[Draft] The Hanuman Syndrome
"We all are. We all are Jambavant. Think, why our ancestors exhorted us with "Soham"," Rishi said addressing the whole class and then collapsed on the floor.
The Hanuman Syndrome
The conversation about Hanuman Syndrome started after class in which Rishi introduced an Indian epic game, the Ramayana. Aman rushed out of the class to catch up with Rishi after he finished teaching.
Rishi had alluded to the role that a good understanding of culture-shaping texts like the Ramayana played in interpersonal communication and illustrated it with an example of Hanuman Syndrome. Aman had not heard of any such syndrome. He requested his teacher to explain.
Rishi: Aman, have you ever heard about how Jambavant helped Hanuman realize his true power?
Aman: No, I don't think I'm familiar with that story. Can you tell me more about it?
Rishi: Of course! In the Ramayana, when Hanuman and his fellow vanaras were searching for Sita, they reached the shore of the ocean. However, they were faced with the daunting challenge of crossing it to reach the island of Lanka, where Sita was held captive.
Aman: That sounds like a difficult situation. How did Hanuman overcome it?
Rishi: Well, initially, Hanuman was unsure of his capabilities. Despite being reminded of his extraordinary strength and abilities by his peers, he doubted himself. It was then that Jambavant, the wise and experienced bear king, stepped in.
Aman: What did Jambavant do to help Hanuman?
Rishi: Jambavant reminded Hanuman of his lineage and divine heritage. He recounted the tale of Hanuman's birth and childhood, highlighting his extraordinary feats and potential. Jambavant's words ignited a spark within Hanuman, reminding him of who he truly was and what he was capable of.
Aman: So, Jambavant played a crucial role in boosting Hanuman's confidence and self-belief?
Rishi: Absolutely! Jambavant's guidance and encouragement were instrumental in helping Hanuman realize his true potential. With newfound determination and faith in himself, Hanuman leapt across the ocean, displaying his immense strength and prowess.
Aman thanked Rishi for sharing the story. Rishi liked Aman's restlessness. Rishi always enjoyed extracting analogies to discuss timeless wisdom that resonates with our lives today.
Aman’s Questions
The next morning, Rishi opened his WhatsApp account several times to read Aman’s messages.
Aman: Isn’t the whole of India suffering from Hanuman Syndrome? Who will be the Jambavant for us? How could one believe that one is facing a Jambavant?
Aman’s messages made Rishi smile, but he didn’t know what to write at first. He just liked the messages, and after a while, he suggested that they talk when they meet the next time.
Those innocuous questions pushed Rishi deep in his mind and prodded him to process the concept of the Hanuman Syndrome more. Knowing Aman, he knew that he was going to have a tough time getting across to Aman the relevance of ancient Indian epics in the modern era. Aman, anyway, would not have left him in peace unless he felt convinced.
Aman’s commitment to understanding the world around him was total; he was not tuned to social norms and had no respect for seniority when it came to debates. Like the simple Puritan he was, what mattered to him only was the quality of the argument.
Aman still did not understand why Rishi discussed the Hanuman Syndrome in the course ‘Understanding Cities’
The Town-Gown Gap
Aman was not sure why he was pushed to understand the communities around the university campus when all he cared about was coding.
To convince Aman, Rishi marshalled the challenges that many American cities were facing as an example—the world-class universities surrounded by blighted and distressed cities—captured by the phrase ‘the town-gown gap.’ He contrasted the American experience with what was happening in ancient India, where a university was conceptualized as a lotus flower rising above and drawing its sustenance from the communities around it.
The town-gown gap, the most glaring feature of the way modern universities function, had to be eliminated. In its effort to pool local resources, the regulatory body in India introduced a mandatory course on community engagement after studying both India and the world.
Rishi took a conducive regulatory regime to broaden the university's interface with the communities around it. He was led by his intuitive understanding that without understanding others, it was not possible to build a good understanding of self in modern India—a quest that has defined and differentiated India from other civilizations since time immemorial.
Benign Others, Ignore Others
After living in India for 18 months, Rishi had developed some clarity around the main reason for India’s continued poverty. After many weeks and months of internal manthan, the framework he had arrived at felt so deep, pervasive, and all-inclusive of Indian reality that it started to inform and appear in the most unexpected places and events.
When Rishi was driving Aman back to the university campus, a tractor was driving on the wrong side of the road with its headlights off. The presence of the tractor could only have been spotted through the light from the passing vehicles on the highway. A portion of the road was dug out, and Rishi swerved to save his car and prevent mishaps. Such a glaring gap in providing basic amenities irritated Rishi. Such tiny and innumerable irritants were a regular feature of Rishi’s life in India. He had prepared himself for the insensitivities and idiocies of people; however, he was confident that he would be able to negotiate with the streets and highways of India. After all, had he not grown up in India, he said to himself?
