Rāma Whispers the Mantra to Hanumān

Before Hanumān went across the ocean to Laṅkā to find Sītā, Bhagavān Rāma called him close. He leaned to Hanumān’s right ear and whispered the Rāmanāma, the name “Śrīrāma.” The seventh sarga of the Manohara Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells this. It also tells how Bhagavān Kṛshṇa taught Yudhishṭhira Rāmanāma japa (repeating the name) in the Dvāpara Yuga, and it teaches about the seven cirañjīvīs (the seven who do not die).

The mantra whispered before Laṅkā

The time came to send Hanumān to Laṅkā to find Sītā. Rāma called him, and before he gave him the chūḍāmaṇi (Sītā’s jewel, to be a sign of recognition), he did something very close and personal. He leaned to Hanumān’s right ear and whispered the Rāmanāma: “Śrīrāma.”

Rāma gave Hanumān a mission and also a mantra. It was a guru-mantra, whispered from master to disciple as in Vedic initiation. The right ear is the ear where a mantra is received from a guru in the dīkshā (initiation) ceremony. So Rāma stood as Hanumān’s initiating guru, and Hanumān as his initiated disciple.

Hanumān was to cross an ocean, enter an enemy city and face powerful foes. The protection Rāma gave him for this task was not a weapon. It was Rāma’s own name. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Manohara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

The Kāśī tāraka mantra and the teaching across the yugas

The sarga says that the Rāmanāma is the same as the Kāśī tāraka mantra. This is the mantra that Bhagavān Śiva whispers into the right ear of every dying person at Kāśī (Vārāṇasī). It gives them moksha (liberation), whatever their karma. The rite of Śiva whispering “Rāma Rāma” to the dying at Kāśī has its beginning in this act, when Rāma whispered his own name into Hanumān’s right ear before the Laṅkā mission.

In the Dvāpara Yuga, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa taught Yudhishṭhira the practice of Rāmanāma japa and its udyāpana. The udyāpana is the closing ceremony that ends a vowed period of japa. Rāma set up the practice in the Tretā Yuga, and Kṛshṇa gave its method to Yudhishṭhira in the Dvāpara Yuga. In this way the Rāmanāma is the supreme mantra in every age. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Manohara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

The seven cirañjīvīs

The sarga teaches about the sapta-cirañjīvīs, the seven beings who live on through the cosmic cycles without dying.

  1. Aśvatthāmā, the son of Droṇa. He was under a śāpa (a curse) to wander for three thousand years after the Mahābhārata war.
  2. Bali, the great asura king. He gave three worlds to Vāmana and received eternal life in Pātāla as the doorkeeper of Bhagavān Vishṇu.
  3. Vyāsa, the ṛshi who put the Vedas in order and composed the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas.
  4. Hanumān, the great vānara devotee of Rāma, who is present wherever Rāma is worshipped.
  5. Vibhīshaṇa, the righteous rākshasa brother of Rāvaṇa, whom Rāma gave lasting rule over Laṅkā.
  6. Kṛpa, the warrior and ācārya who lived through the Mahābhārata war.
  7. Paraśurāma, the sixth avatāra of Vishṇu, who went to live on Mahendra Parvata after the Rāma-avatāra.

The teaching says that each cirañjīvī has a particular work to do in his deathless life. Vyāsa keeps Vedic knowledge safe. Hanumān keeps devotion to Rāma alive wherever the Rāmāyaṇa is recited. Vibhīshaṇa keeps up the standard of just rule, even among enemies.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa also tells how the aṃśa (divine portion) of each cirañjīvī is present in certain kinds of souls in the present age. For example, the Vyāsa-aṃśa is active in those who carry forward the learning and writing of the Vedas and Purāṇas. So the seven are not far-off figures of the past. Their spiritual essence still works in the world. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Manohara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7)

Sources

  • Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Manohara Khaṇḍa, Sarga 7 (Chapter 7)