Gajendra Moksham

Our enriched Puranas, Bhagavathas or Upanishads has always got layers of meanings as told by Mahans. Here I have made a small attempt in sharing Gajendra Moksham. Here goes the story of Gajendra Moksham, which explains the greatness of Saranagathi. Gajendra was the king of elephants. While roaming in the jungles, the elephants were drinking water from a forest lake, when a crocodile caught hold of Gajendra's legs. The kith and kin of him realised that Gajendra is going to be no more since crocodiles are invincible in water as elephants in the terrestrial area. So they left him abandoned and started away. For a few hours, Gajendra was trying to fight the crocodile by kicking it but the valour of the crocodile was so high that Gajendra's energy started dwindling. Most of us cry out to the God in hopeless (nis-sahaya sthiti) situations and so did Gajendra. It took a Lotus from the pond and prayed to the Lord and called HIM as ''AADIMOOLA''. We can remember Purandaradasa quoting in a Ugabhoga as ''AANEYU KAREDARE AADIMOOLA BANDANTE''.No sooner did the Lord realize that the elephant had surrendered itself to Him, forgiving the ego and his(Gajendra's) over-self-confidence, Lord started on His Garuda Vahana and equipped with Sri Sudharshana Azhwar. Now the wind direction changed. The crocodile has to see its death and Gajendra got freed up. It is said that both Gajendra and crocodile were great devotees of Lord but due to curse they had to take form of Gajendra and crocodile. It is also said that Gajendra is Indra's elephant. This is not just a story. There is a tight linking of this story to mankind. 1.The human is Gajendra.2.The world is the lake, where human plays with his kith and kin. 3.The crocodile symbolizes the death and difficulties that attack man.The lesson that is being learnt from here is that nobody can liberate a human from the clutches of life. God alone can answer the prayers as HE is Karunasagara.

Jai Shri Ram