A MYSTIQUE CALLED HANUMANA
Strongest of all, humble none the less – the best words to describe Lord Hanumana. As wise as a sage and as powerful as a typhoon, Lord Hanumana has been the epitome of virtues with myriad attributes running abound. Venerated for the possession of wisdom and boundless might, the monkey god has been known as a repository of strength and sturdiness not only in India but across the world as evident by his temples dotting almost all countries, be it the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Pakistan, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal and Trinidad, among others, speaking all the more louder for his popularity and a telling sign of his acceptance cutting across religions, castes and creeds.
Chanting his name is enough alone for driving away gloom, agony, miseries and pain. His unyielding devotion, selfless dedication, sincerity and obedience towards Lord Rama find no parallels in this world. Noteworthy is that Lord Rama never considered Hanumana as his ardent devotee but treated him as his brother.
A god who defines grit like no other, Hanumana’s worship alone can bring even a death merchant on the path to reform. The optics of the great Hindu epic Ramayana said it all as it panned out. One cannot even think of the great epic without taking the name of Hanumana, son of Pawan (Wind god) and Anjana.
His wisdom and might were on display at the maximum in the epic in which he set many an example for the entire world to follow their trail. Modern day management principles have no match what Lord

Hanumana can teach. His teachings, which are followed in all corners of the world, are like a ray of light in a dark tunnel of ignorance. It is for these eternal traits and attributes that the world bows to Him and worships Him religiously.
His worship does not involve much ado nor many rituals, and chanting alone his name breaks all worldly fetters and shackles.
This book titled ‘World Bows To Lord Hanumana’ having chapters of Hanumana Stuti, Hanumana Chalisa, Hanumana Ashtak, Bajrang Baan and Hanumana Aarti with their English explanations is an ode to the Lord’s magnificence as well as splendour for which the world bows to Him.
The mightiest of warriors, Hanumana embodies a combination of ethics and values and is symbolic of a value system which unfortunately has witnessed a degradation over the last few decades in the present world. It is pertinent to mention that moral degradation of youth is an important problem. Morality is about the appropriateness of goodness of what a person does, thinks or feels. Morality helps one to make right moral judgment and thus practise morally acceptable behaviour.
Youth power is the driving force of a nation; if it moves in the right direction. But nowadays, unfortunately, a handful of youths are adversely diverted through different immoral activities which does not only influence the present society at large but it also stimulates the future generation of our civilisation. Therefore, it is imperative and a duty of everybody, especially world leaders, to find out the solution of this crucial problem to establish ‘’peace and harmony’’ and that very much depends over the hand of youth generation.

Today’s conflict-ridden world can march on a peaceful and development-oriented path if the teachings of Lord Hanumana are absorbed and practised in letter and spirit. His teachings have the potential to take any person to places. Many a lesson can be learnt by today’s youth who can absorb and assimilate many attributes from the monkey god’s life and his vital role in the Ramayana and how he helped out and served Rama, who was in a state of disarray after the abduction of his consort Sita by demon king Ravana, and did all that was considered to be in the realm of the impossible.

Lord Hanumana has been the fountainhead of power, verve and wisdom for billions of His devotees across the globe since times immemorial. And I am no exception. In fact, He has been more than that for me. I grew up in an environment where the Lord has been always given the pride of place among other deities and whose blessings have always been considered paramount for our existence and survival.

First, I am hugely indebted to my brother-in-law Prof R S Agarwal, member, ICHR, for his tremendous and invaluable contribution to this book.

I am equally grateful to Mr Govind Sovale – President, Indo-Swiss Centre and Vice-President, Credit Suisse, Switzerland – for providing illuminating suggestions and guidance for this humble venture.

No words will be enough to thank Pt Arvind Bhai Ojha for making us clearly understand the true meaning of all forms of worship of Lord Hanumana. Some of the Hindi sacred writings in this venture have been derived from holy books related to Lord Hanumana, published by the world’s largest publisher of spiritual texts Gita Press, Gorakhpur, whose main objective is to promote and spread the principles of Sanatana Dharma among the general public by publishing Gita, Ramayana, Upanishads, Puranas, Discourses of eminent Saints and other character-building books and magazines.

I place on record my sense of gratitude to Mr Rajeev Saluja for structuring English for the book and his strenuous efforts in making it happen.

My heartfelt appreciation for Mr Shagan Mukherjee and Mr Vishnu Sharma for all they have done to help in the publication of this book. A special thanks is also due for Mr Bhagbat Kumar, Mr Sandeep Kumar and Ms Stuti Rai for their logistic support.

I am truly grateful to my parents Mrs Kusum Lata and Late Mr Madan Lal, who not only passed on high moral values to me but also gave me a milieu at home where I was predisposed to the worship of Lord Hanumana since childhood. The thread of worship continued uninterrupted even after my marriage to Dr A K Agarwal as I was lucky to get the same solemn and pious environment of Lord Hanumana worship there too because my parents-in-law Late Mr Chaman Lal Agarwal and Late Mrs Saveti Devi were also staunch devotees of the Lord. I bow my head in reverence to both of them, who both always showered me with their blessings when they were alive and from up above there after their demise. They all kept me going.

Last, but certainly not least, my family deserves special mention. My husband Dr A K Agarwal, who has been a pillar of strength all through the course of this book, son Ankur, daughter-in-law Sonam and very adorable daughter Nikita, who all helped me plan the overall layout of the book and provided many references for study. Thanks a billion for lending a helping hand and extending unceasing encouragement throughout the project, pushing me farther than I thought I could go. I could not have done this without their support.

Resilience in the face of adversity is the best lesson that I have learnt from Lord Hanumana. Through every up and down and thick and thin in my life, it has been my unconditional devotion towards Hanumana that sailed me through and gave me a belief to stand my ground.
Whenever I felt down and out, I found Him beside me to lend me energy and support and made me rise higher and higher. It is under His auspices that I have grown from strength to strength. It is with utmost pride I present this treasure trove of invocations of Lord Hanumana, in whose praise I have always fallen short of words. I dedicate this book to Him who has made it all happen.
I would also like to humbly clarify that error, if there is any, in text, photographs or meaning has been unintentional and will be corrected in the next edition after getting invaluable feedback from the learned readers.

I also harbour a strong belief that those who peruse the book will be highly blessed with sagacity and affluence by Lord Hanumana. Victory to Lord Hanumana!

Neera Agarwal