“Basdeo Panday, Trinidad’s first Hindu Prime Minister, charmed the massive 50,000 person crowd at January’s ‘Puja 2000,’ when he burst into a popular Hindu song to Lord Hanuman… Never before has a Prime Minister even attempted to pray with the Hindu community in such a real and emotional manner. By the second verse the crowd joined in. As the Prime Minister shouted at the end ‘Prem se bolo, Hanuman Ki Jai’ [‘Sing with love, Hail to Hanuman’] the crowd of thousands joined with him in a single voice that would have been heard for miles away…”

Over the centuries, Hindu saints have produced a multitude of devotional compositions, all of which have brought some level of love and joy to the hearts of countless who have basked in the stirring strains of their divine lyrics.

Yet, there’s something about the 40-verse ode to Hanuman that especially resonates with devotees, as so vividly conveyed in Hinduism Today’s account of Trinidad and Tobago’s elated crowd of chanters.

Echoing the voices of their ancestors, who found solace in the Chalisa when they were first brought to the island to toil in subhuman conditions under an oppressive system of indentureship, you can imagine how they must have sounded in that moment, a moment that can only be described as a most unique and powerful expression of Hindu spirituality.

To fully understand the depth of this moment, one must understand the Chalisa, and to properly understand the Chalisa, one must learn of its author — the famed Hindu poet, Tulsidas — and how he came to write it.

Born roughly 500 years ago in India’s Gangetic plains, Tulsidas himself was no stranger to hardship. While he is said to have miraculously uttered the words “Rama, Rama!,” at the time of his birth, as if declaring to the world the auspiciousness of his ultimate life’s purpose, his parents abandoned him anyway, when his horoscope revealed he would be a harbinger of misfortune.

Though raised thereafter by a family nurse, she died when he was just a child, an event that spurred him to look for his parents with hopes they would take him back. Discovering, however, that they too had already died, he was left to fend for himself, and so began living as a wandering beggar.

Noticing Tulsidas’ cleverness and impressed by his natural talent for language, Naraharidas, a devotee of the Ramananda tradition, took the young boy under his wing, initiating him as his disciple, and narrating to him his first ever hearing of the Ramayana.

Thus cultivating the seed of devotion to Rama that seemed to inherently exist in the young boy, Naraharidas bestowed his blessings on Tulsidas, who later went to the sacred city of Varanasi, where he received an education in philosophy, Sanskrit grammar, and the regional language, Awadhi.

Despite such erudition, several accounts say that after Tulsidas got married, he became so fond of his wife Ratnavali, that he was actually unhinged in his passion for her.

Once, when he returned home from a trip, he wanted nothing more than her amorous embrace, but could not fulfill his desire because of a violent storm that made it unsafe for her to cross the river from her mother’s house, where she was staying while he was away.

Unwilling to wait until the next day, Tulsidas, in the middle of the night, dove into the river, grabbing a floating log to help him against the turbulent waters. Barely making it to the other side, he swiftly jumped onto the banks and ran to his mother-in-law’s house in an uncontrolled frenzy.

When Ratnavali saw Tulsidas in his maddened condition and discovered what he had done, rather than share his amorous enthusiasm, she became horrified and embarrassed by his actions.

Concerned not only for his reputation, but his overall spiritual welfare, she immediately scolded him, exclaiming that if he had even half the amount of devotion for Rama that he had for her body, he would be a fully realized saint by now.

Stricken by her chastisement, Tulsidas left the home in a pensive state, and began making his way back to the river. Upon reaching the bank from which he came, he suddenly understood, to his horror, that the log he used to help him cross the stormy waters was actually a corpse.

At that instance, as the first light of dawn appeared in the sky, revealing in stark fashion how truly blinded by lust he was, a new kind of light emerged from within Tulsidas, revealing, more clearly than ever before, the real spiritual purpose of his life.

Resolving there and then to re-dedicate his life to Rama, Tulsidas began living as an ascetic, traveling from one place to the next, yearning for the sight of his beloved deity, just as he once yearned for his wife’s.

One day, while offering water to a tree, a ghost occupying the space appeared before Tulsidas, wanting to give him a boon for having quenched his thirst. With only one goal in mind, Tulsidas instantly stated his desire to see Rama, to which the ghost responded that only Hanuman, Rama’s most loyal servant, could fulfill such a wish.

