Hanuman Chalisa with Meaning (Courtesy: Shailesh Nandu)

Shree Guru Charan Saroj Raj, Nij Man Mukar Sudhari, Barnau Raghuvar Bimal Jasu, Jo dayaku Phal Chari
With the dust of Guru's Lotus feet, I clean the mirror of my mind and then narrate the sacred glory of Sri Ram Chandra, The Supereme among the Raghu dynasty. The giver of the four attainments of life.

Budhi heen Tanu Janike, Sumirow, Pavan Kumar, Bal Buddhi Vidya Dehu Mohi, Harahu Kalesh Bikaar
Knowing myself to be ignorent, I urge you, O Hanuman, The son of Pavan! O Lord! kindly Bestow on me strength, wisdom and knowledge, removing all my miseries and blemishes.

Jai Hanuman Gyan Guna Sagar Jai Kipis Tihun Lok Ujgaar
Victory of Thee, O Hanuman, Ocean of wisdom and virtue, victory to the Lord of monkeys who is well known in all the three worlds.

Ramdoot Atulit Bal Dhamaa, Anjani Putra Pavansut naamaa.
You, the Divine messager of Ram and repository of immeasurable strength, are also known as Anjaniputra and known as the son of the wind - Pavanputra.

Mahebeer Bikram Bajrangi, Kumati Nivaar Sumati Ke Sangi.
Oh Hanumanji! You are valiant and brave, with a body like lightening. You are the dispeller of darkness of evil thoughts and companion of good sense and wisdom.

Kanchan Baran Biraaj Subesaa, Kanan kundal kunchit kesa.
Shri Hanumanji's physique is golden coloured. His dress is pretty, wearing 'Kundals' ear-rings and his hairs are long and curly.

Hath Bajra Aur Dhvaja Birjai, Kandhe Moonj Janeu saage.
Shri Hanumanji is holding in one hand a lighting bolt and in the other a banner with sacred thread across his shoulder.

Shankar Suvna Kesari Nandan, Tej Pratap Maha Jag Vandan.
Oh Hanumanji! You are the emanation of 'SHIVA' and you delight Shri Keshri. Being ever effulgent, you and hold vast sway over the universe. The entire world proptiates. You are adorable of all.

Vidyavaan Guni Ati Chatur, Ram Kaj Karibe Ko Atur
Oh! Shri Hanumanji! You are the repository learning, virtuous, very wise and highly keen to do the work of Shri Ram,

Prabhu Charittra Sunibe Ko Rasiya, Ram Lakhan Sita man basiya.
You are intensely greedy for listening to the naration of Lord Ram's lifestory and revel on its enjoyment. You ever dwell in the hearts of Shri Ram-Sita and Shri Lakshman.

Sukshma roop Dhari Siyahi Dikhwana, Bikat roop Dhari Lank Jarawa
You appeared beofre Sita in a diminutive form and spoke to her, while you assumed an awesome form and struck terror by setting Lanka on fire.

Bhim roop Dhari Asur Sanhare, Ramchandra Ke kaaj Savare.
He, with his terrible form, killed demons in Lanka and performed all acts of Shri Ram.

Laye Sajivan Lakhan Jiyaye, Shri Raghubir harashi ur laye.
When Hanumanji made Lakshman alive after bringing 'Sanjivni herb' Shri Ram took him in his deep embrace, his heart full of joy.

Raghupati Kinhi Bahut Badaai, Tum Mama Priya Bharat Sam Bahi.
Shri Ram lustily extolled Hanumanji's excellence and remarked, "you are as dear to me as my own brother Bharat"

Sahastra Badan Tumharo Jas Gaave, Asa kahi Shripati Kanth Laagave.
Shri Ram embraced Hanumanji saying: "Let the thousand - tongued sheshnaag sing your glories"

Sankadik Brahmadi Muneesa, Narad Sarad Sahit Aheesa
Sanak and the sages, saints.
Lord Brahma, the great hermits
Narad and Goddess Saraswati along with Sheshnag the cosmic serpent, fail to sing the glories of Hanumanji exactly

Jam Kuber Digpal Jahan Te, Kabi Kabid Kahin Sake Kahan Te
What to talk of denizens of the earth like poets and scholars ones etc even Gods like Yamraj, Kuber, and Digpal fail to narrate Hanman's greatness in toto.

Tum Upkar Sugrivahi Keenha, Ram Miali Rajpad Deenha
Hanumanji! You rendered a great service for Sugriva, It were you who united him with SHRI RAM and installed him on the Royal Throne.

