Gajendra Story

Hare Krishna!!!

Dear Parents,
We had most of our old students back. Welcome Back. Many kids wanted to lead the prayers and it was so nice to see such enthusiasm in them. We appreciate the parents effort in teaching them and bringing them to Sunday school.

This week,
PRAYERS: We said the prayers for Lord Shri Krishna and Srimati Radharani.
SLOKA: We revised the previously taught slokas and learnt the BG sloka (Chapter 9: Verse 26)
(Note: Please refer to the previous posts for the prayers and their translations.)

STORY TIME:
Gajendra Story: In the midst of the ocean of milk, there is a very high and beautiful mountain known as Trikūṭa. Once the chief of the elephants, along with female elephants, went to enjoy bathing in that lake, and they disturbed the inhabitants of the water. Because of this, the chief crocodile in that water, who was very powerful, immediately attacked the elephant's leg. Thus, a great fight started between the elephant and the crocodile. This fight continued for one thousand years. Neither the elephant nor the crocodile died, but since they were in the water, the elephant gradually became weak whereas the power of the crocodile increased more and more. Then the elephant, being helpless and seeing that no one could help him, prayed to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The King of the elephants remembered a prayer that he had learned in his previous life and began to chant it to himself. First he offered his respectful obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and because of his awkward position in having been attacked by the crocodile, he wasn't able to recite prayers nicely. However, he tried his best to chant the mantra as nicely as he could.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, seated on Garuḍa, personally appeared before him. Gajendra, by lifting his trunk, he immediately took a lotus flower in his trunk, and with great difficulty due to his painful condition, he said the following words: "O my Lord, Narayana, master of the universe, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You." and the Lord immediately pulled him from the water along with the crocodile who had captured his leg. Then the Lord killed the crocodile with his disc and thus rescued Gajendra.

Who was Gajendra?
Gajendra, in his previous birth, had been a great devotee of Lord Viṣṇu. His name was Indradyumna, and he was the King of the Tāmila country. He went to the hills to meditate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead in silence. Agastya Ṛṣi, along with many disciples, once approached King Indradyumna's āśrama, but because the King was meditating on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he could not receive Agastya Ṛṣi properly. Thus the ṛṣi became very angry and cursed the King to become a dull elephant. In accordance with this curse, the King was born as an elephant, and he forgot all about his previous activities in devotional service. Nonetheless, in his birth as an elephant, when he was dangerously attacked by the crocodile, he remembered his past life in devotional service and remembered a prayer he had learned in that life. Because of this prayer, he again received the mercy of the Lord. Thus he was immediately delivered, and he got the same bodily features as the Lord, being dressed in yellow garments and possessing four hands.

Who was the Crocodile?
There was a king on the Gandharva planet whose name was Hūhū. Once this King Hūhū was playing with his wife in the water, and while playing around he pulled the leg of Devala Ṛṣi, who was also taking a bath in the water. Upon this, the sage became very angry and immediately cursed him to become a crocodile. King Hūhū was very sorry when cursed in that way and he begged pardon from the sage, who in compassion gave him the benediction that he would be freed when Gajendra was delivered by the Personality of Godhead. Thus the crocodile was delivered when killed by Nārāyaṇa

Srimad-Bhagavatam link to Gajendra story(Canto 8 : chapters 2, 3 and 4) http://vedabase.net/sb/8/en

Practical Application:
1. Disrespect to our elders or mischief will certainly cause us trouble.
2. No one can help us in dangerous/troublesome situation except Lord Krishna.
3. Everyone can go to Vaikunta if we develop love for Lord Krishna.
4. It is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam, simply hearing this Gajendra story, one is unaffected by the contamination of Kali-yuga, and one never sees bad dreams.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in the next class.

Haribol!!!!
Gopala Class Teachers
Namapriya Mataji
Amutha