Meaning & Message

of
Sunderkand
Ashwani Kumar Ji

Indeed, Mateshwari sitaji has many names and

many forms.
If we are Vedanti, we call it Peace; In the
language of the Yogi, we call it transcendental
state,
The Bhakta sees Sitaji manifested in Bhakti.
In the language of Karma-Yoga, perfect divine
action is personified by Mateshwari Sri Sitaji.
And the devotee, who seeks wealth, is blessed
with riches.

We all seek the benign Grace of Mother Sitaji,

we want true happiness.

As indicated before, Mateshwari Sri

Sitaji's Grace is manifested in many
forms.
Who in this universe does not seek Sri
Sitaji's Grace?
From the Yogi, to the seeker of wealth,
all creatures seek this Happiness, this
Grace of Mother Sri Sitaji.

So this establishment of supreme

happiness and peace are the forms of
Ma Sitaji.

The meaning of peace is different for different people,

some feel that

satisfaction of certain
need or desire will
provide them with
peace, some feel
expansion of their
worldly business will
give them peace,
and like these there are numerous mundane and
materialistic desires that are falsely believed by people
to bring eternal peace and happiness.

But peace is the Mother,

peace is supreme grace,
peace is that love of Lord
which He showers upon all of us.

In Sundarkand Hanumanji sets out in search of

Ma Sitaji, Who is the avatar of Mahalakshmiji.

We all know that Hanumanji like a true devotee,

an obedient son and a humble friend sets out to find
and rescue Ma Sitaji.

This is a story from yore but

carries with it a message
which finds utmost relevance
in our present day lives.
It carries with itself a deep
message and that is the
search of eternal peace.
Sitaji means
Mahalakshmiji, which we
gladly translate as material
prosperity.

Everybody is in a race, and after some

imaginary peace but how many of us are
truly able to feel it around us.
The truth is that action or karma
should be performed to attain
peace and joy and not as a burden.

For Vedantic people Sitaji is epitome of peace;

it is that skill in performing work which takes us
toward supreme and eternal peace; this is the true
meaning of Sri Sitaji.

There is nothing wrong in being busy doing work,

but when we are driven more by materialism
and less by spirituality,
we lose our peace and happiness while performing our work,
and we work more mechanically to finish it
and fail to feel the joy of performing it.

The true meaning of karma is;

performance of an action to
attain inner peace.

If we observe carefully we will

find that all the tough works are
performed by the nature itself
and what has fallen in our share
is the easy work.

The only thing that God wanted us

to do, while performing our work
was to be at peace and feel joy in
our actions.

Sundarkand holds a great

significance in our lives
and conveys to us
numerous messages of
wisdom.

Lets take this opportunity

to understand the true meaning and
messages contained in Sundarkand which
should always influence and guide our lives.

At the beginning of
Sundarkand the
immense army of the
Lord gathered near the
ocean to search for Ma
Sitajiji.

The journey ahead was

arduous with fathomless
ocean on one side and
impenetrable jungle on
the other.
Amidst these ominous dangers the only encouraging thing
was the knowledge of Ma Sitajis whereabouts.

Sitaji was across the

ocean, at Ashok Vatika
and the imminent
question was how to reach
Her?

Who would be mighty enough

to fly across this vast ocean?

What is the message that we are trying to

convey through this story?

Often times we set our heart

on some work and feel that
the fulfillment of it
will bring happiness,
but at the same time doubts
surround us
about achieving our goal.

When the army of the Lord

found itself confronted with
seemingly insurmountable
hurdle, then at that time
Hanumanji climbed up a
tall mountain near the ocean
and made Himself ready to
face the daunting challenges
that lay ahead.
The message being conveyed here is that, we should find
courage in our intellect and take a big leap of faith and let
the worries drown deep in ocean and allow ourselves to fly
high with the wings of faith and determination.

This is the message from the Lord

to uplift our thoughts and reach for
the peace.
With enlightened self we will
certainly experience Ma Sitaji
in the form of peace and success.
Have you ever wondered if peace
has ever pervaded the person with
loose thoughts and character?
The simple explanation is no.

There is a likelihood that we may come across a rabbit with

horns, there is a possibility of extracting oil by kneading sand,
the saline ocean may turn sweet, but there can never be peace
and happiness without uplifted mind and pure thoughts.

I'm sure all of you know

that even after scaling a
high mountain there is
humility in Hanumanji.

We often fail to contain ourselves and never fail to show our

pride even for our tiniest achievements.

Feeling of self pride is not

entirely wrong, but when
complimented with scorn
towards others then this
pride becomes the bane of
our life.
Pride and arrogance
detaches us from the grace of
the Lord and takes us away
from the right path.

For this reason, Hanumanji

is trying to educate us on the
lesson of humility.
If we desire the experience of
Ma Sitaji, that is, peace in
our lives
then we have to enrich our
thinking and make humility
an inherent part of our lives.

