Gajendra of Srimad Bhagavatham and Arta-Jnana

[Guest guest]

praNAms Advaitins,

 

This post is about gajendra moksham/mOkshaNam (liberation of the elephant

king) episode in Chapter 8 of Srimad Bhagavatham. In the episode, an

elephant king (Gajendra) goes to take a bath in a lake. He is caught by a

crocodile, who tries to kill him. He prays to the Lord and is rescued by

Him in the form of Lord Vishnu.

 

In chapter 7 (shlokas 16-17) of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna classifies his

devotees into four types: Arta, artharthi, jijnasu and jnani. Lord Krishna

in verse 17 says that the jnana-bhakta is the most dear to Him, and He is the

most dear to the jnani as well (as " he " is " He " Himself, and " He " is " he "

himself!).

 

A short note about the prayer: In his prayer of 28 verses, Gajendra extolls

the nirguna brahman, the Lord of everything. He regularly uses epithets like

gunAtIta (beyond the three guNAs), sAkshi (the witness) and nishkarmya

(beyond the sense of doership), many of which are also the important keywords

of Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta. The episode of Gajendra, and his prayer are

considered as one of the heights of Bhakti, and hence used as an example.

The prayer is considered one of the jewels of vedanta. It can at best be

described as a prayer to the nirguNa Brahman.

 

Recently, I have listened to the pravachanam (lecture/discourse) by Sri

Samvedam Shanmukha Sharma, a learned and well respected scholar of Andhra

Pradesh. He makes the very interesting observation that Gajendra is more of a

Jnana Bhakta, rather than an Arta bhakta. His observation is rooted in the

theory that nowhere in his beautiful and deep prayer is Gajendra praying to

the Lord to rescue him from the problem at hand: the crocodile trying to kill

him. He is just praying -- praising should be a better phrase -- to the

nirguNa Brahman. The prayer at best, can only be classified as a prayer of

the Jnani to his indwelling, as well as all-pervading attribute-less-Self.

 

In Shri Sharma's opinion, Draupadi, who prayed to Lord Krishna to release her

from the clutches of person trying to molest her, is a better example of Arta

Bhakta than Gajendra. I thought that this was a point worth mentioning, as I too

mistakenly assumed that Gajendra was an Arta Bhakta. (The very notion of a

seeker like me trying to classify others shows the power of ajnana!)

 

==

 

Here are some links on the episode:

 

1. A vedantic interpretation of the episode, by our respected Shri Sastri-ji

http://www.geocities.com/snsastri/episodes.html#_Toc107921203

 

2. An English translation of the prayer by Sri Srila Prabhupada (of ISKCON)

http://vedabase.net/sb/8/3/en1

 

3. An audio rendition of the prayer by Pt. Sunder Kadambi

http://www.prapatti.com/slokas/mp3/gajendramoksham1.mp3

 

4. The text of the prayer in Devanagari.

http://www.prapatti.com/slokas/author/s-bhagavatam.html

 

==

 

If someone is interested, I can post an English transcript of the pravachanam

by Sri Shanmukha Sharma. In it, he correlates the prayer of Gajendra in Vyasa

Bhagavatham, with that of the one by Shri Potana, a translator of Bhagavatham

into Telugu. The verses in the Telugu translation by Potana, are soul-stirring

and capture of the essence of what Bhagavan Vyasa wanted to convey and are

regularly taught to kids.

 

praNAms to all Advaitins

Ramakrishna

(a Jnana-Arta)

[Guest guest]

Namaste Ramakrishna,

 

Do you know if there is an English translation for the

poem " Evvani che janinchu... " . Also interested in

translations of Mandara makaranda and Kamaleshu

ganchani kannulu...

 

Thanks.

 

Suren

[Guest guest]

Hari Om!

 

Please post the English transcript of the Pravachanam by Sri

Shanmukha Sharma. All seekers like us will be certainly benefited.