The F-word escaped from his mouth while keeping the vehicle safe. Realizing a student was sitting with him, Rishi apologized and explained why the f-word was used.
Rishi explained to Aman how India’s geography facilitated a benign sense of others. Indians were able to find ways to override the evolutionarily wired propensity to be wary of others, and hence, they didn’t have an adversarial sense of others, and that was what had been helping India for aeons and would continue to save it from imploding. Aman was not familiar with such arguments, and Rishi had to explain the concept of the theory of minds to him. It was clear that Aman was still struggling, so Rishi used concrete examples from his life journey to drive his point across.
Rishi looked at Aman’s face and found it utterly devoid of any experience of arriving at meaningful knowledge. He suggested that they take up the topic again some other time. Rishi knew that other students would benefit from their discussion and thus started to search for an occasion to introduce the concept.
It was during his internal manthan (churn) that he chanced upon the idea of introducing an Indian epic game, Ramayana, lying around in his office in his next class.
Others and Love
Rishi decided to invite his students inside his mind and let them experience how his life had unfolded so far. He was exploring ways to help students see why they needed to invest time in understanding others.
He shared with his students one of the finest lessons he had learned: The most important questions in our lives are almost all trivial. He then asked Rohini why her parents decided to call her Rohini. Rishi then moved on to ask about the most profound and yet everyday feature of mammalian life: Our ability to love others.
“Tell me, how many of you have been in love?”
Only a few hands were raised. Rishi then repeated his question with a slight modification.
“How many of you have experienced love?”
Again, only a few hands went up. Surprised by the non-response, Rishi’s eyes followed the eyes of some of the students, and he saw the focal point of their gazes; they all were looking at Aman sitting next to Rohini. Aman and Rohini were the only students who came across as a couple in the class of almost 120 students.
“Tell me, what happens when we are in love?”
There was a pin-drop silence. Rishi could not believe his eyes. The look of young students and their hormonal-mediated existence felt hollow.
“Come on. Don’t tell me that you have not been or have not experienced love. Don’t you love your parents, siblings, and friends?”
Students reacted as if they saw the light for the first time. They looked a little ashamed at their narrow interpretation of the word “love.”
To leave them with a sliver of discontentment, Rishi moved to an entirely different topic after repeating his question: “Think about it and share your perspective on love with me in the next class.”
Not sure about how much effort students were going to exert to think about love, Rishi shared one instance from his own life.
One day, back in Pennsylvania, when Rishi had some financial issues, he discovered 3000 USD that someone had left in his backpack, with a request that he not report the money to the police and use it for his personal needs.
The question before the class was to think about what moved someone to help Rishi.
Rohini and Jambavati
Knowing about the possible connection between Rohini and the daughter of Jambavant, Jambavati, Rishi assigned Rohini to explore the story and come prepared to share it in the next class.
Rohini was ready for the rabbit hole that Aman had pushed her into. The next evening, Rohini was a changed person. She had no idea that her name was a node connected to many other nodes of Indian stories. Being aware of how often Rishi had mentioned Jambavant, she focused on the connection between Rohini and Jambavant.
In the class, what Rohini told students blew Rishi’s mind. While doing research on her own name, Rohini was left with the feeling that her name was the portal to experience time travel to understand Indian cosmology. The richness of the Indian perspective made Rohini warm up to the perspective that Rishi was working in the class.
Watching insatiable hunger for stories in his class, Rishi decided to share what he experienced the night, when he broached the topic of Jambavant.
Silverback Gorilla and Jambavant
While working in Rwanda, Rishi learned about Rwanda being the only home left for silverback gorillas. When he discovered that the cost was very steep to see those gorillas in their natural habitat, he had given up on the idea. A week later, he met an American woman who was ready to give him a free ticket to go and see the gorillas; she felt it was such a big miss for Rishi not to see those gorillas. The night before the planned visit to the Virunga mountains, Rishi had such a vivid dream that he didn’t leave his house for a week. In his dream, he saw a silverback gorilla after escaping his enclosure, charging and then merging with him. To his dismay, the gorilla had disappeared inside him.
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Ramayana, the Board Game
It was during the demonstration of the board game that Rishi mentioned “the Hanuman Syndrome.”
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Aman’s Message
Many years later. Rishi received a message from Aman out of the blue. The message was about the discussion that he had with Aman about Jamvavant and Hanuman.
