Sri Hanuman Chalisa: Commentary on the Praises to the Eternal Servant

By Paramahamsa Vishwananda

The Sri Hanuman Chalisa is considered one of the most popular Hindu devotional hymns, chanted daily by millions of people all over the world. Many chant these praises of the monkey god, Hanuman, to seek His protection, strength, help and assistance during their struggles.

However, the deeper significance and value of knowing about Hanuman is that He is the ultimate model of Bhakti, humility and surrender, expressed even to this day through His selfless devotional service to Lord Rama.

Fortunately, Paramahamsa Sri Swami Vishwananda has provided a commentary which reveals the deeper meaning behind each of the forty verses of this beautiful hymn.

Verse by verse, Paramahamsa Vishwananda guides us to understanding that, by cultivating devotion, humility and surrender, the inner gates to Divine Love are opened and we are finally able to reach the ultimate goal of life: to become devoted servants of this great Love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bhakti Marga Publications
• Release date: Feb 3, 2024
• ISBN: 9783963430251

Book preview

DEDICATION TO OUR BELOVED GURU

As we begin this book, we give all praises to our beloved Satgurudev, Paramahamsa Vishwananda. By His Grace, we are inspired to deepen our Divine Love relationship with God, and even more, helped to realise that our true purpose in life is to become an eternal servant of that Love.

Sri Guru Gita, Verse 88

Śrīmat parabrahma guruṁ smarāmi

śrīmat parabrahma guruṁ vadāmi

Śrīmat parabrahma guruṁ namāmi

śrīmat parabrahma guruṁ bhajāmi

I remember my Guru who is Parabrahman (the Transcendental Absolute); I praise my Guru who is Parabrahman; I bow to my Guru who is Parabrahman; I serve my Guru who is Parabrahman.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication to our beloved Guru

About Paramahamsa Vishwananda

Preface

About Hanuman

About Goswami Tulsidas

Sri Hanuman Chalisa: A Verse-by-Verse Commentary

Additional Notes

Resources

About Bhakti Marga

Bhakti Marga Sadhana

ABOUT PARAMAHAMSA VISHWANANDA

Paramahamsa Sri Swami Vishwananda is a fully realised spiritual Master, whose international mission, known as Bhakti Marga, ‘the path of devotion’, is based in the heart of Europe. He travels the world to encourage all people to recognise the universal Love that lies within each human being, and to awaken their innate ability to express that Love in their daily lives.

Effortlessly connecting principles of eastern spirituality with elements of western spiritual tradition, Paramahamsa Vishwananda reveals the underlying oneness of the Divine and inspires a unique experience of spirituality, regardless of culture, religion, gender or age.

Giving Darshans and Satsangs tirelessly throughout the year, Paramahamsa Vishwananda introduces these simple but profound concepts in a very personal way, answering questions about love, life, death, healing, and faith. In addition, His commentaries on supplementary Vedic texts and on the Shreemad Bhagavad Gita, one of the most popular sacred Hindu scriptures in the world, help a worldwide audience gain a deeper understanding of the universal messages they contain, and spread the message of Love, peace and unity to all of mankind.

PREFACE

The Sri Hanuman Chalisa is considered one of the most popular Hindu devotional hymns, chanted daily by millions of people all over the world. People usually chant these praises of Hanuman seeking for His protection, strength, help and assistance during their life struggles. However, the deeper significance and value of knowing about Hanuman is that He is the ultimate model of Bhakti, humility and surrender. He is an example of how our lower animal qualities can be transcended by true devotion and total surrender to the Lord. For this reason, Hanuman is widely known as the greatest servant of Lord Rama, not only in times of old, but even today. In fact, it is accepted by bhaktas all over the world that He is still living on Earth solely to protect, support, and give His blessings to Lord Rama’s devotees, simply because that’s what Lord Rama asked Him to do.

Goswami Tulsidas, a 16th century Hindu saint, a great devotee of Lord Rama, and a Bhakti poet, composed the Sri Hanuman Chalisa. Tulsidas is best known as the author of Ramacharitamanas, a version of the great Hindu epic, Ramayana (The Journey of Rama). Both Ramacharitamanas and Sri Hanuman Chalisa, as well as many other works of Tusidas were written in his own native language, the Hindi dialect, Awadhi. For that reason, Tulsidas is also known as a reformer; in spite of being a great Sanskrit scholar, he wanted everyone to be able to read and chant the glories of Lord Rama. Initially, he had to face great opposition from the traditional Sanskrit scholars, but his efforts were divinely blessed and eventually became accepted by all.

Sri Hanuman Chalisa literally means ‘Forty Verses Dedicated to Sri Hanuman’, and so it consists of forty verses, traditionally referred to as chaupais. It also includes three dohas (couplets), two at the beginning and one at the end.

In the two first dohas, Tulsidas starts by praising the Guru, the spiritual Teacher, because the Grace of the Guru is absolutely necessary for one to be successful in all life endeavours. In the same way, it is only by the Grace of the Guru that we can reach a higher level of understanding, far beyond what the limited human mind allows us to perceive. That’s why a commentary of a true Guru like Paramahamsa Sri Swami Vishwananda on the Sri Hanuman Chalisa is precious indeed!

For this reason, we are very pleased to present this Bhakti Marga publication, ‘Sri Hanuman Chalisa: Commentary on the Praises to the Eternal Servant’, where Paramahamsa Sri Swami Vishwananda guides us into the deeper meaning of each verse of this great hymn dedicated to Hanuman.

As a special introductory segment before this commentary, we have also included two sections of stories told by Paramahamsa Vishwananda on different occasions throughout the last few years. These sections, entitled ‘About Hanuman’ and ‘About Goswami Tulsidas’, help you become acquainted with some background about the lives of Hanuman and Tulsidas, which Paramahamsa Vishwananda also mentions during His commentary.

In the Sri Hanuman Chalisa, Hanuman is referred to as the perfect servant and disciple, as well as the Guru. In fact, the Guru is the greatest servant of the Supreme Lord, Who resides in all beings, and in Whom all beings reside. The Guru is a manifestation of the Supreme Lord, who descends on Earth to live in a body to be close to human beings, to serve and uplift them. There is not a single moment when the Guru is not serving mankind. The Guru is constantly showing by example the ultimate goal of life which is to serve the Supreme Lord, and to be a servant of His Love, the essence of everything. Furthermore, the Guru is not only showing, but also guiding us to, that same Realisation which He perfectly embodies. Even though neither Hanuman nor the Guru requires any of our praise, devotion or service for Themselves, it is by cultivating devotional service on the outside that we grow in humility and surrender on the inside. This is what truly opens the gates to Divine Love and to the ultimate goal of becoming eternal servants of the Lord Himself.

It is this ultimate Bhakti and total surrender which Paramahamsa Vishwananda describes so well with this beautiful declaration and prayer:

‘May my life