KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM HH HARIVILAS MAHARAJ’S MORNING BHAGAVATAM CLASS ON SB 2.7.15:
- Since the Lord is absolute knowledge, there is no difference between His holy name and the Personality of Godhead.
- Because the elephant was a great devotee of the Lord in his previous birth, he was able to chant the holy name of the Lord by dint of his past good deeds.
- Every living entity is always distressed in this material world because this place is such that at every step one has to meet with some kind of distress.
- But one who is supported by his past good deeds engages himself in the devotional service of the Lord (BG 7.16)
- Those who are supported by impious acts cannot be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, even though they are distressed (BG 7.15)
- The Personality of Godhead Hari appeared at once on the back of His eternal bearer, Garuḍa, and delivered the elephant.
- The elephant was conscious of his relation with the Supreme Lord. He addressed the Lord as ādi-puruṣa, or the original enjoyer.
- Both the Lord and the living beings are conscious and are therefore enjoyers, but the Lord is the original enjoyer because He is the creator of everything.
- In a family, both the father and his sons are undoubtedly enjoyers but the father is the original enjoyer, and the sons are subsequent enjoyers.
- A pure devotee knows well that everything in the universe is the property of the Lord and that a living entity can enjoy a thing as ordained by the Lord.
- A living being cannot even touch a thing which is not allotted to him. One who knows this difference between the Lord and himself never accepts anything without first offering it to the Lord.
- The elephant addressed the Lord as akhila-loka-nātha, or the Lord of the universe, who is therefore the Lord of the elephant also.
- The elephant, being a pure devotee of the Lord, specifically deserved to be saved from the attack of the crocodile, and because it is a promise of the Lord that His devotee will never be vanquished, it was quite befitting that the elephant called upon the Lord to protect him, and the merciful Lord also at once responded.
- The Lord is the protector of everyone, but He is the first protector of one who acknowledges the superiority of the Lord instead of being so falsely proud as to deny the superiority of the Lord or to claim to be equal to Him. He is ever superior.
- A pure devotee is given first preference because of his full dependence, whereas the person who denies the existence of the Lord and declares himself the Lord is called asura, and as such, he is given protection by the strength of limited power subject to the sanction of the Lord.
- One can be free from all sinful reactions after reaching a place of pilgrimage, but one can have the same benefit at home or at any place simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord.
- For a pure devotee, there is no need to go to the holy place of pilgrimage. He can be delivered from all sinful acts simply by remembering the Lord in earnestness.
- The Lord’s holy name is called śravaṇa-maṅgala.This means that one receives everything auspicious simply by hearing the holy name. In another place in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, His holy name is described as puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana. It is a pious act simply to chant and hear all about the Lord.
- Maharaj says that this is one of his favorite pastimes of the Lord. He says that we are all Gajendras. Every one of us has a crocodile biting our leg in the form of – 3 fold miseries, time, cycle, birth, death, old age and disease, lust, anger, envy, greed,… all these things are biting our leg and making us suffer like Gajendra.. But Gajendra being a pure devotee was able to remember the lord and pray to Him and the lord protected Him. We also need to pray to the Lord, call for the Lord everyday by chanting mahamantra and asking Him to protect us from the crocodile so we can serve Him. If we sincerely chant the Maha Mantra, Krsna will deliver us from the crocodile..and protect us.. this protection is needed everyday.
SB 2.7.15 TRANSLATION:
The leader of the elephants, whose leg was attacked in a river by a crocodile of superior strength, was much aggrieved. Taking a lotus flower in his trunk, he addressed the Lord, saying, “O original enjoyer, Lord of the universe! O deliverer, as famous as a place of pilgrimage! All are purified simply by hearing Your holy name, which is worthy to be chanted.”
The history of delivering the leader of the elephants, whose leg was attacked in the river by the superior strength of a crocodile, is described in the Eighth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Since the Lord is absolute knowledge, there is no difference between His holy name and the Personality of Godhead. The leader of the elephants was much distressed when he was attacked by the crocodile. Although the elephant is always stronger than the crocodile, the latter is stronger than the elephant when it is in the water. And because the elephant was a great devotee of the Lord in his previous birth, he was able to chant the holy name of the Lord by dint of his past good deeds. Every living entity is always distressed in this material world because this place is such that at every step one has to meet with some kind of distress. But one who is supported by his past good deeds engages himself in the devotional service of the Lord, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.16). Those who are supported by impious acts cannot be engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, even though they are distressed. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.15). The Personality of Godhead Hari appeared at once on the back of His eternal bearer, Garuḍa, and delivered the elephant.
