At first I pay my innumerable prostrated obeisances to the lotus feet of my most worshipable Divine master, who is the redeemer of the fallen souls, the bestower of knowledge on the Absolute, the non-different manifestation of the Supreme Lord and the bestower of service of the Supreme Lord. I pray for his causeless mercy. I pay my prostrated obeisances to the lotus feet of the worshipable Vaishnavas and pray for their causeless mercy. I pay my due respects to all the devotees who are inclined to hear discourses on the Supreme Lord and to those who are following Damodar Vrata. May they all become satisfied.

śrī-gajendra uvāca
oṁ namo bhagavate tasmai
yata etac cid-ātmakam
puruṣāyādi-bījāya
pareśāyābhidhīmahi

yasminn idaṁ yataś cedaṁ
yenedaṁ ya idaṁ svayam
yo ’smāt parasmāc ca paras
taṁ prapadye svayambhuvam
(Srimad Bhagavatam 8.3.2-3)

By the desire of Supreme Lord Krishna, Pandadeshiya Raja Indradyumna was absorbed in His meditation. At that time the sage Agastya along with his disciples approached the King. But to his dismay the sage saw that the King was sitting in meditation and did not make any arrangements for the sage. The sage thought in his mind that the King is like an elephant who do not have any sense. So, by the desire of the Lord the King was cursed to become an elephant by the sage Agastya.

Similarly by the desire of the Lord, Chatuhshan (the four sons of Lord Brahma, created from his mind) also cursed Jaya and Vijaya (the doorkeepers of Vaikuntha) to be born as demons on earth.

One should not misunderstand all these things. In order to teach the conditioned souls of this world by his own example, King Indradyumna accepted the body of an elephant. We should only take the teachings. Devotees can never face degradation. They only play the pastimes to give us teachings.

The conditioned souls of this world who are attached to material things cannot rescue themselves from material bondages by means of their own efforts or by the efforts of other conditioned souls. In this world we see the political leaders saying, “Oh I will elevate our country so much. Give me the vote!” Some other person say, “I will do this”. Another person claims he will do better. In this way they fight amongst themselves and ultimately no benefit results. The conditioned souls of this world have this sort of mentality.

In this pastime the King of the elephants possessed the ego that he will benefit his family and near and dear ones by means of his own effort. One cannot get anything by his own efforts. The King of the elephants, Gajendra, was so much powerful that he fought with the crocodile for one thousand years. But even after fighting for so many years he could not find any solution. Gajendra being so much powerful could not get out of his problem, what to speak of common persons finding any solution by their own capacities. When Gajendra realized that he cannot help himself in any manner, he thought for a long time on how could he get out of the situation. Because of the impressions of devotion he performed in his previous life, he suddenly remembered the prayers (stava) he used to perform in that life. It is shown here that whatever bhakti (devotion) one performs never gets destroyed. But it comes in Chaitanya Charitamtrita Madhya-lila 19.156,

yadi vaiṣṇava-aparādha uṭhe hātī mātā
upāḍe vā chiṇḍe, tāra śukhi’ yāya pātā

“If one commits offence at the lotus feet of any Vaishnava then the creeper of bhakti gets uprooted. And the leaves of the creeper will get dried up.”

In this context Srila Jiva Goswami stated that bhakti which is the eternal nature of the soul can never get uprooted completely. It cannot be eradicated. For some time we may see that it has become enveloped. When the offence will be removed he would not have to start from the beginning. He will start from the point at which his devotion got enveloped because of his committing the offence. The devotion one performs once never gets destroyed.

So, Gajendra realizing his helplessness started earnestly praying to the Lord for help. Similarly when the conditioned soul will pray to the Lord with such perturbation in heart as Gajendra did, his prayers will also be heard by the Lord. The Lord not only rescued Gajendra from the clutches of the crocodile, but also fulfilled his desire. Gajendra did not ask the Lord to get him out from the clutches of the crocodile and again get him back to his family life in the body of an elephant. But he asked the Lord to engage him in His loving service. By the prayers of Gajendra who desired to have audience of the Lord, the latter appeared to him in a very beautiful form mounting on the back of his Divine carrier Garuda. Just see how merciful the Lord is! In this manner when we too will pray to the Lord with such an earnestness from the bottom of our hearts, the Lord will also grace us.

