Published from “Three Minutes” series written by A.S.Rajagopalan Swami of Ohio
ariyadu eLidAgum ARRalAl mARRi peruga muyalvAraip peRRAl – kariyadu Or veNkOTTu mAl yAnai venRi
mudittadu anRE taNkOTTu mAmalarAl thAzndu – (bhUdattAzhvAr, iraNDAm tiruvantAdi – 22)அரிய தெளிதாகும் ஆற்றலால் மாற்றி, பெருக முயல்வாரைப் பெற்றால், – கரியதோர்
வெண்கோட்டு மால்யானை வென்றுமுடித் தன்றே, தண்கோட்டு மாமலரால் தாழ்ந்து.
mARRi = by changing; ARRalAl = (one’s own) capabilities (and); peRRAl = getting into (feet of); muyalvAraip = (The one who makes) attempts; peruga = innumerable times; ariyadu = (then) hard tasks; eLidAgum = will become easier [This is obvious in the case of ] Or = One; mAl = big; veNkOTTu = white tusked kariyadu = black colored yAnai =elephant venRi = successfully muDittadu = completed anRE = on that day; taNkOTTu = (in that) cold lake mAmalarAl = (with) red lotus flowers tAzhndu = by bowing and surrendering
This verse is sung by bhUdattAzhvAr, second in the AzhvAr dynasty. When one deserts one’s ego, realizes that the Lord makes infinite efforts to rescue His devotees, and holds on to His feet, even impossible tasks will be so easy. This is obvious, when that white tusked, large black elephant, while bathing in a cold lake, surrendered to the Lord and made a last appeal during the moments of death (to escape from the glitches of the crocodile) while carrying beautiful lotus flowers.
AzhvAr brings out the vivid description of gajendra mokSham incident as described in shrImad bhAgavatam (one of the eighteen purANa-s). As usual, gajendra, the noble elephant, was bathing in the lake and was getting the flowers to put under Lord’s feet. All of a sudden a crocodile came from underneath and grabbed his feet wildly. gajendra tried to get out but the crocodile’s grip was so strong.
The elephant – crocodile fight lasted for a thousand years. For the first five hundred years, the self-confident elephant thought that it could squash the crocodile. When it went in vain, the next five hundred years, he made a death plea to his family and friends for assistance. That also was useless. Finally, he realized that Lord is the only protector and made an emotional plea to Him by making total surrender. The Lord appeared on his garuDa vehicle and rescued him by killing the crocodile with His sudarshana, the discus.
The moral here is to
1. identify who is your true relative.
Who is the real protector that is waiting to rescue you at any cost and doesn’t ask anything in return. Is it our siblings, parents, other relatives, friends ? Well, they are, only to a certain extent. At times, they may give up or the task may be beyond their abilities. Lord shrIman nArAyaNa is omnipotent, the universal protector, and a permanent relative to us. All other relations are only as long as the body still exists.
2. Makeyourrelativehappy
Instead of falling at the feet of the doorkeeper, why don’t you surrender to the boss inside? Do prapatti, a total surrender to Him, and He will definitely make you happy.
3. Riseupwithgoodthoughts
Our AcArya-s advise us to think of gajendra mokSham when we get up in the morning so that all our activities for the day will be positive and productive.
Your relationship to the Lord is eternal and to the rest is only temporary .
