Tulsidas, a renowned poet-saint, authored the Shree Hanuman Chalisa in the 16th century.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 7 in English with Meaning & Analysis
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 7 Clever and Concerned
विद्यावान गुनी
अति चातुर ।
राम काज
करिबे को आतुर ॥
Vidyavaan guni
an chatur.
Ram kaj
karibe ko aatur.
Educated, virtuous
and clever.
Ram’s tasks
you always do eagerly.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 7 Meaning in English
In the very first chaupai of the Chalisa, Hanuman is described as the ocean (sagar) of Knowledge (gyan) and virtue (gun). This verse also reinforces Hanuman as being knowledgeable and virtuous, and adds that he is also clever (chatur).
This tendency to complement one quality with another is a typical Indian idiom. Just as one spice does not create a dish, and just as a good curry is a clever combination of various spices, even a good person is a combination of various qualities.
In nature, we often say that the strong dominate the weak. But nature does not discriminare against the weak. They are given smartness to compensate for their physical weakness. Strength and smartness are tools to find food and security, to survive and thrive. Hanuman is strong and smart and thus has the best of animal qualities. His knowledge and virtue are what make him human and divine.
This verse reminds us that the educated man is nor smart and the smart man is not educated. And a smart educated man is dangerous unless he has virtue. What is virtue? The ability to look beyond our own hungers and fears and be concerned of other people’s hungers and fears. The way hanuman behaves when he first meets Ram and Sita indicates how his knowledge, his cleverness and his virtue work together.
When he sees Ram and Lakshman wandering in the forest, looking for something, he realizes there is value in introducing them to Sugriv, the monkey-king. He approaches Ram, taking the form of a brahmin, and speaks in chaste Sanskrit, the language of the gods, which is an indicator that he has knowledge of the Vedas. Thus he evokes trust in the wary Ram, who is agonizing over the abduction of Sita.
Later, when it is time to meet Sita in Lanka, he wonders if he should speak in Sanskrit again while introducing himself. But he has seen Ravana speak in Sanskrit, and fears Sita will assume he is an imposter: Ravana’s agent, or Ravana himself, posing as Ram’s messenger. So he speaks to her in the organic language spoken by common folk. This is Prakrit (informal, organic language) as against Sanskrit (formal, designed language).
In neither situation is Hanuman trying to show off or intimidate the other with his knowledge. He is driven by concern for the other. He is not anxious of the other; he can sense the anxiety of the other. He is smart enough to anticipate how people react in stress: how they get startled at the sight of a stranger, and think the worst. The ability to adapt to the situation, and win the trust and confidence of both Ram and Sita through speech, reveals his sensitivity to people and to context, his communication skill, and most importantly, his empathy.
Hanuman Chalisa Chaupai 7 Analysis in English
vidyavana gun! ati chaturai
rama kaja karibe ko atura ||7||
Supremely learned, virtuous and intelligent,
Ever eager to serve Rama. (7)
One of the most prominent aspects of Hanuman is his illustrious and supreme wisdom. In Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas described him as made of pure intelligence and the foremost amongst men of wisdom. In Sri Rama Raksha Stotra, he is described as the wisest of the wise. In another version, Hanuman is said to be so intelligent that he was able to leam the entire Vedas in a mere fortnight. The sun god, however, was reluctant at the thought of his favourite pupil leaving.
So he repeatedly made Hanuman forget what he had leamt so that the lessons were dragged on and on for many months. Hanuman pleased him so much by his simplicity and devotion that he let him go and bestowed him a boon that henceforth those who invoked Hanuman’s name would never forget their lessons! vidyavana gum ati chatura Yamaraj hurried towards Rama’s camp to give him a piece of news that had really shaken him up.
Ravana’s evil brain had cooked up a way to defeat Rama’s army in a sure shot way. He had organized recitation of the Chandi Stotra, completing which would give him iron-clad immunity from any defeat. The news sent a jitter down the monkey army. The mere mention of Chandi Stotra gave them visions of impending doom.
However, Rama huddled into a meeting with Vibhishana and other advisors to chart out their course of action. After lot of discussions, Rama called Hanuman and gave his final verdict, “I give you full freedom to go to Lanka and do whatever is needed to stop this ritual from being completed. Use any tactic you like, just stop it somehow.”
Hanuman got really excited with this seva; it was more like a fun project. He had open instructions to do what he liked. His brain was already in overdrive, thinking of creative ways to foil Ravana’s plans. He laughed to himself just thinking about what all he could do. Soon he was in Ravana’s palace disguised as a fly. He quickly figured out where the ceremony was happening and evaluated the scene. He couldn’t believe what he saw. Brihaspati, the guru of demigods, was the chief priest leading the recitation.
Why would he help Ravana? But then he saw the security guards pointing their lances at him. ft was only under duress that Brihaspati was helping Ravana. Hanuman was ready for action. He quickly went near Brihaspati and began deleting important words and lines so that Brihaspati would skip important lines.
