Nights Of Heavenly Sin

“It is certainly the mind that is instrumental in causing the senses to act in ways that lead to either auspicious or inauspicious conditions. And my mind right now is positively situated.” (Hanuman, Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 11.41)

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मनो हि हेतुः सर्वेषामिन्द्रियाणां प्रवर्तने
शुभाशुभास्ववस्थासु तच्च मे सुव्यवस्थितम्

mano hi hetuḥ sarveṣāmindriyāṇāṃ pravartane
śubhāśubhāsvavasthāsu tacca me suvyavasthitam

As they are known to say amongst devotee circles, you are fired up. You have enthusiasm, which is known in Sanskrit as utsaha. This is a good thing. The more enthusiastic you are, the more work you are likely to put in. The more work you put in, the more progress you will likely make towards reaching the final destination. As Goswami Tulsidas describes it, the objective is to create something like a temple within the mind. Each day of successful sadhana practice, in observing regulative principles, is like laying another brick. From the foundation to the eventual ceiling, in entering and enjoying the larger and stable structure, to see the beautiful Supreme Lord, bow and arrow in hand, is the ultimate objective of life.

सब साधन को एक फल जेहिं जान्ऽयो सो जान
ज्यों त्यों मन मन्दिर बसहिं राम धरें धनु बान

saba sādhana ko eka phala jehiṁ jān’yo so jāna
jyoṁ tyoṁ mana mandira basahiṁ rāma dhareṁ dhanu bāna

“The wise who have wanted to know have understood that all regulative principles are meant to lead to one result – having Shri Rama standing in the temple of the mind, holding His bow and arrow.” (Dohavali, 90)

A key aspect of your sadhana is restriction. Known as nivritti in Sanskrit, the anchor is prohibition. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada identifies the four most harmful behaviors. Meat-eating, gambling, intoxication, and illicit sex. These are to be avoided, especially by those seeking elevation to the brahmana platform. The actual determination of brahmana is based on guna and karma. That combination leads to charitra, or characteristics and conduct. A brahmana should know Brahman. A Brahman-realized person is above duality, and so they should be unaffected by negative influence. They should not be dragged down into the mud, so to speak.

कुलीनमकुलीनं वा वीरं पुरुषमानिनम्
चारित्रमेव व्याख्याति शुचिं वा यदि वाऽशुचिम्

kulīnamakulīnaṃ vā vīraṃ puruṣamāninam
cāritrameva vyākhyāti śuciṃ vā yadi vā’śucim

“It is certainly a person’s conduct which speaks to whether they are high-born or low-born, heroic or cowardly, or pure or impure.” (Lord Rama, Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand, 109.4)

The problem is that you sometimes slip up. Your inclination is to blame society. You want to lament your situation. You see, the urges of the senses are everywhere. Even within your own lifetime conditions have drastically changed. It was safer during childhood. Today, you can find illicit materials even when you are not looking for them. They are practically shoved in your face. Careful where your eyes wander when shopping for essentials at the supermarket. Keep your head up, but sometimes down, depending on who is around and what they are wearing.

If a sadhaka does slip up, if they temporarily fall down from the standard set by their teacher, from the path leading to Brahman-realization, what is the solution? What should be done? Is atonement necessary? Is there a punishment that can be served, to wipe the slate clean, in a manner of speaking? As with any other area of doubt pertaining to devotional service, bhakti-yoga, the example of Shri Hanuman can help guide us towards resolution. He is simultaneously the greatest inspiration, and so it is no wonder that Sita and Rama love him so much.

Popular lore says Hanuman is the monkey-god, but there is more to it. He is a divine figure, worshiped in temples and homes across the world, since before anyone can remember. Hanuman is a devoted servant, working only for the Supreme Lord in the avatara of Rama, who is the prince of Ayodhya. Hanuman is selfless. Hanuman is heroic. We might overlook the fact that Hanuman is also resourceful. His journey is not easy, and sometimes the obstacles he faces are not in the form of identifiable enemies.

In the most famous mission assigned to him, Hanuman had to find Sita Devi. She is the princess of Videha. She is the beloved of Rama. She has gone missing, and Hanuman later learned that she is in the city of Lanka. Hanuman is the only person within his search party who can even reach Lanka, what to speak of searching through that foreign territory. Hanuman is looking for a female. Naturally, he searches through areas where females might reside. One of those areas happens to be the palace of the king of Lanka.

To get an idea of what Hanuman saw in that palace, try to gather together every famous night club, bar, and restaurant into a single image. Take every identifiable item and increase the cost and luxury to the highest level. Even such an exercise will fall short in accurately depicting the level of luxury found in the home of Ravana, who is the ten-headed ogre that took Sita away in secret. Ravana was cowardly during the moment of abduction, but free to enjoy back at his home.

Hanuman saw beautiful women passed out from intoxication and eating. Hanuman cast his glance on the most intimate of settings. This would violate even the most lenient regulatory oversight in an ashrama. In other words, the devotee looking to serve Rama would never want to find such a place. They would try to look away, if they could. They would try to avoid that area, as much as possible.

But what choice did Hanuman have? His mission was to find Sita. His mission was not to maintain the highest standards of brahmana behavior. His mission was not to maintain a perfect record in terms of observation. As he assessed the situation, Hanuman revealed that it is the mind which makes the determining factor. The fall down only takes place if the mind goes astray. If the mind is drawn to such images, regularly and repeatedly, as a kind of objective for the life experience, then there is a fall from grace. This was not possible for Hanuman, as he was in a dedicated vow, dridha-vratah, to find Sita. While others were asleep, in a low-grade condition from high-grade intoxicants and food and wine, Hanuman was wide awake.

In Closing:

Despite accidental mistake,
Hanuman still wide awake.

Not an excuse to give,
But to search where women live.

Expected sometimes to glance,
Risk of sin a chance.

But positively situated the mind,
Highest character in him to find.