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Hanuman
The heart center is well known and expressed in Hindu mythology. It is the heart-full story of Hanuman, the monkey god. Hanuman leaps in one bound across the entire ocean to save Sita, the wife of Ram (God). In this measure he provides a metaphor of how we each have undiscovered reservoirs of inner strength that can be awakened in the service of love. There is another aspect of the story that relates to the assemblage point inside the heart center. In a dramatic display he shows his devotion to God by taking his sharp talons and ripping open his chest to show that on every bone, muscle, organ and throbbing heart resides the name of God/Ram. It is the combination of steadfast devotion and recognition that God resides in all of us as love in the heart center that makes Hanuman a special god. The heart has the ability to be unconditionally present, without choosing for or against what is happening at the moment.
There is also the connection to Neem Karoli Baba, and the Hanuman statue. This particular Hanuman has his own story. Ram Dass suggested that a murti (a statue) of Hanuman be commissioned in India. Neem Karoli Baba loved Hanuman, the monkey god who tears open his chest to reveal his heart and his love. A calendar with a picture of Hanuman was delivered to a devotee who became enchanted with the form of flying Hanuman. He flies towards Lanka in search of Sita, carrying Ram's ring in his hand. It symbolizes love in motion.
The same family of sculptors who carved a statue of Hanuman in Maharaji's Vrindaban ashram in India began sculpting a sixteen-hundred pound statue. Elders polished the murti for days and a painter provided color to a face that holds compassion for every viewer. In 1978 Hanuman was taken to Bombay and send on a cargo ship to San Francisco. As in the legend Hanuman successfully travels half way around the world in search of those who need his love.
No one yet know where Hanuman would live. Satsang members had numerous discussions. Oregon? Mount Shasta? New York City? Canada? Agreement was not reached. A devotee in New Mexico volunteered to house the murti until a permanent home could be found. Hanuman was brought on a trailer to the small village of Arroyo Seco near Taos. Hanuman remained on this trailer for another year. He was driven to Embudo Station near the Rio Grande river for a 1979 bhandara celebration. Finally Hanuman was moved to a farm in Taos. He sat in a little adobe barn on the property. Years passed. The little barn was renovated and improved and evolved into the ashram. When I was in high school my parents lived in Pennsylvania at the time. One day they found and bought a beautiful oil painting. It shows a train moving past trees that are shrouded with bright, red chili peppers hanging to dry. There is a little yellow water tower in the background and a stone building with a small sign that reads, Embudo. It would be more than twenty years before I would accidently drive into a restaurant at Embudo, New Mexico and recognize the spot where the painting was created. The same spot where Hanuman took a little rest.