 

All the Stories in the Srimad Bhagawatam contain inner meaning. It

is Advaita Jnanam expounded as sugar-coated stories.

 

Pranams,

Vanaja Ravi Nair

 

advaitin , " Ramakrishna Upadrasta "

<uramakrishna wrote:

>

> praNAms Advaitins,

>

> This post is about gajendra moksham/mOkshaNam (liberation of the

elephant

> king) episode in Chapter 8 of Srimad Bhagavatham. In the episode,

an

> elephant king (Gajendra) goes to take a bath in a lake. He is

caught by a

> crocodile, who tries to kill him. He prays to the Lord and is

rescued by

> Him in the form of Lord Vishnu.

>

> In chapter 7 (shlokas 16-17) of Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna

classifies his

> devotees into four types: Arta, artharthi, jijnasu and jnani. Lord

Krishna

> in verse 17 says that the jnana-bhakta is the most dear to Him,

and He is the

> most dear to the jnani as well (as " he " is " He " Himself, and " He "

is " he "

> himself!).

>

> A short note about the prayer: In his prayer of 28 verses,

Gajendra extolls

> the nirguna brahman, the Lord of everything. He regularly uses

epithets like

> gunAtIta (beyond the three guNAs), sAkshi (the witness) and

nishkarmya

> (beyond the sense of doership), many of which are also the

important keywords

> of Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta. The episode of Gajendra, and his

prayer are

> considered as one of the heights of Bhakti, and hence used as an

example.

> The prayer is considered one of the jewels of vedanta. It can at

best be

> described as a prayer to the nirguNa Brahman.

>

> Recently, I have listened to the pravachanam (lecture/discourse)

by Sri

> Samvedam Shanmukha Sharma, a learned and well respected scholar of

Andhra

> Pradesh. He makes the very interesting observation that Gajendra

is more of a

> Jnana Bhakta, rather than an Arta bhakta. His observation is

rooted in the

> theory that nowhere in his beautiful and deep prayer is Gajendra

praying to

> the Lord to rescue him from the problem at hand: the crocodile

trying to kill

> him. He is just praying -- praising should be a better phrase --

to the

> nirguNa Brahman. The prayer at best, can only be classified as a

prayer of

> the Jnani to his indwelling, as well as all-pervading attribute-

less-Self.

>

> In Shri Sharma's opinion, Draupadi, who prayed to Lord Krishna to

release her

> from the clutches of person trying to molest her, is a better

example of Arta

> Bhakta than Gajendra. I thought that this was a point worth

mentioning, as I too

> mistakenly assumed that Gajendra was an Arta Bhakta. (The very

notion of a

> seeker like me trying to classify others shows the power of

ajnana!)

>

> ==

>

> Here are some links on the episode:

>

> 1. A vedantic interpretation of the episode, by our respected Shri

Sastri-ji

> http://www.geocities.com/snsastri/episodes.html#_Toc107921203

>

> 2. An English translation of the prayer by Sri Srila Prabhupada

(of ISKCON)

> http://vedabase.net/sb/8/3/en1

>

> 3. An audio rendition of the prayer by Pt. Sunder Kadambi

> http://www.prapatti.com/slokas/mp3/gajendramoksham1.mp3

>

> 4. The text of the prayer in Devanagari.

> http://www.prapatti.com/slokas/author/s-bhagavatam.html

>

> ==

>

> If someone is interested, I can post an English transcript of the

pravachanam

> by Sri Shanmukha Sharma. In it, he correlates the prayer of

Gajendra in Vyasa

> Bhagavatham, with that of the one by Shri Potana, a translator of

Bhagavatham

> into Telugu. The verses in the Telugu translation by Potana, are

soul-stirring

> and capture of the essence of what Bhagavan Vyasa wanted to convey

and are

> regularly taught to kids.

>

> praNAms to all Advaitins

> Ramakrishna

> (a Jnana-Arta)

>