This is referred to as Laghimaa Siddhi. Similarly, Yogi-s will have earnt the ability to make a particular object become far heavier than they normally are. This is referred to as Garimaa Siddhi. My guess is Neem Karori Baba used Garimaa Siddhi to make the train so-so super heavy that 2 engines couldn’t move it. This may not be limited to the Yogi-s of Bhaarat. There is a book titled “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Briggs, said to be “The #1 New York Times Best Seller”. The front cover shows a black & white picture of a very young girl levitating about a foot above ground. Inside, there is another black & white picture of a skinny looking teenage boy carrying a boulder which looks to be about 250 KGs (550 lbs) in his right hand. Is it a real picture? Or was it photoshopped? I’ll let you be the judge.

And, regarding producing tickets… many people have witnessed Satya Sai Baba of Putaparti similarly materialize ash, golden ring and so on. My take is that Yogi-s will have learnt & earnt the abilities to change/transform matter at an atomic level. Think about it like splitting up the atoms into protons, neutrons and electrons to rearrange them to become some other atom with a different number of protons, neutrons and electrons. For example, Silicon has 14 protons, 14 neutrons and 14 electrons. Gold has 79 protons and 79 electrons. Hypothetically, protons and electrons from 6 atoms of Silicon can be combined to form a Gold atom with 5 protons & 5 electrons left over. I’m reminded of hearing a famous Padma Shree awardee Achaarya mention about his meeting with Shree Satya Sai Baba of Putaparti. Achaarya Ji had an opportunity to ask Baba Ji regarding how he was able to materialize gold rings seemingly out of thin air. Achaarya mentions in his Pravachana that Baba Ji had told him that he has found a certain “switch” in his mind which makes such “miracles” possible.

This article would be incomplete without mentioning a truly great Yogi of recent times namely Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji of Mantraalaya. After immense prayers by his parents, he was born in 1595, in a time post devastation of the erstwhile Vijayanagara empire. His parents named him Venkatanaatha. He is considered Avataara of Prahlaada. He got his early education in Veena through his father. He continued his education under Shree Vijayeendra Teertha Swaami Ji and Shree Sudheendra Teertha Swaami Ji at Kumbhakonam. Pretty soon he mastered all 64 Vidyaa-s and defeated almost all scholars of his time in debates pertaining to Vedic Shaastra-s. After a brief period of married life, he became a renunciate and ascended the Peetha of the Matha succeeding his Guru Shree Sudheendra Teertha.

Importantly, Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji was a contemporary of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the evil Aurangzeb. It is said that Shivaji Maharaj met Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji once. At that time Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji is said to have told Shivaji Maharaj that their paths are the same, which is to establish Dharma… while the difference was just that Shivaji Maharaj fought holding Shastras (weapons) while he (Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji) fought holding Shaastra (Vedic knowledge). After having been on the Peetha of his Matha as an ascetic for 50 years, and after having touched the lives of millions through his compassion, Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji entered his Vrundaavana (entombment) in 1671. According to recorded history, he was entombed alive at a place called Mantraalaya, as per his own instructions to his very devout disciples. Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji had promised at that time that he would stay entombed at that location for 700 years. Since then, Mruttika (sand) taken from his Vrundaavana has been taken to install Mruttikaa Vrundaavana in thousands of places all over the world.

One particular incident must be mentioned about Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji. Many decades after Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji entered Vrundaavana, back when the British ruled Bhaarata, a British officer by name Thomas Monroe heading the then Madras Presidency wanted to annex Mantraalaya, where Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji’s Vrundaavana stood. When he reached Mantraalaya for this purpose, Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji appeared him to dissuade him from annexing the territory. Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji was visible, and the words he spoke too were audible, only to Mr. Monroe and none else around him. Mr. Monroe returned to his office in Madras and had it documented in the Gazette that he had personally seen Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji at Mantraalaya and that Swami Ji has given Mantraakshataa (which Mr. Monroe called “rice”). Descendents of Thomas Monroe visit Mantraalaya even to this day.

Two biopics and an elaborate TV Series have already been made on the life and Mahimaa of Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji. The movie made in Kannada saw Dada Saheb Phalke Awardee Dr. Rajkumar play the role of Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji and do incredible justice to the role… while the movie made in Tamil saw none less than the great actor Rajanikanth play the role of Shree Raaghavendra Swami Ji with utmost devotion. I encourage you all to watch the aforesaid movies and also read his detailed biographical accounts.

The point I’m trying to make is that all the “miracles” are well within the realm of “miracles” documented in our Shaastra-s and also in independent accounts of personal experiences recorded by spiritual seekers of recent times. In summary, there are two types of Yogi-s. The first kind use their Yogic abilities to help many people in various ways. The second kind are completely renounced and are almost always in solitude and deep meditation seeking liberation from the cycle of birth/death. Neem Karori Baba was one such great Yogi of the first kind, who was very compassionate and used his Yogic abilities to help a large number of people.

About the movie Hanuman Ansh

The Yogic abilities mentioned above is like way beyond modern-day Ph.D level learning in Hinduism. Reading about them, or watching their biopics is basically like a nursery school kid, which can barely recite the alphabets in proper order, trying to read William Shakesphere’s Hamlet. The kid will look at the book and identify some alphabets. The child will mistake words to be a random collection of alphabets and sentences to be a random collection of such random collection of alphabets separated by blank spaces.

