Gajendra’s Call

The trouble with a religion that treats you as a grown-up is that it expects you to decode its cryptograms. Take the story of Gajendra Moksh...

The trouble with a religion that treats you as a grown-up is that it expects you to decode its cryptograms. Take the story of Gajendra Moksham. With Janmashtami happening, the Harikatha refloods the mind. If you consider Lord Krishna’s “biography”, the Bhagvat Purana or Srimad Bhagvatam, the King of Elephants stands tall as a splendid witness to the Lord. His story is found in the eighth book of the Srimad Bhagvatam. The tale we grew up with was simple enough: Gajendra rules his herd in the forests by the lake at the foot of Trikutagiri (Three Peak Mountain). One day, as the herd drinks, a crocodile suddenly seizes Gajendra’s hindleg. A monumental struggle ensues. At first the herd tries to help Gajendra. But the crocodile proves stronger than all and simply won’t let go. One by one, the herd abandons Gajendra, who keeps at it, fighting an increasingly losing battle as his strength fails (evoked in the Gurbani by the prayer “Bal chhutkio bandhan pare”).

Gajendra cries aloud to Mahavishnu to save him: “Apatbandhava! Anatharakshaka!” (O Deliverer from Danger! O Protector of the Orphaned!) The Lord tears out of Vaikunth and hurls his Sudarshan Chakra at the crocodile. Both creatures find salvation in their direct witness of God.

Many spiritual masters apparently begin their day with the Gajendra Stuti or “Gajendra’s Praise” of Hari? It begins, “Srigajendra uvacha: Om Namo Bhagavate tasmai yata etah chid-atmakam/purushayadibijaya parabhayabhidhimahi” (SB 8:3:2): I pray to the Supreme One, the root of all things: this material body acts because of the presence of His spiri. O Divine One, worshipped by the greatest gods, I worship You.

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My favourite is SB 8:3:6, “Na yasya deva rishayah padam vidur jantu punah ko’rhati gantum iritum/Yatha natasyakritibhir vicheshtato duratyayanukramanah samavatu”, which means, “The actions and attributes of the Supreme One cannot be understood even by the celestials and great sages and never by creatures devoid of understanding, just as a performing artist, beautifully dressed and moving in many (intriguing) ways is not understood by the audience”.

The phalashruti or boon promised to those who greet the day with Gajendra’s words is at the end of the prayer, (SB 8:4:25), when the Lord tells Gajendra: “Dear bhakta, to those who offer me your prayer as soon as they awaken from the night’s sleep, I shall grant an eternal home in the spiritual world when their lives end.”

But is the feelgood factor the point of the story? Doesn’t that seem to occur most terrifyingly when the herd leaves Gajendra to his fate and he begins to weaken? It is only then that the essential loneliness of each soul hits Gajendra: the de profundis moment that leads by God’s grace to the moksha moment.

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