“Rishi Sir, After many years, I understood the message behind Jambavant and Hanuman's story. Here is my two cents on the story.1
Sir, Jambavant can represent anyone within society who assumes the role of a guide, a source of inspiration, and a conduit for empowerment. These individuals may be teachers, mentors, elders, community leaders, or even peers who possess wisdom, experience, and a willingness to support others on their journey.
Moreover, Jambavant's presence can often go unnoticed or unacknowledged, as these guiding figures may not always stand out prominently in our daily lives. They could be ordinary people performing extraordinary acts of kindness, offering words of encouragement, or providing valuable insights that help others navigate life's challenges.
However, for Jambavant's influence to be truly effective, Hanuman must be present—that is, individuals must be receptive and open to receiving guidance and support. Just as Hanuman needed to be present to receive Jambavant's wisdom and encouragement, individuals within society must be willing to recognize and embrace the guidance offered to them.
The analogy, therefore, suggests that while Jambavant-like figures may exist all around us, the true challenge lies in cultivating the awareness and openness needed to recognize and benefit from their presence. By being receptive to the guidance and wisdom of these Jambavant, individuals can embark on their own journeys of self-discovery, growth, and realization of their potential within the societal framework.
Both have to be present for the magic to happen.”
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Connecting the Dots
“Indians have to bear more responsibility for the world,” Rishi told another student with name Rohini, who had joined his class many years later. Rishi was of the opinion that whether India aspired to it or not, it would be forced to play a more significant and responsible role in the world.
“And you mean to say we can’t unless we realize our inherent power that we have forgotten? But where is our Jambavant?” Rohini inquired while commenting on Rishi’s words.
"We all are. We all are Jambavant. Think, why our ancestors exhorted us with "Soham," Rishi said, addressing the whole class. Then he collapsed on the floor, and his unconscious body started to produce what sounded like a gorilla in pain interspersed with the sound of a bear in pain. Students, not knowing what was unfolding before them, all ran out of the classroom.
[….TO BE CONTINUED]
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Disclaimer: Nothing I have written here is set in stone. I am putting these ideas to start a conversation and bring people to discuss and debate the issues captured here. Give me feedback, and it will help me learn. I will keep updating this article.
A note from one of my students, Aryan Soni, contained this content. Thank you, Aryan, for helping me find a closure for this story.
For a start I would like to say that we are all like Hanuman with enormous bodily potential, compassion, and knowledge. Like him we are playful and capable of playing with others like a team member. And like Hanuman we are also confronted with problems which seem unsurmountable.
It is at that moment we seek a mentor like Jambavant and there are very few such noble souls with deep insights and spiritual experience. You have to seek such a person and if we are lucky, a Jambavant will present himself or herself at your door step and wait for you to ask the question. And a distressed Hanuman asks "How am I going to cross the Ocean?" and "How am I going to help this wonderful helpless friend called Rama whose wife has been kidnapped and carried across the ocean?" What the mentor does here is open up this syndrome into two dialectical opposites, namely Desire and Destiny.
Desire is born due to one's interactions with family, society, strangers and texts/ scriptures. This is a knowledge system that you get from the world outside and you convert it as yours, often following/ mimicking fellow beings around you. Your love for food, entertainment and sports arise from this.
Destiny, on the other hand is 'Destiny Naturally Acquired' (DNA), something that you have in your system, crystallized down the centuries of your genetic existence. Do we have the power to tap into this naturally acquired strengths and manifest them as one's capability?
What Jambavant does is to make Hanuman look at his Destiny, the powers that he has acquired as the son of the Wind God and a celestial angel like Anjana. He makes him focus on that strength, invoke it and unleash the values of such a potent energy. Hanuman, like most of us, has no clue about what his capabilities are. When he realizes his DNA, he has to just take a leap of faith and lo! behold, he is up there flying fearlessly, blessed by his father's powers which he has inherited.
The relevance of Hanuman for us is to look for such a mentor, learn to unconditionally surrender to that knowledge system and then convert them into nuggets of wisdom so that more such Hanumans can be ignited to take that crucial step forward, away from mundane desires and transit towards what is stored in one's destiny.
For some strange reason the term 'Destiny' has always been connoted with something that is beyond one's control, held by some super-natural force. I, for one, believe strongly that the time has come now to think of Destiny as a very scientific idea. It is something that one can decode not in a bio-genetic lab, but in the laboratory called Life and her Knowledge systems. Life is about making the correct choices through constant enquiry and to understand the powers stored inside us. That's what Hanuman did, thanks to the mentorship of Jambavant.