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God’s compassion

CHENNAI: The speed with which the Supreme Being, who is the abode of compassion, responds to those who take refuge in Him has been extolled by saints who have experienced His grace in full measure. For spiritual seekers the instances of the Lord’s intercession in the lives of His devotees continue to be a source of inspiration while facing the vicissitudes of life because it is human to become despondent in such situations. A devotee whose tribulation is described in great detail is Gajendra, the chief of elephants, whom the Lord liberated from the clutches of a crocodile.

In their discourse, Damal Sri Ramakrishnan and Srimathi Perundevi Seshadri said saints had expressed their wonder why the Almighty rushed to the rescue of an elephant in person on His Garuda mount from His transcendental abode when He could have easily saved him by His mere will or despatched His discus, which would have killed the crocodile. When all his kith and kin abandoned Gajendra and he became enfeebled by the long drawn struggle with the crocodile, by dint of the merit of his previous life he remembered the Lord and turned to Him for succour finally. He addressed Him as the Supreme One, the first cause of all, due to his devotion and wisdom.

Narayana Bhattatiri in his devotional hymn, the Narayaneeyam, notes that after listening to Gajendra’s prayer it was Lord Vishnu who responded instantly and not other gods because they felt that it was not addressed to them. The Almighty pulled the elephant out of the lake with one hand and killed the crocodile with His discus. While Gajendra was liberated from bondage for having chanted the Divine name and His glory, the crocodile was delivered from its curse and was restored to its original celestial form because it had clasped the feet of His devotee, Gajendra. The Almighty came in person because He wanted to grant him the vision of His resplendent form (mounted on Garuda) which Gajendra had meditated upon when he knew that his end was near, and the Lord took him along to His abode. Bhattatiri states that recalling Gajendra’s liberation and, chanting his name and the Divine name liberates a person from bondage.

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