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| MEETING RAM AND LAKSHMAN |
Hanumanji was an excellent ambassador, and the minister of Sugreev, the Vanar King of Kishkinda. It was in this capacity that he first met Rama and Sita.Bali was the elder brother of Sugreev, and due to some misunderstanding there was a rift between the two brothers, Bali and Sugreev. Sugreev was banished from the kingdom and his loyal and faithful ministers too left with him and had to stay covertly in the forest. When Ravan, the king of Lanka, by force, took Lord Rama's consort Sita away, Lord Rama and his brother set out to search for her.
Seeing Shri Ram and Lakshman wandering in the forests, Sugreev was fearful that his brother Bali had sent them to kill them. He thus sent Hanumanji as his ambassador to find out the purpose for Shri Ram and Lakshman's presence in the forest. Such was the nature of Hanumanji that when he approached Shri Ram and Lakshman, he realized that they were noble persons and could not be deceivers. He spoke to them in a soft and pleasing manner with great respect.
This impressed Shri Ram and he turned to Lakshman, and said to him "Even an enemy with his sword drawn would be pacified by such words. If a ruler has such a messenger, his efforts will always be successful". Hanumanji took Shri Ram and Lakshman on his shoulders to Sugreev. He had great hopes that they could help make Sugreev king again. This proved to be true, when during a war with Bali, Shri Ram hit him with an arrow leading to his death and replacing Sugreev to the throne.
Sugreev had promised Shri Ram that he would spare no effort in finding Sita. He has sent Hanumanji, Angada (his nephew), Jambavantha (a wise old minister) and his Vanar army in search of Sita. Hanumanji took with him a ring given by Shri Ram, which was to be shown to Sita so that she could be sure that Shri Ram sent the messenger.
After a long period of searching, they came to know that Ravan, the king of Lanka, had kidnapped her. The next problem faced by them was that to reach Lanka they had to cross an ocean (presently the Indian Ocean between India and Sri Lanka). The whole party was perplexed as to how they could cross this ocean in the absence of a bridge. Faced with this difficulty, Hanumanji got discouraged and went and sat apart from the others, quietly contemplating the situation.
Each of the warriors stated how far they could jump but none came close to being able to cover this distance. Then the old Jambavantha consoled them all and said "Hanumantha is the only great hero who can leap over the sea and come back". As per the curse pronounced upon Hanumantha in his childhood, he would be unaware of the extent of his strength until someone reminded him of it. Jambavantha now praised his strength and ability.
He said, "No other living creature has your strength, wisdom and intelligence. Why do you sitting quiet, not know yourself? You can certainly jump over the ocean".
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