The elephant was conscious of his relation with the Supreme Lord. He addressed the Lord as ādi-puruṣa, or the original enjoyer. Both the Lord and the living beings are conscious and are therefore enjoyers, but the Lord is the original enjoyer because He is the creator of everything. In a family, both the father and his sons are undoubtedly enjoyers but the father is the original enjoyer, and the sons are subsequent enjoyers. A pure devotee knows well that everything in the universe is the property of the Lord and that a living entity can enjoy a thing as ordained by the Lord. A living being cannot even touch a thing which is not allotted to him. This idea of the original enjoyer is explained very nicely in the Īśopaniṣad.
Lord is the primary isvara and we are the followers of the lord…
One who knows this difference between the Lord and himself never accepts anything without first offering it to the Lord.
They don’t teach this in school.. They say that you are the enjoyer.. When they say goodbye they say enjoy.. Means you are the first enjoyer.. The false ego bathing happens in the school. The whole purpose is to reject the instructions of the lord..
The elephant addressed the Lord as akhila-loka-nātha, or the Lord of the universe, who is therefore the Lord of the elephant also.
Today we did Annaprasanna… the reason you are doing this is to understand that we all subsist on grains… grains come through rains, rains come through yagnas, yagnas are produced by regulated activities by the pious person, the ultimate beneficiary of all the yagnas is Lord Krsna.. If you recognize this … we will use everything in the service of the lord. Krsna promises that one who recognizes Him as the supreme and always remembers Him… just understanding these two things and acting on them is enough to go back to Godhead…
The elephant, being a pure devotee of the Lord, specifically deserved to be saved from the attack of the crocodile, and because it is a promise of the Lord that His devotee will never be vanquished, it was quite befitting that the elephant called upon the Lord to protect him, and the merciful Lord also at once responded.
If we call the lord every day sincerely he will protect us..
How do we know Gajendra is the devotee of the lord? CANTO 8.3
In this chapter, the prayers by Gajendra, the King of the elephants, are described. It appears that the King of the elephants was formerly a human being known as Indradyumna and that he learned a prayer to the Supreme Lord. Fortunately he remembered that prayer and began to chant it to himself. First he offered his respectful obeisances to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and because of his awkward position in having been attacked by the crocodile, he expressed his inability to recite prayers nicely. Nonetheless, he tried to chant the mantra and expressed himself in appropriate words as follows.
This is amazing,… he is human in previous life and now he is an elephant he was able to remember the prayer when the crocodile bit his leg
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the cause of all causes, the original person from whom everything has emanated. He is the root cause of this cosmic manifestation, and the entire cosmos rests in Him, yet He is transcendental, for He does everything in relation to the material world through His external energy. He is eternally situated in the spiritual world — in Vaikuṇṭha or Goloka Vṛndāvana — where He engages in His eternal pastimes. The material world is a product of His external energy, or material nature, which works under His direction. It is thus that creation, maintenance and annihilation take place. The Lord exists at all times. This is extremely difficult for a nondevotee to understand. Although the transcendental Supreme Personality of Godhead is perceivable by everyone, only the pure devotees perceive His presence and activities. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is completely free from material birth, death, old age and disease. Indeed, if anyone in this material world takes shelter of Him, he also becomes situated in that transcendental position. For the satisfaction of the devotee (paritrāṇāya sādhūnām), the Lord appears and exhibits His activities. His appearance, disappearance and other pastimes are not at all material. One who knows this secret can enter the kingdom of God. In the Lord, all opposing elements are adjusted. The Lord is situated in everyone’s heart. He is the controller of everything, He is the witness of all activities, and He is the original source of all living entities. Indeed, all living entities are parts of Him, for He is the origin of Mahā-Viṣṇu, who is the source of the living entities within this material world. The Lord can observe the activities of our senses, which can work and achieve material results because of His mercy. Although He is the original source of everything, He is untouched by any of His by-products. In this way He is like a gold mine, which is the source of gold in ornaments and yet is different from the ornaments themselves. The Lord is worshiped by the method prescribed in the Pañcarātras. He is the source of our knowledge, and He can give us liberation. Therefore it is our duty to understand Him according to the instructions of devotees, in particular the spiritual master. Although for us the mode of goodness is covered, by following the instructions of saintly persons and the spiritual master we can be freed from material clutches.
