THE STORY OF HANUMANASANA | Front Splits and the Ramayana

SPLITS, KNEELING POSE, & LOW-LUNGE | The Epic Ramayana

I want to share perhaps the most famous of the Hindu epics today, called the Ramayana, my favorite story of all time. Over the past few posts, I’ve given some background on who Vishnu is, our preserver deity, as well as the snake that is his resting place (resting Vishnu pose), and the eagle god who offers him safe carriage (eagle pose). I mentioned that Vishnu, as the protector, is the god who comes down in avataric form to help us restore dharma here on earth.

 

One of his best-known avatars is our beloved lord Rama. But this story isn’t about Rama alone, but rather Rama and his faithful servant, the monkey god, Hanuman, and there are at least three poses named after this tale. I’ll jump right in.

Rama and Hanuman

 

Prince Rama was destined to rule the kingdom of Ayodhya. But his jealous step-mother wanted her son to be king instead, and through some back-handedness, she succeeded in banishing Rama into the forest for 14 years. So unjust was this banishment, that Rama’s wife, princess Sita, and his dear brother, Lakshmana, begged to accompany him in his exile, unable to bear life without his presence, and knowing that Rama was the true dharmic king.

 

Rama and Sita

 

Rama and Sita are said to have the most pure and beautiful love–they are the god Vishnu and goddess Lakshmi, after all–and Lakshmana the most loyal brother and friend. So although they had to give up their riches to live in the forest, they eventually found peace, wandering from ashram to ashram to learn from the great sages and ascetics who resided there, camping wherever their hearts desired. Sita in particular had a great talent for communicating with animals, and would speak to the birds and deer and rabbits along the way.

 

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana

 

What they didn’t know, was that the demon-king Ravana had taken notice of Sita and fallen in love with her. While our heroes settled into their ashram, Ravana was devising a plan to kidnap the princess.

 

Observing Sita’s deep love of animals, the evil Ravana commanded one of his demon henchmen to take the form of a spectacular golden deer, and sent him into the forest. When Sita spotted the beautiful creature, she begged Rama to go and catch it for her. Rama asked his brother, Lakshmana, to care for Sita in his absence, and went out in the woods to capture the golden deer.

 

Sita spots the golden deer

 

As soon as Rama had caught up with the deer, miles from the ashram, the deer transformed back into its demon form and let out a cry–one that sounded EXACTLY like Rama’s own voice.

 

I just love this image by artist Sonali Zohra

 

From back at the ashram, Sita and Lakshmana heard Rama’s cries of pain, and Sita begged her brother-in-law to go and save her husband. She was so insistent, that Lakshmana eventually agreed, but not before drawing a protective circle in the dirt around her, promising that as long as she stays within the circle, no harm will come to her. Then Lakshmana dashed off into the forest to save his brother.

 

Lakshmana’s protective circle

 

Sita waited within her magic circle for what felt like ages. Eventually, an old beggar man approached her, begging for just a small bit of rice to ease his pangs of hunger. Sita’s kindness was her most powerful attribute, and she couldn’t turn the beggar away.

 

Sita leaves her circle

 

The moment she stepped out of her circle to help him, the old man transformed into the demon king Ravana, grabbed Sita, and swept her away.

 

Ravana flew into the air with Sita in his arms, as she tried desperately to escape his grasp. For miles they flew, until an eagle being named Jatayu (cousin of Garuda) saw them, and tried to fight Ravana to free the princess. But the eagle was struck down. Sita continued to fight with Ravana, as he flew her further and further away. At one point, she called down to some monkeys she saw in the trees, and, hoping to give Rama some clue of her whereabouts, she tossed her jewelry down to them.

 

Sita dropping jewelry to the monkeys

 

And so Ravana succeeded in kidnapping princess Sita, carrying her across the sea to his demon kingdom of Lanka.

 

When Rama and Lakshmana arrived back at their camp, Sita was gone.

 

They set off desperately into the woods to find Sita, but there was no sign of her. When they found the dying eagle, Jatayu, all he could tell them was that a demon had her, and had headed south. Rama spent years searching the woods for his wife. But no matter where he and Lakshmana looked, they couldn’t find her. His desperation increased by the day. She was gone.

 

Then, one day, in the final year of Rama’s exile, Rama and Lakshmana saw some monkeys carrying the princess’s jewelry. When questioned, the monkeys brought Rama and Lakshmana to meet their monkey rulers–creatures called vanaras, monkey-like beings with incredible gifts. This is when Rama first met Hanuman.

 

Sri Hanuman

 

To know Hanuman is to know loyalty, courage, and kindness. Hanuman is no ordinary monkey. He is the son of an apsara (similar to an angel) named Anjana, and of the wind-god, Vayu, and as such, he has great powers and abilities–for example, he has the power to travel on the wind, leaping great distances as if carried by the breeze. But when Hanuman was a child, so carefree and silly and monkey-like was he, that he one day mistook the sun for a mango, and when he leapt up to take a bite, he got so close to succeeding that that sun-god, Surya, struck him down and cursed him with short-term memory.