Only remembering the prayers is not sufficient, we should utter these prayers with such earnestness in our hearts as Gajendra did. Only then there is the possibility that we too may get rescued from this crocodile-like material bondage and go back to the abode of the Lord. For this reason we remember these prayers uttered by Gajendra every year during Kartik.

śrī-gajendra uvāca
oṁ namo bhagavate tasmai
yata etac cid-ātmakam
puruṣāyādi-bījāya
pareśāyābhidhīmahi

“The King of the elephants, Gajendra, said: I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Person, Vasudeva. Because of Him this material body acts due to the presence of spirit, and He is therefore the root cause of everyone. He is worshipable for such exalted persons as Brahma and Shiva, and He has entered the heart of every living being. Let me meditate upon Him.”

The ‘bija (seed)’ mantra for invoking the Lord is ‘om’. Gajendra offered his obeisances to the Lord by relinquishing all sorts of ego. He did not pay obeisances to Brahma or Paramātmā form of the Lord but to the personal form of the Lord directly. Brahma, Paramātmā and Bhagavan all three are Undivided Knowledge. But Gajendra paid his obeisances to Vasudeva, which is the personal form of the Lord.

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante
jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti
sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita 7.19)

The gyanis (persons who worship impersonal form of the Lord) endeavour to attain liberation but after many many births of trying to attain liberation by means of their own efforts, when they fail, they take shelter to the Supreme Lord. Real transcendentalists see Vasudeva everywhere.

Gajendra offered obeisances to the All Powerful Supreme Lord in whom everything—anutva (atomicity), brihatva (larger than largest), madhyamatva (in between anutva and brihatva) exists simultaneously. Gajendra paid obeisances neither to Brahma or Paramātmā form of the Lord nor to any demigod or demigoddess. He took shelter of the Supreme Lord from whom the bodies of all living entities get consciousness. An iron-rod cannot burn anything. But when the same iron-rod remains in contact with fire for a long time, it becomes red-hot like fire and can burn down any substance that comes in contact with it. Similarly, as it is said in Bhagavad Gita,

indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur
indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ
manasas tu parā buddhir
yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita 3.42)

(The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.)

The cause of the soul is Paramātmā; everything become spiritual due to the presence of Paramātmā.

yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante;
yena jātāni jīvanti;
yat prayanty abhisaṁviśanti;
tad vijijñāsasva; tad brahmeti
(Taittiriya Upanishad 3.1.1)

All the living entities have been originated from Parabrahma, the Supreme Lord. They have come from the Supreme Lord, they are by the Lord and for the Lord. This material body and mind is actually inert. Only due to the presence of ātmā (soul) they have become lively or spiritual. Where does the soul (ātmā) come from? It has come from the Supersoul or Paramātmā. He is the ādi-bija, means the primary creator and the source of everything.

dvāv imau puruṣau loke
kṣaraś cākṣara eva ca
kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni
kūṭa-stho ’kṣara ucyate
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita 15.16)

“There are two classes of beings, the fallible and the infallible. In the material world every living entity is fallible, and in the spiritual world every living entity is called infallible.”

There are two types of Purushas, though spirit is of many types. The two types of Purushas are namely Kshara and Akshara. Kshara means those who fall down from their real identity (swabhav). The living entities are Kshara. They are the outcomes of the marginal potency (tatastha-shakti) of the Supreme Lord. So they have got the tendency to fall in this material world being enveloped by the illusory energy of the Lord. They are the minutest conscious particles and are part of the potency of the Lord. The Lord is always Complete (purna). The illusory energy is His potency so it can never envelop Him, but it can envelop the living entities who are anu-chetan (minutest conscious particles). Being enveloped, they may fall down from their real identities.

Brahma and Paramātmā are Akshara. Brahma is immanent and transcendent. It is the All-pervading spirit. How we can get this conception of Brahma? We compare Brahma with objects of this world and say that this object is not Brahma; that object is not Brahma and so on and so forth; ‘neti, neti, neti, neti, neti..’. Indirectly, this Brahman conception has got connection with this world. Brahma is the All-pervading spirit and formless. On top of the Brahma conception is situated the Paramātmā conception. Paramātmā has ‘Ishwaratwa’—the controlling power within Him. Contact with Brahma is not the topmost, above that is the contact with Paramātmā. If one gets the darshan of Paramātmā then he will not get entangled in any sort of worldly bondage. Sri Rupa Goswami writes in Laghu-bhagavata-mrita,

viṣṇos tu trīṇi rūpāṇi
puruṣākhyāny atho viduḥ
ekaṁ tu mahataḥ sraṣṭṛ
dvitīyaṁ tv aṇḍa-saṁsthitam
tṛtīyaṁ sarva-bhūta-sthaṁ
tāni gyātvā vimucyate
(Laghu-bhagavata-mrit Purva 2.9, Chaitanya Charitamrit Adi. 5.77)

