Many people believe that regular recitation of Hanuman Chalisa Lyrics brings inner peace.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 11 in English with Meaning & Analysis
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 11 Saving Lakshman
लाय सजीवन
लखन जियाये ।
श्रीरघुवीर
हरषि उर लाये ॥
Laye Sanjivan
Lakhan jiyaye.
Shri Raghuvir
harashi ur laye.
By fetching the Sanjivani herb
you saved Lakshman.
Scion of the Raghu clan
hugged you in delight.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 11 Meaning in English
In the Ramayana, the rakshasa-king Ravana abducts Sita and takes her away to the south across the sea to the island kingdom of Lanka. To save Sita, her husband Ram and Ram’s brother Lakshman take the help of the vanaras to build a bridge to Lanka and declare war against Ravana.
In the war that follows, Ravana’s son Meghnad, also known as Indrajit, strikes Lakshman with a deadly arrow containing the venom of serpents. Lakshman loses consciousness and risks losing his life as the poison begins to spread through his limbs. Only a herb called Sanjivani can save Ram’s brother, if applied to the wound before sunrise the next day. But the herb grows on a mountain far away in the north. Who can fetch it from so far, so soon? Ram wonders as the sun begins to set.
The vanaras shout, Hanuman, of course! Did he not leap across the ocean and reach Lanka as if jumping from one branch of a tree to another? Surely he can fly north and bring back the herb in one night. Ram looks at Hanuman with anxious eyes, his heart filled with deep despair at the thought of his dying brother. In response, Hanuman turns north and jumps.
As Hanuman rises to the sky, Ravana catches sight of him, and figuring out his mission, summons the magician Kalanemi and orders him to create obstacles so that Hanuman does not find the herb, and even if he does, he does not return before sunrise. Kalanemi uses his magic to reach the Dronagiri mountain where the Sanjivani grows before Hanuman and waits there disguised as a hermit.
On Hanuman’s arrival, he welcomes him with words of praise and offers him food. Hanuman finds it inappropriate to say no to an offer of hospitality so he accepts the invitation, but insists on taking a bath before the meal. So Kalanemi directs him to a pool full of crocodiles. Hanuman not only takes a bath, he also kills the crocodiles when they attack him. The crocodiles turn out to be apsaras, celestial damsels cursed by Indra to live on earth as reptiles until liberated by a monkey. They thank Hanuman and reveal Kalanemi’s true identity. A furious Hanuman attacks and strikes Kalanemi dead.
Much time has been lost, it is now the middle of the night and Hanuman has no time to find the herb on the mountain. It’s too dark. So he picks up the entire mountain and flies back south to Lanka. Just as he is nearing Lanka he observes that the sun, goaded by Ravana, is being made to rise before his time. So with his free hand he grabs the sun, traps him in his armpit and makes his way to Ram, mountain in hand. The herb is found, Lakshman is saved and the sun god released to rise, much to Ram’s relief and delight. This very popular event from the Ramayana is described in this chaupai.
Hanuman with Kalanemi underfoot and Sanjivani in his hand is the form in which he is worshipped in most temples. Kalanemi represents the obstacles in our life. Sanjivani is the solution to our problems. The image captures the idea behind the worship of Hanuman-he removes obstacles and solves problems, which is why he is adored by all. Hanuman embodies the pragmatic aspect of Hinduism, quite different from the philosophical side.
There are many other stories of Hanuman carrying mountains, not linked to Sanjivani. The vanaras, we are told, carried many mountains from the Himalayas to build the bridge to Lanka. When the construction of the bridge was complete, all the vanaras were told to drop the mountains they were carrying wherever they were.
All the mountains we see in the southern part of India, it is said, have their origin in the Himalayas and were brought south by the vanaras. The mountain being carried by Hanuman was called Govardhan. He felt bad that he would not see Ram. So Hanuman promised Govardhan that in a future birth, Ram would surely see him. So Ram took birth as Krishna in the Dvapara Yuga, and grew up on the slopes of Govardhan and even lifted him up with his little finger.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 11 Analysis in English
laya sanjivani lakhana jiyae
shri raghubira harashi ura lae ||11||
You brought the life-saving herb
Sanjivani and revived Lakshmana
And Raghuvira joyfully embraced
you close to his heart. (11)
No one knew where the arrows were coming from. No one knew who was shooting them. That was the state when Indrajit entered the battlefield. He was not just powerful, he was skilled; and not just skilled, he was cunningly deceptive. Fighting with Indrajit wasn’t as easy as fighting with all the other demons of Ravana’s army. With the ease with which he shot arrows, the monkeys knew they stood no chance. In fact it wasn’t just the ease, it was also the speed with which he operated.
