Nov 6: The Spirit of Surrender

After the Nama Sankirtan, Sriramji from Houston gave a discourse on Surrender.

“Aaloyta sarva sastrani visaryascha puna punah
Idamekam sunishpannam deyvo Nanayanassada”

“I have completely delved into the shastras and the crux of the shastras is to worship Lord Narayana  through Nama Sankirtan” If Sage Veda Vyasa declares that with so much authority, then can there be any second opinion?

In our religion several ways and practices have been prescribed to attain the Lord. They are dhyana, karma,jnana and bhakti yogas. The meditation [dhyana] can be done by either meditating on a mantra or on the form of the Lord. Constant remembrance of either of the two is called meditation. It is a common notion that meditating on the form of the Lord [saguna or roopa form] is indeed meditation. This is verily meditation but meditating on the mantra is also meditation. A vedantic grantha speaks at length  about the performance of such japa.

It says, ‘Vittukarudalinal aru nei viizhchi pola
Vittida dunnale undee para
Visedamam munnave undeepara’

Vazhutthalil vakkuccha vaikkut jabatthil
Vizhuppama manada mundii para
Villambund dhyanami undee para’

When pouring out a highly viscous liquid or the water flowing in a river, it runs down continuously without a break. A good example is oil [aranai vizthuchipola].  ‘aru nei viizhchi pola’ – It is known as ‘thaila dharai’ – flow of oil.

Akin to this is the meditating on the divine Names of the Lord. The mind should be devoid of any thought between two divine Names chanting of the Lord. There is absolutely no rule for meditating on the divine Names of the Lord. The crux is incessant chanting of the Lord. In kaliyuga we all know that the easiest way to attain the Lord is through bhakti. Srimad Bhagavatham speaks of nine different ways to do bhakti.

Though our religion has prescribed several ways like dhyana, yoga, karma, we have been propagating that in this Kali yuga the easiest method that can be followed by all is Bhakti. What is this Bhakti? Srimad Bhagavatam defines it as eight types – ‘Sravanam, keertanam, Vishnoh smaranam, pada sevanam, archanam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam and atma nivedanam’.
—— Listening about God, singing the Praises of God [uttering the Name of the Lord], meditating on the Lord (Vishnu), serving the Lord’s lotus feet, worshipping the Lord with flowers, saluting the Lord, slaving, holding the feeling of a friend towards the Lord, offering everything to the Lord.
Thus, the Puranas speak of the various types of Bhakti.

We have been repeatedly stressing that Bhakti is the only easiest way and that it can be followed by all at this Age. But, another way is said to be easier than Bhakti. What is it?
‘SHARANAGATI’ – SURRENDER!

Lord Krishna speaks on Dhyana yoga, Karma yoga, Bhakti yoga and Jnana yoga to Arjuna. Bhagavan speaks explicitly on each of these yogas and bestows Arjuna with the Divine vision (‘divya drishti’). The Lord blesses him with His ‘Viswaroopa darshan’ (Colossal form). The Lord finally tells Arjuna, “Oh! Arjuna! There is a way easier than all these paths that have been spoken by ME. And that is surrendering unto ME!” ‘Surrender unto ME, totally!’ If you would only surrender unto ME totally there is no need for dhyana, karma, bhakti or Jnana.’

Surrender everything to the Lord. ‘I know not dhyana, karma, bhakti or Jnana. I do not know what is right and what is wrong. I do not know the path to undertake.’ Leave everything to the Lord. Or place all responsibilities on the Guru. Leaving everything to the Lord/to the Guru and remain quiet. This is ‘Sharanagati’ (surrender).

‘Sharanagati tattva’ (the philosophy of surrender) is spoken of highly and popularly in Vaishnava siddhanta. Sri Ramanuja also speaks only of this ‘Sharanagati tattva’ as the easiest and agreeable to all (method). ‘Let us all surrender unto the Lord.’ Even today Vaishanavas surrender to their ‘Acharya’ (Master). One cannot depend on sadhana. We may practice dhyana, japa but cannot for sure say if we will attain God in this birth (‘janma’) itself. The reason for this is that our life might come to an end or our attitude might change or the worldly attachments might pull us down. Therefore, let us offer ourselves totally to the Lord.

