Jambavan To Hanuman… Is What Career Mentor To The Student

I underwent the resident training program of the Dheya Master Mentor, and after that most of my time is occupied with only one thought How Do We leverage the power of psychometrics to impact the world? How as a community We can impact people’s lives? As I pondered over this thought, I came across an article titled “‘Hanuman Complex’ by Dr. N. N. Wig, a renowned professor and mental health professional. Though this article is targeted for Mental Health Professionals, I saw a great synergy in what CDFs/Mentors are doing and hence thought of sharing the same with you. The article narrates the story of Hanuman from Ramayana, as follows;

The Story of Hanuman

Hanuman was known as the son of monkey King Kesari and mother Anjana but in fact, he had a divine birth.  The mother princess Anjana was one day roaming in hills when God of wind (Pawan or Vayu or Marut) spotted her and was captivated by her beauty.  As a result of this union, Hanuman was born who like his father, God of wind, had the powers to fly and reach any part of the earth.  As an infant, he once flew up to catch the sun, when the king of heavens Indra, got annoyed and threw his thunderbolt at him.  Hanuman survived the thunderbolt but it broke his jaw – that is why the name “Hanuman”. (In Sanskrit HANUMAN or HANUMAT means prominent jaw).  The other name for Hanuman, popular in South India is ANJANEYA or son of Anjana. The God of wind (Vayu) got very upset with this action of Indra to his son Hanuman and stopped the wind from blowing.  The life came to a standstill on earth.  Indra apologized and along with other gods bestowed many boons on child Hanuman.

Now with these new powers, Hanuman became very mischievous as a child.  He would pick up articles of Rishis (holy men) while they are in prayers and fly away. This would greatly annoy the Rishis and they threw a curse at Hanuman that he will lose his power to fly.  Hanuman was naturally very upset and told mother Anjana about it who pleaded with the Rishis for forgiveness.  Finally, the Rishis relented and modified the curse to say that Hanuman will not lose his divine power to fly but he will henceforth lose the knowledge about his powers till reminded about it at an appropriate time.

The story then moves to Ramayana where king Sugreeva, a monkey king and friend of Lord Rama, has sent a mission to search for Queen Sita, wife of Lord Rama, who had been kidnapped by demon Ravana to Lanka.  The monkey party headed by crown prince Angad, others reach Land’s-end and face the sea across which is the island of Lanka.  They are all quite despaired to see the intervening sea.  There is hurried consultation on what to do.  Some members of the mission say they may leap some distance but not all the way to Lanka.  Angad says he may perhaps succeed in reaching Lanka but may not have enough power to come back.  Jambavan, an aged bear and the senior-most member of the party says he could have done it in his youth but not now in his old age.  Then Jambavan turns to Hanuman and says, “Why are you sitting silent and dejected in a corner?  Do you know who you really are?  You are “Pawan Putra” – son of God of wind. You have the power to fly and reach any corner of the earth.  Unfortunately, you are not aware of your own powers”.  Jambavan then narrates to Hanuman the story of his birth and childhood curse.  Listening to this Hanuman gets back his powers and confidence.  He assumes his great size and flies to Lanka, meets Sita and the story of Ramayana continues.  In the further story, Hanuman does many more heroic deeds like bringing “Sanjivini” herbs from the Himalayas for the revival of Lakshmana and so on, but it is the intervention by Jambavan which transforms Hanuman into a great hero for the rest of the Ramayana.

Link with CDF Roles

At Dheya, we believe, every person is unique and has unlimited potential. We follow the principles of positive psychology and we all know that the power to change rests within oneself.  As a CDF (Career Development Facilitator) using psychometric tools, we make people understand their strengths and abilities. We make people realize what potential they have. We motivate them, boost their confidence and shift their mind from

‘Can I?’ to ‘I Can…’

Hanuman was not knowing or had forgotten his true potential. Jambavan reminded him of his true powers and potential. Just what Jambavan did to Hanuman,, we do it to our students.

We at Dheya, give clarity in thoughts, show direction as to where the golden Lanka lies across the sea and make our students realize that they have a power within to reach for the impossible.

To the CDFs, remember that “When you conduct the sessions, do not assume that power to change the life of the student lies with you. In fact, the potential to change rests with the client/student/professionals only, who like Hanuman, are unaware of it.  It is your job as a CDF (like Jambavan) to restore this power back to the patient using principles of positive psychology, helping them dream big and motivating them with the confidence that they can achieve anything they want leveraging their potential.”

Kiran Dixit
Dheya Career Master Mentor