 

Baby Hanuman

 

So Hanuman never remembered that he was divine, the son of the wind. For most of his life, he doubted himself, considering himself a simple, silly monkey.

 

Until Rama arrived.

 

When Hanuman looked upon Rama, he immediately recognized him as God. Unlike anyone else, Hanuman could see that Rama was Vishnu, and he knelt down before him and vowed, with complete certainty in himself, that he would rescue the princess Sita.

 

Hanuman in Vajrasana (or Virasana)

 

Which brings us to our first pose: hero’s pose, Hanuman kneeling before Lord Rama in absolute devotion.

 

Variations of this kneeling pose are called virasana (which translates to hero’s pose) and vajrasana. A vajra is a weapon (like the one laid in front of Hanuman above) said to have magical powers that make it harder than diamond. Hanuman is famously called Bajranga Bali, aka Vajra-anga-bali, which means “one whose limbs (anga) are like a vajra”–an honorific name exalting Hanuman’s incredible strength.

 

Vajrasana

 

There’s a great anecdote in the sage Tulsidas’ version of the Ramayana, where Rama looks upon Hanuman and is confused by his strange appearance. Rama asks Hanuman, “what are you? Are you monkey, or are you man?” and Hanuman responds, “When I forget who I am, I serve you. When I remember who I am, I am you.” This pose represents that idea for me: when we are in our human (monkey) form, we serve god. And when we remember our true nature–when we remember who we really are–we see the divinity within ourselves as well.

 

So Hanuman had complete faith in himself to serve Rama, and to return princess Sita to him. The story continues that Hanuman climbed to the top of a mountain, and though he had no idea where he was going, he took a giant, split-legged leap of faith straight across the Indian Ocean.

 

Hanuman’s leap

 

As the son of the wind, he was carried exactly where he needed to go, from India to Lanka, and due solely to his faith, was able to locate Sita under a tree outside Ravana’s harem.

 

So Hanumanasana is exactly that–Hanuman’s leap of faith across the sea to find Sita.

 

Hanumanasana

 

Hanuman managed to relay the message to Sita that Rama had never stopped searching for her, and now that Hanuman had found her, he promised they’d return with an entire army of monkeys to rescue her. And for good measure, Hanuman decided to do a bit of destruction on his own before returning to Rama: he set his own tail on fire and ran rampant through the kingdom, burning down as many buildings as he could along his way.

 

And so Hanuman kept his promise: he taught his vanara army to build a bridge all the way across the sea so that Rama could lead the monkeys into battle against the demons. An epic fight ensued, and ultimately, the demons were defeated.

 

Just for fun, this is the full statue behind me in those pics in Bali, depicting the monkey army overtaking one of the demons, Ravana’s brother, Kumbhakarana, in the battle of Lanka

 

Hanuman had completed his task: Ravana was killed, the demon kingdom was destroyed, and Sita was returned home to her beloved. Rama was finally crowned the rightful King of Ayodhya.

 

Tulsidas’ Ramayana goes on to tell of a moment when King Rama and Ma Sita wanted to thank Hanuman for his devotion. In their palace, they gave him gold and jewels and pearls as a symbol of their gratitude. But seeming to revert to his monkey nature, Hanuman instead started chewing on the pearls, as if trying to crack them open. The king’s ministers were horrified and scolded Hanuman. But when Sita asked him what he was doing, Hanuman said: “while these are beautiful gifts, I’m afraid they have no value to me, unless somehow inside is hidden the name of my Lord Rama.”

 

Those gathered in assembly laughed at this, and one minister joked to Hanuman: “if you’ll only wear that which contains Rama inside, how can you wear your own fur?”

 

Hanuman, famously, knelt down in front of his lord’s throne and split open his own chest to show them that there, within his own heart, were the names of Rama and Sita, forever etched upon his soul.

 

Hanuman kneeling in Anjaneyasana

 

Low-lunge pose is called anjaneyasana in Sanskrit. Anjaneya means “son of Anjana,” aka Hanuman, so this pose is directly named after our monkey god, devoted servant and loyal friend of Ram, opening his heart.

 

Anjaneyasana, “Son of Anjana” Pose aka low-lunge

There is so, so much more I can say about this amazing story, and how taking these shapes of Hanuman in asana impacts our lives. But even in writing this, I’m struck with a strong desire to just chant the names:

Ram Ram Ram Sita Ram Ram Ram

Sita Ram Sita Ram Sita Ram Sita Ram

Jai Sita Ram Jai Jai Hanuman! Hanuman Bolo!

When we kneel in virasana, we’re Hanuman in devotion to god and recognition of the god within ourselves. When we bow into any version of Hanumanasana, we’re taking our own leap of faith across our own oceans. And when we open our hearts in a low-lunge, we are blissfully connecting to the divine within and around us.

It’s written right there on our hearts.

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Join us this October in Bali for a Gods of Yoga spiritual immersion, to learn the stories of the gods and how to weave them into your yoga classes, all while experience traditional ceremonies with a Balinese priestess in the sacred mountains.