How to offer ourselves to the Lord? We should offer ourselves totally to God through a Guru – One who knows God, One who can speak with God, One who has attained God, One whose words God would pay heed to. Such action is called ‘Sharanagati’.

Do you know how it would feel to do ‘Sharanagati’?

There were different kinds of devotees for Ramakrishna Paramahamsa –
Swami Vivekananda, Brahmananda who was earlier known as Rakhal, Saradananda, etc.
They were ascetics. Several householders were also Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s devotees. They led a family life with wives and children. Several types of devotees sought Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, received ‘upadesa’ from him and led their lives as directed by him. One such devotee was Girish Chandra Gosh.

He used to visit Paramahamsa frequently. He possessed deep and vast love for Paramahamsa. Paramahamsa also had deep compassion for him. But, what type of a man was this Girish Chandra Ghosh? He was a drunkard! He possessed almost all kinds of vices. He was a very lazy man. He was utterly indisciplined. It was next to impossible for him to wake up at the right time, bathe at the right time or have food at proper time. His family was caught up in a court case. He was always worried about this. He had to spend a lot of money in this regard. In spite of living under such conditions he possessed deep love for Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

Everyone used to ask Paramahamsa for ‘upadesa’. Girish Chandra Ghosh, too, possessed such a desire. He wanted to seek some ‘upadesa’ from Paramahamsa.
“Guru Maharaj! You offer ‘upadesa’ to everyone. Can’t you bless me with some ‘upadesa’? Please tell me something.”
Paramahamsa knew that Girish Chandra Ghosh could never follow any ‘upadesa’. Paramahamsa knew him and his habits very well. Yet, he was seeking some ‘upadesa’. Something had to be given to him, too. What did Paramahamsa say?
Paramahamsa said, “Do dhyana of Bhagavan for a short while in the morning and in the evening. The rest of the time you can spend your life as you do now. You need not change your ways. At one point of time this world will leave you and only the spiritual way will be with you.”
Girish Chandra Ghosh did not welcome this idea. He said, “Maharaj! I cannot do dhyana of God for even a short time in the morning and in the evening.”
Guru Maharaj did not ask, “Can’t you do even this little?” Instead the one with deep compassion said, “It is alright. When you sit for food think of God for a short time. At night just before you go to bed think of God for just a minute.”
Girish Chandra Ghosh refused even this!
“I cannot think of God while sitting for food or before going to bed.”
Paramahamsa did not lose his temper with him. He did not say, “If you cannot think of God even in this manner you are useless for spiritual ways.”
What did he say instead? He said, “Well! Can you do just one thing for me? Give me your ‘power of attorney’!”

We give power of attorney to a lawyer who pleads a case on our behalf. We give the authority for someone to act on our behalf, to act as our agent. This is called ‘vakkalat’ (power of attorney).

Thus, here it was only ‘Sharanagati’ that Ramakrishna meant.
“Give yourself totally to me,” said Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
Girish Chandra Ghosh was only too happy – ‘Is there anything easier than this? I need not think of God. I can live as I please. I can continue to lead life as I do now. Whatever I have to do – dhyana, japa or yoga – will be done by him (Ramakrishna Paramahamsa). And the entire fruit of spiritual discipline can be attained by me.’
Therefore, he said to Paramahamsa, “Alright! I offer myself to you totally.”
And he left.

But, what was the condition of Girish Chandra Ghosh after this? He had said that he could not think of God; but now it was only the thought of his Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa that was foremost in his mind! ‘How great a Guru is Ramakrishna Paramahamsa! How compassionate he is! I need not do any sadhana! I have given myself away to him. He will take care of everything. I can live as I please.’ Thus, only the thought of his Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa rose in him constantly. He wondered about himself. ‘I never used to have such constant thought of my Guru earlier. But, now the thought of my Guru is always in me!’

