Devotees often meditate on the meaning and significance of the Hanuman Chalisa with Meaning.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 27 in English with Meaning & Analysis
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 27 Serving the Hermit-King
सब पर राम
तपस्वी राजा ।
तिन के काज
सकल तुम साजा ॥
Sab par Ram
tapasvee raja.
Tin ke kaj
sakal tum saja.
Ram who rules over all
Is the hermit-king.
All those tough tasks
You accomplish them easily.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 27 Meaning in English
The Chalisa gently makes its way from the external to the internal, from conversations on material success to psychological and physical well-being, to the idea of yoga, and the connection between a living creature and the divine. In the verse, all of us are described as the subjects of the hermit-king Ram, whose tasks are executed by Hanuman. At one level, this verse establishes the relationship of Ram and Hanuman.
Ram is the karta, the responsible leader, and Hanuman is the karya-karta, the obedient and effective follower. At another level, we are made to feel that it is Hanuman who enables Ram’s rule, and so prayers to him are worthwhile, for one who makes the life of the king so easy can surely make the life of his subjects easy too.
This division between the grand but passive divine and the accessible and active divine is a common theme in many theistic schools around the world. In Christianity, even Zoroastrianism, there are archangels who carry out the will of God. In medieval India, the common folk rarely saw the king. They saw bureaucrats and soldiers fulfil the king’s will. This is why worshippers of Shiva invoked Nandi, devotees of Vishnu invoked Garuda, and devotees of Ram invoked Hanuman.
Ram is the hermit-king because he desires neither kingship nor the fruits of kingship, these are his duties as the eldest son of the royal family. For him kingship is a role; he is not nourished by or dependent on the power that comes with the crown, which is why it is very easy for him to give it up. When he is asked to let his halfbrother Bharat be king, he gives up his claim to the crown without regret or remorse. He is as happy in the forest as he is in the palace.
Both Ram and Hanuman are as happy in the forest as they are in Ayodhya, but Ram is obliged to be in Ayodhya because of his duty, while Hanuman gives up the forest out of love for Ram. Does that make Hanuman superior to Ram? One wonders. Thus one is cleverly drawn into the Vaishnava-Shaiva conflict that was prevalent in Varanasi at the time the Hanuman Chalisa was written. Ram, who is a Vishnu avatar, is burdened by kingship, and Hanuman, who is a Shiva avatar, helps Vishnu bear the burden with ease.
Hanuman’s love for Ram is different from the romantic love of Sita for Ram, or Ram for Sita. Hanuman’s love for Ram is the love ola devotee for a deity. of a seeker for a guru. of a student for a teacher, for die litter enables the former to transform himself; rise above his limitations. In other words, his mind expands he moves from being dependent on the world co being independent oldie world, and yet dependable for the world.
In medieval India, kings started identifying themselves as Ram. or descendants of Ram. They expected their followers to be like Hanuxnan Sugriv and the obedient monkey army (vanar-sena). And so we and a large number of temples dedicated to Hanuman built by kings oldie Vijayanagar and Maratha empires. They were inspired by acharyas such as Madhwa and Ramdas. who made Hanuman serving Ram and Bhima serving Yudhishitra, who in turn served Krishna. their models.
Love in political spaces is often described as standing by die beloved joyally no matter what and doing things for them without expecting anything in return. This logic is self-serving and does not see the larger narrative. For by this logic, Kumbhakarna’s love for Rayana is no different from Hanuman’s
love for Rani.
Many loyal followers insist they are Hanuman, doing what their leaders tell them to do, thus implying that their leaders are Rani when, in fact, they are simply Kumbhakarnas who are following Rayana. The difference between Ram and Ravana is that Ram is a hermit-king.
Rani desires nothing, least of all dominating people and establishing territory. He is content with himself. He does not even seek, or need, Hanuman’s love. Rim is king by social obligation, not ambition, unlike Rayana. Ayodhya needs Rani; Rani does not need Ayodhya. By contrast, Rayana needs Lanka and the unconditional control over the rakshasas to fed powerful.
