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How The Hanuman Chalisa Changed My Life

Before I dive into this chapter, I want to reveal a subtle little miracle that happened just now. I had made a video called ‘the life transforming effects of the Hanuman Chalisa’ on my YouTube channel a few months ago, as soon as I started typing this chapter, someone commented on that video immediately. This is obviously Maharajji’s Lila. One of his many powers is that he can speak through people. I think he wants to show us that he’s listening. Jai Maharajji

On the way back from my life-changing trip to Kainchi Dham, I had to stop in Delhi for a night to catch the flight the next day in Goa. In the taxi going from the hotel to the airport, we passed by a very huge statue of Hanuman, after which the taxi driver started to get friendly and speak about things. Somehow we started to speak about Sri Ram and Hanuman. I was very new to these topics, because after so many years of atheism Maharajji gave me proof of the existence of God, especially Hanuman and Ram as deities. When the conversation got deep, I remember two profound statements that the taxi driver made. Firstly, he said, “even more powerful than Sri Ram is the name of Ram (Raam Naam)”. Secondly, he said, “if you want to know Ram, you need to go through Hanuman and the most important thing you can do to meet Hanuman is learn the Hanuman Chalisa”. I did not quite understand what he meant, but I wrote down “Learn Hanuman Chalisa” in my to do list on the phone.

Now firstly I need to explain to you that even though I have a basic knowledge of Hindi, it was still my third language in school and I struggle with reading and speaking till this day. Hence the need for the translator in this book. However, I came back to Goa and one of the first things that I started to do was learn the Hanuman Chalisa. The ‘Darshan’ that I had at Kainchi was so powerful that it shook the foundations of everything I believed in. Anyway, Hanuman and Maharajji are treated as one in most of the temples. They sing the Hanuman Chalisa to both the Murti of Neem Karoli Baba and the Murti of Hanuman in Kainchi. So I was keen on learning this magnificent prayer, which honestly speaking is quite an arduous task because it contains 40 verses plus intro and outro in the Awadhi language which is far different than the Hindi we speak today.

It took me close to four months of practicing every day to learn the Hanuman Chalisa by heart, but frankly I can say it was one of the most important turning points in my life. In my opinion, being able to recite the Hanuman Chalisa by heart is a MahaSiddhi, or a SuperPower. To sing it is even more powerful.

The author of the Hanuman Chalisa, Goswami Tulsidas who wrote the most widely accepted and most beautiful poetic epic ‘Shri Ramacharitmanas’, was not just an ordinary devotee of Sri Ram and Hanuman, but a reincarnation of Valmiki, the original composer of the Ramanaya. Even though the widely accepted Awadhi version of the Ramayana was written in 1633, legend says that Tulsidas had full Darshan of Sri Ram and Hanuman and several other deities who blessed him with the power to compose the Hanuman Chalisa.

According to many, the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple in Varanasi was built where Tulsidas had the sight or Darshan of Hanuman.

Hanuman Chalisa English Translation

“PEOPLE DON'T KNOW - EVERY LINE OF THE HANUMAN CHALISA IS A MAHAMANTRA”

So from the above meaning of the translation of the Hanuman Chalisa, it appears as if this prayer is a very religious praise of a mythical creature known as Lord Hanuman. Until last year I was sure that all of Hinduism was just stories, and the idea of a monkey God who can expand and shrink in size and having all of these powers just seemed ridiculous. But now I can say with all my conviction and zero doubt that Hanuman is 100% real, and 100% present right now on the earth plane. These forty verses may appear on the outside as a ‘praise’ for Hanuman, but what it really is, is an ‘Invocation’ where we invite the deity in spirit to the present time and space.

Maharajji’s incarnation on the earth plane as the Avatar of this age feels like it was almost to prove to the world that Hanuman is Real, he practically exhibited all the powers of Lord Hanuman in a human body.

Before I move into the science of the Hanuman Chalisa, I want to speak about my experiences with it. Coming back to the Hanuman Chalisa and how it changed my life, I’d like to talk about the state that I was in, in my life. After separating from the love of my life, I had turned to alcohol. I could say that I have exhibited addictive behaviour with alcohol and substances all my life, but in this period of my life I almost drank one full bottle of whiskey every day. Even during the early days of me practising the Chalisa, I would wake up and do Pooja and try to read the Chalisa once or twice and then by afternoon I’d start drinking as my body had become accustomed to it and my mind and heart was still in pain.

Slowly, however, with each recitation of the Hanuman Chalisa I started getting a sense of freshness in my body and mind, and would delay the time that I started drinking, some days I didn’t drink. Something magical started happening with the Hanuman Chalisa, I couldn’t quite understand what it was. Especially because I used to recite them to photographs of Maharajji and a Murti (Idol) of Hanuman. It was almost as if I was communicating with them.

The four months that I spent practising the Hanuman Chalisa was one of the most interesting times of my life. I felt like I had found a ‘magical key’ of some kind which enables me to access the realm of the Gods. Also, the most fascinating thing was that slowly small parts of my negative characteristics were being chipped away and I didn’t even notice. By the time I fully memorised the Chalisa, I was a completely different person.

Here is a list of things that started changing while I was learning the Chalisa:

  • My heart started opening more
  • I felt like I wasn’t alone in my body anymore, some beautiful new spiritual energy started filling me up
  • My need for alcohol or substances slowly reduced
  • I started to become kinder and more understanding of people
  • I felt like I started to develop a strong ‘common sense’ which I didn’t have before

HI heard from a devotee of Maharajji that chanting the Hanuman Chalisa 7 times a day was recommended by him and since then I started reciting it at least 7 times a day, this is a practise that I follow till this day. However, on some days I felt like chanting 21 times, and I've gone up to almost 60 times a day, but I maintain a minimum of 7 a day. Here are the miraculous things that continue to happen till this day:

Here is a list of things that started changing while I was learning the Chalisa:

Defeating ‘Addiction and Alcoholism’

In my difficult past, I have been in and out of rehabs many times. The common belief in these centres is that addiction or alcoholism is an incurable disease that one is born with and that the only way out is to recognise that it’s an incurable disease and completely abstain from all substances and join the 12 step program and spend the rest of your life with people from this program. They believe if an alcoholic has one drink, then the disease will fully ‘relapse’ and that the addict or alcoholic will drink himself to death.

