Hannuman

A photo of the Monkey God Hannuman, taken at the Hindu temple in Durban

A long time ago there was monkey God who lived in the forests of India. He was a loyal and true servant to the all-pervasive, all encompassing God called Ram. One day Sita, Ram’s consort gave the monkey God a set of pearls that she herself got as a gift from Ram.  She gave him the pearls as a thank you for his great and loyal service to them. They were priceless, the best pearls ever created, worth a fortune.

The monkey God ripped the string of pearls apart and started to bite each pearl in half. As he did this he would look into the halves that he had bitten and throw them over his shoulder. Sita was distraught; she screamed at him “What do you think you are doing?!!”

The monkey God very calmly carried on biting the pearls in half and looked at the inside and while doing this he told her that he wanted to see if Ram was inside of the pearls.

Sita started laughing hysterically “You crazy monkey. Of course Ram is not inside of the pearls, he is too big. Hahahahahahahahaha. Stupid stupid monkey, that is like saying Ram is inside of you. Hahahahahahaha.”

The monkey God dropped the pearls and looked up. He took his bare hands and ripped open his entire chest. Sita was stunned and as she looked at him she saw that every bone and every organ had the name ‘Ram’ scratched out on it. The monkey God looked at her and simply said “If Ram is not inside of something, then I do not want it near me, for it has no worth.”

As you know, I went to Durban the last few days. More correctly, I went to Kwa-Zulu Natal. I visited many places there, all of which I will still tell you stories about. But I want to tell you first about what was probably the most profound thing that was said to me during my stay.

We went to a shopping mall called the Pavilion. Beautiful little mall. We walked around and it was rather late already and then my friend decided to take me to a shop. It was called ‘Moon Beams’ or ‘Moon Dreams’ or something to that affect. He had stunning things in his shop. From Hindu statues to Fairies, and tons of Dream catchers and sun catcher, that hung from the ceiling. An elderly Hindu gentleman runs the show. He looks at me, greets me and then asks if I am also fasting now like all the Hindus. I explain to him that I am not a Hindu, but a Pagan and that to me the dot not only shows that I am spoken for in a relationship but it also represents the third eye. I explained to him more or less what Paganism is and that my Patron Gods happen to be from the Hindu pantheon and that I am obsessed with the Hindu culture. He asks me if I have a Shiva statue and I tell him that I have a Shiva, Kali, Hannuman, Ganesha and Laksmi, but that I am looking for a Saraswati. No problem he says and takes my details. Say he will let me know when he has it and then we can make arrangements for my friend to get it for me. We start talking about books and he tells me that he normally gives a copy of the Bhagavad-Gita, for free, with every Hindu statue that he sells, I thank him but explain to him that  I have a copy already. And the conversation carries on. Eventually I remember that I am looking for the Guru-Gita and I ask him if he knows where I can get one. He starts giving me directions and tells me that if I leave now I can still make it in time before they close. But I am at the mall to meet my friend Quentin for supper. Alas I cannot go.

Very quickly he says that I should not worry and that he is going to go to Temple in anyway and he will get me a copy of the Guru-Gita. By Friday he should have it.  He will let me know when he has it, if it takes longer, and then we can work out how to get it to me. His shop is filled with beautiful things and they are expensive. The first thing that goes through my mind is what if I cannot afford the Guru-Gita. I have seen the prices on the Internet and they are not cheap. I ask him what it will cost me. He quietly looks at me, touches my shoulder and says “No my friend, for God’s work, we do not charge” I had had an extremely spiritual day already with the sites that I visited and when that man touched my shoulder and told me that “for God’s work we do not charge” I wanted to cry. It was profound, that a total stranger could possibly say something like that. A man who makes his living by selling things said, “for God’s work we do not charge”

I know that I am busy re-evaluating things in my head and that, that man’s words sparked a process of internal search. I don’t know what the outcome will be. I don’t know what the result will be for me, my students, or my Tradition. All I do know is that, not just due to those words but many events, although those words were the catalyst thing, I am not the same. I have changed. And I cannot explain it to you or draw it or …..anything. I am just different.

A Hindu man that I do not know at all, changed my life in a matter of 1 minute. Let’s see what the future now holds.

Mwah!!