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969:, the "Three-Peaked Mountain". Gajendra ruled over all the other elephants in the herd. One day, as usual, he went to the lake near by to pick lotus flowers to offer prayer to Vishnu. Suddenly, a crocodile living in the lake attacked Gajendra, and caught him by the leg. Gajendra tried for a long time to escape from the crocodile's clutches. All of his herd, relatives, and friends gathered around to help him, but in vain. The crocodile simply would not let go. When they realised that 'death' had come close to Gajendra, they left him alone. He trumpeted in pain and helplessness until he was hoarse. As the struggle was seemingly endless, when he had spent his last drop of energy, Gajendra called to his deity
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1097:. The symbolic meaning of Gajendra moksha is that materialistic desires, ignorance, and sins create an endless chain of karma in this world and are similar to a crocodile preying upon a helpless elephant stuck in a muddy pond. Humans are thus stuck in a continuous cycle of death and rebirth until the day when they can look beyond everything in this creation and ultimately submit themselves to the supreme being, Vishnu.
1066:(the Sun god), the king pulled the sage's leg for fun. The sage was furious and cursed the king to become a crocodile in his next life. The repentant king begged the sage's pardon. Devala explained that he could not reverse the curse; however, he informed Huhu that Vishnu would slay him as the crocodile and liberate him from the cycle of birth and death.
1051:(sage) came to visit the king, Indradyumna Maharaj who was performing rituals to the lord and therefore was in complete ecstasy could not receive the sage properly. So, Sage Agastya cursed the king that in his next birth, he would be born as an elephant, and would forget his devotional activities and previous life.
64:. In this episode, Vishnu came down to earth to protect Gajendra, the elephant, from the clutches of a crocodile, alternatively known as Makara or Huhu, and with Vishnu's help, Gajendra achieved
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Hearing his devotee's call and prayer, Vishnu rushed to the scene. As
Gajendra sighted the god coming, he lifted the lotus with his trunk. Seeing this, Vishnu was pleased, and with his
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The prayer made by
Gajendra on this occasion became a famous hymn in praise of Vishnu called the Gajendra Stuti. This hymn was later inducted as the first and foremost hymn of the
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and has great symbolic value: Gajendra is the man, the crocodile is sin, and the muddy water of the lake is
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There was once an elephant named
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came to visit the king, and when the two of them were bathing and Devala was offering prayers to
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when he (as
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1254:"Gajendra the Elephant — Breaking Open the Jaws of Death"
1215:"Gajendra Moksha : The Story of Elephant's King"
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Liberation of
Ganjendra from death – Gajendra Moksha
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1091:Vaishnavism
1043:. One day,
1008:and Urdhva
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906:Kabir panth
827:Pancharatra
822:Vaikhanasas
817:Bhagavatism
787:Vyasatirtha
777:Vishnuswami
747:Sripadaraja
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525:Mahanubhava
456:Sampradayas
381:Mahabharata
368:Pancharatra
220:Dhanvantari
214:Other forms
151:Dashavatara
97:Vaishnavism
1312:Categories
1284:2021-11-11
1264:2021-11-11
1224:2021-11-11
1200:2021-11-11
1175:2021-11-11
1151:2021-11-11
1128:References
1107:Markandeya
1047:, a great
994:Tamil Nadu
911:Dadu panth
874:Pushtimarg
847:Krishnaism
687:Ram Charan
612:Jñāneśvara
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76:to King
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38:) or
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