Girish Chandra Ghosh had the habit of drinking. But, now the moment he touched a wine bottle the face of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa appeared to him in the bottle! The face of his Guru seemed to laugh. Whenever he involved himself in some nasty act the face of his Guru began to appear to him. He realized that even without any effort on his part he remained always in the thought of his Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Many miseries struck him in life. But, he was unable to lose his temper over this. ‘I have surrendered everything to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, my Guru Maharaj. So, my life would run only on the lines, as he desires. He would do only what is good for me. All these are happening only for good.’

Sharanagathi  is the act of bending down to all that God does to us – the way that He desires to keep us – accepting it without any expectation, without any opposition and offering ourselves to it totally (without any condition) is the highest ‘lakshana’ (quality) of ‘Sharanagati’.

Don’t take on the burden of life. Leave it to the holy feet of the Guru Maharaj. The only to accomplish this is through complete surrender. How to adopt this as a pragmatic path in our lives? It is verily through the incessant chanting of the divine Names of the Lord [meditating on the divine Names of the Lord].

Aug 14: Faith in Guru and Surrender to the Lord

The satsang started with Nama Sankirtan by Sriramji from Houston, Texas.

Sri Narayanan from Boston spoke in relation to the Janmashtami.

“We celebrate quite a few events – Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturti, etc.  Where in our scriptures is the authority or the authenticity of such celebrations? In Srimad Bhagavatam, in the 11^th Canto, the Lord describes the qualities of a Bhakta to Uddhava. In that, He mentions, “It is the duty of my devotee to always worship my form, go on pilgrimages, celebrate my birth and festivals related to me, sings my divine names and my divine glories… “.  So it is Lord Krishna Himself who is the authority for our celebrations.

This satsang happens in the context of the Janmashtami. And we are celebrating this great festival in our satsang through Nama Sankirtan and Katha Shravanam.  Can there be a better way to celebrate Krishna’s birth?”

Following the introductions, Sri Narayanaswamy from Seattle spoke on Surrender and faith.

“We all celebrated Janmashtami. Lord Krishna was born and He visited all our residences! How could He visit all the houses at the same time?   It is simply because He is a ‘Lila Lola’ (conjurer of divine plays).  In Brindavan, He was found with each of the hundreds of Gopikas who were playing ‘raasa’ with the Lord.  Likewise, He entered our houses, as well as our hearts!   When we talk about Krishna, Mahabharata comes to our mind.  – He has shown us two key principles – Surrender to the Lord and Faith in Guru.

The Kurukshetra battle was in the offing. Duryodhana rushes to Dwaraka to seek Krishna ‘s help, as also Arjuna from the Pandava’s side.  Duryodhana was the first to come.  He sat at the head of Lord Krishna who was asleep.  Arjuna came later and sat by His foot.   As soon as Krishna woke up, He saw Arjuna.  He welcomed both of them. Duryodhana rushed and said, ‘Krishna! I came first. Entertain my request first!” Krishna said, “But I saw Arjuna first!”  While Duryodhana was anxious about Arjuna’s request, Krishna said, ‘Two options – one: I will not touch arms, but will remain by your side. Two: I will offer all my gallantry’.  Arjuna, unhesitatingly said, ‘Prabhu!  You are the Jagadguru! Please be with us. That is all we want!’.  Duryodhana heaved a sigh of relief and passed on the accepted all the military power of Krishna’s army.    What happened eventually?  All of us know that the Pandavas prevailed over the Kauravas in the battle.  It was possible only due to the faith of Arjuna on his Guru, Lord Krishna.  When Guru’s blessings are abundant, no harm can near, and victory is ours.