To put it in a more relatable way, learning the alphabets is nursery school level learning regardless of what age one learns them at. Similarly, learning the stories of Raamaayana, Mahaabhaarata, and the Puraana-s is like nursery school level learning in Hinduism regardless of what age we learn them at. Most Hindus are only at this level. They are unable to comprehend the knowledge and abilities of the Yogi-s. Just like how children can’t be taught until they grow up, spiritually childlike Hindus can’t be taught until they grow up spiritually. Just like how grownups tolerate a child’s calling a random assembly of alphabets as words, the spiritually grownups tolerate a spiritually childlike Hindus’ random comprehension, assessment and opinion about the Yogi-s, Yoga and the gist of Veda Shaastra-s. Children, in their innocent expression, glorify their parents way beyond what they really are. They may be heard saying things like “Oh, my dad is stronger than Bheema and can run faster than Usain Bolt”. Those words are cute… but it would be a mistake to consider them a reality. Similarly, childlike Hindus will say things about a certain Yogi embellishing and flattering him/her beyond what he/she really is. This is precisely what I see in the entire story line of Hanuman Ansh, starting from the very title of the movie.

The word “Ansh” is basically a distortion of the Sanskrit word “Amsha”. We’ve already seen and explanation of the word “Amsha” and the difference between Avataara and Amsha. It may not be wrong to say that Amsha is somewhat inferior compared to Avataara for reasons mentioned in earlier articles. It has also been explained that Mukhya Praana Vaayu is a Ruju Yogi and one of the Para Shukla Traya Devata-s. This means Mukhya Praana Devata never had any diminution of clarity over his abilities or purpose when he takes an Avataara. In other words, for Para Shukla Traya Devata, there is no difference between Avataara and Amsha… which means to say that “Hanuman Ansh” is basically synonymous with “Hanumaan Avataara”. And thus, what the “spiritually childlike” followers say is the equivalent of saying “Neem Karori Baba is Hanumaan Avataara”. We can brush it off as “people have the right to believe whatever they want to believe in”. But, as has been explained many times earlier… we benefit from our beliefs only when they are in alignment with realities. Therefore, is that correct that Neem Karori Baba is Hanumaan Avataara? Let me offer my reasons and let you evaluate.

• Hanumaan is already an Avataara. So, to say that “Neem Karori Baba is Hanumaan Avataara” is like saying “Neem Karori Baba is an Avataara’s Avataara”. I’ve never heard of any such thing in the entire Vedic literature.
• Neem Karori Baba himself never told anyone anywhere that he is Hanumaan’s Avataara or Amsha or Ansh. This seems more like something that was drummed up by his childlike followers who couldn’t control their embellishment and flattery of their beloved Baba Ji. Once something like this spreads among the followers, then there’s no way to control it.
• As explained earlier, Paramaatma and the Para Shukla Traya Devata-s are bestowed with 32 Mahaa Purusha Lakshana-s. They exude these Mahaa Purusha Lakshana-s even in their Avataata-s. Some of these Lakshana-s have been explained in earlier articles. They involve various symmetries which is what we see in most of the Moorti-s carved for worship in temples. It should suffice to say that the form that a Para Shukla Traya Devata takes in his/her Avataara is basically flawless and ageless. They don’t go bald, or become weak (except when they pretend to be weak such as Hanumaan pretending to be a weak monkey and later showing his true form to Bheema Sena), or become fat bellied and so on.
• Anyone who demonstrates some Yoga Siddhi should not immediately be regarded automatically as Hanumaan’s or Shiva’s Avataara. If so, then Maareecha, Mahishaasura, Shakata, Trunaavarta and any/all Asura-s who showed any Yoga Siddhi would automatically have to be called Hanumaan’s or Shiva’s Avataara. Careful evaluation is necessary.

Yoga Siddhi-s are certain hidden abilities of the mind. When Saatvik people discover it, they use it for Loka Kalyaana. But the problem is, Asura-s can also discover the Yoga Siddi-s… and when they do, they’ll most definitely use those Yoga Siddhi-s for destructive purposes. When someone shows some Yogic ability, it doesn’t always mean that he/she is a good Saatvik person. For example, Hanumaan appeared in the form of a Braahmana front of Shree Raama and so did Raavana in front of Seetaa Maataa. We learn from Raamaayana that Maareecha changed his human form to look like a very attractive deer. That is a great Yoga Siddhi, which Maareecha us    ed for destructive purposes. Therefore, we see temples built for Hanumaan all over the world… but do we see temples built for Raavana or Maareecha anywhere?

In general, our in-dwelling Devata-s keep guiding us constantly. This guidance is what we refer to as our inner voice. The in-dwelling Devata-s are the ones who bestow Yoga Siddhi-s to us. And they do so only if and when they feel that we deserve such Siddhi-s. Therefore, a beneficiary of such Siddhi-s should never use them without the permission of those who bestowed it upon them.

We shall ponder over the next Avataara of Mukhya Praana Devata in Dwaapara Yuga, namely Bheema Sena. (Unedited copy and posted as received from the author)