Tumharo Mantro Bibhishan Maana, Lankeshwar Bhaye Sab Jag Jaana.
By heeding your advice. Vibhushan became Lord of Lanka, which is known all over the universe.

Juug Sahastra Jojan Par Bhaanu, Leelyo Taahi Madhur Phal Jaanu
Hanumanji gulped, the SUN at distance of sixteen thousand miles considering it to be a sweet fruit.

Prabhu Mudrika Meli Mukha Maaheen, Jaladhi Langhi Gaye Acharaj Naheen.
Carrying the Lord's ring in his mouth, he went across the ocean. There is no wonder in that.

Durgam Kaaj Jagat Ke Jeete, Sugam Anugrah Tumhre Te Te.
Oh Hanumanji! all the difficult tasks in the world are rendered easiest by your grace.

Ram Duware Tum Rakhavare, Hot Na Aagya Bin Paisare.
Oh Hanumanji! You are the sentinel at the door of Ram's mercy mansion or His divine abode. No one may enter without your permission.

Sab Sukh Lahen Tumhari Sarna, Tum Rakshak Kaahu Ko Darnaa.
By your grace one can enjoy all happiness and one need not have any fear under your protection.

Aapan Tej Samharo Aapei, Tanau Lok Hank Te Kanpei
When you roar all the three worlds tremble and only you can control your might.

Bhoot Pisaach Nikat Nahi Avei, Mahabir Jab Naam Sunavei.
Great Brave on. Hanumanji's name keeps all the Ghosts, Demons & evils spirits away from his devotees.

Nasei Rog Hare Sab Peera, Japat Niranter Hanumant Beera
On reciting Hanumanji's holy name regularly all the maladies perish the entire pain disappears.

Sankat Te Hanuman Chhudavei, Man Kram Bachan Dhyan Jo Lavei.
Those who rembember Hanumanji in thought, word and deed are well guarded against their odds in life.

Sub Par Ram Tapasvee Raaja, Tinke Kaaj Sakal Tum Saaja
Oh Hanumanji! You are the caretaker of even Lord Rama, who has been hailed as the Supreme Lord and the Monarch of all those devoted in penances.

Aur Manorath Jo Koi Lave, Soi Amit Jivan Phal Pave.
Oh Hanumanji! You fulfill the desires of those who come to you and bestow the eternal nectar the highest fruit of life.

Charo Juung Partap Tumhara, Hai Parsiddha Jagat Ujiyara.
Oh Hanumanji! You magnificent glory is acclaimed far and wide all through the four ages and your fame is radianlty noted all over the cosmos.

Sadho Sant Ke Tum Rakhvare, Asur Nikandan Ram Dulare.
Oh Hanumanji! You are the saviour and the guardian angel of saints and sages and destroy all the Demons, you are the seraphic darling of Shri Ram.

Ashta Siddhi Nau Nidhi Ke Data, Asa Bar Din Janki Mata.
Hanumanji has been blessed with mother Janki to grant to any one any YOGIC power of eight Sidhis and Nava Nidhis as per choice.

Ram Rasayan Tumhare Pasa, Sadaa Raho Raghupati Ke Dasa.
Oh Hanumanji! You hold the essence of devotion to RAM, always remaining His Servant.

Tumhare Bhajan Ramko Pavei. Janam Janam Ke Dukh Bisravei.
Oh Hanumanji! through devotion to you, one comes to RAM and becames free from suffering of several lives.

Anta Kaal Raghubar Pur Jai, Jahan Janma Hari Bhakta Kahai.
After death he enters the eternal abode of Sri Ram and remains a devotee of him, whenever, taking new birth on earth.

Aur Devata Chitt Na Dharai, Hanumant Sei Sarva Sukh Karai
You need not hold any other demigod in mind. Hanumanji alone will give all happiness.

Sankat Kate Mitey Sab Peera, Jo Sumirei Hanumant Balbeera
Oh Powerful Hanumanji! You end the sufferings and remove all the pain from those who remember you.

Jai Jai Jai Hanuman Gosai Kripa Karahu Gurudev Ki Naiee
Hail-Hail-Hail-Lord Hanumanji! I beseech you Honour to bless me in the capacity of my supreme 'GURU' (teacher).

Jo Sat Baar Paath Kar Koi, Chhutahi Bandi Maha Sukh Hoi.
One who recites this Hanuman Chalisa one hundred times daily for one hundred days becames free from the bondage of life and death and enjoys the highest bliss at last.