In another instance, we see that when the Kurukshetra battle was over and the Pandavas were seated around Krishna in a tent, when Draupadi said, ‘Krishna! I have a question to you!  Everybody says you are ‘Aapat Bhaandava’.  You rushed to Gajendra’s call. You rushed to Prahalada’s call.  But, in my case, I shouted and cried for a long time, and you came in very late, when I was ill-treated in the court.  What sin did I commit?’.   Krishna smilingly replied, ‘Draupadi, when Duschadana wanted to remove your clothes, you did not call me first. You called your husband, the elders, the great warriors on the court, and all the brave men.  Even after that, you trusted your own might and fought with Duschadana.  Only at the end, when you ran out of options did you raise both your arms and called me.  Did I not come then?’  Draupadi replied, ‘Krishna!  I understand.  I surrendered to you only as a last resort.  Had I surrendered to you earlier, the story would have been different.  Thus surrender to the Lord is important.”

Now, can we see Krishna?  Kanchi Paramacharya says, it is not possible to see Him because Krishna denotes black.  Our mind is filled with darkness.  How can one see a black spot in darkness?  Krishna says in Bhagavat Gita, ‘Hey Arjuna, you cannot see Me with your naked eye. I am granting you special sight to ‘see’ me’.   So, its not possible to see Him with our eyes.  However we can see Him in our heart.  Having created the entire universe, He is hiding like a thief, nowhere else, but in our own hearts. So all we need to do is find him there – and that is Bhakti – make your heart white.  This is possible only through a Guru’s blessings .  ‘Gu’ denotes darkness and ‘Ru’ denotes removal.  Thus Guru is indispensible to dispel the darkness.

What is the fundamental difference between Mahabharata and Ramayana, given that both Rama and Krishna are avatars of the Lord.  Krishna’s avatar is a display of the Lilas, while Ramavatar is a human incarnation.  It is simply impossible to impersonate Krishna, be it stealing butter, killing his demon-uncle or dancing on a snake.  On the other hand, Rama lived as a truthful person, a honest husband (ekapatni vrata), obeyed his father’s word,  protecting the surrenderer, being a best friend etc.  Thus Krishna’s advices can be ‘heard’ and assimilated, where Rama’s life should be lived.

When Rama was informed that his coronation was being cancelled, he stood unmoved, with the same smile he sported on his face since morning – his expressions were unchanged even when he had to give up all grandeur and go to the forest.  Sorrows may come but we should see them with equanimity and consider them as the grace of God.

In the Mahabharata war, no one could conquer Dronacharya.  Krishna asks the Pandavas to utter a lie to fall him – and accosted Yudhishtra with this idea.  Yudhishtra turns Him down, because he wouldn’t utter a lie.  After Krishna’s convincing words, Yudhishtra shouts ‘Ashwattama hatah’ – in a high voice and ‘kunjarah’ in a low tone.  Is it right for the Lord to be an accomplice in untruth?

Tiruvalluvar says, ‘poimaiyum vaimai idatha purai theerntha nanmai payakkum enin’  – it is okay to utter a lie if it is going to provide relief to a suffering person.  A person bound to kill another, loses his target and asks you if you saw the target.  You can lie there (by saying you didn’t know) because you are indeed saving a life.

Thus let us have faith in our Guru and surrender to the Lord and be thankful to our Guru for the satsangs we are enjoying.

The satsang ended with prayers with Mahamantra.

May 8: Prahlada and Gajendra

Narayananji from Boston, talked about the significance of Narasimha jayanthi which was then followed by a lecture on Gajendra stuthi by Gayatriji from Boston.

“The eighth of May 2009 was a very auspicious day indeed. It was lord Narasimha Jayanthi and also Chitra Poornima.

There is one thing that is special of Narasimha avatar. Our Guru Maharaj says that if one of the three things doesn’t exist, then we cannot see God – Stead-fast faith (Druda Vishwasa), truthfulness (Satyasandha) and thirdly strictly adhering to dharma (dharmatma). Prahalad had all the three qualities. However, the Lord liked Prahlad’s truthfulness and steadfast faith – and verily for the ‘satya’ of Prahlada, He came out of the pillar. Such is the greatness of a true devotee.

