It was the time when the Pandavas were in their vanavasa after losing in the gambling game of deceit twice. Arjuna had gone to Svarga to learn weaponry, to gain great missiles and weapons, and to learn the art of dancing, singing, and playing various instruments. Meanwhile, Indra sent Sage Lomasha to Earth to take the rest of the Pandavas and Draupadi to Tirtha Yatra.
Before Sage Lomasha came to the Pandavas, Sage Narada had come and told Yudhishthira about the importance of doing the Tirtha Yatra, and how we are required to stay, eat, and have total control of our senses during that, and then went away. Sage Lomasha came to the Pandavas and told them that Indra had sent him to take them all to the Tirtha Yatra.
Yudhishthira was very happy to hear this. He, along with the rest of the Pandavas and Draupadi, started the Tirtha Yatra. Yudhishthira asked Sage Lomasha, “Why do good people suffer and bad people rejoice so much, O revered Sage?” At this, Sage Lomasha said, “Yes, the bad people do rejoice, but for a certain period of time. But there comes a time in the future wherein they attain their destruction, and that destruction removes them from their root itself.”
Now, they approached Prabhaasa Kshetra, near Dwaraka, where Krishna, Balarama, and Satyaki came. Balarama was very angry on seeing Yudhishthira, the king of the whole Bhaaratavarsha, in jataa, and in the props of a forest-dweller. He expressed his anger at Duryodhana. Satyaki and Balarama said, “We should immediately go to Hastinapura with our troops and kill that wicked Duryodhana with the Kauravas and Dhritarashtra.”
They said, “We would crown Yudhishthira on the throne, and if he doesn’t agree, then we would crown Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu as the king of Hastinapura. Until Yudhishthira completes his vanavasa and agyaatavaasa, Abhimanyu would rule Hastinapura, and once Yudhishthira returns, he will return the kingdom to Yudhishthira.” Krishna noticed this.
Krishna said, “Dau Bhaiya! Satyaki! Don’t take any decision in a hurry. The Pandavas won’t accept the kingdom which is won by somebody other. They will fight, gain victory over the Kauravas, and then accept the kingdom. So, no need to go there and wage a war unnecessarily.” And thus, Krishna spoke and explained to Balarama and Satyaki. Pandavas agreed with what Krishna said. After consoling Yudhishthira, Krishna, Balarama, and Satyaki returned to Dwaraka.
After this, the Pandavas reached the Himalayas. There, Yudhishthira said, “From here, the places are unreachable by the people who don’t have high power of penance. To enter this region, we need to keep special control over our senses and should go there with devotion. O Bheemasena! You stay here with Draupadi and Sahadeva, whereas let me, Sage Lomasha, and Nakula go upwards and come.”
On hearing this, Bheemasena said, “I will also accompany you. Because you are already not feeling well after the gambling game, and Arjuna is also not there, and you are missing him a lot. And if I, Draupadi, and Sahadeva are also not there, then you would be missing us a lot and would be filled with sorrow. Hence, we will all also come along with you, O brother!” This shows the intensity of the bond the Pandava brothers had with each other.
Now, all of them went up to the Himalayas. Initially, Draupadi walked slowly, but then She started sitting down, rubbing Her feet with Her hands, and then walked slowly. But as the oxygen level went on decreasing, Draupadi fainted right there. Sahadeva caught Her. Yudhishthira, on seeing this, was very much worried. Already, he blamed himself for Draupadi’s disrobing, but now he was feeling more guilty and took Her in his arms.
Sage Lomasha chanted the Rakshoghna mantra (A Vedic Mantra, to prevent bad energies), and with the touch of the Pandavas, Draupadi woke up. Bheemasena, now called His son Ghatotkacha, who immediately came there with his Rakshasa ganas. Bheemasena asked Ghatotkacha to carry the Pandavas and Draupadi on his arms and carry them through the sky.
Ghatotkacha said, “I will obey your orders, O father, and will go slowly, so that my mother Draupadi doesn’t get scared and can enjoy the beauty of this place from the sky.” Saying this, Ghatotkacha carried the Pandavas and Draupadi in his arms and flew into the sky. Sage Lomasha, through his yogashakti, was flying along with them. Draupadi enjoyed the beautiful scenery that was visible from the sky and was very happy.
