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.
