Lord Hanuman Goes to Kishkindha

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Lord Hanuman Goes to Kishkindha

Lord Rama had sent Hanumanji away from Ayodhya, saying that it was time for him to give his guru dakshina to Surya Bhagawan. Surya Bhagawan's amsha, Sugriva, would need his help.

Riksharaja was the king of Kishkindha. Once, Brahma was meditating on Meru Parvata. Suddenly, tears started rolling down his cheeks. Brahma gathered all those tears in his palms, and from those tears, a monkey came into existence. This was Riksharaja.

In those days, creation also used to happen like this—not just by the union of male and female, which is called procreation.

Riksharaja once went to drink water from a lake and saw his own reflection in the water. He thought it was someone trying to attack him and jumped into the water. By the time he realized it was his own reflection and there was no one inside, he came out and had been transformed into a female. 

Seeing her beauty, Indra and Surya could not contain their excitement. Their retas fell on her. Indra's retas fell on her hair, and Baali, or Vaali, was born from that. Surya Deva’s retas fell on her neck (greeva), and Sugreeva was born from that.

अमोघरेतसस्तस्य वासवस्य महात्मनः । बालेषु पतितं बीजं बाली नाम बभूव ह । भास्करेणापि तस्यां वै कन्दर्प- वशवर्त्तिना । बीजं निषिक्तं ग्रीवायां विधानमनुवर्त्तता । ग्रीवायां पतितं बीजं सुग्रीवः समजायत ।

We have very rigid concepts about fertilization and birth. The Vedic concept is that there needs to be only beeja and kshetra for the making of a progeny—seed and a field.

The Veda says a seed is sown in the field, and the child is the rebirth of oneself. This is from the point of view of the father. Science says something else: half father and half mother. Half from the father and half from the mother.

The Veda says that the seed is a miniature form of the father, which is sown in the field called mother, and the child is the plant that grows out of it. The seed is something that has come from the father and got attached to the mother.

This is the connection of the child with its father and mother. The child is a replica of the father, and the mother is the ground or field upon which it grows. This is the Vedic perspective. Don’t presume that this is an exclusive perspective. This is one way the Veda tells you to look at the child-parent relationship.

There are many instances in itihasas and puranas where a child is born even without sperm and ovum joining together, as we are constrained to think in our present frame of mind. There have been instances where a child has been born even without the participation of a female body. For example, Shuka. Here, the kshetra was a wooden arani, and the beeja was that of Vyasa.

Anyway, coming back—Riksharaja, when he had changed into a female, gave birth to Bali from the hair and Sugriva from the neck. The children were taken and shown to Brahma. Brahma sent Riksharaja back to earth and made him the king of Kishkindha. After Riksharaja, the elder son Bali took over.

There is another version that says they were sons of Aruni, the female form of Aruna, the charioteer of Surya. And Riksharaja was their foster father, who brought them from the ashrama of Gautama Maharshi, where they were being brought up. The earlier version is from the Ramayana.

After Lord Hanuman came back from Ayodhya, he didn’t have anything to do. He didn’t know what to do. There was a lot of uncertainty. He had been cut off from his Swami all of a sudden. There was no clear instruction. Lord Rama had just said it was time to pay gurudakshina.

Young Lord Hanumanji used to sit down and cry. He thought he would be with his Swami forever, and now, suddenly, this separation. But he kept on chanting inside… 'Rama, Rama, Rama…'

Suddenly one day, his father Kesari called him and told Hanumanji to accompany him to Kishkindha. Baali had become the king by then. Kesari and Baali had a good relationship.

Bali welcomed them and took care of them well. He said, 'I have heard about this son of yours who is the amsavatara of Rudra himself and who has Suryadeva as his guru. I am so proud of him. In fact, I was finding it too delicate to ask. But I always wanted him to be with me—by my side. Will you accept my request?'

Kesari agreed, and thereafter Hanumanji started living in Kishkindha as a minister in Bali’s court.

Knowledge Bank

What is the source of Abhijnana Sakuntalam?

The story of Shakuntala is found in the Mahabharata. It is in chapters 68 to 74 of Sambhava Parva. It is also there in Padma Purana.

Purpose of Puja

Puja is performed to connect with the divine and experience God's presence. It removes the imagined barrier between the soul and God, allowing God's light to shine unobstructed. Through puja, we align our lives with God's will, turning our bodies and actions into instruments of divine purpose. This practice helps us experience the joy and bliss of God's playful activities (leela). By engaging in puja, we can see the world as a divine realm and all beings as manifestations of God. This leads to a deep sense of unity and bliss, helping us immerse ourselves in divine joy and become one with it.