Seetha Matha Gives Boons to Hanumanji

Ravana gave Seetha Matha one month’s time to change her mind and marry him. Or else, he is going to cook and eat her.
The curse on Ravana was that he cannot touch a woman without her consent.
But he could very well get her killed and eat her as he threatened.

Seetha Matha told the Rakshasis who were guarding her,
'Get me some fire. Let the flames consume my body rather than this monster touching my body.'

Trijata, the chief of the Rakshasis, had already started feeling sympathy towards Matha.
She didn’t like the way Ravana was treating her.
How can effort to violate a woman through threatening to take her life be tolerated by another woman?

A very important point here.
Good and evil together here in the same place, under the same tree.
Good as Seetha Matha, and evil as the Rakshasis.
Who changed? Evil changed, evil transformed.
The Rakshasis realized that what was being done was wrong.
Even though they were part of it — evil was being done through them — they realized. And they started transforming.
This realization is the starting point of transformation.

How did this happen? Because they got to see Seetha Matha.
Because she came to Lanka.
They got the satsangathi of Seetha Matha.
For Seetha Matha, she was surrounded by evil.
But for them, they had righteousness at their centre.

She didn’t transform them by giving a discourse on dharma.
Her mere presence transformed them.
They saw the way she conducted herself.
Opportunity to become the first queen, the foremost queen of Ravana — that’s what Ravana had offered her.
She said no.

That’s righteousness. When they saw this, transformation started happening in the Rakshasis.
This is the power of satsanga — being with good people, being with people who do good things in life.
It can simply transform you. You will not even notice.

But Trijata was helpless.
She said, 'That’s not possible. I won’t be able to get fire inside this garden.
But this is really sad. How can you live like this for one more month?
Better take your life now itself.
You have long braided hair. Why don’t you hang yourself with your own hair from a branch of this tree?'

A serious suggestion.
Seetha Matha reached out for a branch.

Hanumanji was on top of the tree.
He started slowly saying, 'There was this king of Ayodhya called Dasharatha…'

राजा दशरथो नाम रथकुञ्जरवाजिमान् ।
पुण्यशीलो महाकीर्तिर्ऋजुरासीन्महायशाः

He started saying whatever had happened so far in her life.
As Seetha Matha heard this, tears started rolling down her cheeks.
Hanumanji concluded, 'I am here as per my Lord’s instruction to search you out. And I have been successful.'

Matha still couldn’t make out where the voice was coming from.
'Who are you? I can’t see you. Who are you?'
Hanumanji climbed down.

But when she saw him, her reaction was unexpected.
'Oh, you are one of the Rakshasas, disguised as monkey. Why are you people torturing me like this?
Why can’t you kill me and finish this ordeal?'

Hanumanji said, 'I am not a Rakshasa. I am Hanuman, servant of Raghunatha.
Please trust me.'

Now, Hanumanji was almost close to tears.
How do I convince her?
'You are a monkey — how can you be the servant of my Lord?
I have never seen you before ever.
How do you claim that you are his servant?'

'Mother, you must be knowing about Bali, the king of Kishkindha…'
Hanumanji started narrating…

Then he took out the ring that the Lord had given him and gave it to Seetha Matha.
She instantly recognized the ring. Matha was convinced that Hanumanji was indeed Sri Rama Doota.
The Lord’s name was engraved on the ring.

No Mayavi will be able to do that.
The name of the Lord is so powerful, that no Mayavi Rakshasa can make a ring with his name engraved on it.
Matha was convinced.

'Does he even remember me?' she asked.
'Is he going to come to rescue me from here?'

'If you allow me, I will repeat the message of the Lord for you.
Oh Videha Nandini, only Rama’s body is here. I don’t know how this body is even breathing.
My mind is always with you, near you. What more can I say?'

In fact, the Lord and Seetha Matha are inseparable. They occur as shadows of each other.
Even as a toddler, when the Lord was crawling on his knees in the palace, he would see his reflection on the glossy floor and try to catch it.
Mahatmas who saw this, they smiled and said, 'Look! Even at this young age, he is trying to catch Seetha.'

When the Lord had said this to Hanuman, after saying this, he had closed his eyes.
There were tears in the Lord’s eyes.

'Mother, don’t worry.
It looks like Ravana has himself marked the date of his death along with his entire army.
The Lord is going to come here soon with a huge army of monkeys.'

'An army of monkeys? Monkeys like you?
Have you seen Rakshasas? Each one is like a huge mountain.'

Hanumanji had assumed the size of a real monkey, to sneak into the garden and hide on top of the tree.

He thought, 'The task that the Lord entrusted me with is over.
I have located Matha, and I have given her his message.
Now, I have to put some confidence into her mind.'

He assumed his original form — the same form that he had assumed when Jambavan called out and made him remember his immense power.

Hanumanji said, 'Mother, this Ravana is just a mosquito in front of me. I can just crush him like that.
You tell me — should I take you on my shoulder and take you to Rishyamookachala, to the Lord?
Nobody can stop me.'

Seetha Matha said, 'Yes, yes, I can see that.
But it will be proper if the Lord himself comes and takes me out of here.
It is his duty. It will add to his fame.'

Hanumanji went back to the monkey size again.

'Take a boon from me, son,' Seetha Matha said.

'Mother, what more do I need? You called me son.
Please consider me as your monkey son always. I don’t need anything else.'

Seetha Matha blessed Hanumanji:
'You will be immortal.
You will never become old.
You will have limitless power.
Diseases will not touch your body.
Immense knowledge you will have.
Your intelligence will be unparalleled.
Every good quality will reside in you.
You will have all the siddhis.
Those in trouble — if they just remember you — their troubles will go away.'

Hanumanji kept his head at the mother’s divine feet.
With motherly affection, she kept her hand on his head and blessed him.
As she heard this…

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi