Sunday, April 24, 2016

Hanuman & the Myth of Leadership.



As humans we're enamoured by the cult of leadership. History, as well as stories are written as odes to the heroic efforts of one person: a leader. Leadership qualities are the first thing we look for in people: subordinates, bosses, parents, and children. Leadership is the ultimate goal. CEO's draw huge pay packages because of that amorphous quality of leadership that they possess.
On Friday, we celebrated Hanuman Jayanti. (In Tamil we call him 'Hanumar' out of respect, so don't be quizzical if you find me addressing Him as Hanumar in this post.). Let me draw a parallel between the cult of leadership that permeates our society and Hanumar.
The Ramayana is a sublime tale, to some it’s holy- the story of a God. To others it’s mythology. However one looks at it, one cannot but be amazed at its depth and its finely nuanced characters and whist at them, let me delve a bit deeper into this most amazing of personalities among them. The Ramayana is a tale full of heroes, but not all of them are leaders. The leaders in the story are perhaps just two: Ramar and Ravana. One the embodiment of virtue- the ideal and perfect leader: objective-oriented, dispassionate, driven by right deeds, exhibiting control over mind and body, leading from the front, inspiring, knowledgeable and flawless. Then Ravana who is perhaps everything Ramar is except his inability to see the adharma in his coveting of Seeta, the third critical peg of the stool that holds the tale.
No child in India would complete their description of Ramayana without uttering the name of Hanumar. Even in a tale with such rich heroes, heroines and villains, the persona of Hanumar looms larger than life. Would Ramayana be possible without Hanumar? Would the tale be complete? Would Sugreeva have befriended Ramar without the wise advice of Hanumar? Would Ramar have located Seeta without that incredible leap of faith which Hanumar took across the ocean? Would Ramar have risen from Indrajeet’s poisonous-barb attack on Lakshmana had Hanumar not bought the Sanjeevani plant? Would Ramar have killed Ravana had he not been on Hanumar’s great shoulders?
In fact would that war have been won at all had Hanumar not been fighting on behalf of Ramar? For by sheer count, Hanumar single-handedly slayed most of Ravana’s feared, hitherto- unbeaten and great generals than Ramar himself.
What do we see in the exploits of this great hero? Wisdom, strength, fearlessness and humility. Yet we address him as ‘sevak’, the supreme servant. He is not the leader, the epic centres around. But without him righteousness and the good would not have succeeded; even the story perhaps would have not been as great or perhaps not been there at all, without him.
Hanumar is the antithesis of the leadership cult. His importance tells us that victory and success is a team effort and not always due to one person alone. His inspiring form which we worship, one in which he’s in urgent flight, holding his mace in one hand and the mountain in the other is a reminder to us not to blindly credit leaders alone.
Look behind every leader, there is a Hanumar behind every one of them. Hanumar exists in our lives. S/He is the person who has encouraged us in our worst times, held us, consoled us, leapt across the oceans for us, found us what we wanted, fought for us, saved us, smoothened out paths and loved us unquestioningly.
Such a person in our lives, is indeed our God. Acknowledge them. And if you make the effort, you too can be Him for someone else. You too can be Hanumar.


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