They crossed the Kimpurusha Khanda, where Hanuman was still there worshipping Lord Rama. Now, after that, they crossed the Harivarsha, where Prahlada Maharaja was still ruling. Then, they crossed the Nishada Parvata, and after that, they reached the Meru mountain. 4 mountains are attached to the Meru Parvata by the names of Mandara, Gandhamadana, Vipula, and Suparshva mountains. The Meru Mountain was flat at the peak and was sharp at the base. This place is very unreachable and is not visible to ordinary people. Only people with great power of penance can reach here.
They reached the Gandhamadana mountain, from where previously Hanuman had carried the Sanjeevani Parvata to Lanka. Now, on reaching there, they reached the Uttara Badari, where Lord Vedavyasa and Lord Nara-Narayana were Saakshaat present. There were Badari trees which were so high and dense that they blocked the sunlight from reaching the ground. There were no people who hated each other. People loved each other, and only the realized and gyaani souls resided there.
All were busy serving Lord Vedavyasa, who is non-different from Lord Narayana, and Lord Nara-Narayana. The Pandavas saw Lord Vedavyasa sitting with His disciples, Paila, Jaimini, Vaishampaayana, Shukacharya, Romaharshana, etc. They bowed down to Lord Vedavyasa and then came to Lord Narayana Maharshi, who was none other than Lord Narayana Himself. Lord Narayana welcomed them and asked them to stay here.
In the Uttara Badari, where the Supreme Lord Vishnu stayed in His two non-different forms, SriVyasa and SriNarayana Rishi, the Pandavas resided. Once, Bheemasena and Draupadi were near a pond and were talking. At that time, Garuda had come to catch the snakes. He caught the snake and flew away, but his wings touched the lotus, which came down and fell near Draupadi and Bheemasena.
Draupadi saw that lotus. It wasn’t an ordinary lotus, but was the Saugandhika flower. It had 5 colors in it, but the main color presiding over the whole flower was golden. It was shining brilliantly. Draupadi told Bheemasena, ‘My Lord! Can you please bring me more such flowers? I will take these flowers to Kaamyaka forest, where we stayed. I would be happier to have more flowers.”
Draupadi hadn’t asked anything from the Pandavas before, and was a great Pativrataa stree. Hence, to fulfill Her wish, Bheemasena agreed and walked towards the forest. In that dense forest, Bheemasena, with His large conch-shell named Paundra, played it aloud. Plus, He was roaring like a lion through the forest. Hearing His lion-like roar, the animals in the forest were scared and ran away.
Here, Hanuman was sitting in the banana garden. He was sitting with one thigh folded and the other thigh curled inwards. He had kept His hands on that folded thigh and had spread His tail throughout the road to go further. On hearing Bheemasena’s lion-like roar, Hanuman lifted His tail and tossed it on the ground. That sound was so loud that it felt as if the thunder had cracked on the mountain.
Bheemasena, on hearing this, thought, “Oh! Who is this? His sound is even louder than my roar. Seems like some opponent equal to me is there. Let me go there and find out who is there!” Saying this, Bheemasena went there. He entered the banana garden roaring like a lion, and saw Hanuman, who was shining with the coolness of the moon. His eyes were not like ours, but were the color of honey. He was looking very handsome.
His ears were red, and His lips were small over His big mouth. His teeth resembled those of small moons kept inside. His tongue was red. His chest was broad, with mighty arms, whereas His stomach was thin like a lion. He had hairs all-over His body and He held His tail like a flag. Hanuman, on hearing Bheemasena’s roar, woke up suddenly and said, “O Man! You really don’t have the complete knowledge of the Shaastras.”
Hanuman said, “You’re still a small kid who is an amateur. I am an old monkey who has some illness and is resting here peacefully, and you people come here and roar like a lion, so loud that I woke up. What kind of attitude do you humans have? We are forest-dwellers and don’t have that much knowledge, but you are humans. Have you also lost your knowledge? Don’t you have a basic sense that you shouldn’t wake up a person who is resting?”
