[Advaita-l] Gajendra moksham

[Kaushik Chevendra]

Namaste sir.

On Mon, 9 Aug 2021, 17:21 sreenivasa murthy, <narayana145 at yahoo.co.in>
wrote:

> Dear Sri Kaushik Chevendra,
>
> What is bhakti?
> The following Sloka from the text Vivekschoodamani
> in a very clear way has defined what bhakti is:
>
>  mOkShasAdhanasAmagryAm  bhaktirEva gariyasI |
> svasvarUpAnusaMdhAnaM BaktirityaBidhIyatE ||
>

> The meaning is very clear.
>
Very true sir. And to attain to the highest stage it has to be done
gradually. Shri madhusudhana saraswati talks about 3 stages of bakthi. It
initially starts from the starting stage of where the devotee says "Oh Lord
,I am yours". Just like in the case of gajendra. And hence I had shared the
story which will strengthen the devotees bakthi to Lord.

Namo narayanaya

That is what I have stated in my e-mail.
> This is what the highest and true bhakti is.
>
>
> With respectful namaskars,
> Sreenvasa Murthy.
>
> On Monday, 9 August, 2021, 8:59:56 am GMT+1, Kaushik Chevendra <
> chevendrakaushik at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Namaste.
> Without devotion to isvara, knowledge which leads to mukthi isn't
> attained.
> Otherwise why would shri shankaraacharya write so many devotional works?
> Why does he say to worship govinda? Why does he talk about the divine
> activities of narayana in his works such as govindastakam? Why does
> jagadguru advice us to constantly chant the names of isvara? Why do puranas
> talk about his activities?.
> It's evident that bakthi is compulsory. But how is this inculcated?
> Through the rememberance of daya and greatness of isvara through the
> rememberance of his activities which will cleanse and purify the devotees
> mind,which will eventually be ready to gain knowledge.
> And hence the stories of gajendra and such play a vital role.
>
> Om namo narayanaya.
>
>
> On Mon, 9 Aug 2021, 13:02 sreenivasa murthy, <narayana145 at yahoo.co.in>
> wrote:
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> What is the use of knowing about Gajendra Moksha?
> Will it give us Moksha?
> Never.
> The Lord is your own true svarUpa / nature
> and he is within your heart as the WITNESS to
> all mental modifications.
> Should we not make sincere and honest efforts to
> attain moksha by implementing methodologies as taught
> by Upanishads and Sri Shankara?
> Mantras 2-1-3 & 2-1-4 of Kathopanishad and 2-4 of Kena Upanishad
> have revealed, in a very simple and direct way,
> the path of Moksha which can be had by each and every one
> HERE  and Now.
> Please give a try.
> It  will be of tremendous puruShArtha.
>
> With repectful namasakars,
> Sreenivasa Murthy.
>
> On Monday, 9 August, 2021, 5:47:36 am GMT+1, Kaushik Chevendra via
> Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>
> Namaste sir.
> Its also interesting to note that that ramanujacharya also didnt quote
> bagavtham. It was shri madhvacharya who was the one to mention and write a
> summary of it.
> The scholars quickly come to the conclusion that it must be a later day
> composition. We must not take their view seriously,as these type of
> statements arent in line with the tradition.The bagavtham is constantly
> quoted in other puranas. And the conclusion will be,they too are of later
> day composition. So the scholars view should be taken only if they agree
> with the tradition.Acharya quotes from some of the puranas and
> upanishads,and there are many which arent quoted in his works. And hence
> bagavtham here is of no exception.
> Prof B. N. Krishnamurti Sarma has something of interest to say on the date
> of Bhagavata Purana, based on his research work on external evidence for
> the same, in his learned work on the subject in the Annals of the
> Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute of Poona Vol XIV, 1932-33. He states
> that Gaudapada (7th century) in his commentary on Uttara Gita refers to the
> Bhagavata Purana in the course of his commentary on II, 46 of the text,
> quoting the following hemistich: taduktam bhagavate: tesamasau klesa eva
> sisyate, nanyadyatha sthulatusavaghatinam. This line is to be identified
> with the second line of Bh X.14.4, which is as follows: tesamasau klesa
> evasisyate nanyadyatha sthulatusavaghatinam.
>
> Further though there is no direct reference of bagavtham,its believed
> acharya did quote it indirectly.
>
> Krishna's stealing the clothes of gopis of Vraja is also mentioned in
> Brahma-Vaivarta purana, but the description is different than what
> Shankaracarya describes. Shankaracharya's description is consistent with
> Bhagavatam's description.
>
> The corresponding verses from Govindastakam and the chapters from
> Bhagavatam
