Hanuman Jayanti
Hanuman Jayanti is a significant day for Hanuman devotees. Across the country, devotees celebrate Hanuman Jayanti with great enthusiasm, following their respective customs. Due to regional variations, it is observed on different dates in different places. In North India, Hanuman Jayanti is celebrated on the full moon day of Chaitra month. In Karnataka, it is observed as Hanuman Vrat on the thirteenth day of the waxing moon in the Margashira month, while in Tamil Nadu, it is primarily celebrated as Hanumath Jayanti on the new moon day of the Pausha month. On this day, Hanuman devotees fast with great eagerness and recite the Sundarakanda from the Ramcharitmanas. People visit Hanuman temples and offer sindoor mixed with jasmine oil. Hanuman is considered one of the most easily pleased deities among all deities. Just by reciting the Sundarakanda, Hanuman Chalisa, or the Ramayana, he becomes extremely pleased and removes all the troubles of his devotees.
How was Hanuman ji born? Let us know the story of Hanuman ‘s birth-
Once upon a time, there lived a forest dweller human king on Rishyamook mountain, whose name was Kesari and his wife’s name was Anjani. His wife was a very pious Sati Sadhvi. Anjani performed very difficult penance for Lord Shankar to get a son. She was also a Shiva devotee. All these incidents were happening under Dev Leela(Gods pass time ).
Lord Vishnu had to come to the world in the form of Lord Shri Ram to kill Ravana on earth and Lord Vishnu was cursed by Narada Muni that in his human incarnation he would have to take the help of Vanars (Form of human who look like monkeys living in forest only) . Therefore, when Mother Anjani pleased Lord Shiva and asked for a son as a boon, Lord Shiv ji thought why not become a devotee of Lord Vishnu and help him.
In this manner, contemplating upon it, Lord Shiva manifested his own radiance (which was similar to his own image) and entrusted the responsibility of delivering that radiance to Mother Anjani to Lord Pavan Dev. According to Lord Shiva’s command, Lord Pavan Dev conveyed radiance to Mother Anjani. Mother Anjani conceived through the radiance of Lord Shiva, and as a result, she obtained the divine son, Bajrangi, in the form of the eleventh Rudra-avatar, endowed with supreme brilliance. In this way, Lord Hanuman, with the radiance of Lord Shiva and the assistance of the Pavan Dev reached Mother Anjani, and Kesari Nandan, who was the husband of Mother Anjani, became the earthly father of Hanuman. Therefore, in this way, Hanuman is considered the son of Lord Shiva, the Pawan dev, and Kesari Nandan. Confirming this, Tulsidas ji has also said in Hanuman Chalisa –
Sankar Suvan Kesarinandan Tej Pratap Maha Jagvandan.
There can be no greater devotee of Lord Hari than Lord Shiva and till now there has been no greater devotee of Lord Shri Ram than Hanuman ji. In this way, it is Lord Shiva himself who always kept chanting the name of Hari and all his works were of Lord Shri Ram.
How did he get the name Hanuman?-
Once upon a time, Bajrangi considered the Sun as a red fruit and set out to get it. Bajrangi considered the rising sun to be a fruit and jumped out with his hands and legs, roaring like a lion. This was happened because it was God’s act because at the same time Rahu wanted to devour the Sun. Therefore, to save the Sun from the wrath of Rahu, Bajrangi jumped towards the Sun and stopped Rahu midway. Thereafter Bajrangi injured him with his mace. Due to the attack of Bajrangi, Rahu became extremely frightened and fell unconscious. Rahu went to Indra and narrated the whole story of his injury and through deceitful words, claimed that a powerful Vanar is coming to challenge Indra’s sovereignty and seize his throne. In this way, Rahu incited Indra to engage in combat with Bajrangi.”Indra has always been greedy for his power. Indra got scared after hearing Rahu’s deceitful words and at the same time Indra, Rahu and all the deities came to fight with Hanuman ji.
When Indra reached there, he could not recognize Bajrangi and all the deities including Indra attacked Bajrangi. Hanuman ji defeated all the deities including Rahu in the war. At that moment, King Indra anxiously struck the mighty and powerful Hanuman ji’s chin with his thunderbolt. Even though Hanuman ji was so powerful that he could have easily defended himself against the thunderbolt, but he respected the dignity of the weapon and endured its impact. The strike of the thunderbolt caused Hanuman ji to lose consciousness.