For him, disobedience and disloyaity are indicators of a devotee for a deity, of a seeker for a guru, of a student for a teacher, for the latter enables the former to transform himself, rise above his limitations. In other words, his mind expands: he moves from being dependent on the world to being independent of the world, and yet dependable for the world.
In medieval India, kings started identifying themselves as Ram, or descendants of Ram. They expected their followers to be like Hanuman, Sugriv and the obedient monkey army (vanar-sena). And so we find a large number of temples dedicated to Hanuman built by kings of the Vijayanagar and Maratha empires. They were inspired by acharyas such as Madhwa and Ramdas, who made Hanuman serving Ram and Bhima serving Yudhishitra, who in turn served Krishna, their models.
Love in political spaces is often described as standing by the beloved loyally no matter what and doing things for them without expecting anything in return. This logic is selfserving and does not see the larger narrative. For by this logic, Kumbhakarna’s love for Ravana is no different from Hanuman’s love for Ram.
Many loyal followers insist they are Hanuman, doing what their leaders tell them to do, thus implying that their leaders are Ram when, in fact, they are simply Kumbhakarnas who are following Ravana. The difference between Ram and Ravana is that Ram is a hermit-king. Ram desires nothing, least of all dominating people and establishing territory. He is content with himself.
He does not even seek, or need, Hanuman’s love. Ram is king by social obligation, not ambition, unlike Ravana. Ayodhya needs Ram; Ram does not need Ayodhya. By contrast, Ravana needs Lanka and the unconditional control over the rakshasas to feel powerful. For him, disobedience and disloyalty are indicators. of a lack of love. Hence, he kicks Vibhishan out of the house and when Kumbhakarna dies, he blames Ram, refusing to see his own role in the unnecessary war.
Ravana is consumed by his ego, and so does not see the hurt he causes. All he sees is the hurt caused to him by others who do not obey him or who are not loyal to him. He sees Ram as the enemy, even though it is he who has captured Sita and kept her in Lanka against her consent. His craving for power and control reveals how hungry and frightened he is.
He is no Ram. Ravana ‘consumes’ those who love him. Ram ‘nourishes’ those who love him. In serving Ram dutifully, Hanuman nourishes himself. He moves from being vanara, less than human, to being Nara-ayana, refuge for humans.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 27 Analysis in English
saba para rama tapasvl raja
tina ke kaja sakala tuma saja ||27||
Rama, a renunciant king reigning over all,
And it’s you who carries out His every task. (27)
Everyone in Ayodhya loved Rama infinitely and waited eagerly to serve Him. saba para rama tapasvl raja. But Hanuman was much more eager than all of the others put together to serve Rama. So much so that he practically usurped everyone’s seva and did it all himself. tina ke kaja sakala tuma saja. Thoroughly disgruntled with Hanuman, everyone decided to block him from doing any seva.
Even Sita and Bharata had agreed to this proposal of keeping Hanuman out of the palace. They were not envious of Hanuman but rather hungry for rendering some service. Out of desperation, first they sent him on a mission out of Ayodhya for a week. In his absence, they drew up a list of all the services required for Rama. They painstakingly wrote each and every small service that was needed, making sure nothing, absolutely nothing, was left out. Next, they assigned all the sevas amongst themselves, leaving nothing for Hanuman.
Now all they needed was Rama’s approval to implement it. Would he give his approval? Considering that Hanuman was very dear to him. They could only wait and watch. Next day Sita presented the list to Rama to complete the formality.
Everyone waited with bated breath, anxious about the outcome. Would Rama cooperate? Would Rama ever deny Sita’s request? And to their joy and relief, Rama looked at the list, smiled and gave his nod. It was as simple as that. There was euphoria all around which extended into celebration. Finally, they would get to serve Rama without being overshadowed by Hanuman.
When Hanuman returned, he saw the celebratory mood and big smiles everywhere. He was happy to see the mood of joy. But his greatest joy was in serving Rama. Immediately he got into action and ran to do some service. But every place he went to render some service, he was stopped and shown the list of duties. Finally irritated with the list in everyone’s hand, he decided to inspect it carefully.