Hanuman said, “Anyways, who are you, by the way? Where have you come from? And why have you come here?” On hearing Hanuman, Bheemsena said, “I am Bheemasena, the younger brother of Yudhishthira. I have come here to complete our vanavaasa and agyaatavasa along with my brothers. I am going so that I can pluck the Saugandhika flowers for my wife, Draupadi.” At this, Hanuman said, “No, you cannot go there.”
Bheemasena asked the reason behind it. Hanuman said, “Well, O Narottama! There are some demons and yakshas inside. They could harm you, and I don’t want you to get harmed.” At this, Bheemasena said, “O Monkey! How can I be harmed? I won’t be harmed, because I am powerful. I am the younger brother of Hanuman. He is also the son of Vayudeva. I am also the son of Vayudeva. Hence, I am like Him only.”
Hanuman, on this, asked Bheemasena, “Oh! Hanuman? Who is He? I didn’t know there was a Hanuman named monkey. Go ahead, tell me about Him.” Bheemasena said, “You don’t know who Hanuman is? He is the greatest devotee of SriRama!” And narrated the whole account of Hanuman as to how He crossed the ocean, and reached Lanka, found Sitadevi, warned Ravana, and burnt Lanka and came back to Rama.
On hearing this, Hanuman said, “Well, that’s great. You may go now, as you will not listen to my words anyways.” Bheemasena asked Hanuman to remove the tail of His. At this, Hanuman said, “I am an old and ill monkey. I don’t have the power to lift it. You may cross over it.” At this, Bheemasena said, “Even I know the Shaastras. Bhagavan is present everywhere and in everything. And hence, crossing over things is incorrect and is an insult to the almighty Bhagavan, who is the Supreme. Hence, I won’t cross over your tail. Please remove it.”
On hearing the words of Bheemasena, Hanuman said, “I cannot, because I am unable to do it, due to my weakness. If you can’t cross it over, you can lift it and keep my tail aside and go.” Bheemasena, on hearing this, tried to lift the tail with one hand. He couldn’t lift the tail. Then Bheemasena tried lifting the tail with two hands, but it wasn’t possible then either. Bheemasena’s whole body sweated, and He was tired.
Finally, Bheemasena said, “O King among the monkeys! Please be pleased with me! Please tell me who you are?” At this, Hanuman said, “I am the son of Kesari and Anjana Devi by the name of Hanuman, and am the servant of Lord Rama.” At this, Bheemasena was very delighted to meet Hanuman. Bheemasena asked Hanuman to show the large form that He took while crossing the sea to Lanka. At this, Hanuman said, “That’s not possible now. That was Treta Yuga, and now it is Dwapara Yuga. I prefer to stay as per the yuga.” Now, here we may have some doubts.
Hanuman and Bheemasena are both the sons of Vayudeva, and additionally, both are even the avatars of Vayudeva. Because Vayudeva touched Anjana Devi, and in one form had entered Anjana Devi’s womb and was born as Hanuman. Similarly, here Vayudeva touched Kunti, entered her womb, and was born as Bheemasena. Plus, the Mahabharata itself says, ‘Vaayurbheemo Bheemanaado mahaoujaa sarveshaam cha praaninaam praanabhutaha’, which says that Bheemasena is Vayudeva.
Plus, even the Valmiki Ramayana says, Hanuman as avatara of Vayudeva. Plus, this Vayudeva is equal to Lord Brahma and hence is the future Brahma as per the Shaastras. But on seeing this episode, it looks as if Bheemasena and Hanuman are completely different, because Bheemasena didn’t even realize initially that it was Hanuman in front of Him. So, how could He not recognize Hanuman, when Hanuman and Bheemasena were the same?
To this SriMadhvacharya answers. Actually, after this, Bheemasena goes and fights the demons. The demons had already tasted the punches and hits of Hanuman and had run away. But if they get to know that Bheemasena and Hanuman are the same, then nobody would come and fight Bheemasena and get killed by Him. If that didn’t happen, then these demons would create havoc after Hanuman and Bheemasena go away, and that would be a threat to Dharma.
To prevent this, and to make the demons feel that both Bheemasena and Hanuman are different, Hanuman and Bheemasena acted as if they didn’t know each other and acted differently. By this, the demons would think that Bheemasena and Hanuman are different and hence would stay in that misinformation. Here, Bheemasena would fight them and would kill them.