Most of the times the monkeys didn’t even realize where the arrows were coming from until they were too close to them. This was because Indrajit operated in an invisible mode. He had the mystical ability to keep himself hidden for substantial periods of time. From the moment Indrajit entered the fight arena, the morale of the monkey army was low but it reached an all time low when one of Indrajit’s arrows found its mark on Lakshmana’s chest.
This wasn’t an ordinary arrow. It was an arrow bestowed on him by none other than Lord Brahma. The celestial arrow rendered Lakshmana unconscious. Seeing one of the brothers fall, a huge uproar went through the monkey army bringing them on the verge of panic.With the fall of Lakshmana, the orderliness in the monkey army was lost and they all began to scatter in different directions.
Some to save their lives, some losing hope, some towards Lakshmana in great anxiety and many in search of Rama or some other hero they could gain support from. Taking advantage of the panic mode, Indrajit struck intensely and slaughtered the confused monkeys by the thousands.
Meanwhile, Jambavan reached the scene. He had been informed about the fall of Lakshmana. As soon as he spotted the fallen hero, his first question was, “Is Hanuman alive?” Jambavan knew that there was only one person who mattered the most in times of crisis and that was Hanuman. Jambavan had such confidence in Hanuman’s abilities that as long as Hanuman was alive then surely, he felt, hope was alive. When Hanuman was brought into the scene, he was in tears seeing Lakshmana helplessly unconscious.
But the aura of confidence around Jambavan gave him an assurance that there was a way out of this mess. Jambavan took Hanuman aside and shared with him an action plan. He gave him the names of four herbs that were only available in the Himalayan Mountains. Jambavan explained the names of each herb and its medicinal properties. The first was mrta-sanjivani, which could restore a dead man to life. The second was sailya-karani, which could extract embedded weapons and quickly heal wounds.
The third was suvama-karani, which restored the body colour to its original texture. And finally, samdhani, which could unite fractured bones and severed limbs. Absorbing Jambavan’s instructions, Hanuman made his leap towards the Northern realms. Getting the herbs wasn’t the issue, getting it in time was. Hanuman knew that such impossible time-bound activities were more complex than impossible activities.
He had to get the herbs before sunrise the next day, else the sun wouldn’t rise for Lakshmana ever. As Hanuman took off with great speed by the aerial route towards the Himalayan mountains, he saw something on the way that caught his attention. In the middle of a forest situated on a hill, was a charming hermitage, outside of which were a couple of sages performing a fire sacrifice with great intensity. Something compelled Hanuman to descend and meet the sages.
Of course, one of the reasons for his descent was personal and another professional. On the personal front, the reason was his thirst. He hadn’t had a chance to drink water for days together during the battle. He desperately needed some water now and there was a glistening river flowing next to the hermitage. The second reason was that he had to reconfirm his route. Jambavan had given him the name Dronachal, the specific area in the Himalayan ranges where the herbs were to be obtained. Surely these sages would know if he was flying in the right direction.
Even before Hanuman could say a word, one of the sages began to speak. He declared himself to be a seer of past, present, and future. He could see that Hanuman had come to seek the sanjivani set of herbs from the Himalayas to revive Lakshmana. He asked Hanuman not to worry and predicted that surely Rama would win the war against Ravana. In fact he asked Hanuman to have a quick bath in the river and return so that he could bless him with divine vision that would help him identify the herbs amidst the plethora of herbs that grew there.
To Hanuman, something felt not right. Whilst on one hand this sage seemed to be glorifying Rama, on the other hand he was profusely indulging in self-praise. With this doubt, Hanuman began to walk towards the river to quench his thirst. While he was bent low cupping water in his right palm with the intention of drinking it, a crocodile attacked him. Not wanting to waste time, Hanuman continued drinking water with his right hand and dispassionately fighting the crocodile with his left hand.
In a few minutes he was done with both. The crocodile was dead and his thirst was quenched. In place of the crocodile now stood a beautiful apsara who thanked him for liberating her from a curse and warned him about the fake sage he had just met. He was in fact a demon named Kalanemi who had beep sent by Ravana to delay him from getting the life-saving herbs on time.
Armed with this new knowledge, Hanuman walked towards the hermitage. There was a look of surprise on the sage. How did he manage to outlive the crocodile? Anyway, he had another idea in store still. He called Hanuman closer to offer him the mantra that would impart divine vision to find the herbs readily.
Hanuman came close by and instead of hearing him, punched him straight on his face. The punch was so intense that the demon disguised as a sage died instantly. Before falling, he automatically let go of his disguise and came back to his original demonic form to breathe his last. That being accomplished, Hanuman leaped towards his destination.
When he arrived on the Dronachal Mountains, a bigger, more complex challenge awaited him. There were millions of herbs on the mountain. In fact, the entire mountain was filled with herbs. And to make matters worse, there was very little difference between them, if at all. How on earth was he to decipher which were the four herbs that Jambavan wanted him to procure? He racked his brains for a while trying first logically and then intuitively to come to the right conclusions.