“The self-effulgent material form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is adored by nondevotees*, His impersonal form is adored by those advanced in spiritual knowledge, and His feature as the localized Supersoul is appreciated by yogīs. But His original form as a person is understood only by devotees.
*Nondevotees- that means Everyone is attracted to Krsna even though they are not a devotee. The first time I saw a poster of Krsna is in Beirut.. I went to a meat shop to buy a meat sandwich.. I saw a beautiful form with a cow, beautiful jewelry.. Afterwards I left.. That is such a nice poster.. Later on I found out that it was Krsna.. See even the non devotees are attracted.. Self effulgent material form – Deities, pictures..
That Supreme Personality of Godhead is competent to dissipate the darkness of the conditioned soul through His instructions in Bhagavad-gītā. He is the ocean of transcendental qualities and can be understood only by liberated persons freed from the bodily concept of life. By His causeless mercy, the Lord can rescue the conditioned soul from the material clutches and enable him to return home, back to Godhead, to become His personal associate. Nonetheless, a pure devotee does not aspire to go back to Godhead;
This is the prayer Gajendra realized.. Every statement is a deep realization and is going on and on…
he is simply satisfied with executing his service in this material world. A pure devotee does not ask anything from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His only prayer is to be freed from the material conception of life and to be engaged in the Lord’s transcendental loving service.”
In this way the King of the elephants, Gajendra, offered prayers directly to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without mistaking Him for one of the demigods. None of the demigods came to see him, not even Brahmā or Śiva. Rather, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, seated on Garuḍa, personally appeared before him. Gajendra, by lifting his trunk, offered obeisances to the Lord, and the Lord immediately pulled him from the water along with the crocodile who had captured his leg. Then the Lord killed the crocodile and thus rescued Gajendra.
If we are lucky we can also pray like this. Explain everything about lord, your faith in Him,, absolute guaranteed assurance that lord will come and save you when you are in difficulty. This is the story of KC. we should meditate on Gajendra’s prayers everyday.. That way we are safe and sound in our determination of KC..
The Lord is the protector of everyone, but He is the first protector of one who acknowledges the superiority of the Lord instead of being so falsely proud as to deny the superiority of the Lord or to claim to be equal to Him. He is ever superior.
A pure devotee of the Lord knows this difference between the Lord and himself. Therefore a pure devotee is given first preference because of his full dependence, whereas the person who denies the existence of the Lord and declares himself the Lord is called asura, and as such, he is given protection by the strength of limited power subject to the sanction of the Lord. Since the Lord is superior to everyone, His perfection is also superior. No one can imagine it.
The elephant addressed the Lord as tīrtha-śravaḥ, or “as famous as a place of pilgrimage.” People go to places of pilgrimage in order to be delivered from the reactions of unknown sinful acts. But one can be freed from all sinful reactions simply by remembering His holy name. The Lord is therefore as good as the holy places of pilgrimage. One can be free from all sinful reactions after reaching a place of pilgrimage, but one can have the same benefit at home or at any place simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. For a pure devotee, there is no need to go to the holy place of pilgrimage. He can be delivered from all sinful acts simply by remembering the Lord in earnestness.
If a pure devotees commits sin unknowingly
A pure devotee of the Lord never commits any sinful acts, but because the whole world is full of the sinful atmosphere, even a pure devotee may commit a sin unconsciously, as a matter of course. One who commits sinful acts consciously cannot be worthy of being a devotee of the Lord, but a pure devotee who unconsciously does something sinful is certainly delivered by the Lord because a pure devotee remembers the Lord always.
The Lord’s holy name is called śravaṇa-maṅgala.
