Introduction

As a child I used to listen my grandfather singing an ancient Odia bhajan of an unknown saint-poet; ‘baraja rāja tanuja bhajare mana……’, oh mind, remember the son of the king of Braja, be engrossed in His feet, one who gives his mind to the Friend of the Universe, He becomes his treasure. In the next stanza it talks about the story of Gajendra Moksha, ‘gajarāja nija oja bhājibā jāni….’ when the king of the elephants understood that its pride and strength has fallen, it remembered the lotus feet of the One who should be remembered, and so on. That is how I came to know about the story of Gajendra in my childhood. In every Odia household a bhajan of Bhakta Sālabega, ‘āhe nila shaila pravala matta bārana’ is sung and there again it comes across the story of Gajarāja; ‘gajarāja  chintā kalā thāi ghora jalena.…’ the king of the elephants remembered You in the troubled water, and You came to its rescue by killing the crocodile with your chakra. Thus sang many saint poets.

Later as I grow up, I came to know that this particular story is repeated by the saint-poets of almost all Indian languages, in folk songs, in dances, in dance dramas, in pujā pandals, in temple arts, and in traditional arts all over India. This legend is mainly known as “Liberation of the Elephant King Gajendra”. The story is described in the eighth Skanda (Book 8) of Shrimad Bhāgavata Mahāpurāna from the second to the fourth chapter as told by Shri Shukadev to King Parikshit. The story is also narrated in Vāmana Purāna as said by Rishi Pulastya to Rishi Nārada.

Story

The puranic story goes like this. It was the era of the fourth Manu named Tāmas. Emerging from Kshirasāgar, the ocean of milk was a famous, beautiful, vast mountainous landmass named Trikut with three major peaks made up of gold, silver, and iron. It had also other peaks made up of jewels and different metals. There were many varieties of trees, creepers, bushes, many rivers, waterfalls, birds, and animals making it extremely beautiful where many celestial dancers and singers used to roam and play.  At the plateau, there was a garden of Lord Varuna named Ritumān decorated with many flowering trees and orchards. There lived an elephant king named “Gajendra” as he was the head of a herd of females and baby elephants; he was also the leader of other powerful elephants. Given his enormous power, animals like lions, tigers, and others fled away from his path, but animals like monkeys, deer, and rabbits moved fearlessly.   

Once in summer, in a playful mode breaking the branches of the trees he traveled to a sarovar (lake/big pond) with his herd of wives and children. While he was mad in water sports, playing and merry-making with his wives and children, a crocodile caught his leg. Gajendra tried to escape from the clutches of the crocodile but failed. Though his wives and his children wanted to help him, they were also unable to do so. Knowing Gajendra’s death is near all the elephant herds, wives and children left him alone in the water. 

Realizing the ultimate truth of life, he prayed to Lord Vishnu to save him. He recited a prayer that he learned from his previous life to achieve Moksha which is known as “Gajendra Strotam”. He sang, “I bow down to that Lord of all the wealth, the prime cause of this universe and the one who resides in the heart of every being in the form of Consciousness and spread everywhere as Consciousness, and the Only Lord of this universe; I meditate on Him with love”. Thus the prayer on the advaita bhakti, non-dual devotion goes on.

Listening to Gajendra’s prayer and seeing his devotion, Lord Hari came to save him. Gajendra offered a lotus flower standing on one foot when he saw Lord Vishnu is coming to save him. Impressed by Gajendra’s devotion and dedication, Sri Hari immediately cut the head of the crocodile with his Sudarshan Chakra. The crocodile took a body of effulgence and left for his abode. The crocodile was a gandharva, celestial singer, named Huhu in a past life who was cursed by Rishi Devala to a life of crocodile. Thus Gajendra was saved and the Lord also granted him the Sārupya Mukti, liberation in getting a similar form to that of Lord Vishnu. 

In his previous life, Gajendra was a king belonging to the Pāndya clan named Indradyumna in Drāvid who left his kingdom to become an ascetic and was engaged in penance. He was cursed by Rishi Agastya to lead a life of an elephant as he was not engaging in his prime duty of governing the country for the betterment of his citizens and left the duty of household life, serving the guests, and doing well to others as his penance was mostly based on ego satisfaction.   

Use Of The Gajendra Stuti By The Devotees

This is generally cited as an example of bhakti, i.e. devotion, in different Bhakti Traditions over the ages and to sing the glory of the Lord. Devotees used to sing the Gajendra Moksha Strotram or Stuti, the prayer of Gajendra praising Shri Hari in hymn form, as a mark of their devotion to Shri Vishnu, to please the Lord for boons, surrendering at His lotus feet, and also for peace in mind, to get rid of debt, for happiness in household life, to ward off bad fortune, to get rid of a curse, to get rid of difficulties, quarrels, and litigations, for the liberation of ancestors, and for many other purposes as per their state of being. This reminds people to remember the Lord at the time of any difficulty. 