But to his horror, Brihaspati was hardly referring to the texts because he was reciting from memory. Hanuman came up with another plan. He morphed into a huge atrocious looking monster and appeared in front of him. As soon as Brihaspati’s vision fell on him, he shrieked. He dropped everything and ran for his life. Hanuman quickly changed into the shape of a fly before the guards could see his monstrous form. With Brihaspati shrieking like a mad man, there was no way the ritual could continue.
But Ravana was not one to give up. He decided to start another fire sacrifice to appease Goddess Chandi. He gathered his best brahmanas and started the ceremony within no time. Although they were falling short of brahmanas, they had to manage. Soon a young brahmana came asking to be of assistance. The older brahmanas were only too happy to get more assistance. The young brahmana was enthusiastic and energetic. He helped them sincerely and without any mistakes.
The delighted brahmanas blessed him with a boon to which the brahmana replied, the best boon is to get more seva. The brahmanas were now totally floored by his dedication and insisted on granting him a wish. He sitatingly, the young man asked them to replace two alphabets in the hymns.
Instead of ‘ha’ they should pronounce ‘ka’ He assured them that this small change will greatly benefit their master Ravana, The young man was hoping that they were not learned enough to know what this change meant. Only an exalted Vedic scholar would realize the significance. Luckily, the brahmanas readily agreed, seeing nothing wrong with the substitution.
Jaya tvam devi chamunde
Jaya bhutartha kaarini
Instead of saying haarini they said kaarini!
Little did they know the catastrophic effects of the change! The goddess, instead of being pleased, was absolutely enraged. With her fiery eyes, she burnt everything in the vicinity. How dare they evoke her anger! She would show them how angry she could get. The sacrifice was a total failure producing the opposite of expected results.
The brahmanas fled from there to save their lives while the young man smiled as he came back to his original form. Hanuman. He was glad he knew the significance of the Sanskrit verses and could make the exact change in letters by tricking the learned brahmanas. vidyavana guru ati chatura Mission accomplished, he flew back to his own camp.
Hanuman used his bookish knowledge in the most practical manner according to time, place, and circumstance. He was extremely clever and flexible in the application of knowledge while keeping the essence and goal in mind. The result was that he always managed to achieve what he set out to achieve and that too in the most unique ways.
When there is eagerness, there is opportunity. When one is very eager to do something, nature arranges more of that opportunity. Rama kaj means working for the pleasure of Rama. This is called seva or the spirit of service. Hanuman was always eager to serve Rama, rama kaj a karibe ko atura When Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya with Mother Sita and Lakshmana, the entire Vanara army accompanied them and witnessed the spectacle of the coronation of Sita and Rama as queen and king of Ayodhya.
A few days passed and the monkeys had begun to settle down in the Ayodhyan culture. They really liked being in Ayodhya and of course, they were blissful in the divine company of Lord Rama. Rama called all of them for a meeting in which he instructed them to return to their homes in Kishkinda and continue performing Rama kaj. They were shocked at his instruction. First of all, they did not want to return home. For them, Ayodhya was home now.
Secondly, they were confused as to how they could perform Rama kaj in Kishkinda. Technically speaking, they could engage in Rama kaj or serving Rama if they continued to live in Ayodhya. But if they went back to Kishkinda they would only be able to perform kaam kaj or mundane work.
When they asked Rama, he explained to them that prior to them meeting him, whatever they were doing in Kishkinda was kaam kaj or mundane work. But after they connected with Rama, they belonged to him and their mind, body, and words belonged to Rama now. Thus their kingdom, houses, and even families were Rama’s property. So whatever they did there, technically, was their service to Rama only.
Rama explained that before they saw their family and property as belonging to them, but now they can see that their family and property actually belonged to Rama and thus they ought to take care of them with that consciousness. By taking care of their families and taking care of the affairs of the kingdom of Kishkinda with a higher and purer consciousness, they would be doing Rama kaj or service to Lord Rama. With this understanding, all the vanaras agreed to return to their kingdoms.
Each vanara returned to Kishkinda after bidding farewell to Rama, except Angad and Hanuman. Angad fell at the feet of Rama begging him to allow him to stay back in Ayodhya. Since he had no family, unmarried that he was, he was ready to do any menial service in Ayodhya. Rama embraced him and insisted that Angad return to Kishkinda. With Rama firm about his decision, Angad reluctantly returned to Kishkinda. Rama denied Angad’s plea of staying back in Ayodhya for two reasons.
When Angad asked for any menial service, it showed his attitude towards service, that he categorized service as low and high. The moment you categorize service, it shows that you don’t deserve service. The second reason was that when Angad expressed that he didn’t have family in Kishkinda, it meant that he feared Sugriva. So his motivation to stay back was not love for Rama but fear of Sugriva. Rama knew Sugriva very well and realized that Angad’s fear was baseless and would be allayed once he reached home.
The only person Rama did not ask to return was Hanuman. He didn’t ask Hanuman to leave and Hanuman didn’t need permission to stay. There was an unspoken agreement and pact between the two. It was an agreement of the heart. Hanuman had no existence without Rama and Rama could not bear to live without seeing Hanuman constantly. Hanuman’s greatest satisfaction was to constantly serve Rama in every possible way rama kaja karibe ko atura.