He scrolled down the list, dismayed at his name missing from each and every seva. He was further distressed to see Rama’s royal seal on the list, indicating it had Rama’s approval. He barged into the courtroom for more answers. Rama calmly advised him to see if there was any seva that was left out, then he could surely take that up. Hanuman thought and thought, scratching his head, if he could do something that was not already taken up. Meanwhile, everyone was enjoying the scene of successfully keeping Hanuman out of every seva.
Not surprisingly, Hanuman’s clever mind came up with a unique seva. He claimed that there was one seva not included in the list. The conspirers were shocked. What had they missed out? He revealed they had missed the seva of snapping. He would snap his fingers every time the Lord yawned. There was no one assigned to this very important seva. When Rama nodded in acceptance of his proposal, everyone was disappointed.
Happy to be back near Rama, Hanuman performed his task sincerely all day. Night came and he followed Rama to his private chambers, anticipating being with him all night, just in case he yawned. Now Sita was not at all happy with this intrusion in her private space. She asked Hanuman to leave the room. But Hanuman asked what if Rama yawned at night? He had Rama’s permission to carry out the seva and no one could stop him. Sita was speechless. Their plan had backfired.
Now Hanuman was stuck to Rama not only all day but also all night. She kept silent, not knowing how to react. After a few hours, when Hanuman was still on active duty, Sita asked him to leave, using a very rude tone of voice. Hanuman did not want to create trouble so he left against his wishes. But how could Hanuman give up his seva to his master?
He went on the roof above and continued to snap his fingers, unwilling to stop serving. Just in case Rama yawned below, at least he would be doing his service, and if not from close then at least from afar. He went into a trance, chanting names and snapping his fingers to counteract all the possible yawns.
Meanwhile, in the room below Hanuman, a lot of drama was going on. Rama’s jaws had gone into a spasm because of continuously yawning. He just could not stop yawning. How could He, when His devotee had not stopped snapping his fingers? When a true devotee serves Him, He has to respond. One after the other the yawns kept coming.
His eyes began to water. His face became distorted. Sita was horrified as to what had happened to Rama. Scared to death, she called her mother-in-law. Soon the entire family had gathered around Rama, trying to stop his spasms. But there was little they could do. Someone then called sage Vashishtha as the situation was getting out of hand.
Sage Vashishtha arrived and assessed the scene. “Where is Ramadoot?” he enquired at once. Sita humbly admitted that she had asked him to vacate the room. Maybe she had offended him, questioning his right to serve Rama. Everyone now began searching for Hanuman. The royal staff scanned the entire palace but Hanuman was untraceable.
Finally sage Vashishtha heard some strange sounds coming from above. They all scrambled up on the roof and found Hanuman in a trance, chanting and snapping his fingers. Vashishtha shook him to break his meditation and Hanuman came out of his snapping spree. He looked at all of them, embarrassed to be surrounded by so many people.
As soon as he stopped snapping, Rama miraculously stopped yawning. Relieved that the agony had ended, Rama jokingly asked them to assign some other seva to Hanuman. There was no need for Hanuman to worry now. His bond with Rama was unshakeable.
His zeal for seva was unmatched. He was unanimously assigned all the sevas he wanted to do without any restrictions! Though everyone loved to serve Rama and Rama ruled over everyone saba para rama tapasvi raja but in comparison to Hanuman, who would carry out every service to Lord Rama, tina ke kaja sakala tuma saja, no one could match his eagerness and zeal to serve.
Nal and Neel had spanned the ocean with a bridge that was a hundred leagues long and ten leagues wide. As the monkey army eagerly tried to reach Lanka using the bridge, Ravana hurled two missiles and destroyed the two ends of it, leaving them stranded in the middle of the ocean. They could neither reach Lanka nor return. Hanuman came up with an excellent idea.
Increasing his size he stretched himself flat holding the edge of Lanka with his hands and the end of the bridge with his legs. The entire army scrambled over his back to reach the golden Lanka. In this way, he never allowed any task of Rama’s to be left incomplete or unsuccessful, tina ke kaja sakala tuma saja.