Often, the way any story or lore is manufactured from Bharat, it is almost always the case that it contains a deeper essence stitched into it. This has a dual purpose- to not lay down the deeper essence into the hand of those who won't be able to fathom its depth and the stories hence told would continue to pass on from generation to generation. Slight changes in the structure of the story won't make much of a difference to the secret contained within. My initial skepticism met with an enigma when I unraveled through these brilliantly written texts. To date, the more I go through the stories, the more surprised I become.
The Bhagavad Gita, one of the most celebrated texts all across the world, is a small part of the historical epic- the Mahabharata. Written by Krishna Dwaipayan Vyas, this masterpiece is the largest epic in the world. The craft, subtlety, and depth of his poetic expression across 200,000 verses make Mahabharata one of the most complex web of knowledge to have ever embraced humanity.
While studying it, I came across a particularly fascinating incident that marks the juncture of two great historical events- the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It seemed to me that there was a great message embedded there in a sublime fashion. Firstly, I would describe the story and then would try to decipher what lies beyond it.
Pic credit: Link
The story goes like this:
After Yudhishtir, the eldest of the Pandavas became the King of the world, the Kauravas invited him into a game of dice. Shakuni, with his wicked intent, made sure the gamble led the Pandavas to lose everything and they were forced into 12 years of exile. They roamed from forest to forest and lived a life of great sacrifice. While Arjuna was in heaven for some time and the Pandavas with their mother Kunti along with their wife Draupadi were living in the Narayanasrama forest, one day, out of nowhere a thousand-petaled lotus flower flew and fell into Draupadi's feet. She felt enamored seeing this divine lotus with a captivating aroma named Sugandhika, and feeling a deep desire to possess these, asked Bhim to bring more of it. Bhim, out of his love for Draupadi, went on in search of it from the direction where it came.
The way through the forest was not an easy one. However, being the son of Pavan, he was unstoppable. When he reached the foothills of the Himalayas from where he had to ascend, an old monkey lay by his path with his long tail. Bhim asked him to remove the tail from his path. But the monkey was in no mood to oblige. He asked Bhim to jump over him and go. But being a valiant Kshatriya from the Kuru race who hasn't for once compromised on ethics, he couldn't have jumped over someone. This enraged Bhim and he tried to warn the monkey. The monkey calmly asked him to remove his tail himself if he was in such a hurry. Enraged by a sudden burst of ego, he tried all his might on that frail long tail but alas! With all his might, he couldn't even lift it, let alone displace it. That made him realize the monkey he crossed paths with was not an ordinary one. The bubble of his pride burst and on enquiring about his identity, the monkey revealed that he was Bhim's own elder brother Hanuman! Hanuman knew where Bhim was going and warned him that the thousand-petaled lotus was from the lake of Kuber's garden. It is not a place for mortals, it is a land of the Gods. He showed Bhim the way to the pond of thousand-petaled lotuses and promised to always stay by his side. Before disappearing, on the special request of Bhim, Hanuman showed his majestic form in which he jumped over the seas to land in Lanka. His form was so bright with a whitish brilliance that Bhim's eyes couldn't contain the view.
There can be many interpretations of the above extract. For example, how pride becomes a barrier to ones ascent to divinity etc. But I would present my interpretation that would be relevant to the people who practise some form of Kriya Yoga. And to the best of my guess, this interpretation is not coincidental, it is intentionally shaped into this story.
First, we would like to set a background to understand the story in this context. Firstly, it is to be noted that Draupadi is a personified representation of the core of feminine energy present in every human being - Kundalini. Kundalini is coiled in the Muladhara, and desires to be uncoiled to reach the sahasrara- the thousand-petaled lotus. But how would the desire manifest into ultimate liberation? It is with the uncoiling of the Kundalini to rise up from the muladhara chakra to the sahasrara chakra. The ascent of this energy would be through the prana vayu. Bhim is the son of Pavan, or Vayu. And so is Hanuman. In Yoga, it is explicitly mentioned that there are 49 vayus that govern our system. Broadly classifying it into 5 vayus, we have Prana vayu, apana vayu, samana vayu, udana vayu, and vyana vayu. Out of them, prana and apana vayus are of prime importance to the Yogis. Because Bhim goes out through dense forests, ascending through them, passing through all hurdles and reaching to the foothills of the Himalayas to satisfy the desire of Draupadi, Bhima can be seen as a personification of prana vayu. The journey through the dense and tough forest can be seen as the ascent of prana vayu through the chakras upto the agna. It is said that there are no paths beyond the tail of Hanuman (Agna) with which it would be humanely possible to reach the pond of Kuber. Only when the intellect matures fully to realise that prana and apana are to be merged does the doorway open. This is the case with ascent of kundalini. While there are methods to reach from muladhara to agna, the way from agna to the sahasrara is a pathless path. There are none. Hence, hanuman can be seen as a personification of apana vayu.
According to the Bhagavad Gita (4.29), when a yogi merges Prana and apana vayus into stillness, the vayus can neutralize and pave the way for the ultimate communion.
अपाने जुह्वति प्राणं प्राणेऽपानं तथापरे |
प्राणापानगती रुद्ध्वा प्राणायामपरायणा: ||
This is what happens when Bhim (Prana) tries hard to cross agna, but unless it realizes its nature and merges with apana (Hanuman), the way to Kuber's lake of the thousand-petaled lotus (sahasrara) is not possible to reach.
When a yogi merges the prana into apana and vice-versa to neutralize the life energies, he sees an intensely bright hallow of white light in the agna, the intensity of which is unimaginable and unbearable. This is what was described by Hanuman's magnificent brightness. And thus, the pathless path to the Sahasrara can be jumped to, with an intense amount of faith.
In essence, kundalini (Draupadi) coiled in the Muladhara as a huge pool of energy desires to uncoil into ultimate ecstasy, fulfillment, and liberation (thousand petaled-lotus), is aided by prana vayu (Bhim) which ascends through all the chakras (the dense forests with lots of hurdles), into the agna (foothills of the Himalayas beyond which journey to Kuber's pond is humanely impossible as it is the land of Gods), meets apana vayu (Hanuman) at the agna, they merge together with an intensely bright light and the pathless path to the Sahasrara gets unlocked. Reaching the Sahasrara is the goal of Bhim (prana vayu) in this context. This can be thought of as the technique of Kriya Yoga, explained in lucid personification.
Thus, this simple extract from the Mahabharata, when seen from a different perspective, is a comprehensive guide to the technique of ultimate liberation. Whether Bhim met Hanuman at a specified place in the geography of this land is open to debate, but they both must meet inside the human being for the being to reach to its ultimate.
This is what is so unique about the stories that are written and told in this culture. I hope this perspective added some value to your life.