About the Book

You have now to make the character of Mahavira your ideal. See how at the command of Ramachandra he crossed the ocean. He had no care for life or death! He was a perfect master of his senses and wonderfully sagacious. You have now to build your life on this great ideal of personal service. Through that, ail other ideals will gradually manifest in life. Obedience to the Guru without questioning, and strict observance of Brahmacharya - this is the secret of success. As on the one hand Hanuman represent the ideal of service, so on the other hand he represents leonine courage, striking the whole world with awe. He has not the least hesitation in sacrificing his life for the good of Rama. A supreme indifference to everything except the service of Rama, even to the attainment of the status of Brahma and Shiva, the great World - gods! Only the carrying out of Shri Rama’s best is the one vow of this life! Such whole- hearted devotion is wanted.

Introduction

The life story of Hanuman is but the life story of Sri Rama himself as, wherever there is Sri Rama there is his devotee Hanuman. Needless to mention, where there is Hanuman. Sri Rama is bound to be with him. It is only in the physical level that they seemed to have two different bodies. Their minds and souls are forever united. It might be mentioned here that, once Sri Rama had questioned Hanuman. Kastvam, which means: ‘who are you?’ Immediately Hanuman replied:

‘O Master, from the standpoint of the body, I am your servant, from the standpoint of the individual soul I am a part of You and from the standpoint of my higher Self. it is You who have become myself This statement forms the essence of all the scriptures.

Swami Vivekananda, the great disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, has placed Hanuman as an ideal for the youth. He has even exhorted youths to make Hanuman as their ideal. By inculcating the noble qualities of Hanuman, they can be successful in their lives.

Let the character of Anjaneya be your ideal. He lived his life entirely for the sake of Sri Ramachandra. He even leapt over the sea for Him. He did not care about life or death. He was a master of his senses. He was extraordinarily intelligent and stands as a glowing example of dedicated service to one’s master. Through such virtues, one can become successful in the course of time. The secret of success is unwavering obedience to the Master’s words and the observance of strict celibacy. Maruti was not only an obedient servant to his master, but was .an image of leonine strength, through which he won over men. We are in need of such a character in today’s world.

As we all know, the youths of today are discarding our age-old traditions. They are adopting western ideas and modes of living under the false impression that they lead to bliss. Swami Vivekananda strongly believed that the national and human ideals, if pursued by the youths, will continue to influence them throughout their lives. They will also help mould their character. Such an ideal personage was Anjaneya. His life is not only limited to the youths but is an ideal for our politicians too, as they are responsible for the welfare of the nation and its citizens. The purpose of this book is to make people read it and mould their character and embark on a mission of serving the nation.

Revered Swami Harshanandaji Maharaj has encourag-ed all my activities and has been blessing me throughout. He has most kindly consented to write a preface for this book. I offer my humble salutations to him.

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