It just so happened, the ghost told Tulsidas, that Hanuman, disguised as a leper, attended the public narrations of Rama regularly given in Varanasi. If Tulsidas could somehow gain his favor, then perhaps the famed vanara (the race of intelligent monkey warriors Hanuman belonged to) would be willing to help.

Losing no time in heeding the ghost’s advice, the next day Tulsidas went to the purported spot of the narrations, and immediately took notice of an old leper listening attentively near the back of the audience.

As the narrations came to a close, Tulsidas quietly followed the leper into the woods, after which he made himself known and fell at his feet, begging for the chance to see Rama. 

First feigning ignorance, the leper was eventually won over by Tulsidas’ persistence, and subsequently revealed his true form as Hanuman. Pleased by Tulsidas’ devotion, Hanuman told him to go to the city of Chitrakuta, where he would be able to see Rama with his own eyes.

Following Hanuman’s instructions, Tulsidas moved to Chitrakuta, where he indeed had two visions of Rama — one of him and his brother Lakshman on horseback, and another in which Rama appeared to him as a young boy.

Enraptured by these visions, Tulsidas became inspired to compose his own telling of the Ramayana, and became even more inspired when Shiva and Parvati came to him in a dream, ordering him to write it in the local Awadhi language, so that the story could be easily accessible to all sections of society, not just those who were adept in Sanskrit.

Taking on the challenge with enthusiasm and vigor, his version, known as the Ramacharitmanas (“Lake of the Deeds of Rama”), was an enormous success. As the years rolled by and its popularity grew, so did the reputation of his own spiritual potency, with many claiming he could even bring the dead back to life through the mere sound of his poetry.

Hearing of such tales, Mughal emperor Akbar ordered Tulsidas to appear at his court in Agra. Though, by this time, the saint had grown quite old and had been suffering a myriad of health problems, including joint pains and boils on his body, he could not refuse the call of the emperor, and so reluctantly made the trip.

At court, Akbar demanded Tulsidas show him some of the miracles he had been hearing about. The saint, however, said he was no sorcerer, but a simple poet and devotee of Rama, who was the true worker of miracles. Falsely perceiving Tulsidas’ humility as an outright act of defiance, the emperor had him thrown in jail.

It was in this jail that the culmination of Tulsidas’ spiritual evolution manifested in a most amazing way. Rather than appeal to any sort of external forces for the solution to what was perhaps his most vulnerable moment, as he once would have done, he turned inward, composing the Hanuman Chalisa.

And why did he, a self-proclaimed devotee of Rama, pray to Hanuman during possibly his darkest hour, rather than Rama himself?

On a personal level, it was Hanuman who enabled him to see Rama. By Hanuman’s compassion, Tulsidas was able to deepen his relationship with Rama to a point he could not have imagined, so it was through his gratitude to Hanuman he felt most intimately connected to his cherished deity.

On a more general level, however, Hanuman, as Rama’s most loyal devotee, is his most empowered servant, described as being the perfect combination of bal (strength), buddhi (intelligence), and vidya (wisdom), who can remove obstructions to success in any endeavor.

And for those endeavoring to turn inward and deepen their connection to his beloved Rama, he helps them all the more, especially when they call to him with a sincerity that often only manifests when a person feels particularly helpless.

Akbar laid witness to this truth himself, for after Tulsidas completed 40 days of praise to Hanuman from the prison, an army of monkeys descended on the city, wreaking havoc in the palace, the bazaar, and people’s homes, forcing the emperor to apologize profusely to the saint and set him free.

Though an army of monkeys may not come to the rescue of those who recite the devotional poem today, the Chalisa still contains the ability to set any person free.

This freedom is experienced in a most unique and powerful moment of Hindu spirituality, when we reach out to the Divine in our darkest hour, and experience the intelligence, wisdom, and strength of a higher power that assures us we are of a spiritual nature that is beyond the struggles of this world.

This is the true miracle Akbar should have been looking for, a miracle Tulsidas displayed through the journey of his own life, and a miracle that can be perceived by any who recite the Chalisa with the right intention.

Hanuman Chalisa provided by Shlokam.org