In the sloka remembering the Gurus, we have ‘Prahlada Narada Parasara Pundareeka…’.  We see that here, Prahlada is being invoked even before his guru Narada!   He even excels his own guru. It is interesting to see what this guru of ours (Prahalada) advices us.  He has instructed his father, mother; and he has advised his own gurus (Chanda and Amarka)!

What is the first advice that he gives? This is a piece of his learning that he shares with his father – He talks Vedanta. He says destroy the two thoughts. The first of them being “I” and secondly “Mine”. The characters “Hiranyaksha” and “Hiranyakashipu” are verily “I” and “Mine”. Hiranyakashipu is the quality of ego ,which is“I”. The hiranyaksha is the quality of “mine” (possessiveness).

Hiranyaksha is the younger sibling and the Hiranyakashipu is the elder.   If we see the order in which the Lord kills this duo, its Hiranyaksha who goes first.  That is, the Lord doesn’t destroy “I” first but only destroys the quality “mine”. Only when the possessiveness (mine) is removed can the ego be removed.

Prahalad advices his father saying “Oh Father! One who feels that the human body is futile and wishes to destroy the qualities of I and mine is indeed great”. The second part of his advice was  to renounce all the worldly possessions and go to the forest. The second part was very difficult to comprehend for people who are tied in the world of samsara, leave alone Hiranyakashipu! When his father asked him to repeat the learning again, at a later date, Prahalad made it simpler and showed the path of Bhakti. He apprised his father on the Nava vida bhakti which goes like this.

“Sravanam Kirtanam Vishnoh smaranam pada sevanam archanam vandamam dasyam sakhyam and athma nivedanam”

The first two components of bhakti namely sravanam (listening to the stories of God) and kirtanam (singing the Divine Names) is what our satsang focuses upon.

What does the word Azhwar mean? It means people who are filled with deep faith and devotion. One such azhwar is Gajendra Azhwar.  He was a divine elephant. He lived in the Trikuta mountains and ruled the ‘Ritumath’ forest. It is really surprising to see an elephant being a king when it is usually the lion or a tiger being the king of a forest. This divine elephant was protecting small creatures like the hare, deer from the ferocious animals. The divine elephant was following the divine law – “Dushta Nigrahamam and Sishta paripalanam”, which translates to destroying the wicked and protecting the good folks.

If we ponder on the fact as to how this elephant knew this shastra, Gajendra was born as a Pandya king Indradhyumna in his earlier birth. He was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu and belonged to the lineage of Manu. Sage Agasthya was his guru.

Once, Sri Agasthya visited the king at his palace. The king was performing pooja to this deity. What should one do when they see their guru? He should stop whatever chore he is doing and run to welcome the Guru and get his blessings. This was however not the case with Indradhyumna. He did not acknowledge the Guru’s presence and continued with his pooja. He had various utensils made of silver and gold which were decorated with precious gems. He also had a lot of food which were waiting to be offered to the Lord and wanted to show it off to his Guru, whose puja routines were fairly simple.

We very well know that Sadhus and Mahatmas are the personification of compassion. The guru thought that there was everything found in the pooja except Vinaya (humility). He thought that if the king continued performing pooja without being humble, then there will be no point in doing the pooja. Ego is a quality of an elephant. He cursed the king to be an elephant in his next birth. It is said that whatever the Sadhus do are verily for our benefit. Immediately the Guru felt compassion for the king and said that the king would be relieved from his curse when the Lord’s divine hands touch him.

Similarly there was a Gandharva by name Hu Hu. One day, Sage Devala (who always accompanies Narada) was performing his daily ablutions. Hu Hu for the sake of fun, caught the feet of Devala from the bottom of the pond. Devala cursed him saying that this was a quality of the crocodile and that he will be born as a crocodile in his next birth. However, he also promised that he will be relieved when the Lord’s chakra touched him.

