Hanuman, Swayamprabha’s transformation and teleportation in the Ramayana.
While on their search for Lanka, Lord Hanuman and his army of vanaras (monkeys) were once looking for water and by chance, found a cave that belonged to a hermit named ‘Swayamprabha’. The cave was abundant with food, water and shade. So much, that all those vanaras wanted to do was eat, swim and have rest.
After a brief while, Hanuman instructed his army to continue the search for Sita, to which the hermit Swayamprabha said there was no need to get tired and look for someone when they could simply eat, rest and enjoy.
To this, Hanuman told her about the importance of his mission and stated that true joy is only in satisfying others’ needs and that only by serving others, we can experience true happiness.
This opened Swayamprabha’s eyes and made her realize that she had been a fool all her life, just enjoying the luxuries of her own world (the cave) and never helping anyone else. And she then decided to help Hanuman and his army, just to experience how it’d be like to help others.
By using her powers, she transported (*maybe teleported) Hanuman and his army to the southernmost part of the country, on a beach where they met Sampati, the vulture Jatayu’s elder brother. And thereafter they went ahead and found Lanka and subsequently succeeded in their mission.
In this story, Hanuman plays an important role, but Swayamprabha’s part is really interesting because it actually throws light on two things:
- A hermit’s (Swayamprabha) transformation
2.) The possibility that in the past the hermits knew magic or techniques of teleportation.
*A lot of research has been done on the technologies mentioned in the Mahabharat like Atomic bombs, Surgical procedures, relativity etc. but no one really knows the truth.
The Ramayana and Mahabharata are full of such interesting and unheard stories that make us think and get inspired. And I’ll be writing more of them in the coming weeks.
You can share your views in the comments. :)
