ARJUNA & HANUMAN

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ARJUNA & HANUMAN

Source:http://ramakrishnamath.com/

 

Arjuna once got a very big gnawing doubt. If Rama was really a good

archer,why did not build a bridge of arrows? Why did he have to

struggle so long with a monkey army for the bridge? He very much

wanted to meet Hanuman and get the answer to this question. While he

was on a pilgrimage in South India he prayed a lot to meet Hanuman

and once he finally did meet him in an old temple where RamNam was

being sung.

 

Hanuman was sitting in a corner quietly meditating on Ram.He asked

him, " If Rama was truly a great archer as he claimed why did he not

think of building a bridge with arrows?

 

Hanuman laughed and said, " How could he? How can a bridge of arrows

hold the weight of us monkeys? " Arjuna said, " It should be possible.

I can build such a bridge now if you want "

 

Hanuman and Arjuna entered into a bet. Arjuna will build a bridge of

arrows and if Hanuman is able to walk on it, Hanuman will enter fire

else Arjuna will.

 

Accordingly, Arjuna got ready to build the bridge. Hanuman sat in a

corner repeating RamNam. When the bridge was built, Hanuman still

uttering Ram's name, kept his tail on it. The bridge broke into

pieces.

 

Seeing this, Arjuna became despondent. As per the bet, he had to

enter fire. He was not worried about dying. He felt terrible that

his entire archery knowledge was a waste.

 

Hanuman tried to dissuade Arjuna from carrying out the bet. But

Arjuna was adamant. He lit a fire and was about to jump into it when

an old brahmin came along. Seeing a man ready to jump into fire he

asked what the matter was.

 

Both Hanuman and Arjuna repeated the entire story. The brahmin

said, " For any bet you need a witness. Now who is your witness? Both

Hanuman and Arjuna said that there was none. The brahmin said, " This

is not a valid bet as you do not have any witnesses. Can you repeat

your bet? I will be the witness this time. Whoever fails will jump

into fire " .

 

Now, Hanuman was fully aware that he could bring down the bridge.

Arjuna knew that doing it the second time was not going to change

the results. Still feeling very despondent, he prayed constantly to

Krishna and built his bridge.

 

Hanuman knew that he could bring down any bridge and he had just

done so. As soon as Arjuna completed the bridge Hanuman hit his

tail, supremely confident that the bridge would crumble to pieces.

 

Lo! Nothing happened. He put one foot, again the bridge stood. He

started walking on it. The bridge continued to stand.

 

Hanuman now got angry, He started pacing up and down furiously still

the bridge was very much in tact.

 

He came down to accept defeat. But he felt that something was wrong.

He came up to the brahmin and asked, " Who are you? "

 

Now Krishna revealed his form. He said, first time Arjuna had the

feeling that he was building the bridge whereas Hanuman thought all

the time of Rama. So Rama's power cannot fail and he won.

 

Second time, humbled by his defeat, Arjuna uttered Krishna's name

for every arrow and so Krishna's name cannot fail. Meanwhile Hanuman

was sure that he would win the next time and so he thought he was

bringing down the bridge which why the bridge stood the test.

 

Neither of you failed. The Lord's power won that is all said Krishna

and reconciled them both.

GOMU <gokulmuthu