Devotees believe that by singing this stuti they can achieve Sārupya Mukti and will remain as a consort of Shri Hari in His abode. Rishi Shukadev said, ‘one who listens to this daily, overcomes the darkness (ignorance) in the age of Kali, get past of bad dreams, progresses in life, achieves name and fame in life, attains heaven after death.   

 Traditional Explanation In Bhakti Mārga 

The traditional explanation of this story as explained by Shri Dongre Ji Maharaj speaks that the samsāra or the world is just like a pond, the jiva or the individual is the elephant, and the kāla, i.e., the time or death is the crocodile. The individual gets attracted towards the objects of this world and forgets the death. We get attracted and involved in this materialistic world. This materialistic world is nothing but Māyā, the deluding nature. 

When we are engrossed in the deluding nature of the world, we get caught by the death at our leg; this means now we cannot run to escape when we get so involved in this world and realize that the ultimate truth of this life is death. Then we start struggling to escape from the clutches of death. All this is due to our jada buddhi or paucity of intellect like that of an elephant engaged in sensual pleasure and ego satisfaction. 

The Trikut Mountain is this body; the three peaks are kāma or desires, krodha or anger, and lobha or greed. We are engaged in the pond of this world with our herd of companions. Knowing that death is near and we will be useless to this world, worldly relationships start leaving us as the herd left the king of elephants. Hence before getting trapped by kāla, we should always worship the Lord Vishnu or the Almighty to find the ultimate truth of life and our goal should be to achieve moksha and we should know “ who am I?” and “what my duties in this world are?”. 

According to Shri Dongre ji Maharaj, all the above questions and its solution can be learned only by Ishwara Bhakti. Once we surrender ourselves at the feet of Lord Vishnu and chant his name earnestly with utmost devotion, then the path of achieving mukti will become very easy for us. 

Yogic Way Of Explanation

Yogis also explain the same story. Kriyayoga Āchārya Swami Nityananda Giri says, this body, pinda, is a miniature form of this universe, brahmānda. Manu is the cosmic mind, the ruler. Here the Manu is Tāmas, which means ruling over darkness. Each human individual is a Gajendra in his subtle body though we look different physically. Our brain and spinal cord look like that of a head and trunk of an elephant. An elephant is a symbol of prosperity and also a big ego. 

This is like playing the sensuous play with five senses in this world of Trikuta. The outer world is not the problem. The problem is our inner world of Trikuta, roaming in the vrittis of our chitta or activities of our mind-stuff. Trikuta is a mountain having three main shringa, peaks. The golden peak is sattva quality, the silver peak is the rajas quality, and the iron peak is the tamas quality. We are governed by these three qualities. Then there are many other peaks, these are the virtues and vices in our minds. 

This mind forest is very beautiful, versatile, and also full of opposing wild animals, and we are lost in the wilderness. Ritumān garden is the seasonal garden, our mind garden though beautiful, it changes with time in a cyclic manner, and nothing is permanent here. The Elephant is the vehicle in Mulādhāra Chakra, the center of our mind attached to the material world. In Mulādhāra there is a predominance of kshiti tattva, earth element. Most individuals are slaves to this center; their minds roaming in material objects, wealth, and belongings. 

Being intoxicated in it, they enter the next state of further intoxication, and then they get trapped in Swādhisthāna. Here is the predominance of āpah tattva, the water element. This is the lake or pond where the grāha or the crocodile resides. Grāha means the one that catches. The crocodile is the vehicle in Swādhisthāna Chakra. This is indulgence. We all are generally caught here, we are in a trap of our own indulgence. This is the center for emotion, affection, sex, and relationships. Here we forget the righteousness and are delusional. This derails our distinguishing intellect, viveka. 

We are in a death trap. Only devotion to Vishnu, the Lord of Infinity, and the Total Consciousness can save us. Hari means one who takes away all sufferings. The devotion is marked by offering a lotus, the blooming individual consciousness to the Total Consciousness. That has to be done by standing on one leg. Standing on one leg signifies the activation of Shusumnā, when the life-force enters and moves upward towards Ājnā Chakra. Then the knowledge comes in the form of Gajendra Stuti. Then only we transcendent death and enter the abode of immortality.

Conclusion

The morals of this story are eye-opening. This teaches us to perform our worldly duties or else we can fall into animal life. This teaches us to be awake in mind forest and desist from indulgence; this teaches us the devotion to the Lord of the Universe, the Truth Principle, and that is Shri Vishnu. We learn the meaning of human life. We understand how to ascend the ladder of our consciousness and enter into the Infinite Bliss.  

References

1. Shrimad Bhagavata-Mahapurana, code 26, illustrated, Sanskrit with simple Hindi explanation, Part 1, Gita Press, Gorakhpur-273 005, pages 761-772.
2. Shrimad Bhagavata Rahasya, Pujyapad Shriramchandra Keshav Dongreji Maharaj, DPB Publications, Chawdi Bazaar, Delhi-6, pages 396-401
3. From Unpublished Manuscript of Swami Nityananda Giri, Author of Kriya-yoga- The Science of Life-force on Gaja Uddhārana.