Jo Yah Padhe Hanuman Chalisa, Hoy Siddhi Sakhi Gaurisa
As Lord Shankar witnesses, all those who recite Hanuman Chalisa regularly are sure to be benedicted

Tulsidas Sada Hari Chera, Keeje Nath Hriday Mah Dera.
Tulsidas always the servant of Lord prays. "Oh my Lord! You enshrine within my heart.!

Chopai:

Pavan Tanay Sankat Haran , Mangal Murti Roop. Ram Lakhan Sita Sahit, Hriday Basahu Sur Bhoop.
O Shri Hanuman, the Son of Pavan, Saviour the Embodiment of blessings, reside in my heart together with Shri Ram, Laxman and Sita ...

Dilemma : Lakshmi or Saraswati ???

Hello Readers,

I am back again. It's been a real hectic day. I wonder who's writing the script of my life. People say that man is the architect of his own fate. But I wonder if I was the one who chose to write my own destiny. It has been a real, real hectic life (pun intended)... Feeling implicated and vindicated at the same time. Or should I say, being at a wrong place on a wrong time?

The last couple of days have been a rollercoaster ride. It's getting more and more difficult to understand the human psychology. I guess it's time to have a proffessional approach towards leading a 'normal' life. When I speak about 'normalcy', I mean about leading a simple life. It's time to quit from the race where the only challenger in your race of life is 'you'. It needs great efforts to achieve glory. But it requires greater efforts to accept defeat with dignity. Sadly, it's always a case of sour grapes theory in everybody's life.

Coming back to the dilemma... There's a shockingly surprising news for me and my readers. 'Accidently', my parents read some of my blog posts, my poems and a few excerpts of my coming novel 'The Pink Slip'. They inquired about the theme and the status of my previous novel. As usual, I chose to accept my defeat against the bigwig publishers who chose to leave me on tenterhooks. For some reason, Dad seemed interested to help me realise my dream of being a writer. Or should I say, a 'published' writer. But... I rejected his plan. Lol.

Anyways, there has been a strange fight happening within my conscience. I ain't sure if everybody experiences the same fight within themselves. Ever since I understood the human psychology about religion, I got more and more interested in doing research on the Gods and Godesses of Indian mythology. Being a staunch believer of faith in Goddeses, I worship many of them. For example, Goddess Saraswati for knowledge, Goddesses Lakshmi for wealth and prosperity, Goddess Amba for courage and fearlessness and Goddess Padmavati for peaceful mind and sound and healthy soul. In fact, even the gurus taught me the same thing that when we pray to the Tirthankaras, it's not the Tirthankaras that help us. It's Their Goddesses that help us.

Now, I am in a soup. Being a staunch believer of Goddesses, I cannot imagine my life without praying them. Let's be honest enough, most of us regularly seek blessings of Goddess Lakshmi. (I don't need to specify a reason for it.) Everyday I have an argument with a group of people regarding the main Goddess. My argument being that if we have knowledge (Saraswati) then money (Lakshmi) automatically flows in. But the counter argument is that only money (Lakshmi) can buy knowledge (Saraswati), which means, if you have money then you can hire men of skills. But if you only have skills then you will always remain a slave of money.

So this is the dilemma, guys... I can never dare to differentiate my loyalties between the Goddesses. While Amba has given me courage then Padmavati has given me a sound soul. But I never had an issue with this fact. What my dilemma is this particular thing... If Lakshmi has given me an identity of being a well-to-do guy then Saraswati has given me the knowledge, talent and the power of expression. I can never forget the appreciation that I recieved for my writing talent. But it's a fact... a fact that is like a bitter pill to swallow, when those group of people taunt that I still haven't got publishers standing in a queue to publish my writings because most of them have a hunger for money. Hahaha. And I don't wish to showcase my talent on the basis of money. In fact I wish to raise money on the basis of my talent. I wish to create my identity on the basis of my power of expression.

But this particular debate always haunts my mind... Who is more important, Lakshmi or Saraswati? I have a diplomatic but an honest answer that my life is incomplete without the presence of 'Both' in my life. But history has also witnessed the fact that the counter argument does have a point!

It's time to sign off and get set for a good night sleep!

Ciao!

Ravana: The Next God of Jains

Hi there... Day 3 of the usual vomitting of thoughts on this little rented laptop... hahaha... I pity on the owner of this laptop who'll chase me for my blood, when he reads this...

On a serious note, I am sorry for writing only about Jainism nowadays. No hard feelings or no special reasons or vested interests behind it... Its just because this topic creates much more interest nowadays among the readers of this not-so-famous blog....

By the way, its the 6th day of the festival. Looking at the Mahavir Jayanti festival in my area was sure a visual treat for me... While the devotional songs and dances were an icing on the cake, what shocked me most was a truth that was hidden beneath the heaps of time... Did you know that Ravana is going to be one of the next 24 Tirthankars of Jainism?

