Gajendra Moksha
Indradyumna was a king known
for his virtues. His ways were honest and he was concerned for his
subjects. He was deeply spiritual. Once, he called a meeting of his
ministers and told them that he wanted to live in the forest to devote
all his time in worshipping Lord.
The king went to the
Kulachal Moutains and made his home in a small cottage. He observed a
vow of silence and immersed himself in meditation of Lord Vishnu. One
day, Sage Agastya came to the Kulachal Moutains with his disciples. On
seeing Indradyumna not reacting or welcoming them, Sage Agastya mistook
it for pride. He cursed Indradyumna in anger and turned him into an
elephant. Lord Vishnu witnessed this from Vaikunth (His Divine abode),
and smiled.
Having become an elephant, King Indradyumna
began roaming in the forest. Once he came across a big herd of
elephants. To be accepted by the other elephants of the gang,
Indradyumna defeated the head elephant. He was crowned the new leader of
the herd, and came to be known as Gajendra. One day, Gajendra decided
to move with his herd to Trikuta Mountains, which he considered a better place then Kulachal.
After
storming their way through the Trikuta forest, the herd of elephants
proceeded towards a lake. They were not aware that it was a crocodile's
home.
The crocodile did not like the herd entering his place. In a mood
of attack, he moved towards Gajendra.
Deciding to teach Gajendra a
lesson, the crocodile caught hold of Gajendra's leg. The faithful herd
of elephants tried to save their leader but no matter how hard they
tried, were no match to the immense strength the crocodile seemed to
posses. Eventually, they gave up and Gajendra requested them to move on
without him, as he did not want to put the rest of the herd in danger.
The
crocodile was sinking his teeth so hard in Gajendra's leg that the pain
become unbearable. The elephant tried his best to free his leg from the
crocodile's grasp, but did not succeed. Finally, he turned to Lord
Vishnu and humbly surrendered himself in devotion to Him. He called out
the Lord with his sincere prayer to come and rescue him. With tears in his eyes, Gajendra plucked a lotus flower from the lake
and called upon the Lord wholeheartedly. “Oh Lord! Only you…only you can
help me now…no one else is there for me any more“.
On
hearing his devotee's prayer, Lord Vishnu immediately left Vaikunth and
mounting on Garuda, rushed down to earth to rescue him.
Lord Vishnu
released his discus and struck the crocodile like lightning, freeing
Gajendra's leg. Gajendra was overjoyed to see his Lord, and offering a
lotus flower, paid obeisance to Him. Lord Vishnu blessed Gajendra and
with His Divine touch, the elephant King regained his human form as
Indradyumna. He thanked Lord Vishnu for protecting him and requested the
Lord to take him to Vaikunth. This is how Gajendra, the elephant king
attained God with his devotion.
The crocodile who was a
gandharva by name Huhu was once having bath in river, and there came a
rishi to have his bath. Huhu tried playing tricks to the rishi who
became very angry and cursed gandharva to turn to a crocodile.Thus Huhu
was released from the curse only after the touch of Lord Vishnu.
A sincere prayer of the devotee does not go unanswered by the Lord. Always keep God in your thoughts and believe that He protects you at all times.
