HANUMAN AND BHIMA -STORY
Draupadi was walking with the Pandavas, and she saw some nice flowers on the mountain.
She said, “Oh this flowers are very nice. Can you get them for me?”
Yudisthira Maharaja said, “We are on pilgrimage here, and we are living here in the palace very nicely by the mercy of Kuvera. We already have so much facility, so don’t get attracted to these flowers. This will cause trouble.”
Bhima said, “I will get it.”
Bhima climbed over the rocks, and he was walking.
After walking for a some time, he saw a monkey near a banana garden.
This monkey was very old, and his tail was lying across the path. Bhima wanted to go and get the flowers. But the tail was lying on the road, and ksatriyas, brahmanas and higher class people do not cross over animal bodies. Crossing over animal bodies is inauspcious, and crossing over human bodies is insulting, and crossing over Vaisnavas bodies is very bad.
So Bhima was thinking, “I shouldn’t cross over this space,”
so he looked at the monkey and said, “Move your tail from here.”
So the monkey said, “Who are you?”
“I am Bhima the Pandava, and I am very powerful. So please move your tail.”
The monkey said, “I am so aged. I came here because of all the bananas, so I can just sit and eat the falling bananas. I’m too old to move. Can you please move my tail?”
So Bhima said, “Hm! Alright.”
When Bhima went to touch the tail he found it to be more hard than the Himalayan mountain. Then he put two hands there and tried to lift it, he couldn’t even raise it a hair’s breadth from the earth. It was so heavy. Bhima realized his mistake.
“What is the strength you have in your tail? Obviously you are no ordinary monkey. You say you cannot move because you are so old, but then I cannot even lift your tail. So who are you? Please tell me.”
“You are my brother,” the monkey said. “I am Hanuman, your older brother.”
So then Bhima said, “I have heard that you became as big as the universe. I want to see that.”
“If I do that now,” Hanuman said, “The earth will break. The earth was strong enough in Treta-yuga that I could stand on it in that big form, but now if I do that it will break.”
“At least show me part of that form,” Bhima said.
“Ok,” Hanuman said, “I will start growing, and when things get disturubed, then you tell me and I will stop.”
And then Hanuman started growing to the size of the universe, and then big pieces of rock started falling from Meru, and the earth was tilting, and ocean was rising.
So Bhima said, “Stop there! Don’t grow any more.”
Then Hanuman gave a benediction to Bhima, that whenever Bhima would perform a big task on the battlefield, then Hanuman will roar. He will stay in the flag of Arjuna, and whenever Bhima would take an elephant and throw it on another elephant, Hanuman would go “Aaaaaargh!” That would make 100 charioteers on the other side collapse, It would be such a ferocious sound.
Thus Pandavas got the blessings of Hanuman ji before the battle.
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