Swami Vivekananda would often echo what the Upanishads have declared: “Arise, awake and stop not till you reach your goal.” The tendency to rest and take breaks during work is a major obstacle to success. Rishis have advised us that once we set out to achieve something, we should not stop until we succeed. Swami Chinmayananda would say, “If we rest, we rust!”
In Goswami Tulsidas’s Shri Ramcharitmanas, we see how Hanuman’s eagerness to serve Sri Rama, coupled with his sincere effort, helped him cross over the obstacles of temptation and move forward on the path to success.
Hanuman encountered three obstacles while flying the 800-mile ocean stretch to reach Lanka in search of Sita. First, appeared Mainak Parvat, a pleasure resort in the middle of the ocean. Hanuman was invited to rest for a while, but he said: “Until I have completed Rama’s work, there is no rest for me”. Hanuman had full faith in the Lord and he jumped across the ocean.
Whenever our work is noble, we should not hesitate to pursue it to completion. Even when we start with enthusiasm, there is a temptation to rest or take a break, very often to enjoy some wayside distraction. Once we give into it, the law of inertia takes over and then, we cannot move ahead.
Viveka and Chaturtha — wisdom to discriminate and the alertness to judge situations and act accordingly – are qualities required to progress towards success. Noble virtues are also necessary. As Hanuman continued to fly across the ocean, there came Sursa, the mother of snakes. She obstructed his path and threatened to eat him. Hanuman pleaded with her to let him go and promised that once he had completed the Lord’s work he would come back and readily enter her mouth. But, she showed no compassion. So, Hanumanji increased in size as she opened her mouth wide. He became larger still and Sursa opened her mouth even wider. Then, Hanumanji instantly became small, went into her large open mouth and came out before she could close it. He said, “I went into your mouth and you did not eat me, so now you must let me go”. Sursa was pleased with Hanuman’s intelligence and blessed him for the successful completion of his journey. We must know when to use force and when not to use it. At the same time, we should not turn everything into a prestige issue. Often, when we insist on asserting our opinion, we lose sight of the objective and do not move towards it. The goal is important; we must know when to become big and when to become small, when to be humble, and when to be strong.
As he proceeded on his journey, Hanuman felt he was being pulled down into the waters by a mysterious force. It was the demon Sinika, who, having dragged her victims down, planned that she would then proceed to devour them. Sinika stands for jealousy. Jealousy can never bear the rise of another. It is jealousy that pulls us down and devours us. Jealousy in one’s own heart and jealousy invoked in the hearts of others is the cause of downfall.