This means that one receives everything auspicious simply by hearing the holy name. In another place in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, His holy name is described as puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana. It is a pious act simply to chant and hear all about the Lord. The Lord descends to this earth and acts like others in connection with the activities of the world just to create subject matters for hearing about Him; otherwise the Lord has nothing to do in this world, nor has He any obligation to do anything. He comes out of His own causeless mercy and acts as He desires. The Vedas and Purāṇas are full of descriptions of His different activities so that people in general may naturally be eager to hear and read something about His activities. Generally, however, the modern fictions and novels of the world occupy a greater part of people’s valuable time. Such literatures cannot do good to anyone; on the contrary, they agitate the young mind unnecessarily and increase the modes of passion and ignorance, leading to increasing bondage to the material conditions. The same aptitude for hearing and reading is better utilized in hearing and reading of the Lord’s activities. This will give one all-around benefit.
It is concluded, therefore, that the holy name of the Lord and topics in relation with Him are always worth hearing, and therefore He is called here in this verse nāma-dheya, or one whose holy name is worth chanting.
This history of Gajendra is one of my favorite past times of the lord because, all of us are like gajendra.. We all have a crocodile holding on us and not letting us go. The crocodile is lust, greed and anger. It is so horrible to see this powerful animal biting us and not letting us go.. The good news is – there are 4 kinds of people who engage in service of come to Krsna –
BG 7.16
catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ
janāḥ su-kṛtino ’rjuna
ārto jijñāsur arthārthī
jñānī ca bharatarṣabha
O best among the Bhāratas, four kinds of pious men begin to render devotional service unto Me – the distressed, the desirer of wealth, the inquisitive, and he who is searching for knowledge of the Absolute.
None of these persons have a pure desire. But the last one is better than others. But when they meet a pure devotee and get trained in pure devotional service they can become pure devotees.
When these four kinds of persons come to the Supreme Lord for devotional service and are completely purified by the association of a pure devotee, they also become pure devotees. As far as the miscreants are concerned, for them devotional service is very difficult because their lives are selfish, irregular and without spiritual goals. But even some of them, by chance, when they come in contact with a pure devotee, also become pure devotees.
See how regulation is extremely important for one’s progress in spiritual life.. Inoculation against maya – sleeping early, waking up early, … the goal is to become a pure devotee to think of Krsna.. When the crocodile is biting the leg Gajendra is thinking of Krsna.. Everyone has a crocodile biting our leg in the form of – 3 fold miseries, time, cycle birth, death, old age and disease, lust, anger, envy, greed,… all these things are biting our leg and making it bleed and hurt us. The tree is able to suffer unbelievably as its consciousness is low. If our consciousness is low we will also suffer all the time.. When the person is suffering terribly… they are desperately seeking to end the suffering.. They take drugs… sometimes there is an induced coma.. If you are in constant pain you will be panicking… they induce comma and put a person in low consciousness they can suffer the pain without freaking out and disturbing the healing process.. Similarly people take drugs to lower the consciousness..
The elephant on the other hand is conscious of his relationship with the supreme lord.. He is still able to remember his relationship with the lord why? Because in his previous life he acted piously.. Even though he has an animal body he is able to remember some remnants from his previous life… That is why one is never a loser when engaged in devotional service.. You start from the point you left off..
Maharaj – how can we depend on the lord but at the same time not be lazy
If you engage in sense gratification … suffering is followed..
Sense gratification is the crocodile…
We need to be saved everyday.. We call upon Him everyday.. So we chant our rounds..
Dear Krsna and Radha please protect me so I can always serve you..
That’s how powerful is mahamantra.. Lord protects us from the crocodile we are bitten by..
We have to hear everyday.. If we did anything lord supplied.. We have to hear everyday.. Our disease is forgetfulness. That is why I like this pastime.. Lot of deep philosophical understanding.. Gajendra has a bunch of wives.. King of the jungle he went to the water to bathe and enjoy.. All of a sudden this crocodile comes in and bites his legs.. On land gajendra is stronger than crocodile.. In the water crocodiles are stronger.. He starts praying.. The Lord is pleased and protects him. If we are not KC we will be eaten by crocodiles..
We should recite these prayers.. We do not need to make up prayers.. We have to glorify the lord.. We dont have to ask him..