That’s when he realized that this process wasn’t going to work and the risk he was taking of carrying back the wrong herbs was immense. It was then that he arrived at a very dynamic and unusual conclusion. Surely the herbs were on this mountain itself. What if he carried the entire mountain, then there was no risk of not getting the right herbs!
He did something that was literally impossible for ordinary people to even fathom. He picked up the entire Dronachal Mountain effortlessly. Holding it on his right palm, he took a leap heading towards the southern regions. What a scene it was! A huge mountain flying in the air, held at its base by Hanuman, who himself had taken a huge form to be able to support the huge mountain.
Hanuman was determined to get back on time and save the life of Lakshmana. As per his calculations, he had sufficient time to make it back much before the scheduled time span. Just as he was getting proud of his timing, something hit him very hard on the chest. He found himself being dragged downwards at a great pace. He had lost control over his flight and some mystical force was now dragging him down.
He landed with a thud on the ground and the mountain slid away from his grip, parking itself on an open ground close by. Hanuman caught his balance and shook his head to stabilize himself after the fall. He looked around and realized that he was at the outskirts of a bustling city. Though this place was not too far from the city, it had a typical rural atmosphere that vibrated peace.
Suddenly he saw someone walk towards him. He was shocked to see that the person he was gazing at had an uncanny resemblance to Lord Rama. Carrying a formidable bow in his hand, the mysterious person walked up to him with a serious look on his face. He asked him who he was and why he was passing over Ayodhya carrying such a huge mountain. The mention of the word Ayodhya brought clarity to Hanuman. Instantly he knew that this person was none other than Bharata, Lord Rama’s brother.
Hanuman immediately bowed down with great respect and introduced himself to be the servant of Lord Rama. Bharata was extremely pleased to meet an associate of his brother’s, whom he hadn’t met for 13 long years now. Bharata began asking Hanuman innumerable questions about his brothers and their whereabouts. Hanuman explained to him that he didn’t have enough time to answer his questions now as Lakshmana’s life was in danger and he had to immediately return with the mountain before it was too late.
Bharata understood Hanuman’s predicament over the lack of time. Even then there was something that Bharata wanted Hanuman to do before he left. And that was to convey the news of Lakshmana’s fall to Sumitra, the mother of Lakshmana. The soft-hearted Bharata could never muster enough courage to convey bad news to anyone. He felt that he had already hurt everyone enough in Ayodhya, simply by taking birth as the son of Keikeyi. So he literally dragged Hanuman to Ayodhya to Sumitra’s palace.
When Hanuman conveyed the news to Sumitra, her reaction stunned him. Instead of crying at the loss and the possible death of her son, she had a totally different approach towards it. She told Hanuman that no matter what happens to her son, service to Lord Rama must never stop under any circumstances. If one son was dead, Sumitra told Hanuman, he could take her second son Shatrughana along with him to serve Lord Rama in place of Lakshmana. Hanuman was amazed at her reaction.
What a family it was! Lakshmana and his mother both lived in a mood of sacrifice. Both were ready to sacrifice anything for service to Lord Rama. He had never seen such dedication in his life. Promising Sumitra that her son would be safe and that the service to Lord Rama would continue unobstructed, Hanuman walked out of Ayodhya. Picking up the Dronachal Mountain, he shot up the sky, moving southwards with renewed enthusiasm and determination.
When the silhouette of Hanuman carrying the massive mountain on the palm of his hands appeared in the sky, the entire monkey army broke out into applause and happy cries. Their hero had come back. His superheroic actions continued to amaze them. He had gone to bring some herbs and here he was returning with a mountain. As soon as Hanuman neared the battlefield, the fragrances of the various herbs wafted heavily in the air. As soon as the fragrance hit the nostrils of Lakshmana, he gained consciousness.
Lay a sanjivani lakhana jiyae Not just Lakshmana, but all the monkeys who were slain on the battlefield woke up as if from a deep slumber. What was a cause of celebration in the monkey army became the cause of frustration in the rakshasa army.
This was because Ravana had disposed off the bodies of dead demons into the ocean just so that the enemies would never get to estimate his losses and would always be clueless as to how much of his army was still alive in the safety of the palace. What seemed to be a master strategy till now seemed foolish on seeing the revival of all the dead monkeys.
Rama, seeing his brother back to life, was overjoyed. With great love he embraced his brother. Hanuman knew what place Lakshmana had in Rama’s life. When one’s hand fetches a glass of water, one does not thank the hand.
Neither does the hand expect any gratitude, because it is not a separate identity. Lakshmana was that hand of Rama, an integral part of Rama, non-different from him. Rama was so happy to regain his association. How could he reciprocate sufficiently for everything Hanuman had done and was doing for him? Shrl raghublra harashi ura lae.