Many people believe that regular recitation of Hanuman Chalisa in English brings inner peace.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 40 in English with Meaning & Analysis
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 40 About the Poet
तुलसीदास
सदा हरि चेरा।
कीजै नाथ
हृद्य मँह डेरा॥
Tulsidas
sada Hari chera.
Keejai Nath
Friday mein dera
Tulsidas,
God’s eternal servant
Yearns that the lord
reside forever in bis heart
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 40 Meaning in English
In chis chaupai, we learn that the name behind this composition is Tulsidas. In oral traditions, it was common practice for the poet to insert their name in the composition itself. It was akin to an author signing their name in a written text. When we study the life of Tulsidas we understand what made him compose the rather simplistic and popular Hanuman Chalisa, after pointed him to Hanuman who was disguised as a leper and had came to Varanasi to hear the narration of the Ramayana.
Tulsidas thus saw Hanuman and begged him to show him Ram and Lakshman, and by Hanuman’s grace, he saw the brothers riding horses near Chitrakuta, and the next day, Ram appeared before Tulsidas as a boy while Tulsidas was performing his morning ritual of preparing sandal paste. Spellbound by these visions, Tulsidas decided to compose the Ramayana.
He first thought of composing it in Sanskrit but Shiva and Shakti appeared in a dream and ordered him to write it in the local language, such that it could be used in a play, and create harmony between the bickering Shaivas and Vaishnavas.
Tulsidas wrote the Ram-charit-manas and it was a huge success. People concluded that Tulsidas was a great saint, for only a saint could write a vernacular work that had the melody of the Sama Veda. Local priests were dismissive of a work not composed in Sanskrit, so to test it they placed it at the bottom of a pile of Sanskrit manuscripts and locked it in the Vishwanath temple of Shiva in Kashi.
At dawn, when the bundle of manuscripts was opened, Tulsidas’s work was on top with the words ‘Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram’ on the first page, written by Shiva himself, who had declared the work to be the embodiment of truth, auspiciousness and beauty.
As Tulsidas’s work became popular his fame spread far and wide. People said he could even bring the dead back to life by the sound of magnificent poetry. When the Mughal emperor Akbar heard this, he ordered Tulsidas be brought to his court in Agra. Tulsidas was reluctant to travel because he was old, with joint pains and several health problems, including boils on his body.
Poverty had taken its toll. However, he was forced to go. The emperor demanded that the saint show him some miracles. Tulsidas said he was no sorcerer, just a pact and Ram’s devotee. Mistaking his honesty for impertinence. Akbar had Tulsidas thrown in jail.
While in jail, Tulsidas composed the Hanuman Chalisa, recollecting how Hanuman had helped Ram, and Sugriv, and Lakshman, and Vibhishan, how he could sort out astrological misalignments, restore physical and mental health, solve the most mundane of problems as well as bestow everything from occult powers to spiritual wisdom to the seeker, while seeking nothing for himself.
Suddenly, for apparently no reason, a monkey troop wreaked havoc in the city of Agra and made life miserable in the bazaars, and in the palace. This continued for days, until Akbar let Tulsidas go back to Varanasi, where the poet-saint spent the rest of his life immersed in Ram, and his devoted servant, Hanuman.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 40 Analysis in English
tulasldasa sada hari cherai
kajal natha hridaya maha derail ||40||
Tulsidas, servant of Lord Hari,
Says, ‘Lord, please reside in my heart.’ (40)
Tulsidas became a poet after Lord Rama bestowed his causeless mercy on his ardent devotee. He eventually came to be known as a maha-kavya, with a little help from Hanuman. Tulsidas’s compassionate heart won the favour of a spirit residing on a babool tree in Kashi. Every morning, after his morning ablutions, Tulsidas would throw the remaining water near the tree, which the thirsty spirit would gulp down.
