Hari Sarvothama Vayu Jivothama
Sri Vaadhiraja Gurubyo Namaha
Sri Purandara Dasa gurubyo Namaha
The auspicious incident of Gajendra moksha has been mentioned in Sri Vayu puranam, Sri Vamana Puranam, Sri Vishnu Rahasya and importantly in Srimadh Bhaghavatham.
It is said in Vayu puranam that whoever remembers the incident of Gajendra moksha early in the morning , will get the blessings of Lord Sri Hari
About Gajendra Moksha:
Gajendra (elephant) was a devotee of Vishnu called Huhu in earlier births, and later took birth as Pandhya king Indradyumna. When Agastya rishi came to the place where king Indradyumna lived. Indradyumna was a devotee of Lord and was performing japa, meditation. At the same time the king failed to welcome Agasthya rishi. Maharishi got anger and cursed the king that he will take birth as Elephant in the next birth. but the king apologised rishi and asked how to get liberated.
Rishi answered that by the blessings of Lord Sri Hari in that birth that he will get liberated. the king entrusted the kingdom to his son and spent his life in spiritual way. King realised that this curse was all due to desire of Lord Hari, and felt happy that he would get the blessings of Lord.
When the king took birth as elephant, he was living with all his family in the Trikuta mountain happily. He was a king in the forest, all the dangerous animals like Lion, Tiger, snakes stayed away from the odour of this gigantic Elephant. That King Elephant Gajendra entered the lake, which was filled with lotus smell, so the fragrance was splendid. Gajendra started to drink the water , at the same time Crocodile attacked the elephant especially his leg forcefully, which Elephant cannot move his leg a bit for many years, this was narrated by Sri suhkacharya in Srimad bhagavatham to Parikshit maharaja.
Ferocious crocodile:
Gajendra’s leg was strongly caught by the ferocious crocodile powerfully for thousands of years, at the time his wife,children could not come near to help him. He finally remembered his past lives and meditated the sacred mantras of Lord(which was taught by Brigu rishi). Lord appeared before him in Garuda as vehicle, and cut the crocodile mouth with his holy chakra, and removed the sin of both Crocodile and Elephant. He also bestowed moksha for the elephant and made him to appear as huhu devatha, and took him to vaikunta seeing his real bhakthi. All the devathas, rishis, husband of Parvathi, were present to witness the kind act of Lord and prayed him, and celebrated this incident.
Pulasthya rishi says that Gajendra was touched by lotus hand of Lord, which added more brightness, and which is very sacred for any devotee to get the blessings of Lord Sri Hari.
What we need to learn from Gajendra moksha incident?
When Gajendra tried its best to get release from bondage of Crocodile, it was never possible for many years. It was finally possible only because of the blessings of Lord Sri Hari. Similarly for us to get release from samsara bondage the only possible is get release from Prakrithi sambanda, only Lord can bestow moksha through guru Vayu deva. We have to take shelter of Lord Sri hari, who alone can grant release from samsara. hence Gajendra took the shelter under Sriman Narayana.
In the meanwhile it is possible only through proper and correct spiritual knowledge as given by the saints of Dvaita philosophy. Without Vayu’s grace Elephant would not have survived his breath, Praana stayed in Elephant as per Lords desire. Hence, Sri Hari and Vayu’s grace is required for every soul to get liberated.
Whoever reads Gajendra moksha or listens to this story will attain ultimate destiny. This has been assured by Brahma deva, all the sins would be erased by remembering this holy story.
Many Saints have translated this beautiful Gajendra moksha from the purana to their native languages, likewise Sri Vaadhirajah Swamy and Sri Purandara dasa have translated to Kannada and written with their own poetical skills. Adding more sweet odour to the incident.
Gajendra moksha – Sloka1:
Sri Vaadhirajah has written 50 beautiful slokas of Gajendra moksha incident in kannada, which we are going to see the meanings in English as a Video series in our channel, we will also touch upon Purandara dasa composition in parallel. This work has been done only to bring out the greatest work to the World with my very limited knowledge in shastra. All the mistakes done are submitted to the holy feet of Guru Sri Vaadhirajah and Sri Purandara Dasa.
To know about the greatest saint Sri Vaadhirajah click this link in the Description,
Meaning:
Sri Vaadhirajah prays Lord Sri Hari, Mahalakshmi, his guru Sri Maddhvaacharya,Bharathi devi, Rudra deva, Parvathi devi and invokes all their blessings.
He starts saying that, he will try to narrate the beautiful incident of Gajendra moksha, where Lord Sri Hari protected his devotee Gajendra, with his limited knowledge. that shows how humble he is.
Note that Sri Vaadhirajah is considered one of the riju yogi’s, who always meditate on lotus feet of Lord.
As we had seen earlier in this video, all the rishis, yogis including Naradha, Garuda, Sesha all came to the place where Lord appeared before Gajendra.
Jagadguru Sri Maddhvaacharya(who himself is vayu avatara), Sri Vaadhirajah , Sri Purandara dasa, Sri Raghavendra(as shanku karna devatha) all were the direct witness of this beautiful Gajendra moksha incident.
Sri Purandara daasa starts praying Lord Sri Narayana and after his blessings he starts to narrate the beautiful incident Gajendra moksha, we will see more interesting information in this series,
Thus sloka1 is ended,
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Can you please translate for the entire gajendra moksha song, I am really curious to know the meaning of every sloka in it written by vadirajaru