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Dear. Mr. Nandi
Thathwa or significance behind this Gajendra Motcha Story.
Gajendra, in his previous life was a great devotee called Indradyumna who was also a great king. One day, Agastya, a great sage came to visit the king. Indradyumna did not receive the Sage with the respect that the latter expected. The enraged Agastya cursed the king to become an elephant in his next birth, as he sat heavy on his seat and did not rise to greet him.
The crocodile in its last life was a king called HuHu in the Gandharva planet. Once while enjoying himself in the waters, he pulled the leg of a sage. The enraged sage cursed the king to become a crocodile in his next life.
The repentant HuHu asked for pardon. The Sage proclaimed that though he could not retrieve the curse, the crocodile would be liberated from the cycle of birth and death when Gajendra would be saved by the Lord God Himself.
Gajendra was the King of elephants.
One hot day, he proceeded to the lake with his family to cool off in its fresh waters.
But from within the lake a crocodile appeared who attacked him and would not let go of him; Everyone other elephants around him was so frightened of the crocodile, that they left poor Gajendra alone to fend for himself.
But Gajendra knew that God would help him and be by his side.
So Gajendra prayed
Please help me O Lord! Save me from the clutches of Death!?
I can only be saved by Your Grace!
I am not asking you to save me from the clutch of the crocodile, or that I should survive this attack! I am aware that I not only have a body of an elephant but also a fat mind of an elephant! What is the use of keeping this life? I want to be liberated from my Ignorant Mind which hides the resplendent soul! I can only be saved by Your Grace!
The Lord rushed to Gajendra?s aid. The latter offered the Lord a lotus flower.
God attacked the crocodile and saved His Loved One.
Gajendra?s story is a recollection of ?Maa kuru dhana jana yaouna garvam? line in Adhi Sankara?s Bhaja Govindham.
(Discourse by Guru Ramanujamji on 12 Th January 2010 at Narada Gana Shaba)
Significance of this Story
The Lord is close to those who call out to Him in full faith.
It does not matter if you have the body or intellect of an animal, all you require is a loving heart and the conviction that God is closer than we can possibly believe!
This Story also explains 'Saranagathi' Thathwa, that Lord protects those devotees who sincerely pray and surrender to Him.
This is a symbolic story writes Sant Keshavadas. The egoistic soul is the elephant. As long as we are young, healthy and wealthy, we feel many people love us and we become egoistic. The crocodile symbolically represents death, which ends everything.
When we are caught in the jaws of death, there is no one who can save us. Friends flee, relatives disappear. Our own body fails us miserably. Like the elephant in the story, the only solution from suffering is to turn to the Lord. In the moment of that utter surrender, God rushes to our aid, destroys death, and releases our soul from the clutches of death ? and that is liberation or Moksha that comes by the grace of the Supreme.
True Bhakti is ultimate surrender to the Lord.That is what Gajendra did.
Surrender to God is the Superbowl of devotion.
On surrender ,Sri.Ramana Maharishi says? the feeling 'I am helpless myself, God alone is all powerful, and except by throwing myself completely on Him, there is no other means of safety for me'; surrender is another name for jnana or liberation
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Hindus:Why "Athala Nallur" where Lord Vishnu gave Gajendra,the King of Elephants "Mok