>
> मृत्स्नामत्सीहेति यशोदाताडनशैशव सन्त्रासं
> व्यदितवक्त्रालोकितलोकालोकचतुर्दशलोकालिम् । लोकत्रयपुरमूलस्तम्भं
> लोकालोकमनालोकं लोकेशं परमेशं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ २॥
>
> mṛtsnāmatsīhēti yaśōdātāḍanaśaiśava-santrāsam
> vyāditavaktrālōkitalōkālōkacaturdaśalōkālim| lōkatrayapuramūlastambhaṃ
> lōkālōkamanālōkam lōkēśaṃ paramēśaṃ praṇamata gōvindaṃ paramānandam||2||
>
> Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, who showed the fear of a child when
> beaten by Yashodá saying, ``You are eating earth''. and in whose opened
> mouth was seen the row of fourteen worlds, visible and invisible, who is
> the support of the three worlds (vis., Svarga, pruthvè, pátála), who is in
> the form of the worlds, visible and invisible, who cannot be seen, who is
> the controller of the universe and who is the supreme Lord. (2)
>
> The corresponding bhagavatam chapter titled SB 10.8: Lord Kṛṣṇa Shows the
> Universal Form Within His Mouth <https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/10/8>
>
> स्नानव्याकुलयोशिद्वस्त्रमुपादायागमुपारूढं व्यदित्सन्तिरथ दिग्वस्त्रा
> ह्युपुदातुमुपाकर्षन्तम् । निर्धूतद्वयशोकविमोहं बुद्धं बुद्धेरन्तस्थं
> सत्तामात्रशरीरं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ ६॥
>
> snānavyākulayōṣidvastramupādāyāgamupārūḍham vyāditsantīratha digvastrā
> dātumupākarṣantaṃ tāḥ| nirdhūtadvayaśōkavimōhaṃ buddhaṃ buddhērantaḥstham
> sattāmātraśarīraṃ praṇamata gōvindaṃ paramānandam||6||
>
> Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, who climbed up the tree carrying the
> clothes of women busily engaged in their bath and who made them come close
> to him for the purpose of giving the clothes to them who were naked and who
> desired to get back their clothes, who is free from duality, grief and
> delusion, who is wise, who dwells in the intellect, and who is
> pure-existence. (6)
>
> The corresponding bhagavatam chapter titled SB 10.22: Kṛṣṇa Steals the
> Garments of the Unmarried Gopīs <https://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/10/22>
>
>
>
> Hope this clarifies.
>
> om namo narayanaya
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, 9 Aug 2021 at 08:49, Vinodh via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Namaskaram,
> >
> > I very much enjoy the stories of Srimad Bhagavatham that show Ishwara’s
> > kaarunyam. And more so the many advaitic teachings contained in the
> stories
> > of Bhagavatham.
> >
> > However, it appears that Shankara Bhagavadpada never quoted anything from
> > these stories in his works. I am curious to know if this is indeed true
> and
> > if yes, why.
> >
> > There was a similar question raised in the group about Yoga Vasishtam
> > earlier, for which one possible explanation was that the original text
> > (called “Mokshopaya”) had evolved quite a bit and is possibly lost in its
> > original form, and that the text that is available to us now is dated
> after
> > Shankara’s time period. Therefore, Yoga Vasishtam was not quoted by
> > Shankara.
> >
> > Is there an explanation for why Srimad Bhagavatham is not referred to by
> > Shankara in his works (if indeed  he has not quoted anything from it)?
> >
> > Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts on this 🙏
> >
> > On Sun 8. Aug 2021 at 21:28, Kaushik Chevendra via Advaita-l <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> > > In bagavatham, the gajendra moksham is well known. The following is the
> > > last stanza of the story from Pothanas translation of bagavatham.
> > >
> > > "As soon as he heard cries of Gajendra for help ,Lord Sri Hari started
> > > without a word,,with out taking his weapons.He did not waste time in
> > > getting ready , he didn't wait for his vahana Garuda,he didn't even
> > release
> > > the cloth of his wife which he was holding,in the midst of an
> > > argument....resulting in instantaneous response to rescue his devotee
> > from
> > > danger. The groups of heaven
> > > dwellers and celestial beings exclaimed," Look! Savior is coming,
> beside
> > > Him is his consort Devi Lakshmi, listen to the sound of conch, look at
> > the
> > > disc in his hand, and His vahana
> > > Garuda flying, Praise the Lord!"!!
> > > Then the Sudarsana disc, released by the Lord, cut the head of
> crocodile.
> > > Then Sri Hari brought out Gajendra from the lake and with His touch
> > wounds
> > > of the elephant disappeared. He offered lotus with his trunk to his
> > saviour
> > > Sri Hari. The crocodile was relieved of his curse and got his original
> > form
> > > as gandharva".
> > >
> > > The Lords daya is indeed endless.
> > > Om namo narayanaya.
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