English
Gajendra Moksha
Source: Shrimad Bhagavata Purana, Skandha 8 (chapters 2–4)
In the middle of the Ocean of Milk stood a beautiful mountain called Trikuta. In one of its valleys was a garden of Varuna, the god of waters, and in the garden a vast lake full of lotuses.
In the forests of that mountain lived Gajendra, king of the elephants: mighty, fearless, lord of a large family and herd. One day, tired by the heat, he stepped into that lake with his mates and calves. He filled his trunk with water, bathed them all, and played to his heart's content.
Just then a powerful crocodile hidden in the water seized his leg.
Gajendra pulled with all his strength. The crocodile pulled him deeper. The female elephants and his companions trumpeted in distress, but none could free him. In the water the crocodile's strength grew and Gajendra's ebbed. The Bhagavata says this struggle lasted a thousand years.
At last came the moment when all of Gajendra's strength was spent. His family could not help him; his own might had failed. Then a thought rose in his mind: “He whom even death fears, who is the shelter of all, in Him alone I will now take refuge.”
By the merit of a past life, he remembered a hymn. He gathered his mind and called upon the Supreme Being, who has no name and no form, yet dwells in all.
Sinking in the water, Gajendra cried out with all his heart: “He in whom this whole world rests, from whom it was born, who is Himself all of this, in that self-born Lord I take refuge.”
Gajendra had not called on any particular god by name, but on the Supreme Truth. So Brahma and the other gods did not come, since he was not calling them in particular. But Lord Hari, who lives in every heart, heard that call.
At once He mounted Garuda and arrived, discus in hand. Seeing the Lord in the sky, Gajendra, racked with pain, plucked a lotus from the lake with his trunk, lifted it high and said with great effort, “Narayana, Teacher of the world, Lord, I salute You.”
So great was the Lord's compassion that He sprang down from Garuda. He pulled Gajendra and the crocodile out of the lake together, and with the Sudarshana discus He split open the crocodile's jaws and set Gajendra free.
At that moment a wonder occurred. From the crocodile's body rose a shining gandharva named Huhu, who had been cursed by the sage Devala. Touched by the Lord, he was released from the curse, bowed to the Lord, and returned to his own realm.
And Gajendra? In his previous life he had been Indradyumna, king of the Pandya country, a great devotee of the Lord. One day, while he sat in worship under a vow of silence, the sage Agastya arrived. The king did not rise to welcome him. Taking this for arrogance, the sage cursed him: “Your mind is as dull as an elephant's. Go, become an elephant.”
So he was born an elephant, but the devotion of his past life stayed within him. That is why, in his moment of crisis, the hymn came back to him. At the Lord's touch his ignorance vanished, and he received the form of one of the Lord's own attendants.
The Lord said, “Whoever rises at dawn and remembers this story and Gajendra's hymn, I will grant a pure mind at the hour of death.” Then He took Gajendra with Him to His own abode.
What this story teaches
When family, strength and every support give way, one support still remains. A single call made with a sincere heart surely reaches the Lord.
Gajendra's hymn from this episode (the Gajendra Stuti, or Gajendra Moksha Stotra) is recited daily by many devotees, especially in times of trouble.
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