This story is conscripted by Lord Krishna in the age of Mahabharata to break the arrogance of Bheema, the second son of Kunti and King Pandava. After losing to Kauravs and Shakuni in the game of chess (shatranj), Pandavas were exiled from Hastinapur. Krishna knew that the drift between the Kauravs and Pandavas was bound to occur. Krishna was on a secret mission to equip and prepare all 5 Pandavas for the war anticipated by him. Bheem had the power of 30 elephants and had a humongous body. His arrogance was an impediment to his victory over his enemies which Krishna wanted Bheem to overcome to prepare himself for upcoming battles. Beckoned by Krishna and implemented by Hanuman, it is an incident about How Hanuman broke Bheem’s Arrogance.
Also Know: Hanuman Chalisa and It's Effects
Bheem idolized Hanuman and his strength.
Who else could have been a better means to preach and teach Bheem? Pandavas were on the edge of completing their exile. One day Draupadi saw an alluring flower of lotus with an infinite number of petals. Astonished to see the lotus flower which was swayed by air near her feet, Draupadi was overwhelmed to see that flower and wanted to have it. She asked Bheem to bring that beautiful flower for her. Bheem followed the flower thinking that it was a cakewalk for him.
Hanuman took advantage of the opportunity and lied down on the way of Bheem. He was following the flower hurriedly and blindly, he didn’t see anything on the path. Suddenly he stumbled and fell. He thought that he collided with a stone. It was something else and on following the rope-like long structure, he found that it was a tail of monkey. An old monkey was on the other end of the tail. It was a monkey obstructing his path.
Bheem got infuriated and said, “Hey monkey, remove your tail from my path”. He further said I am in a hurry and I need to go ahead. Vanar gently turned his head towards him and said, “I am old and gone feeble”. Hanuman further added you are huge and looks powerful, please do me a favor and keep my tail aside. Bheem fumed more and refused to touch the dirty tail of Hanuman. The old monk, Hanuman too was adamant about removing his tail as his motive was different.
Panchmukhi Hanuman ji asked Bheem to remove the tail with his mace if he didn’t want to touch it. Bhim said,” You may lose your tail permanently because my mace may break your tail.” Hanuman in the disguise of a monkey said it could be vice-a-versa also. In a cryptic tone, he said your mace might get shattered with the touch of it. Bheem couldn’t take on the stubbornness of the monkey anymore. Bheem got more annoyed and felt that the old monkey was making fun of him. He finally decided to show his strength to the monkey by removing the tail from his mace. To his surprise, it didn’t displace it by even a centimetre. He was a bit surprised that his powerful mace didn’t show any result. All his efforts went in vain and soon he realized that it wasn’t an ordinary monkey.
Bheem Apologized to Hanuman
Bheem with folded hands and a gentle voice apologized to the old monkey and asked him to come in his real avatar. Monkey smiled and took no time to come in his real avatar. Bheem realized his mistake and bowed in front of Hanuman. Bheem asked for apologies and admitted his arrogance which made him blind and blanched his power to think first before taking action. Hanuman, the lord of Monkey and Ram Bhakt embraced him and showed the mirror to him.
Procure the blessings of lord Hanuman by doing Hanuman Puja in right manner. Learn the right method to venerate the him by contacting the experts of vedas, the astrologers at Ask Ganesha.
For more such interesting vedic stories, follow Askganesha on Instagram and Facebook
Translate