How Hanuman Ji Taught Bheem and Arjun a Lesson

Although we all worship Hanuman ji for providing strength, intelligence and knowledge because Tulsidas Maharaj has written in Shri Hanuman Chalisa that – “Buddhiheen Tanu Jaanike Sumiraun Pavankumar, Bal Buddhi Vidya Dehu Mohin Harahu Kales Vikar.”

Because Hanumaan ji also has a name Bajrangbali which means the one with a body as powerful as a thunderbolt, therefore many devotees worship Hanumaan ji for providing power or strength. Because according to Tulsidas Maharaj ji, Hanumaan ji himself is the master of incomparable strength, that is, so much strength that cannot be compared. But very few people understand that the life of Pavanputra also teaches us to be humble.

Hanumaan ji himself has always shown to be humble and have a sense of dedication in his life. Now just see that even after being so powerful, Hanumaan ji himself always remained a slave at the feet of Shri Ram, even he always served the monkey king Sugriva.

Hanumaan Ji did many works in Treta Yug i.e. during the time of Ram Ji for which he is praised. But in today’s article, we will know what works Shri Pavanputra did during Dwapar Yug i.e. during the time of Shri Krishna.

Once upon a time, Bheem, the middle brother among the Pandavas, became very proud of his strength, and why not? It is said that when Duryodhan tricked Bheem into eating poisoned kheer and threw him in the water to kill him, he reached Naglok. There, the King of Snakes gave him a concoction which gave him the strength of 10,000 elephants.

Due to this strength, Bheem started becoming proud of his powers. When Lord Krishna realized this, he remembered Hanumaan Ji and asked him to teach Bheem the lesson of restraint.

Now since Bheem was also the son of Pavan Dev and Hanumaan Ji was also born with the blessings of Pavan Dev, both were brothers. So Hanumaan Ji, being the elder brother, thought of teaching a lesson to his younger brother.

So the story goes something like this that once when the Pandavas were spending their time in exile and Bheem was going to his hut in the evening, Hanumaan Ji took the form of an old monkey and lay down on the road and he made his tail long and spread it on Bhima’s path.

When Bhima came out from there, he saw the tail and asked the monkey to remove it. But Hanumaan Ji kept pretending to be asleep. Again Bhima got angry and asked Hanumaan to remove his tail. But Hanumaan Ji again ignored him. On this, Bhima again said that will you remove your tail yourself or should I remove it from the way?

On this the old monkey said – “Do whatever you think is right brother. I am old, I cannot move much.”

On this Bhima got angry and tried to lift Hanuman ji’s tail and move it out of the way but he could not do so. Bhima tried again but could not do so again.

On this Hanumaan ji said – “What happened brother? You look very healthy, but you are not able to remove the tail of an old monkey?”

Now Bhima got even more angry and he tried again with more strength, but he failed again.

Hanumaan ji again taunted him and said – “What happened brother, remove the tail!”

But Bhima failed again.

Then Bhima realized that this is some divine being who has come to test me. So he asked Hanumaan ji – “O God, please come in your real form and give me darshan.”

Then Hanumaan ji agreed to Bhima and showed him his real form and said – “You and I are brothers because we are the sons of Pavan. There is no doubt that you have a lot of strength, but it is very important to have restraint along with strength. One should never be proud of his strength.”

Then Bhima apologized to his elder brother and said that from now on he will never be proud of his strength.

Similarly, once Arjun also became very proud of his archery skills. Then Hanumaan ji came at the behest of Shri Krishna to test him and teach him the lesson of wisdom.

The story is that once Arjun reached Rameswaram while travelling and he saw the stone bridge built by Ram ji’s army in Treta Yuga. And he said – “Shri Ram himself was such a great archer, then why did he need to build a bridge of stones? He could have built a bridge of arrows himself using his archery skills.”

When Arjun was saying all this, a small monkey came there. That monkey said – “You are probably underestimating the power of monkeys. If a bridge of arrows was built, it would not have been able to bear the weight of the monkeys. The bridge of arrows is so light that it will not be able to bear even my weight.”

Arjun got angry at this and said, “Perhaps the bridge made of Ram Ji’s arrows could not bear the weight of his army, but if I had made the bridge, the entire army would have crossed it and nothing would have happened to the bridge.”

The monkey again said, “The bridge made by you will not be able to bear my weight.”

Arjun considered this as a challenge and said in anger, “You probably do not know who you are talking to. I am Arjuna, the greatest archer on earth.”

On this Hanumaan ji said, “If you are such a great archer then make a bridge, I will see whether I will be able to walk on that bridge or not.”

Arjuna immediately accepted the challenge and made a bridge of his arrows and said to the monkey, “Now you walk on this bridge.”

Accepting Arjuna’s words, as soon as the monkey took the first step on the bridge, the bridge collapsed. And the monkey taunted Arjuna and said – “O best archer of the world, the bridge of your arrows could not bear the weight of even one of my steps, and you are gone.”

Then Arjuna realized that this was no ordinary monkey and asked him to show his true form.

Then Hanumaan Ji showed him his true form and said – “It is not good to be proud of archery. It is equally important to have discretion and restraint along with it.”

Then Arjuna bowed to Hanumaan Ji and apologized.

Once Lord Shankar himself taught Arjuna a lesson. We will know about it in the next article.