Hanuman Chalisa - Verse 1

Verse 1

Shri Guru Charan Saroj Raj
Nij mane mukure sudhar
Varnao Raghuvar Vimal Jasu
Jo dayaku phal char

Meaning:

After cleansing the mirror of my mind with the pollen dust of holy Guru's Lotus feet. I Profess the pure,untainted glory of Shri Raghuvar which bestows the four-fold fruits of life.(Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha).

Commentary By Prasanth Jalasutram

So here purification of mind is the preliminary step.There are various ways to purify our mind like association with sages,participating in satsangh like this forum,renounciation of ego,detachment with general mass of people,devotion to god.....

As RamaKrishna Paramahamsa says,

The mind is like a needle covered with mud, and God is like a magnet.The needle cannot be united with the magnet unless it is free from mud. Tears wash away the mud, which is nothing but lust,anger, greed, and other evil tendencies, and the inclination to worldly enjoyments as well.

Let the milk of your mind be turned into the butter of Divine Love by means of religious practices in solitude. The mind then will never get mixed with the water of worldliness, but will rise above and remain unattached to the world. Having attained true knowledge and devotion the mind will stand apart from the world.

Now this is possible with the grace of guru and surrender to guru is very much required.

Now coming to the four fruits of life (Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha) which we consider four ends or aims of human life.

They are (ordered from least to greatest):

Kama - "wish, desire, love and sensual pleasure"

Artha - "wealth, prosperity, glory"

Dharma - "righteousness, duty, morality, virtue, ethics", encompassing notions such as ahimsa (non-violence) and satya (truth)

Moksha - "liberation", i.e. liberation from Saṃsara, the cycle of reincarnation.

So least preference of Kama,Artha should be given and we should always adhere to Dharma and strive for moksa which is detaching from non-Self and absence of ego though complete destruction is not possible as stated by bhagavan ramana.


Sources:

1) http://www.hanuman.com/cha.html

2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purusharthas

3) http://prashantaboutindia.blogspot.com/2009/10/sri-ramakrishna-says-mind-is-like.html

4) http://prashantaboutindia.blogspot.com/2009/10/sri-ramakrishna-says-having-attained.html