ARJUN (3rd of the Pandava brothers)
had gone to the Himalayas in quest of divine weapons from his father Devraaj Indra.
In case of war he would have to face invincible warriors like Pitamah Bhishma,
Dronacharya, Kripacharya, Duryodhan, Karna, Aswatthama and many others. For
this it was necessary to acquire more power. The other four Pandavas and Drupad
Kanya found life devoid of joy in his absence. Desiring a change of scene, they
now moved on in search of a more peaceful place. At last they came to the
Narayanasrama forest. They decided to take rest and stay there for a while.
One day, a breeze blew
from the north-east and wafted a beautiful flower near DRAUPADI. The beauty and
sweet scent of the flower charmed Panchali. She felt a deep desire to possess
that flower known as SAUGANDHIKA and requested BHEEM (second of the Pandavas)
to get her that flower. She was very insistent. Bheem was only too pleased to
satisfy her least desire. He forthwith set out in the direction from which the fragrance
was coming from.
The way through the forest was far
from easy. Before long at the foot of a mountain he saw a huge old ape man (monkey)
resting on his path, blocking his way. He asked the old monkey to get up and clear
the way for him.
The monkey was in no mood to
oblige. Ape man said, “I am too old and weak to move. You can jump over me.”
Proud Gadadhar, incensed by this
insolence, again asked the monkey to move. Bheem told, “You old monkey, you
don’t know whom you are talking to. I am a Kshatriya from the Kuru race. I am
the son of Kunti and the wind god Vayu. I am Bheem, brother of famous Hanuman.
So, if you offend me any further, you will incur my wrath. I command you to
better get up and move aside without wasting my time.”
The monkey retorted, “If you are
in such hurry, you can move my tail aside and go ahead.” Bheem’s threats did
not have any effect on the monkey. Instead, Ape man queried to Bheem, “Who is Hanuman. Tell me what is so great
about him. What did he do?”
Bheemasen responded to him, “How
can you be so silly and ignorant? Have you not heard of the mighty Hanuman who jumped
over to Lanka, across the 100 Yojan wide (400 Kos) sea, to seek and find Devi Sita,
Bhagwan Shri Ram’s wife? Indeed you are ignorant.”
The monkey only smiled. Finding no
other way, Bheem tried to pull the monkey’s tail aside but he could not move it
even a little bit (Here Lord Hanuman uses his GARIMA Siddhi). Bheem put all his
might in the endeavor, but to no avail, he was all perspiration. In spite of his
best efforts he could not move the tail. As such the question of challenging
this monkey for a show of strength did not arise. Bheem felt very humiliated
and subdued. He told the monkey, “You are not ordinary monkey. Please tell me who
you are. I accept defeat and bow to you.”
LORD HANUMAN appeared in his true
original form and said, “Bheem, I am that Hanuman whose name you mentioned a little
while ago. I am your brother. Your path ahead is perilous. It is the path of
the Devatas and is not safe for men. So I came to caution you. I knew you have come
to collect the Saugandhika flower. I shall show you the pond, where this flower
grows. You can collect as many as you want and go back.”
Bheemasen was happy. He bowed to God
Hanuman and requested him to show his huge form in which he jumped over the 100
Yojan breadth (400 Kos) ocean, to land on Lanka. Bajrang Bali increased his
size till he seemed to occupy the whole landscape, like a hill (Here Lord
Hanuman uses his MAHIMA Siddhi). His form was dazzlingly white; so Bheem had to
cover his eyes.
Resuming his normal form, Chiranjeevi
Hanuman embraced Bheem and blessed him. He also assured him, “When you
roar like a lion on the battle field, my voice shall join yours and strike
terror in the hearts of your enemies. I will be there on the flag of the
chariot of Parth. You will be victorious.” With Lord Hanuman’s embrace Bheem’s
strength had also increased.
Kapiraaj Hanuman wanted to free his
brother Bheem from his ego and to give him greater strength to fight his
enemies. Pawanputra Hanuman then took leave of his brother after blessing
him.
Following Lord Hanuman’s advice, Bheem
collected many Saugandhika flowers from the pond and went back to present them to
Yajnaseni, anxiously waiting for his return.
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