When Pawan Dev saw his son in an unconscious state, he got angry and said to all the deities – ‘I will kill Indra, the one who has killed my son Bajrangi. I am the living being of all pastures and in the form of air. ‘ Saying this, he breathed upward and sucked the air of the entire world. When the wind deity sucked the air from the world, there was an uproar in the entire universe. All living beings became distressed and started dying without air. Seeing this condition of living beings, all the gods including Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh got scared. At the same time, all the gods like Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva , Agnidev , Kuber , Varundev etc. came and started saying – O Pawan Dev ! Why are you destroying all the life for your son? Pawan Dev said- If my son does not come alive then I will destroy the entire creation. Hearing these words of Vayu Dev, all the gods started requesting Pawan Dev for mercy. All the gods requested him and said, O Wind God, please do not get angry. Then with the blessings of Lord Brahma, Bajrangi came out of the unconscious state. Pawan Dev was happy to see Bajrangi in conscious state. After that Brahma Vishnu and Mahesh adorned the son Bajrangi with various types of abhaya daan and divine powers. Also, all the gods gave him various types of boons which are as follows: –
Vishnu ji said- Oh wind god! This son of yours will be very fearless and long-lived.
Mahadev ji said – The fire emanating from my third eye will never harm this child, and weapons like my infallible trident etc. will not be able to do any harm to him.
Brahma said- ‘O Marut! From today my Brahmastra , Brahmadanda , Brahmapash and other weapons etc. will not be able to do any harm to it.
Kuber said- All the demons will be destroyed by this son of yours.
Varun said- Friend Pawan Dev! From today onwards your son will be as strong as me and will never feel tired even in the biggest battles.
Indra said- ‘I give a boon to your son that from today onwards even my infallible thunderbolt will not be able to have any effect on him and his body will be like a thunderbolt and because of the thunderbolt struck by me in the chin, this son will be famous in the world by the name of ‘Hanuman ‘. Thus Bajrangi was named Hanuman. In this way all the gods gave blessings and went to their respective worlds.
By respecting the thunderbolt, Hanuman ji respected the thunderbolt but he violated his own honour, that is why Bajrangi became famous by the name Hanuman in the world.
Why did the sages curse Hanuman ji: –
Hanuman had become extremely majestic and powerful after receiving various boons and divine powers from the gods. His brightness and strength was full of great bravery but Hanuman ji was still in childhood and he was of very fickle by nature, hence the sages thought that this child has to do great work in his life. Because of his playfulness, this child might do some harm to himself with his powers. Therefore, the sages cursed Hanuman ji so that he forgets his powers and when the time comes, when reminded by some great person, all his powers come back.
Worship organized on Hanuman Jayanti:
Method of worship:
Get up early in the morning and do your daily rituals and be pure . Hanuman ji loves red color very much, hence if possible then wear clean red clothes. After that, clean the place of worship and sprinkle it with Ganga water to purify the place of worship. Then make a Swastika and place a stool on it. Spread a red cloth over the stool. Then keep the red Akshat and place the idol or picture of Shri Hanuman ji on it. Place the idol or picture of Shri Ram on the right side of Hanumanji and place the Kalash on the left side. First of all, worship Lord Ganesha, then worship Lord Ram and then worship Lord Hanuman.
Establishment of Kalash:
Take a copper or brass Kalash, make a Swastika on it, tie a silent thread on the mouth of the Kalash , after this put Ganga water , a coin , a steep turmeric , a betel nut in the Kalash and apply mango leaves to it with a bowl full of food. Cover it and keep the red pot and install the urn on the left side of Hanumanji.
Worship:
First of all apply Tilak to Lord Ganesha and offer him yellow clothes . Then offer them flowers , fruits and sacred thread. After this, offer yellow clothes to Shri Ram Ji. Offer fruits , flowers , sacred thread. Apply tilak to Hanuman ji. Offer flowers , fruits , red clothes. Worship the Kalash and the lamp and light the lamp. Offer Dakshina etc. and perform Aarti. Then mix the fruits etc. offered and distribute them as Prasad to all the devotees.
original source: https://www.sanatanjyoti.com/blog/hanumath-jayanti/1500