Dhyaan dharey man sey
mera karey na chit udaas
Samjhey mujhko har samay hardam apney paas |
Ghat ghat mein sansaar key vyaapak main bharpoor
Prem sey nitya sameep hoon, prem nahin to door ||
These lines belong to the
Bhagvad Geeta in Hindi by Pandit RadheyShyam from Bareily.
This Scripture, I have been reading and teaching youngsters
since the last 22 years.
The lines above are my
favorite and they are spoken by Krishna to Arjuna during the
latter’s darkest hour.
Krishna says that man should
meditate upon the Lord, not feel dejected and think of the
Lord, as always being at hand.
Krishna claims that He is
present in abundance in every atom of the world.
To those who have love (and
faith) in their heart, God is close by, to the others He seems
to be far away!
The following story that I
am about to narrate is ‘Gajendra Moksha’ and is a part of
the Shrimad Bhaagvad.
It is written, that he who
reads the story of Gajendra, his mind will be purified and he
will be received by the Lord God Himself at the time of his
death.
Gajendra was the King of
elephants.
One hot day, he proceeded to
the lake with his family to cool off in its fresh waters.
But from within the lake a
crocodile appeared who attacked him and would not let go of
him.
When the family and
relatives saw ‘death’ coming close to Gajendra, and
everyone realised that everything was lost, they left Gajendra
alone.
The symbolism so far:
It is said that ‘Nirbal
key bal Ram’
Which means that God is the
Strength of the Weak!
A lot of us make
preparations for a journey from which one is meant to return;
yet we make none for death!
Most of us cry out to God
when caught in hopeless situation.
And that is what Gajendra
did!
You will notice that in the
Bhaagvad, there are stories with a moral and symbolisms.
Most stories have a
beautiful prayer!
Gajendra prayed:
‘Please help me O Lord!
Save me from the clutches of Death!’
How can an ordinary mortal
recognize You, when great sages find it hard to achieve You?
You are all merciful.
Take me to a place where
there is no fear and death!
I am not asking you to save
me from the clutch of the crocodile, or that I should survive
this attack! I am aware that I not only have a body of an
elephant but also a fat mind of an elephant! What is the use
of keeping this life? I want to be liberated from my Ignorant
Mind which hides the resplendent soul! I can only be saved by
Your Grace!
It is said that if one
recites the Gajendra Prayer, one achieves liberation and
freedom from frightening dreams!
The Lord rushed to Gajendra’s
aid. The latter offered the Lord a lotus flower.
God attacked the crocodile
and saved His Loved One.
Gajendra, in his previous
life was a great devotee called Indradyumna who was also a
great king. One day, Agastya, a great sage came to visit the
king. Indradyumna did not receive the Sage with the respect
that the latter expected. The enraged Agastya cursed the king
to become an elephant in his next birth, as he sat heavy on
his seat and did not rise to greet him.
The crocodile in its last
life was a king called HuHu in the Gandharva planet. Once
while enjoying himself in the waters, he pulled the leg of a
sage. The enraged sage cursed the king to become a crocodile
in his next life. The repentant HuHu asked for pardon. The
Sage proclaimed that though he could not retrieve the curse,
the crocodile would be liberated from the cycle of birth and
death when Gajendra would be saved by the Lord God Himself.
Those readers who have been
with me so far will wonder why I quoted the lines from the
Geeta at the beginning of this note.
Well, those lines, as well
as the story of Gajendra state that:
The Lord is close to those
who call out to Him in full faith.
It does not matter if you
have the body or intellect of an animal, all you require is a
loving heart and the conviction that God is closer than we can
possibly believe!
Gajendra
Moksha Stuti (Prayer)
AUM NAMO BHAGAWATE
TASMAY YAT ETCCHIDATMAKAM
PURUSHAAYAA
DIBIJAAY PARESHAAYAABHI
DHEEMAHEE
YASMINNIDUM
YETASCCHEDUM YENEDUM EEDUM SWAYAM
YOSMAAT
PARASMAASCH PARAH TUMPRAPADYE
SWAYAMBHOOWAM
GLOSSARY
(Pronunciation)
A
Like in ‘but’
Aa Like in ‘Far’
Ai Like in 'hair’
Ey Like in Whey
I Like in ‘Pin’
Oo Like in ‘Shoot’
Oon ‘n’ has got a nasal sound.
U Like in ‘Put’
SANSKRIT
Sanskrit
believes that the sound of the word never gets ruined and that
it has an everlasting value.
Words
in Sanskrit open out from their seed (beej) form.
A
root is always a single syllable that contains one of the
basic sounds a, I, u, ri
The
root or seed may create a word, yet the word will vibrate to
its best, and gives it tremendous power.
The
Vedic or the Sanskrit view gives more importance to the
special sound it should produce, than to the meaning of the
spoken word.
