The Vanara by name Pṛdhuvu praises Hanuman in the following manner-
Dāta dāpayitās caiva lokānām rakṣaka stadhā
Preraka chhānumodasca kartā bhoktā kapīsvaraḥ.
Meaning- Kapīswara Hanuman is the Lord who bestows everything. He is the cause behind everything given. He is the protector of the all the planes of existence. He is the one who encourages the performance of good deeds. It is he who performs good deeds and it is he who experiences the resultant fruits of the deeds.
Isn’t this hymn helpful to the true spiritual aspirant in his sadhana (practices)?
The person performing the deed, the person who ensures the performance of the deed, the person who instigates the performance of the deed as well as the person who derives enjoyment from the deed, all of them share the good as well as bad results of that action in equal proportions!
The yajamana (person who performs the sacrificial Yagna), and all the people supporting him, obtain equal share in the results of the Yagna. It is therefore very essential to exercise full caution.
The person who has reached the pinnacle of devotion sees God in everyone and in everything. This hymn brings out the perception and feelings of such devotee.
While fulfilling all the desires of the devotees, Hanuman additionally motivates them towards seeking Self-realization. In other words, Hanuman does not limit himself to fulfilling the desires of the devotees. He creates in them a desire to acquire Self-realization.
Hanuman is being praised in this hymn as ‘dāpayita’. It means that when a devotee is in distress, Hanuman uses the help of another (third party) as a medium and through him drives away the distress of the devotee. For example, many times important lessons are imparted to people not directly, but through the medium of another human being. The Supreme Lord does not directly descend from heaven. Instead he motivates some beings for the completion of his tasks. There are many examples of this.
It is Hanuman who protects all the planes of existence in entirety. He encourages the performance of good deeds. Not everybody is lucky to possess a good intellect that pushes him or her to perform good deeds. In reality it is extremely difficult to get the inclination and wisdom to perform good deeds. Hanuman causes such good intellect to sprout in the individual. Seeing people perform good deeds, gives Him immeasurable happiness. For every good task performed, the devotee should learn to attribute it to the Lord- ‘It is he who has performed it and it is he who has motivated me to perform this’. This is true bhakti.
It is wrong to apply this principle of attribution to sinful deeds. ‘O God, You are the motivating force behind everything. Hence You instigated me to perform this evil deed. You are responsible for it’. This is a perverse way of argument where the argument is driven purely for the sake of winning in it. Such attitude when demonstrated in sinful deeds reflects demonic traits. The demons discard the good motivation received from the Lord and continue to cling towards the evil. They then say that it was God who motivated them towards the evil.
The Lord has motivated countless demons to undertake good deeds. Following this, most of them have transformed into saints and yogis. Prahlada is the good example of this. Although Prahlada was born in the clan of demons, through constant recollection of God’s names and God’s deeds, he turned out to be a great saint.
Let us, for argument sake, assume that it is really God who instigates the person towards evil deeds. Even then, the realization that the deed is sinful exists within the person, does it not? He participates in the deed with this complete realization. It is the past karma that drives him towards it. When a person willfully undertakes a deed, knowing fully well it is sinful in nature, then on what basis can he hold God responsible for it? It is demonic behaviour. Destruction is the punishment that is meted out for demonic behaviour. In other words, it means ‘teaching a lesson’.
Nā ham bhokta– is a Vedic verse which means, I am not the one who is enjoying the fruits of the action. Attaining this realization is said to be of utmost importance in philosophy of non-dualism (advaita). ‘I am only the performer of the action. It is the Supreme Lord who enjoys of the resultant fruit of this good action” is the meaning implied in this verse. As discussed before, this is applicable for good deeds alone.