So we reach the part where

Hanumanji after offering his
humble obeisance to all
takes to air.

In a short time into his flight

he observed a mountain rise
up from the ocean deeps.
The rising of the mountain
indicated an offer to rest. But
He thought to Himself that
he has just set out on His
mission and any rest would
certainly be an obstacle for
successful fulfillment of the
mission.

People who are not sincere in their effort and who are lazy in
their actions can never achieve their goal as they lack the
faith that is necessary to be successful in ones endeavor.
Hanumanji does not deny the importance of rest, but He
emphasizes meaningful and deserved rest.

Paying His due respects to the

mountain but humbly denying the
comfort of rest offered, Hanumanji
continued on His assignment
sending a strong message that the
effort should be consistent and
resolve to fulfill a task should be
steadfast.

The path of a true devotee is not easy to trudge

The next obstacle that
confronted Hanumanji was
Surasa who dwelled in the
depths of the ocean.
Seeing Hanumanji approaching she
opened her huge mouth blocking His
path.

She invited Hanumanji to enter her mouth, but Hanumanji

kindly declined the offer and promised to visit her on His way
back.

Surasa was adamant and opened her mouth wider,

very much evident how we people act in our lives.
Often times when starting a new venture or mission
we lose ourselves in planning and dreaming of enjoying
the fruits of it without any performance of action.
Our mind is vulnerable to desires of
materials and exercising control is
difficult, but one who is able to rein
his desires is the one who attains true
happiness.

Hanumanji finding Himself

in this difficult situation,
shrunk His physical size and
made a quick visit to Surasas
mouth and came out.
The message is that it is important to exercise austerity.

There is nothing wrong in spending and enjoying the fruits

of prosperity but one should do so only when one can afford
to do and only after accomplishing what we had set out to do.

Sweet are the uses of austerity One has to persevere, has to

perform diligently before enjoying the fruits of prosperity.
One should have desires,
but intellectual ones,
those desires that bring
goodness all around.
It is definitely wrong to
become slave to our
desires since it deviates
us from the path of true
karma and spirituality

Now a little further ahead Hanumanji met a female demon

Simhika.

Simhika had this demonic gift

that she could stop and catch
any living being just by
holding their shadow.
She tried to catch Hanumanji
but met with her own end.
Simhika represents jealousy,
and where ever she resides there is
no peace.

Jealousy is one of the biggest sins and dwells

and grows inside the human mind.

It may not be directly evident

but can be felt through our behavior
and interaction with others.
People who despise others
because of their success and prosperity
certainly are prey to this treacherous trait.
Where ever jealousy grows,
the true growth of intellect and
spirituality is greatly retarded.

Jealousy is like an enemy which attacks

secretly and it certainly destroys our
capabilities seriously.
We should get rid of jealousy as
Hanumanji got rid of Simhika

Hanumanji during this momentous

task left for us many messages to
imbibe in our lives
He was confronted by comfort in the form
of mountain but He set it aside humbly,
signifying that rest is mandatory but only
when one has worked hard and deserved it.

Next His fruitful path was blocked by Surasa or desires,

which He gladly declined and bowed to Surasa respectfully
and continued, because desires exercised in control and
for the welfare of others is not wrong.
But when confronted with
jealousy He gladly put an end
to it sending a strong message,
that never in our lives should
we ever cave in to the sin of
jealousy and we should nip it
as soon as we can.

Healthy competition with others is good and engenders a

spirit of tolerance and discipline.
Healthy competition leads to progress and prosperity for
all and teaches us to meet adversities with fortitude.

With the destruction of jealousy Hanumanji crossed the

great ocean and reached Lanka and started to inspect the
surroundings around Him.

This is precisely the

message conveyed by
Sunderkand, that our
actions not only should
bring completion to our
work but also present us
with peace and serenity.
We should always bear in
mind when Lord manifests
Himself among human beings, His presence is for a reason
and His deliberate actions educate us and are a lesson for us.

He resides among us to enrich our minds and take us

towards the right path.

Lord understands that actions, speak louder than words, and

thus refrains from a mere discourse and engages in a practical
approach to educate us.

The Lord is Almighty!

He does not need to
persevere to
achieve anything.
Just for the sake
of dharma, for
truth and
righteousness
and for the
people of this
universe.

Almighty becomes one

of us and by example
He educates and
enlightens us.
We may ponder
at times, if Lord
is all-powerful
then why does
not He Himself
accomplish everything?

We have to realize that

even with human form we
can overcome seemingly
insurmountable hurdles.
The Lord shows us our
hidden strengths by
achieving such difficult
feats by assuming human
form and setting an
excellent precedent for us.

He adorns our lives in the

form of Sitaji and Ramji.

He showers us with His

immense grace and bliss
in His incarnation of
Hanumanji.
He does this all to
firmly establish the
principles of dharma
and justice.

Glory to Lord Hanuman who is the

ocean of wisdom and virtue!