The Hanuman Chalisa proved this to be absolutely false in my experience and that there’s no such thing as ’the disease of addiction’, even if there was one then through the constant recitation of this great prayer, it gets cured one recitation at a time. The ‘emptiness’ that I felt as a Human Being was the cause of this tendency to be an alcoholic. The Chalisa filled up this emptiness with what I can only refer to as ‘God’s Love’ and then I didn't need the drink or the drugs to fill up my void. However, after a few months of continuously reciting between 7 to 21 Hanuman Chalisas every day, it almost became like a source of power for me. And sometimes I would meet a friend or go to a bar, have one drink or maximum two and have the ‘common sense’ to stop there and then go back to my house to sleep, and wake up without a hangover. However, if you’re reading this and you’re part of a 12 step program please don’t pick up the drink or drug. Life is much better without it. As I’m typing this, I’m very comfortable without the alcohol. In fact, I feel like the Hanuman Chalisa in itself is a powerful medicinal substance that can heal the wounds of the mind, body and heart. I’m simply not an alcoholic anymore.

Intellectual Enhancement

HI don’t know how exactly these things work, but it transcends the western science that we know and understand and brings into the physical world an element of divinity. Perhaps, the science of ‘mantra’ is such that the poet embeds these verses with some metaphysical, magical quality, or perhaps it's Hanuman himself who comes to us during these recitations and is the source of these miracles.

Before and after every sitting to recite the Chalisa, one of the great feelings that I get is that of an ‘Increase of Intelligence’. It’s almost like I feel sharper mentally, and can do mathematical and cognitive tasks more clearly, and the logical brain feels like it can function better.

Neurogenesis

The word neuro means ‘Nerve’ and genesis means ‘Creation’. If I had the resources to conduct a scientific study with lab equipment and measure the number of brain cells before and after this practice, I’m sure that there would be an increase in the number of brain cells. However, as of now I can only share with you my experience. Through many years of substance abuse, alcoholism and depression, I had lost a lot of my brain cells, and with the loss of these brain cells comes the inability to be happy without some form of external stimulation. As I grew with my Chalisa practise, I could feel the extraordinary magnitude of this neurogenesis, even today, it’s my main source of power. It always works, each time, every time.

Creativity and Heart Intelligence:

HBesides being good for the mind, the Hanuman Chalisa also plays an extraordinary role in my creative journey as an artist. For one, the most mystical thing that happened is that my singing voice started sounding so beautiful after no singing practice, people started asking me what was going on and why my voice started getting better and better, they thought I was practising singing. It was quite the opposite. I’d lost touch with my instrument and voice, but after the Chalisa recitation (which I mostly did in the form of fast speech) my singing voice got better as well. Also, I feel like the Chalisa has a specific power to unlock what I feel can be called ‘the intelligence of the heart’. It’s a very powerful intuitive and loving energy field where the one gets the wisdom to connect the heart and the mind. In fact, before every sitting to write this book I recite the Chalisa 7 times, it removes or helps with ‘writer’s block’.

Although the list can go on and on to include subtler things like increases in synchronicities and an unnatural sensation of inner peace and wellbeing, I’d like to conclude by saying that the Hanuman Chalisa by itself is a living breathing, intelligent metaphysical organism that is a super powerful tool with benefits far exceeding the rational mind. I have friends who have been doing this practise for close to 50 years now and they say that things only get better and better with it. It’s almost as if we invite the deity Hanuman into our cells and mind and heart.

Just to mention again, THERE IS ACCOUNT OF HANUMAN’S DEATH IN ANY OF THE HINDU SCRIPTURES and I personally believe that he is here with us, with Maharajji, looking after the welfare of the earth and eagerly waiting to alleviate suffering and come to aid of those in need. Many argue that Hanuman is probably the most powerful deity in Hinduism.

The Different ways to recite the Hanuman Chalisa:

  • Reading it out: This is how I started, simply reading out the Chalisa out from the booklet or our phones is one of the best ways to start and extremely effective.
  • Rapping it (fast chanting): This is what one can do once one memorises this prayer and it’s an exhilarating, exciting and extremely powerful way of getting in more ‘quantity’ of chalisas. This type of recitation is mostly beneficial to the mind and increases ‘dhyana’ or capacity to focus.
  • Singing without instrument: This is a very beautiful practise to open the heart and also listen to the unique melody that comes alive each time one sings. It’s almost as is Hanuman himself chooses what melody comes out.
  • Singing with an instrument: This is the most beautiful and probably most harmonious way of reaching out to the divine, it’s a perfect combination of heart, mind, soul and harmony. The ‘quantity’ aspect reduces while the ‘quality’ aspect increases.
  • Singing in a group: This is an amazing practise because the many become one and the entire group radiates with the glow of devotion.
  • Online group chanting: There are many Facebook groups which have information regarding zoom meetings and online chanting, this is great for people who can’t find others in their vicinity.
  • English Chalisa: One of my friends Jon Vasu, who’s a longtime devotee of Maharajji and friend of Ram Dass has a beautiful English version of the Hanuman Chalisa which rhymes... Visit JonVasu.com
  • Singling out verses: Each verse can be singled out and repeated as a mantra and possesses specific qualities. This is great to focus on segments.

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