Hanuman Chalisa is a timeless prayer that inspires unwavering faith in Lord Hanuman.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 10 in English with Meaning & Analysis
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 10 Demon-Killer
भीम रूप धरि
असुर सँहारे ।
रामचंद्र के
काज सँवारे ॥
Bhima roop dhari
asur sanghare.
Ramachandra ke
kaj sanvare.
You took fearsome forms
to kill demons.
Ramchandra’s
tasks were thus accomplished.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 10 Meaning in English
A typical image of Hanuman enshrined in temples, shows him crushing a demon underfoot. Sometimes two demons-mostly a man, but sometimes a woman. These could be one of many demons that Hanuman overpowers in the Valmiki Ramayana and in the many regional and folk Ramayanas.
On his way to Lanka, Hanuman encounters three female demons-Simhika, Surasa and Lankini-who protect Lanka from intruders.
Simhika has the power to capture her prey by its shadow; so she grabs hold of Hanuman’s shadow and forces him into her mouth. Hanuman does not resist, he reduces himself in size so that rather than bite him, she is forced to swallow him. Inside her stomach, he expands in size and escapes by ripping out of her entrails, causing her to die.
Surasa blocks Hanuman’s path in the middle of the sea and tells him that he cannot pass until he enters her mouth; that is a boon she has been given by the gods. Hanuman has no choice but to enter her mouth. He increases his size forcing Surasa to widen her jaws. Then in a moment, he reduces himself to the size of a bee, and zips in and out of Surasa’s mouth. Surasa has no choice but to let Hanuman pass for he has outwitted her with his agility.
While he first contracts and then expands to escape Simhika, Hanuman expands and later contracts to escape Surasa, the mother of serpents. While he uses brute force to kill Simhika, he uses cunning to escape Surasa. In Lanka, Hanuman simply shoves the guardian-goddess of Lanka, Lankini, to the ground, making her realize he is no ordinary monkey, but the monkey destined to defeat Ravana. The defeat of Simhika, Surasa and Lankini marks the beginning of the end of Ravana’s rule.
The female demon depicted under Hanuman’s foot is sometimes interpreted as Lankini, Surasa or Simhika. Some identify her as Panvati, or a malevolent astrological force that causes misfortune. Others see her as Surpanakha (Ravana’s sister), embodying the lustful woman who is the opposite of the celibate sage embodied by Hanuman.
Some see this fierce relationship of Hanuman with female demons as a rejection of Tantra where female deities preside and the focus is the acquisition of occult powers. In folklore, the celibate male ascetics (jogi) are often in conflict with sexually alluring female sorceresses (joginis). This is seen as reflecting the conflict between the austere, refined Vedanta tradition where the focus was wisdom and liberation, and the crude Tantra tradition where the focus was power and control.
Not everyone appreciates the idea of violence against women, even if the woman is a demon. In most images, the demon under Hanuman’s foot is male and identified as Kalanemi sent by Ravana to prevent Hanuman from finding the Sanjivani herb, or Mahiravana who Hanuman outwits to save Ram from Pa-tala. The demon embodies obstacles that come in the way of success. Crushing him marks the crushing of obstacles. That is why Hanuman is called the remover of obstacles (sankat-mochan).
The mighty Hanuman is imagined sometimes with ten heads (dasa-mukhi) or with five heads (pancha-mukhi). In the latter form, the extra heads are those of other animals: a horse, lion, eagle and wild boar. These indicate Hanuman’s association with wisdom (horse), valour (lion), vision (eagle) and tenacity (boar). It also visibly reveals Hanuman to be more than a monkey. This form of Hanuman is called Maha-bali, and is seen as standing independent of Ram.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 10 Analysis in English
bhima rupa dhari asura sahare
ramachandra ke kaja savare ll10||
In a dreadful form you vanquished demons,
And collaborated in Ramachandra’s work. (10)
Bhima was for once highly confused. He had no idea who he had encountered! This was the first time in his life he felt utterly powerless. And it wasn’t the easiest feeling to live with. It all began that wonderful morning when Bhima had the best experience of his life. Interestingly, the best experience and the most embarrassing experience of his life happened on the same day. Almost as if nature was trying to balance the good and the bad.
That morning, as he was taking a stroll by the river, he saw the most beautiful sight ever. As if the rainbow was hanging upside down having transformed itself into a smile. His wife Draupadi was the most beautiful person he had ever seen in his life. But that morning she appeared almost like a goddess from some higher realm, smiling brilliantly. She was glowing like never before. When he reached closer, he realized that the radiance was sponsored by a golden lotus flower she held in her hand.
