[Advaita-l] Gajendra moksham

[Kuntimaddi Sadananda]

Kaushikji - PraNAms
Potana in Telugu Bhagavatam beautifully describes the Gajendra moksham - very devotional poetry.
In VishiShTaadvaita - SharaNaagati, where ego is completely surrendered to the Lord, is described using three examples. a) Vibheeshana SharaNaagati, b) Gajendra SharaNaagati and c) Droupadi SharaNaagati.Krishna does not come to Droupadi's rescue as long as she was holding her saree with one hand and praying with the other hand. When she gives-up her struggles and surrenders completely and lifting her both hands in prayer to the Lord to come and rescue, then only Krishna comes and saves her. He also says later to Droupadi that she called him as Dvaarakaa nivaasa - Hence He said it took sometime for him to come from Dvaaraka. He said, 'I am in the very core of your self. I would have come immediately if you have called me as your own self.' He comes to help once one's ego has completely surrendered. The Bhakti culminates into Jnaana, if one's mind is mature. 
Bhagavatpaada Shankara wrote many slokas on many Gods too - exemplifying the bhakti aspect. 
Hari Om!Sadananda

 

    On Monday, August 9, 2021, 08:08:18 AM EDT, Kaushik Chevendra via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:  
 
 Namaste sir.

On Mon, 9 Aug 2021, 17:21 sreenivasa murthy, <narayana145 at yahoo.co.in>
wrote:

> Dear Sri Kaushik Chevendra,
>
> What is bhakti?
> The following Sloka from the text Vivekschoodamani
> in a very clear way has defined what bhakti is:
>
>  mOkShasAdhanasAmagryAm  bhaktirEva gariyasI |
> svasvarUpAnusaMdhAnaM BaktirityaBidhIyatE ||
>

> The meaning is very clear.
>
Very true sir. And to attain to the highest stage it has to be done
gradually. Shri madhusudhana saraswati talks about 3 stages of bakthi. It
initially starts from the starting stage of where the devotee says "Oh Lord
,I am yours". Just like in the case of gajendra. And hence I had shared the
story which will strengthen the devotees bakthi to Lord.

