The Hanuman Heart

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This book of stories has been written as a celebration of the most lovable and inspiring qualities of Hanuman, the beloved monkey-God of the Hindu pantheon. Hanuman's life is an inspiration because most of us go through moments of mischief and laughter, sadness and doubt, triumph and trouble, like he did. However, he possessed a great medicine to deal with each one of life's situations his love for Sri Rama. And we can draw courage and strength from his actions.

The present book is an attempt to bring the 'Hanuman Charit' or Hanuman's character closer to young readers in English. Fifteen stories illustrate the life of Sri Anjaneya, from his birth to his old age as a meditative yogi. Throughout, the work attempts to present a lively, inspiring and uplifting picture of Hanuman to children.

Born in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, in 1961, Scharada Bail won First Prize in the Royal commonwealth essay competition for children in 1947. She has produced video reports for Doordarshan producers from 1994 to 2000, especially for Siddharth Kak's cultural programme, 'Surabhi', and Pritish Nandy's 'India the awakening', commemorating 50 years of Indian independence. She lives in Chennai, where her weekly column, 'Your Tarrot Mirror' appears in the Colour supplement of The Economic Times.

This book of stories has been written as a celebration of the most lovable and inspiring qualities of Hanuman, our beloved monkey-God. I am grateful that Hanuman found me worthy enough to relate his tales. I hope the readers of these stories find as much joy in Hanuman, as I have found. If they feel happier, braver, and more loving as a result of reading these stories, my work as an author will have been immensely rewarded.

Hanuman's life is an inspiration because most of us go through moments of mischief and laughter, sadness and doubt, triumph and trouble, like he did. However, he possessed a great medicine to deal with each one of life's situations- his love for Sri Rama. And we can draw courage and strength from his actions.

To write this book, I have studied many Hanuman stories, and have been helped tremendously by the wealth of anecdotes and tales related in the 'Shri Hanuman Ank', the special annual issue of the forty-ninth year of publication, of the Gita Press, Gorakhpur, publishers of 'Kalyan'. The blessings of my guru, Sri Neem Karoli Baba, who was recognized as an incarnation of Hanuman, also helped me with the narration.

Since I was telling the stories in English, I have adopted my own personal style, and sketched Hanuman's character with my own imagination. Vidya Mani, editor of the children's magazine chatterbox, helped enormously with suggestions for improvement. Any faults in the book are my own, but I hope none of these is so big as to disappoint or trouble my young readers.

One of the best things about our culture is how close it brings us to our personal God. If we want to feel an abiding love for Hanuman, we can always find his somewhere around us, on a calendar, in a painting, or a sculpture, or even in song and dance. He lives around us in many ways. But most of all, and importantly, he lives in our hearts, just as Sri Rama forever lives in his!

May this book place Hanuman at the center of your happy and rejoicing heart!