It was not just golden but a 1000-petalled lotus flower. Bhima had never seen anything like this before and from the look of excitement and joy on Draupadi’s face, he could understand that neither had she. When Bhima sat down next to her admiring that flower, Draupadi made a request. A request that caused a flutter of joy in Bhima’s heart. She asked him to get more such flowers for her. Bhima leapt up in excitement. This was the first time in so many years of their marriage that Draupadi had made any request whatsoever.
He was eager to fulfill her desire. Reasoning that the 1000-petalled lotus had floated down the river, Bhima began following the trail of the river backwards. He had never been this excited in his life. He really wanted to make Draupadi happy. He was even daydreaming of how happy she would be when he returned with the many golden lotuses. There was a bounce in his gait. Soon he began to blow his conch shell, expressing his happiness to the world.
Of course, the world did not exactly appreciate the blase display of his happiness. The terrible sound of the conch rattled through the forest, startling the birds and animals in the vicinity. Oblivious to the effect he was causing on the living beings, Bhima kept marching ahead along the river. Suddenly the earth below his feet quaked. He almost lost his balance and fell. He stopped smiling when he realized that the source of the quake wasn’t natural but rather created. He had heard a thump distinctly.
It felt as if someone had stomped the ground and artificially created the tremors. The warrior instincts of Bhima took over considering it to be a provocation to challenge his strength. His pursuit for the mystical golden flower suddenly became secondary and his inquisitiveness to find the source of the tremor became primary. He walked stealthily towards the direction from which the tremor had originated. Before he reached, another more powerful thud was heard and a more intense tremor was experienced. Now this was a serious matter. Bhima began walking cautiously towards the source of the quakes.
Just when he was almost there, he saw something on the ground that was unbelievable. Sprawled on the middle of his path was something that looked like a thick rope. When he saw carefully, it was actually a thick tail. His eyes followed the tail and found that it belonged to a really huge elderly monkey resting under a tree. Bhima had never seen a monkey so huge. Approaching the monkey respectfully, he requested him to move his tail so that he wouldn’t have to step over it. The monkey lazily replied that he was too exhausted to even open his eyes, then what to speak of putting such a huge effort in shifting his tail.
He casually told Bhima to take care of the tail shifting business himself. Bhima was really irritated with the attitude of the old monkey. But because he had other pressing matters to take care of, he didn’t want to get into any discussion here. Plus who would want to quarrel with such a weak elderly person? Setting aside his anger, Bhima gently touched the tail of the frail monkey in order to set it aside. Somehow the tail was heavier than he expected. First he had just used two fingers to pick it up, but now he used his entire hand to lift up the tail.
Interestingly the tail refused to budge. He now used both his hands. No matter how much energy he put in, the tail would not budge. It almost felt as if it was stuck to the ground. Bhima was flabbergasted. What was the point in having the strength of 10,000 elephants when he couldn’t lift the tail of an ordinary monkey and that too an elderly one? He summoned all his strength and, taking a deep breath, once again tried to lift the tail. As he was pulling with all his might, he suddenly lost his grip and fell.
Right in front of his eyes, the tail rose in the air slightly and thumped onto the ground. The power with which the tail hit the ground created tremors that spread in all directions shattering the earth’s tectonic plates. Bhima was bewildered at the power exhibited by an ordinary looking monkey. He realized that this couldn’t possibly be an ordinary monkey.
This had to be some divine being in disguise. With folded hands, he approached the elderly being. In great supplication, he begged forgiveness for being arrogant and for displaying his puny strength. He requested the powerful personality to reveal who he really was and bless him.
The elderly monkey smiled and in the next moment in place of that old monkey stood Hanuman, the powerful servant and messenger of Lord Rama and the hero of the Rama Ravana war in Lanka. Bhima was absolutely thrilled to see his worshipable master and source of his inspiration right in front of his eyes.
Falling at the feet of Hanuman, he surrendered himself completely. Pleased with his sincerity, Hanuman picked up and embraced Bhima. It was a happy reunion of two brothers who were both sons of Vayu, the wind god. Both of them spent many hours together happily recounting the adventures of their lives and sharing notes.
Hanuman was dejected with the sorry state of the Pandavas and promised to help Bhima in the upcoming war. He tutored Bhima in the art of mace fighting and wrestling. He also promised him that during the war, he would be present on Aijuna’s flag and would add to the intensity of Bhima’s war cries by adding his own voice.