One day, it was very hot and all the elephants including Gajendra were feeling very thirsty and went around in search of water. They spotted a pond and all of them were happy to see the water and started playing in the pond. This disturbed the crocodiles in the pond and they knew that it was the king of the elephants who was responsible for this.

The crocodile head went and caught the feet of the king of the elephant herd. How did the crocodile know who the king was? He had the memory of the previous birth and he knew that could be relieved from his sufferings only by catching the feet of a Bhagavata! Gajendran was in deep distress and all other elephants tried to pull him out but in vain. Days passed by and he was the struggle was still on.

A thought struck him. How long can a crocodile or an elephant survive for so long without any food or water and neither of them winning over each other? He realized that there was indeed a Divine power and started singing praises of that Formless Lord.

So who is this Brahman? It is independent and it not bound with any qualities and is eternal. Does this Brahman exist everywhere? Yes, indeed.  Sarvam Brahma Mayam

The mind is filled with a lot of dust and we need to cleanse our mind to see the ultimate Lord.

Gajendra begins with his beautiful stuthi on that Supreme Lord who is formless, nameless and had no properties associated with it and it is completely independent.

“Namo Bhagavathae thasmai yatha yeth thath chithathmakam

Purushaya adi bheejaya pareshayadi deemahi”

I surrender and bow down to bhagawan who is the ominpesent and is the creator for everything.

Since gajendran is not able to see that Supreme Being,  he says”I surrender unto him”. So why should one accept something that we are not able to perceive visually?

There are many different things that we are not able to see, for example, happiness and sorrow. We have only experienced happiness and sorrow and our mind knows what happiness and sorrow means. However Brahman is not in anyone’s experience just like happiness or sorrow. It is because, Brahman cannot be understood by mind and the sense organs. So why should one complicate their lives to decipher something that cannot be perceived by the mind or the sense organs?

It is indeed true that the brahmam who is the ultimate does exist. And how can we prove that? This Brahman is the chaitanya that is present in each one of us. As long as this chaitanya is present in ourselves, we are able to dance, sing move around. The moment chaitanya leaves our body, we fall dead. The sense organs of the dead man might be intact but he is not able to use them anymore. It is the key inside every human and it is this that makes the sense organs do what they are supposed to be doing.

Gajendra says, I surrender unto that bhagawan who is the chaitanyam  inside each and every one.

“Yasmin idham yaenaetham yahitham swayam

Yosmath parasmath cha parastvam prapathyae swayambuvam”

“Yasmin nidham:” translates to ‘from whom the universe originated’, “ yathascha itham” from whom the universe

Now let’s consider a wooden table. This wooden table came into existence from the material called wood. The carpenter carved this wooden table. For any object, we need two things, namely the creator and the raw material.

So for the universe, Brahman is the creator and the raw-material. Why is it that we are not able to see this Brahman when we can see everything else in this universe. It is because of a defect in our eyes. The saints can see Brahman as “Sarvam brahma mayam”. Hiranyakashipu says that he can only see a pillar, whereas Lord prahalad says that he can see only Brahman.

Kabirdas in one of his dohas very beautifully says that he had a disease called samsara and because of this ailment he had duality in his vision. He then went to a physician who is called as Guru. He made him wear a kajal (eye liner) called guru krupa and after applying that kajal bad vision was cured. So there are people who can only see the Brahman. So instead of proclaiming that Brahman does not exist let us pray that we be blessed to experience it. Gajendra says, “I bow down to that Brahman who created the universe, and who Himself is the universe”

If Brahman is everywhere, then where can one see it. It is there in each and everybody’s heart!  This would mean that every cardiac surgeon has seen it, which is simply untrue!

That’s because we can’t see brahmam just like that. We all know that Narasimha bhagawan came from the pillar. But did He really come from the pillar? He really came from Prahalada’s truth! It is true that he was inside the pillar. In order to see him, it was just not enough to break the pillar.