And hence, it would be a contribution to reducing the burden of the earth, for which Krishna had incarnated, thus doing a service to Krishna. Bheemasena clearly knew that the one He was talking to is Hanuman, and Hanuman clearly knew that the man to whom He was talking was Bheemasena and was His non-different form only, but they acted as if they didn’t know each other.
Another question may arise: if Bheemasena and Hanuman are the same, then how is it possible that Bheemasena couldn’t lift the tail of Hanuman? To this, Sri Madhvacharya also answers. When devatas incarnate, Bhagavan instructs them to stay as per the Yuga and show only that much power which is required in that Yuga. So, as compared to the Dwapara Yuga, Treta Yuga people had more power. So, Hanuman, belonging to the Treta Yuga, showed more power than Bheemasena, who belonged to the Dwapara Yuga.
When Lord Vishnu or Lakshmidevi incarnates, they don’t take a human body because they are Bhagavan and Bhagavati, beyond all this. Brahma doesn’t incarnate on Earth. After Him comes Vayudeva, or Praanadeva. When He incarnates, then He gets the human body like us, but the speciality is that the immense power which Vayudeva or Pranadeva has in His moolaroopa (as Vaayudeva), the same immense power is also present in the avatara roopas like Hanuman, Bheemsena or Madhvacharya. And there is no difference between Hanuman, Bheemasena and Madhvacharya.
So, Hanuman and Bheemasena had that immense power within them, as they have in their Moolaroopa. But they, as per the instructions of Bhagavan, show only that much power, which is required in that particular Yuga. Dwapara Yuga people had less power compared to the people of Treta Yuga. Bheemasena was from the Dwapara Yuga, whereas Hanuman was from the Treta Yuga. And hence, as per the Yuga Dharma, Bheemasena didn’t show much of His immense power, and hence didn’t lift the tail of Hanuman.
Now, after this, Bheemasena asked Hanuman about the Ramavatara. Hanuman narrated the whole story of Rama and then after that Bheemasena asked Hanuman to explain the Yuga Dharma. Hanuman said, “In the Kruta Yuga, everything the people did was their prescribed duty. Nobody had to remind them to do their duty; hence, this Yuga is known as Kruta Yuga. It is the first Yuga in the cycle of the Yugas. In this Yuga, Narayana is white in color. And Dharma is 4/4. And here, a person’s life is in their bones. Therefore, people performed Dhyaana and tapasya for 1000s of years.”
Hanuman said, “In Treta Yuga, Dharma is 3/4, and Narayana is of red blood color. The life of a person resides in their flesh. People performed Yagyas to please the Supreme Lord Vishnu.” He told in detail about the Yuga and its people. Then Hanuman said, “In Dwapara Yuga, 2/4 = 1/2 Dharma is there, and Narayana is of golden color. People are doing archana in this yuga and are pleasing Bhagavan.” And told about that in detail.
Hanuman said, “In the Kaliyuga, Dharma will be 1/4. Narayana will be the color of rain-filled clouds. And this Yuga is totally opposite to that of Kruta Yuga. People would be following Adharma. And chanting Bhagavan’s name, with the knowledge of the greatness of Bhagavan and causeless love in Bhagavan, both flowing hand in hand like an unbroken stream of oil, which is known as Bhakti, they can please Bhagavan.”
Like this, Hanuman did the Upadesha of the Yuga Dharma to Bheemasena. Hanuman said, “O Bheemasena! I grant you the boon that, after 13 years, when you are battling the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra, I will be present on the flag of your younger brother and the son of Indra, Arjuna, and will protect Him. You all will defeat the Kauravas and gain your rightful kingdom successfully.” Thus blessing Bheemasena, as per their act, Hanuman went away. Bheemasena too went forward to bring the Saugandhika flowers for Draupadi.
[Bala Bheemasena temple, in Motakpalli, Karnataka]
There, Bheemasena killed Manimanta, a demon who was a friend of Kubera, and then killed the other Krodhavashaas named demons, and then brought the Saugandhika flowers for Draupadi and enjoyed with Her.
Hope this helps!
Jay SriRam!
ShriHanuma Bheemasena Madhvaatmaka ShriBhaaratiramana Mukhyaprana Antargata SriRama Krishna Vedavyasa Abhinna ShriKrishnarpanamastu!