Thus even before the enemy approached Bhima, his heart would be shattered hearing the terrible war cries. Thus half the fight could be won by simply scaring the enemy, bhima rupa dhari asura sahare When one approaches God, the question is not what can He do for you but what can you do for Him.
Hanuman personifies this attitude. There is absolutely no story of Hanuman’s life where he gains anything or does things for his own pleasure or benefit. His life was a life of sacrifice. His life was a life of service. The primary and single-pointed focus of Hanuman’s life was to enthusiastically serve Rama and his devotees, to the best of his capacity. Every mission of Rama’s, was carried out so wonderfully by Hanuman. ramachandra ke kdja savare.
The first service of Hanuman was to unite Sugriva with Rama. Knowing very well that both Sugriva and Rama needed each other, Hanuman spoke to both parties individually and convinced them to collaborate to achieve their goals and solve each other’s problems. In fact, understanding that Sugriva’s monkey mind is unpredictable and may change any time, he sealed their friendship by making them take vows of friendship and dedication in a fire sacrifice.
Eventually when the right time came, he inspired Sugriva to mobilize the entire monkey army. Regularly following up with him and pushing him into timely action, Hanuman made sure that the massive vanara army arrived at the right time.
Not only did he inspire Sugriva to send millions of vanaras around the globe, but he himself went on the search expedition in the southern direction. He did not just believe in delegating work, he believed in getting involved personally in every mission of Lord Rama’s.
He was not just an expert in organizing, but also in working at ground level. During the entire search operation, he kept everyone motivated and focused. Everyone has a tendency to forget why we do what we do. People tend to focus on the activity and forget the intention behind any action. Hanuman kept the whole army focused on the fact that this was Rama’s mission and as long as they remembered that, Rama’s grace would flow through them.
Of the millions of monkeys who left to find Sita, Hanuman was the one who actually found her. He left no stone unturned in doing so. He jumped across an ocean, fought with demons, searched the length and breadth of an entire country alone, risked his life by entering an enemy zone single-handedly, and resisted sensory temptation in the golden city.
But all this was worth it when he finally saw Sita. By finding Sita and giving her Rama’s message, he successfully completed a job that was most dear to Rama and of course a crucial need in the given situation. By giving Sita Rama’s message, he gave her hope and by giving Rama Sita’s message, he gave him hope. Thus, he united Sita and Rama through hope.
A good servant is one who not only does the task given to him, but accomplishes several others along the way. Hanuman was only given the task of finding Sita and conveying Rama’s message to her. But along with that, he accomplished much more. He conducted a complete survey of Lanka, assessing its strengths and weaknesses, studied Ravana’s army, understood the entire layout of Lanka, and finally gave Ravana a warning he would remember forever.
Moreover, he even identified a potential friend in Lanka in the form of Vibhishan. Hanuman, in fact, recommended him to Rama when he arrived asking for shelter. This connection became the most crucial link that turned the tide during the war. Hanuman also played a key role in building the 80-mile wide and 800-mile long bridge of stones in just five days.
He carried huge boulders, rocks, and even mountains from far and wide to ensure that the engineers were never short in supply of stones to build the bridge. During the war, Hanuman saved the lives of everyone, including Rama and Lakshmana, several times when unconquerable mystic weapons were used.
Hanuman was Rama’s most powerful instrument during the entire war, probably destroying more enemies than all monkeys put together. He not only helped Rama win the war with his physical strength but also helped strategize with his intellectual strength. Several times during the war, Hanuman jeopardized the yagyas of Ravana that could potentially make him immortal.
Finally, the most important way Hanuman served Rama was by reuniting him with Sita at the end of the war. Not only that, he reunited Bharata and Rama after the war as well. When Rama returned to Ayodhya, he sent all the monkeys back to their kingdom in Kishkinda while he kept Hanuman with him. Hanuman meant everything to Rama.
He was a messenger, a minister, a friend, a servant, an advisor, a war commander, and even served as a vehicle for Rama when needed. Whatever Hanuman did, he did with complete faith, risking his life. He never gave any excuse and fulfilled his commitments, no matter what the price. Food and sleep were of no consequence to him till his mission was completed. For him, the mission of Lord Rama was always first and foremost.
He was the best of brahmanas. When needed, he became the best of kshatriyas to wield weapons in a war. He was the best of vaisyas because a vaisya gives loans and puts people under his debt; he put Rama Himself under his debt. And sudra dharma being seva, who could follow it better than Hanuman? He completed every mission of Lord Rama, in whichever vama that was needed of him, as an exemplary brahmana, kshatriya, vaisya as well as sudra. ramachandra ke kaja savare.