Namo narayanaya

That is what I have stated in my e-mail.
> This is what the highest and true bhakti is.
>
>
> With respectful namaskars,
> Sreenvasa Murthy.
>
> On Monday, 9 August, 2021, 8:59:56 am GMT+1, Kaushik Chevendra <
> chevendrakaushik at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Namaste.
> Without devotion to isvara, knowledge which leads to mukthi isn't
> attained.
> Otherwise why would shri shankaraacharya write so many devotional works?
> Why does he say to worship govinda? Why does he talk about the divine
> activities of narayana in his works such as govindastakam? Why does
> jagadguru advice us to constantly chant the names of isvara? Why do puranas
> talk about his activities?.
> It's evident that bakthi is compulsory. But how is this inculcated?
> Through the rememberance of daya and greatness of isvara through the
> rememberance of his activities which will cleanse and purify the devotees
> mind,which will eventually be ready to gain knowledge.
> And hence the stories of gajendra and such play a vital role.
>
> Om namo narayanaya.
>
>
> On Mon, 9 Aug 2021, 13:02 sreenivasa murthy, <narayana145 at yahoo.co.in>
> wrote:
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> What is the use of knowing about Gajendra Moksha?
> Will it give us Moksha?
> Never.
> The Lord is your own true svarUpa / nature
> and he is within your heart as the WITNESS to
> all mental modifications.
> Should we not make sincere and honest efforts to
> attain moksha by implementing methodologies as taught
> by Upanishads and Sri Shankara?
> Mantras 2-1-3 & 2-1-4 of Kathopanishad and 2-4 of Kena Upanishad
> have revealed, in a very simple and direct way,
> the path of Moksha which can be had by each and every one
> HERE  and Now.
> Please give a try.
> It  will be of tremendous puruShArtha.
>
> With repectful namasakars,
> Sreenivasa Murthy.
>
> On Monday, 9 August, 2021, 5:47:36 am GMT+1, Kaushik Chevendra via
> Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>
> Namaste sir.
> Its also interesting to note that that ramanujacharya also didnt quote
> bagavtham. It was shri madhvacharya who was the one to mention and write a
> summary of it.
> The scholars quickly come to the conclusion that it must be a later day
> composition. We must not take their view seriously,as these type of
> statements arent in line with the tradition.The bagavtham is constantly
> quoted in other puranas. And the conclusion will be,they too are of later
> day composition. So the scholars view should be taken only if they agree
> with the tradition.Acharya quotes from some of the puranas and
> upanishads,and there are many which arent quoted in his works. And hence
> bagavtham here is of no exception.
> Prof B. N. Krishnamurti Sarma has something of interest to say on the date
> of Bhagavata Purana, based on his research work on external evidence for
> the same, in his learned work on the subject in the Annals of the
> Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute of Poona Vol XIV, 1932-33. He states
> that Gaudapada (7th century) in his commentary on Uttara Gita refers to the
> Bhagavata Purana in the course of his commentary on II, 46 of the text,
> quoting the following hemistich: taduktam bhagavate: tesamasau klesa eva
> sisyate, nanyadyatha sthulatusavaghatinam. This line is to be identified
> with the second line of Bh X.14.4, which is as follows: tesamasau klesa
> evasisyate nanyadyatha sthulatusavaghatinam.
>
> Further though there is no direct reference of bagavtham,its believed
> acharya did quote it indirectly.
>
> Krishna's stealing the clothes of gopis of Vraja is also mentioned in
> Brahma-Vaivarta purana, but the description is different than what
> Shankaracarya describes. Shankaracharya's description is consistent with
> Bhagavatam's description.
>
> The corresponding verses from Govindastakam and the chapters from
> Bhagavatam
>
> मृत्स्नामत्सीहेति यशोदाताडनशैशव सन्त्रासं
> व्यदितवक्त्रालोकितलोकालोकचतुर्दशलोकालिम् । लोकत्रयपुरमूलस्तम्भं
> लोकालोकमनालोकं लोकेशं परमेशं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ २॥
>
> mṛtsnāmatsīhēti yaśōdātāḍanaśaiśava-santrāsam
> vyāditavaktrālōkitalōkālōkacaturdaśalōkālim| lōkatrayapuramūlastambhaṃ
> lōkālōkamanālōkam lōkēśaṃ paramēśaṃ praṇamata gōvindaṃ paramānandam||2||
>
> Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, who showed the fear of a child when
> beaten by Yashodá saying, ``You are eating earth''. and in whose opened
> mouth was seen the row of fourteen worlds, visible and invisible, who is
> the support of the three worlds (vis., Svarga, pruthvè, pátála), who is in
> the form of the worlds, visible and invisible, who cannot be seen, who is
> the controller of the universe and who is the supreme Lord. (2)
>
> The corresponding bhagavatam chapter titled SB 10.8: Lord Kṛṣṇa Shows the
> Universal Form Within His Mouth <https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/10/8>
>
> स्नानव्याकुलयोशिद्वस्त्रमुपादायागमुपारूढं व्यदित्सन्तिरथ दिग्वस्त्रा
> ह्युपुदातुमुपाकर्षन्तम् । निर्धूतद्वयशोकविमोहं बुद्धं बुद्धेरन्तस्थं
> सत्तामात्रशरीरं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ ६॥
>
> snānavyākulayōṣidvastramupādāyāgamupārūḍham vyāditsantīratha digvastrā
> dātumupākarṣantaṃ tāḥ| nirdhūtadvayaśōkavimōhaṃ buddhaṃ buddhērantaḥstham
> sattāmātraśarīraṃ praṇamata gōvindaṃ paramānandam||6||
>
> Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, who climbed up the tree carrying the
> clothes of women busily engaged in their bath and who made them come close
> to him for the purpose of giving the clothes to them who were naked and who
> desired to get back their clothes, who is free from duality, grief and
> delusion, who is wise, who dwells in the intellect, and who is
> pure-existence. (6)
>
> The corresponding bhagavatam chapter titled SB 10.22: Kṛṣṇa Steals the
> Garments of the Unmarried Gopīs <https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/10/22>
>
>
>
> Hope this clarifies.
>
> om namo narayanaya
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 at 08:49, Vinodh via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Namaskaram,
> >
> > I very much enjoy the stories of Srimad Bhagavatham that show Ishwara’s
> > kaarunyam. And more so the many advaitic teachings contained in the
> stories
> > of Bhagavatham.
> >
> > However, it appears that Shankara Bhagavadpada never quoted anything from
> > these stories in his works. I am curious to know if this is indeed true
> and
> > if yes, why.
> >
> > There was a similar question raised in the group about Yoga Vasishtam
> > earlier, for which one possible explanation was that the original text
> > (called “Mokshopaya”) had evolved quite a bit and is possibly lost in its
> > original form, and that the text that is available to us now is dated
> after
> > Shankara’s time period. Therefore, Yoga Vasishtam was not quoted by
> > Shankara.
> >
> > Is there an explanation for why Srimad Bhagavatham is not referred to by
> > Shankara in his works (if indeed  he has not quoted anything from it)?
> >
> > Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts on this 🙏
> >
> > On Sun 8. Aug 2021 at 21:28, Kaushik Chevendra via Advaita-l <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> > > In bagavatham, the gajendra moksham is well known. The following is the
> > > last stanza of the story from Pothanas translation of bagavatham.
> > >
> > > "As soon as he heard cries of Gajendra for help ,Lord Sri Hari started
> > > without a word,,with out taking his weapons.He did not waste time in
> > > getting ready , he didn't wait for his vahana Garuda,he didn't even
> > release
> > > the cloth of his wife which he was holding,in the midst of an
> > > argument....resulting in instantaneous response to rescue his devotee
> > from
> > > danger. The groups of heaven
> > > dwellers and celestial beings exclaimed," Look! Savior is coming,
> beside
> > > Him is his consort Devi Lakshmi, listen to the sound of conch, look at
> > the
> > > disc in his hand, and His vahana
> > > Garuda flying, Praise the Lord!"!!
> > > Then the Sudarsana disc, released by the Lord, cut the head of
> crocodile.
> > > Then Sri Hari brought out Gajendra from the lake and with His touch
> > wounds
> > > of the elephant disappeared. He offered lotus with his trunk to his
> > saviour
> > > Sri Hari. The crocodile was relieved of his curse and got his original
> > form
> > > as gandharva".
> > >
> > > The Lords daya is indeed endless.
> > > Om namo narayanaya.
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