Obama and the Hanuman Chalisa, word-for-word
President Obama carries in his pocket a figurine of the Hindu deity Hanuman – the embodiment of the divine strength that arises from humble, devoted service. Tonight, I adapted this page from the Neem Karoli Baba website to create a PDF of a word-by-word translation of the Hanuman Chalisa, a hymn of forty verses many bhakti-yogis sing to remind us of the story and character of Hanuman, told in the great Ramayana epic -- which Obama read as a young man in Indonesia. I’ve made the PDF so that it’s one front-and-back sheet of paper you can print and use to sing along to a recording or can inexpensively reprint and conveniently distribute for kirtan. Enjoy!

