Śri Maha-gaṇapataye namah

Om namo Hanumate namah

We discussed that Ānjaneya approached Sun-god seeking tutelage under him. The Sun-god however declared that due to the ear-shattering noise emitted by his chariot, Ānjaneya would fail to grasp the lessons being taught. Hanuman then came up with a solution.

He said, ‘I will place my head within your chariot and listen to what you teach. My neck will expand as necessary. The sound emanated by your chariot travels outwards. Within your chariot there is absolute silence. Furthermore, I shall run along with your chariot matching its speed. Hence my education will progress smoothly and undisturbed. O Gurudeva! Kindly permit me to learn under you. Bless me with Knowledge’. The Sun-god was supremely pleased with this earnest prayer. He agreed to teach.

Sun’s chariot moves at the speed of light. The movement of the Sun’s chariot is itself the movement of light. The term chariot implies the speed at which the Sun’s rays travel. While running at the speed of light, Hanuman completed his first day’s education.

Here it must be understood that Hanuman travelled at the speed of light. Many Puranas and treatises which pertain to the ancient era deal extensively about the speed at which light travels. Our ancient learned seers of the past (Maharishis) have concluded that light covers a distance of 2,202 yojanas (a yojana is approx. 8 miles) in half a nimisha. According to Sanskrit, a collection of 60 seconds is one nimisha. Based on these calculations light travels 187,670 miles in one second. As per the modern science, light covers a distance of 186,325 miles per second. Research in the field of estimating the speed of light has been going on since times of yore. It will continue even in future.

Hanuman, who was thus running at the speed of light, completed his first day of learning. Running alongside his master he learnt the lessons being taught, but then he did not relish this method.

On the second day he came up with a novel idea. Expanding his body into gigantic proportions, he placed one foot on the eastern mountains and the other foot on the western mountains.

Jaya Guru Datta