“An intelligent person has respect for the body which brings them attachment to Shri Rama. That is why Hanuman gave up his form of Rudra in order to be a Vanara.” (Dohavali, 142)

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जेहि सरीर रति राम सों सोइ आदरहिं सुजान
रुद्रदेह तजि नेहबस बानर भे हनुमान

jēhi sarīra rati rāma sōṁ sō’i ādarahiṁ sujāna
rudradēha taji nēhabasa bānara bhē hanumāna

We can summarize the living experience, particularly in cultured societies, into two basic activities. They are the directions to travel, so to speak. The directions are opposite to one another. The more progress you make on one side, the further away you are from the other end point; sort of like a tug-of-war. With bhakti-yoga, however, everything can change.

1. Sacrificing

This involves many routine aspects of life that we might overlook. Falling asleep on time, for instance. There is a big game on tonight. It happens only once a year. Depending on the team that has reached this far, this opportunity might only come once in a generation. I desperately want to stay awake. I want to give my full attention.

The problem is that I have work in the morning. The meeting time is mandatory. I cannot afford to skip it. I do not have paid time off remaining. This means that something has to give. I will have to sacrifice my enjoyment in watching the game for meeting a responsibility the next day.

The child sacrifices for twelve years and more in order to receive an education. They would rather be any other place than in the classroom. They consider school to be torture. It is like being sent to a prison facility. There are no freedoms. There is nothing to look forward to. It is only one misery after another.

2. Enjoying

This is the other direction. I sacrificed at the office today in order that I may relax at night. Sit down on the sofa and try to find peace. Talk to friends about meaningless events. Listen to their complaints about their colleagues. Perhaps plan the next family vacation. Think of new ways to enjoy.

The two occur in something like a cycle. Sanskrit literature compares the fluctuation to a pendulum. I am swinging between enjoyment and renunciation, bhoga and tyaga. The intentional sacrifice is called yajna. The sacrifice is for a purpose. The pain has a paired gain, though it may not always materialize.

When we speak of bhakti-yoga as a discipline of spiritual life, it appears that everything in it is yajna. There is only sacrificing. The spiritual guide recommends the four regulative principles. Give up meat eating, gambling, intoxication, and illicit sex. At the very least try to minimize these activities, in order to make the most advancement.

Follow a routine of chanting the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. This is the pravritti, which is positive action. The things we stay away from, the avoiding of anarthas, is nivritti. Either way, there is some kind of sacrifice being made. There is austerity, tapasya, involved in the ordeal.

With religion in general, the expectation is that the sacrifice will be rewarded in the afterlife. That will be the time to enjoy. Reach a higher destination, such that the miseries of the earthly experience will be left behind. There is a heavenly planetary system, which features heavenly cows and heavenly trees, both of which can grant desires as soon as the mind can think of them.

The notable distinction with the bhakti-yoga process is that the sacrificing actually turns into enjoying. Instead of something to tolerate in order to seek a kind of pleasure later on, relating to happiness in the mode of goodness, the entire process is joyful from beginning to end.

यत् तद् अग्रे विषम् इव
परिणामे ’मृतोपमम्
तत् सुखं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तम्
आत्म-बुद्धि-प्रसाद-जम्

yat tad agre viṣam iva
pariṇāme ’mṛtopamam
tat sukhaṁ sāttvikaṁ proktam
ātma-buddhi-prasāda-jam

“That which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to self-realization is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.37)

How can this be possible? Is this merely a lofty promise from a respected leader who wants us to correct our ways? Why would anyone find yajna to be enjoyable? How can it be something to look forward to, for instance?

प्रीति प्रतीति सुरीति सों राम राम जपु राम
तुलसी तेरो है भलो आदि मध्य परिनाम

prīti pratīti surīti soṃ rāma rāma japu rāma
tulasī tero hai bhalo ādi madhya parināma

“Chanting Shri Rama’s holy name with love, faith and according to regulative principles will be beneficial for you from beginning to end, says Tulsi.” (Dohavali, 23)

Goswami Tulsidas gives the reference to Shri Hanuman. Although he is Rudra, he prefers to stay within the visual manifestation of a Vanara. This is a monkey-like figure. Hanuman stays as a monkey. He chooses to live in the material world. This is his preferred form, since he can best stay within the bhakti-yoga way of life. His supposed sacrifice is enjoyment, and that enjoyment simultaneously rescues countless souls from the cycle of birth and death, across thousands of years.

In Closing:

All obeisances paid,
Untold sacrifices made.

Such that later on to see,
Only in afterlife to be.

But bhakti a different way,
Merging of two paths at play.

Enthusiasm for yajna displaying,
Like Hanuman in this world staying.

Categories: dohavali 121-160, the two

Tags: dailyprompt, hanuman, poem, poems, poetry, religion