Man lives in this world with great pride and ego at his abilities, valor and possessions. He thinks he earns and has wealth and property and is powerful. His ego gets inflated with accumulation of name, fame, power and glory. He prays to God only to get more and more name and wealth. He does not seek love of God or grace. His existence is based on his personal belief that he is a little god and can do anything in life and get away with it. It is only when he is defeated by life by extreme sickness or is near death or other failures in business, relationships etc, he thinks of surrendering to God. That state of mind is also not pure in him as it is tainted with blaming God for his misfortunes.
This is the story from the Bhagwat text which speaks of the importance of surrender to the Lord. It is the story of Gajendra Moksham. Gajendra was the king of elephants. He was strong and fierce and was a good leader. The other elephants in his herd respected and obeyed him because of his strength and wisdom. Once while roaming in the jungle, all the elephants were thirsty. They found a lake with clear, cool drinking water. As the herd was drinking its fill, a huge crocodile attacked Gajendra from inside the water and grabbed one of his legs. Gajendra struggled with all his might and strength. His herd tried to help him by adding their strength to his struggle to pull him out of the crocodile’s mouth. Even after a long struggle, Gajendra could not free himself. His kith and kin realised that it was not possible for Gajendra to escape. Slowly one by one the herd backed off and left Gajendra alone struggling for his life.
Elephants are invincible on land and crocodiles are mighty in water. The elephant was in the home territory of the crocodile. It was a clash of titans but the elephant was losing out. Gajendra became tired and his strength drained out. There were no more encouraging shouts from his herd. All had abandoned him. It was a hopeless situation. When his strength and might failed and others left him and the enemy was too strong and the situation was totally hopeless, Gajendra suddenly remembered the Lord. He plucked a lotus blooming nearby with his trunk and raised it towards the heavens and cried: O Great One who is the Primeval Power of the Universe, I surrender unto You. Protect me!
The Lord was never far off or ignorant of the plight of the elephant. It was the karma of the elephant to suffer and he suffered. Also his ego was mighty. As long as the ego is strong and stands in the forefront, the grace of Divinity cannot be experienced. The elephant’s ego that he was strong and mighty and was the king of the elephants and the others would help him made him struggle for a long time without any results. When he realised that neither his strength nor his family was of any use, his ego was shattered and he surrendered wholeheartedly to the Lord. At his very first plea, the Lord rushed to his rescue. It is said that Lord Vishnu mounted His Vehicle which is the swift eagle – Garuda and rushed. Fearing that He might be late, He sent in advance the Sudarshan Chakra – the mighty weapon of destruction. The Sudarshan Chakra travels faster than thought and reached Gajendra instantly and cut off the crocodiles’ neck and freed the elephant.
In his past life, Gajendra was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu called Indradyumna. Indradyumna was a powerful and great king. Once when the mighty sage Agastya came to visit him, he did not get up from his throne and receive him with the expected respect and reverence befitting the status of the great sage. As a result of this bad karma, he was reborn as an elephant as he sat heavy in his seat and did not rise. Due to his past good karma he was able to recall Lord Vishnu at the hour of need and be saved. The crocodile was a Gandharva King called Huhu in his last life. Once while taking bath, he mischievously pulled the leg of a sage who cursed him to become a crocodile. The repentant Huhu fell at the feet of the sage and sought forgiveness. So he was blessed that he would get moksha by the hands of the Lord himself.
The story of the elephant is the story of man. We are Gajendra. The lake is the world where we live and engage in power politics with our relatives and friends. The crocodile is difficulties and death which come upon us suddenly. When difficulties and death come to us, our kith and kin move away, leaving us to face our pain alone. Only God answers our call for help if we seek Him without ego and surrender unto Him in full. To recall God at such times, takes many lifetimes of bhakti to God. Else we will not be able to remember God and we are drowned in our ego. God is the strength of those who seek Him.