Now the one who reads this may find it rubbish, but contrary, I am feeling amazed by this relevation. The story goes like this that Ravana was not a bad guy at heart. As a king, he took care of his subjects. He handled his kingdom quite well. He was well versed with the knowledge in religious books. In fact, he was a person who liked peace. He was the one of the biggest bhakts of Lord Munisuvrath Swami and Lord Shantinath. He would religiously follow the principles of Jainism and sing and dance in the name of the God...

One such day, he was playing veena and his wife Mandodari was dancing on his devotional songs to please the Lord. Ravana was so engrossed in his bhakti that one of the strings of his veena broke... At once, Ravana tore his thigh and pulled out one of his nerves and attached it to the broken string of his veena. The pain was immense but it seemed to be smaller against the happiness that he was getting from sings the praises of his Lord....

Impressed by Ravana's devotion, Lord descended and blessed him with a boon that he was going to be one of the 24 Tirthankars of Jainism...

So why did Ravana commit the biggest crime of the history by kidnapping Mother Sita? Why did he choose to become a villain in the eyes of the people of the future? Well... The story goes like this...

Ravana had asked a Rishi (sage) about the cause of his death. The sage replied that he shall die at the hands of a God who was also known as one of the masters of this universe, for kidnapping His wife. Ravana was pained by this and prayed to God to stop him from committing this sin. But what was written... was written... It was written and the rest is history. Hardly anybody knows that God himself had come to free Ravana in his that birth...

It's said that Ravana is somewhere around us.. Nobody knows in which avatar is he, but one thing is sure, he is washing his past karmas so that he could be good and free himself from the cycle of birth and death...

What I found interesting was, if a person like Ravana can be so great in his devotions then why can't we? It's necessary for the present generation to stop the wayward people from stranding away from the path of virtue, religion and God...

It's Bugs signing off this time on a shorter note... Chao!

Mahavir Jayanti

Hello there... Day 2 of blogging... Day 5 of Paryushan or Pajushan... And most importantly it's Mahavir Jayanti today. Wow!

There are some funny stuffs that I would share on this holy day... Or should I say holiday? Nah! I'm still working like a jackass at my office. So coming back to this day....
When I was a small boy, I was excited about this day because I used to get new clothes to wear.
When I grew up a bit, I was excited about this day because I used to get gifts from the temple.
As I grew up, my interests for the new clothes and gift wore off but I was still excited about this day because I used to get laddoos (yummy) as a prasad from the temple.
Now at the present day, the excitement about these materialistic stuffs have worn off. But what excites me today are the decorations of God and the style of celebrations with great pomp... Man! It's just a dream come true to look at the God who simply sits on His throne as a King and He's actually smiling at His devotees.

What I realised today is... Miss out any damn day of the year but not this year where you see the King Himself giving blessings to His Devotees.

Ya.. Ya.. I know... I'm contradicting my views of yesterday and today... I would like to clarify that I stood by my words yesterday and I stand by my words today too... All I hate is the 'commercialization' of religion... And of course the way that any religion is preached by people... Oh come on guys! Give us some break... Let our sole object in religion be to cleanse ourselvesfrom the sins that we commit every moments... And not the other objects like commercializing and taking money in the name of donations and wasting it somewhere else. Also let our object not be preaching about the religion in a wrong way... According to me, negative preaching attracts negative approach towards the religion. And lets not mix politics with religion... Please... Give a break....

That's Bugs signing off today... Chao!

Mera Naam Bhavin

It's the first day of my blogging and I am finding myself the same way as a villager finds himself in a city. I am completely new to this arena of blogging. I love writing and thus blogging is the best option where I can vomit out the words that are stuck in my mind. I hate being repetitive so I hope the one who reads this blog can check my profile to know about me and my interests. I believe in honesty. And I shall be honest in my writings too.

Life is absolutely rocking. Today is the 4th day of the Jain Festival Paryushan or Pajushan. And I have just broken my fasting today. My viewpoint about the religion has changed drastically today. I mean yesterday it was something else and today it is something else. I find myself in a very confusing and a funny position today, when I look at religion. Just finding myself at crossroads today. I mean, does religion means the same as it was yesterday?

I may attract the wrath of many readers and writers through this blog. But I guess, I am ready for it. What everyone need to ask themselves is, are their viewpoints about the religion the same as earlier or are the viewpoint full of contradictions? To be honest, I compare myself to a flame of candle flickering to survive from a rush of wind.