Hari Om Parents,
So far in Bhagavatam, we have seen about many devotees of the Lord. (Prahlad, Parikshit, Narada, Dhruva, Bharata and Bali).
Today we will be seeing a great devotee of lord in form of an animal. One such devotee is Gajendra an elephant. We will see about how Lord gave mukti to Gajendra.
Lord's compassion knows no boundary. If we are a true devotee, lord will definitely protect and will liberate from the cycle of life (Mukti).
Lord comes to us in the form we pray to him. Although it was very hard to describe to kids about lord's roopam, we want them to remember below few key items about lord vishnu's appearance:
His vehicle is Garuda (King of birds, eagle)
He rests on Adhisesha
Goddess Lakshmi is His consort,
His weapon Sudarshana Chakra in one hand and conch in other hand.
His sword Nandaka
He will be holding the lotus.
This is the form of the Lord upon which Gajendra was praying and meditating to.
Gajendra was the head of the elephants and a very great devotee of the Lord. Every day he would go to the lake along with his family and other elephants. With great devotion and sincerity, every morning he would pluck a lotus flower from the pond and offers it to the Lord.
One day as usual Gajendra went to the lake to offer the lotus to the Lord. But the moment he set his foot in the lake, an alligator caught hold of his leg and started dragging him inside the lake. Gajendra tried with all his might to free himself. He struggled hard, fought a very fierce battle. But unable to fight any more, he surrendered himself to the Lord. These were his words.
"OH LORD! IF IT IS YOUR WISH THAT I MUST DIE, SO BE IT. OTHERWISE PLEASE SAVE ME. I AM COMPLETELY AT YOUR MERCY. JUST DO AS YOU WISH."
As soon as the Lord heard it, he immediately hurried to the spot in his vehicle Garuda the fastest bird with the conch and chakra in his hands to protect his devotee. SUCH IS THE MERCY OF THE LORD. The Chakra killed the alligator and freed Gajendra.
Gajendra bowed down to the Lord and the Lord gladly accepted the lotus flower from him. He remained a very sincere devotee.
Do you all know who the alligator is? He is a Gandharva cursed by a rishi to become an alligator. He had angered the rishi, and the rishi cursed him to become an alligator. The Gandharva begged the rishi to forgive him and provide a way out of this curse. Rishi asked him to catch hold of a bhakta's feet (Gajendra) and the lord will definitely come protect his devotee and thereby liberating the alligator (Gandharva) from the curse.
MORAL: Whoever it may be, the Lord will come running to a sincere call from a devotee. He doesn't distinguish whether he is a human, Gandharva, an apsara, an animal, a rakshasa whoever it may be. He is full of grace.
we can all strive to become his sincere devotee.
OM NAMO NARAYANAYA!
With Gurudev's blessings,
Saratha Arthanari
Malathy Balasubramanian
