Hanuman’s Heart

In April 2014 just before leaving India I went with my family for a short vacation to Rishikesh. Our two year old son was especially impressed by the big Hanuman statue at Parmarth Niketan. He looked at the large, muscular god and pondered on his open heart were Rama and Sita resided. Off course for a little German boy these were not two gods but simply a man and a woman. May be he saw his parents in them, may be his grandmother and grandfather, may be some other loving couple. He called him ‚Hallo Mann!’ since this was the closest he could think of to the Sanskrit name Hanuman. ‚Hallo Mann!’ is German and means as much as ‚Hello man!’. We bought him a little statue of the god and it has a place of reverence on his small table where his toys are assembled. But he never plays with it. He greets him regularly: ‚Hallo Mann!’ he says. He has a connection, that’s obvious. Continue reading “Hanuman’s Heart”