Object or Subject?

AmmaNiyAzhvan walked a long distance to reach Bhattar and fell at his feet and asked him "Please teach adiyEn something in which to take refuge in".
Bhattar taught him the meaning of Azhvar's "nedumArkkadimai" pasurams and told him "Knowing the Lord is only knowing Him in half. "It is by knowing His devotees that one knows Him in full".
ammaNiyAzhvan said "Learning many things is no good. I will forget them all. This much is sufficient", and followed Bhattar's advice from that day forward.

This is an incident from the life of Parasara Bhattar. Today being Rama Navami,and also for the past few weeks I have been thinking about Sri Hanuman. As I think of him, different thoughts race through my mind. I think of how, when I was a little girl I took him away from the Dasara display at home. Wrapping him up in a shawl, I used to carry him around, talking to him, feeding him and making him lie down next to me. He was my friend, I was so enamoured by the bright paper mache murti of Hanuman, that they found it hard to convince me that he is part of the Ram Parivar display and cannot be carried around like that. In those days we did not have the soft toys that are available now. Growing up, I watched my mother worshipping a picture of Hanuman who was of a greenish hue, with an upright tail that almost looking like a flag. The tail was worshipped with a paste of sandalwood and kumkum for 40 days and at the end of it, a garland made of urad vadas was offered to the picture. It is a puja that people take up for fulfillment of different material desires and my mother was no exception. For many days well into my youth I thought Hanuman was God or the God as in Supreme-Perumal (Lord Visnu is referred to as Perumal). On knowing that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Hanuman his Dasa-eternal servant. I was not convinced how I should digest this information I had received and very warily cleared the space that I had in my heart for Hanuman to include Krishna. Hanuman being the pure devotee and servant that he is slowly, steadily was leading me to the lotus feet of the divine couple.

Recently, I learnt that in Thailand they have paintings of Hanuman that show him lying down in his gigantic form with his tail outstretched as a bridge, and the army of Rama crossing a the ocean, holding on to his tail. The US President Barack Obama has been in the news for having in his possession a small icon of Hanuman. Even a moment's association with a devotee is said to be so precious. A popular line to get even the most shy Sunday School kids, to get talking is to ask them about their favorite he man, super man etc., "My favorite has always been Hanu Man," This almost always brings about a kind of camraderie amongst us.

Last week at I was listening to HH Dhanurdhara Swami talk about Brhad Bhagavatamrita, Narada's quest for the top most devotee and his meeting with Hanuman. Learning about this unique quality of Hanuman was very timely. He mentioned how we have to endeavor to become the object of the Lord's love rather than trying to become the subject of love and adoration Hanumanji was endowed with 8 mystic siddhis, immense strength, but yet he chose to become the object of love as opposed to becoming the subject of love. So simple yet so profound.

Going back to the first few lines of the post, "It is by knowing His devotees that one knows Him in full". As devotees representing our own spiritual masters and ultimately Srila Prabhupada, imbibing this mood of Hanuman is essential to a strong foundation in spiritual life, in properly representing the mission of Srila Prabhupada. Praying to Hanuman for spiritual strength and guidance in serving the lotus feet of the divine couple I beg him to let me hang on to his divine tail for dear life.

"asadhya sadhaka swamin, asadhyam thava kim vadha /rama dhootha kripa sindho: math karyam sadhaya prabho.