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108 Vada Mala – Pearl Necklace offering for Lord Hanuman
December 30, 2020
Hanuman, the Ardent Devotee of Rama and Sita
After all the struggles of locating the whereabouts of Sita, then marching with the army of monkeys and crossing the ocean to island Lanka, where she was kept in captivity, and then fighting a terrible war with Ravana and his vast army of mighty demons, Rama, his brother Lakshmana, devotee Hanuman, and their army overcame the demonic forces, defeated and killed Ravana and rescued Sita from their clutches.
Then the victorious Rama, Sita, Hanuman, and others returned to Rama’s capital Ayodhya to a tumultuous welcome by its citizens. Soon, Rama ascended the throne as the king of Ayodhya, to the abundant joy of everyone.
The divine couple Lord Rama and Sita never forgot, even for a moment, all the help and service Hanuman did to them. It was, after all, only Hanuman, who single-handedly crossed the ocean, found the whereabouts of Sita, met and assured her that Rama would definitely rescue her from demon Ravana’s prison soon, then returned to Rama to convey to him about her location and condition, and thus paved the way for the union of Rama and Sita, and their ultimately becoming the king and queen of Ayodhya.
Sita’s Gift to Hanuman
At the time of the grand coronation ceremony, Sita wanted to express her deep sense of gratitude to Hanuman and to recognize the yeomen service rendered by him in open court in the presence of everybody. So, she presented him with a wonderful necklace made of rare and very precious pearls of high quality.
Hanuman received this remarkable gift from Mother Sita, whom he held in high esteem, with joy and gratitude. But then, what he did with it, both surprised and shocked those present in the court.
Hanuman began to break open each of the pearls in the necklace by biting those with his teeth. This left those present in the court, including Rama and Sita, wondering why Hanuman is subjecting the beautiful gift presented to him with so much affection to this sort of strange and crude treatment.
Unable to resist her curiosity, Sita enquired with Hanuman about the reason for his action.
Who Resides in Hanuman’s Heart?
Hanuman bowed to her, offered his salutations, and replied, “Oh Mother, I am indeed extremely grateful for your nice gift and that too, very happy to receive it directly from your sacred hands. But you are well aware Rama is an integral part and parcel of my own self and all that belongs to me. So I just wanted to check and see if the pearls in this necklace also contain Rama’s holy name in them or have any aspect of the Lord in them. This is the reason why I broke open to pearls and checked about Rama being part of them in one way or the other.”
And Hanuman added with a sigh, “But, oh Mother, I am sorry that I could not find Rama in these pearls, in any way.”
While people were highly impressed with the depth of Hanuman’s devotion for Rama, Sita and Rama, too, were touched deeply by Hanuman’s love for his Lord. And with a view of bringing out Hanuman’s devotion for Rama in all its entirety in the open, so that the world could know about the greatness of Hanuman, Sita posed him the question, “If Rama is an inseparable part of you, as you say, then is he there within you, also?”
Without hesitating a moment, Hanuman tore open his heart and displayed its contents for everyone to see. And in the heart of that great devotee Hanuman, Rama and Sita were found seated in all their majesty.
While the overwhelmed people in the court sang the praise of Hanuman along with Rama and Sita, Rama hugged his dear devotee with great love and affection, and Sita blessed him with all her heart.
Vada Mala Offering
In commemoration of this memorable happening, people are offering 108 Vada Mala for Lord Hanuman, just as Mother Sita gave him the necklace of pearls during Ramayana time. They believe that Hanuman will bite the Vada, too, just as he bit the pearl to find out if Rama’s name is there in it. They also firmly believe that ‘Ram Naam’ will certainly be found in the Vada Mala also, as it is offered to Lord Hanuman by the devotees with full devotion and faith.
Hanuman Jayanti 2021, the day of the advent of Lord Hanuman, falls on 12th January 2021 Tuesday. Devotees can offer Vada Mala for Hanuman on the sacred occasion of Hanuman Jayanti 2021, invoke the blessings of this powerful God and the ardent devotee of Rama, and enjoy many benefits in life.