That water had sustained the thirsty spirit all along. He felt eternally grateful to Tulsidas for his kind service. One day when Tulsidas poured out the water, he was startled to see a shadow emerging from the tree and then he heard a voice, “You have pleased me immensely. I will grant you a boon. Please ask for your heart’s desire.”
“Who are you?” asked Tulsidas, “And why do you want to give me a boon?”
“I am a spirit ghost,” replied the friendly voice, “and I am happy with you. I have not had anything to eat or drink since many, many years. But after I made this tree my home, I got nourishment from the water a pure soul like you gave the tree. You have served me well and now I would like to serve you.”
Tulsidas had only one desire in his heart. “Please give me a boon that I can get darshan of Sri Rama. That is my only desire.” The ghost chuckled merrily. He said, “If I could grant you a spiritual boon, why would I still be a ghost? Please ask for a material boon.”
“I have no material desires,” replied Tulsidas, dejected at his desire left unfulfilled.
But the shadow said, “I will feel I have been ungrateful if I do not help you. So I will share something important with you. Hear me carefully. Every day, there is Rama katha at Prahlad ghat in Kashi. You will find a leper there who is always present, covered in a blanket. He never misses it. No one knows who he is. Except me. He is, in fact, Pavanputra Hanuman. Go and fall at his feet. Do not let go till he promises to take you to Rama. He’s your only hope.”
Tulsidas had goose bumps when he heard this. He could not believe the mercy showered upon him. That very day he reached early for the Rama katha and saw the leper was already sitting in the last row, trying to be as discreet as possible. Rama katha began and ended but Tulsidas had eyes only for the leper. He heard nothing, he saw nothing. When the leper was about to leave, Tulsidas ran and held his feet. “Please leave me, I am a leper. Do not touch me!” cried the leper and pulled his feet away. But Tulsidas would not let him go. He had been instructed well.
“I recognize who you are and you cannot trick me. Please, I beg of you, please take me to your Lord. Till then I will not leave your feet.”
Hanuman was touched by the devotee’s intense desire to see the Lord. He knew it was Tulsidas holding his feet, Lord Rama’s sincere devotee. He did not see any advantage in continuing the charade. He appeared in front of him in his original form. He said, “I cannot guarantee you a meeting but I can make a suggestion. You go to Chitrakuta and spend your time in doing bhajan. I will try to bring my master there. He usually does not refuse my requests.”
Happily, Tulsidas did what he was told to do. Hanuman’s assurance was more than enough. He did not expect any more than that. Hanuman soon returned with Rama’s heart-warming message that Rama would visit Tulsidas not once but twice, but the test was if Tulsidas could recognize him. The critical test for any spiritualist was to recognize God.
After a few days, Tulsidas was sitting outside his hut and doing some work when the lord and his brother went by on a horse. When Hanuman asked him if he saw the Lord, Tulsidas was surprised. “Where was He?” and when he heard that Rama had gone past him on a horse, he began to wail and lament. He had assumed some princes were going hunting. He fell at Hanuman’s feet again. Hanuman assured him that Rama will come again and he also promised to be around when He came.
The next time Rama came, it was on a festive occasion. Many sadhus had gathered in the vicinity to participate. Tulsidas wanted to apply sandalwood on all the sadhus, so he was scraping sandalwood day and night. That’s when Rama came as a child and said, “Baba, please give me some chandan.”
Tulsidas failed to recognize the two brothers yet again. The Lord was applying tilak on himself. But this time Hanuman was nearby. He turned himself into a parrot and perched on a nearby tree singing, ‘On the ghat of Chitrakoot, there is crowd of sadhu Tulsidas is scraping chandan and tilak is put by Raghu’ Tulsidas heard this and fell at the Lord’s feet.
He had finally had darshan of his God. He was so grateful to Hanuman that from that day he never stopped singing glories of Hanuman. In all his writings and speaking, he constantly glorified Hanuman. And that kept Rama safe in his heart. tulasidasa sada hari chera / kijai natha hridaya maha dera