Just like how ash hides the fire, the Brahman that is within us is covered by vasanas (latent impressions). The yogis have the power to blow up these impressions. So the Brahman reveals itself to them. So is it true that only yogis can only see the Brahman? So what about the people who are entangled in this worldly life? Gajendra thought about all the worldly people in his prayers.

He says –

‘Maadruk prapanna pashupaasha vimokshanaaya….’

People like me who have completely surrendered to unto You, you are the ‘pasupaksha vimokshana’. Now if a cow and its calf are separated by tethering them to two opposite poles, the calf desperately tries to unite with the cow and be with the cow. Since it is tied to the pole it is unable to do so. We are akin to this calf. The jeevas are taking every possible effort to reach the god, but are tied to this samsara by some ties. Now who will come to free one from these ties. It is of course mukthaya, one who is completely independent and has a freewill can only liberate the souls from the bondages. Only bhagawan or a guru can do this. Bhagawan says, “Well, it is true that I have a free will. But why should I free you?” Gajendra could have said that “Lord! I surrender unto you. So please set me free.” If he had done that then it means that Gajendra trusts his ‘ability’ to surrender. Complete surrender is defined as one who completely believes in God and does not believe in his sadhana including surrender.

Gajendra says “Buri karunaya” which means “infinite compassion”. Free me! O! Lord, not because I surrendered unto you, but out of your own limitless compassion. Gajendra requests the Lord to free him from the clutches of the crocodile because setting everybody free is his ‘svabhava’(very nature)!

All the Devas including Lord Brahma are listening to this prayer and are awestruck. They very well know that they don’t fit Gajendra’s description and hence cannot help Gajendra.  But they are very curious and excited to see who is the personification of the qualities described by Gajendra. They also feared that the Lord might give his darshan only to Gajendra and hence start reciting the Gajendra Stuti. If Gajendra had prayed to the Lord to free him from the clutches of the crocodile, then it does not necessitate the Devas to recite the Gajendra Stuti. But he requests the Lord to free him from the samsara!

And guess who addresses Ganjendra’s call?

Sitting on the garuda, who is verily the form of Vedas, Lord Vishnu appeared with his conch and disc on his hand, wearing a pitambaram, having a mark called srivatsam on this chest.

The Brahman that Gajendra alluded to had no form or possession. But the person who came to address his call had a form, adorned a ‘Pitambara’, he had a lotus, chakra and a place called Vaikunta. Then how come he came to address this call? The very fact that he came to address the call proves that his form, name and characters are way different from other deva’s including Lord Brahma and are no different from the formless Nameless Brahman. If we take Brahman and add qualities to it (kalyana gunas) like omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence etc, what we get finally is Bhagavan. What character does the bhagwan not have? He does not possess any qualities that belong to Maya like Satvika, Rajasa and Tamasa.

In Bhagavatam Sri Sukha says “Brahmeti Paramatmeti Bhagavan iti Shabdyate”, which means Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan are all the same.

Is Bhagawan going to be of any use to us? How does it matter if he is omnipresent, omnipotent or omniscient? He has a unique quality that Gajendra refers to – ‘Sarva sharanyatva’ – he is the refuge for everyone who surrenders to Him. We know that we are incapable of doing any sadhana. If we just go and pray to him whole heartedly that we belong to him the Lord is very happy and takes care of us.

It is said that the Lord himself begs “tavaasmi vacha yachatae”. The lord says, “please tell me that you belong to me.”

When Lord appears in front of Gajendra, it is only then that he addresses Him with His name, “Narayana akila guro bhagavan Namaste”. He takes a lotus from the pond and offers it to the Lord. The Lord releases his chakra to kill the crocodile and Hu Hu is liberated to the Gandarva world. He put forward His hands to take Gajendran to His abode.

Gajendra asked the Lord to show him a way to attain liberation. The Lord himself gave a phala shruti that one who remembers this episode of Gajendra Moksha every morning will attain liberation.

The satsang ended with prayers and Nama Sankirtan.