Hanuman the Brahmachari – Power of Celibacy Of Hanuman is an excerpt of an article published by Swami Samarpanananda.
Hanuman is worshipped as the ideal brahmachari and a perfect master of his senses. How great was this aspect is noticed when Hanuman entered Ravana’s splendid palace at night in search of Sita.
He went around the bedchamber looking at the hundreds of wives of Ravana, who were fast asleep in various postures and clothes in disarray. He concluded that Sita could not be found there, but became worried about his own moral transgression.
Hanuman is worshipped as the ideal brahmachari and a perfect master of his senses. How great was this aspect is noticed when Hanuman entered Ravana’s splendid palace at night in search of Sita.
He went around the bedchamber looking at the hundreds of wives of Ravana, who were fast asleep in various postures and clothes in disarray. He concluded that Sita could not be found there, but became worried about his own moral transgression.
He thought: ‘It is surely unrighteous to see another’s wife
under the influence of sleep. I have never cast my eyes since my birth on
another’s wife. Surely I shall be guilty of iniquity … but my mind has not been
least stirred by it. It is the mind that induces the sense either to virtue or
to vice’.
This is the ultimate yardstick in mind-control and also in
deciding issues regarding virtue and vice.
He who has patience, intelligence, keen sight, and skill
like Hanuman never loses his heart in anything.
Source – Mahavira Hanuman: Valmiki’s Hero by Swami
Samarpanananda – Prabuddha Bharata Magazine – April 2012 issue.