While I was reading this book " May Be Tomorrow", I was reminded of the pastime of Gajendra from the 8th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatham. Gajendra is a powerful king of elephants who one day, entered a lake with his whole family members and enjoying the water sports. Suddenly, a huge crocodile caught hold of him and in spite of all his strength, the Elephant king was unable to do anything because, the place where he is i, e water is not his natural position thus, does not have the strength to fight against the crocodile. Of Course, we also understand that Gajendra was not an ordinary elephant but, was a pious King named as Indradyumna in his previous life.Thus in the times of hardship and life threatening situation, Gajandra surrenders to the Supreme Lord and offers his wonder prayers as below,
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of all
causes, the original person from whom everything has emanated. He is the root
cause of this cosmic manifestation, and the entire cosmos rests in Him, yet He
is transcendental, for He does everything in relation to the material world
through His external energy. He is eternally situated in the spiritual world —
in Vaikuṇṭha or
Goloka Vṛndavana
— where He engages in His eternal pastimes. The material world is a product of
His external energy, or material nature, which works under His direction. It is
thus that creation, maintenance and annihilation take place. The Lord exists at
all times. This is extremely difficult for a non-devotee to understand.
Although the transcendental Supreme Personality of Godhead is perceivable by
everyone, only the pure devotees perceive His presence and activities. The
Supreme Personality of Godhead is completely free from material birth, death,
old age and disease. Indeed, if anyone in this material world takes shelter of
Him, he also becomes situated in that transcendental position. For the
satisfaction of the devotee (paritrāṇāya
sādhūnām), the Lord appears and exhibits His activities. His appearance,
disappearance and other pastimes are not at all material. One who knows this
secret can enter the kingdom of God. In the Lord, all opposing elements are
adjusted. The Lord is situated in everyone’s heart. He is the controller of
everything, He is the witness of all activities, and He is the original source
of all living entities. Indeed, all living entities are parts of Him, for He is
the origin of Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is the source of the
living entities within this material world. The Lord can observe the activities
of our senses, which can work and achieve material results because of His
mercy. Although He is the original source of everything, He is untouched by any
of His by-products. In this way He is like a gold mine, which is the source of
gold in ornaments and yet is different from the ornaments themselves. The Lord
is worshiped by the method prescribed in the Pañcarātras. He is the source of
our knowledge, and He can give us liberation. Therefore it is our duty to
understand Him according to the instructions of devotees, in particular the
spiritual master. Although for us the mode of goodness is covered, by following
the instructions of saintly persons and the spiritual master we can be freed
from material clutches.
“The self-effulgent material form of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead is adored by non devotees,
In this way the King of the elephants, Gajendra, offered
prayers directly to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without mistaking Him
for one of the demigods. None of the demigods came to see him, not even Brahma
or Shiva. Rather, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, seated on Garuḍa,
personally appeared before him. Gajendra, by lifting his trunk, offered
obeisances to the Lord, and the Lord immediately pulled him from the water
along with the crocodile who had captured his leg. Then the Lord killed the
crocodile and thus rescued Gajendra.
(Srimad Bhagavatham Canto 8 – Chapter3 by Srila Prabhupad)
No comments:
Post a Comment