Vishnu has three forms called Purushas. The first, Karanodakasayi, is the creator of the total material energy (mahat), the second is Garbhodakasayi, who is situated within each universe, and the third is Kshirodakasayi, who lives in the heart of every living being. He who knows these three becomes liberated from the clutches of Maya.

Karanodakasayi Mahavishnu thought, ekoham bahusyāmi — I am one, I shall become many. When the Lord wants to expand His material creation, Maha Sankarshan of Vaikuntha who is an expansion of Dauji (Baladeva) becomes Karanodakasayi Mahavishnu and glances over Prakriti (inert matter) and imparts consciousness in her. Prakriti cannot be the cause of creation so the Lord imparts consciousness by glancing over it. The spiritual potency is imparted by Karanodakasayi Mahavishnu who is the first Purush-avatār. By His glance over material nature, innumerable universes (Brahmandas) were created. The Purush-avatār is the God, regulator or master and the Enjoyer. All others are to be enjoyed by Him. The Paramātmā conception is clearer than the Brahman conception. Paramātmā resides in the heart of every living being. In the heart of every living entity, both jivātmā (the individual soul) and Paramātmā (Super soul) coexists like two birds staying together on a branch of a tree. Among these two the jivātmā enjoys or suffers the fruits of his actions and the Paramātmā is the witness of the actions and is also the regulator of the fruits of jivātmā’s actions.

So after creating infinite Brahmandas, the Lord manifested his second Purush-avatār namely Garbhodakasayi Vishnu Who created an ocean from his sweat and slept in it. This is Garbhodakasayi Vishnu Who is the cause of all the incarnations including the ten main incarnations. All the demigods like Brahma, Rudra etc. originate from Garbhodakasayi Vishnu. The creator of this material world Brahma originated from His navel. The third Purush-avatār is the maintainer of the individual universes (vyashthi-brahmand-palan-karta. His name is Kshirodakasayi Vishnu and He exists as Paramātmā (Super soul) inside the hearts of the individual living entities (vyashthi-jiva-antaryami). When we shall visualize these three Purush-avatāras as the Enjoyers or Masters we shall no more have the propensity to behave as enjoyers ourselves. All this is written in Laghu-bhagavata-mrita which was composed by Sri Rupa Goswami. We shall be specially liberated when we shall realize them as Enjoyers—tāni gyātvā vimucyate. So this Purush-avatār namely Kshirodakasayi Vishnu Who exists in our hearts is no doubt the best but not the topmost (Sarvottam). Then w ho is the topmost? This is then explained there by quoting the words of Krishna from Bhagavad Gita,

yasmāt kṣaram atīto ’ham
akṣarād api cottamaḥ
ato ’smi loke vede ca
prathitaḥ puruṣottamaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita 15.18)

Sri Krishna says, “I am beyond the comprehension of the conditioned souls of this world. I am supremely superior to formless Brahman and Paramatma. So I am designated as Purushottam.”

All this is explained in Gita. Gita is not written by any person of Gaudiya Math but is accepted all over the world. The Lord says that He is beyond the comprehension of the conditioned souls of this world. He also says that He is even superior to the akṣar that is kūṭa-stho ’kṣara, the Brahma and Paramātmā. So He is beyond the infallible, Brahma and Paramātmā — akṣarād api cottamaḥ. That is why He is called Purushottam or Bhagavan. So the Bhagavan conception is the highest conception. And, the elephant Gajendra is taking shelter of that Bhagavan.

Who is Purushottam? He is Jagannath, Krishna. He is the cause of all causes—purushaya adi-bijay. All the three Purush-avatārs originate from Him. Therefore, Gajendra is saying, ‘puruṣāyādi-bījāya, pareśāy-ābhi-dhīmahi’—I meditate on that Parameshvar Who is the original cause of everything and the controller of the demigods like Brahma etc. Parameshvar can never be two thousand, three thousand etc. He is only one person. Even a particle of dust cannot exist outside of Him. If it did exist then the Infinite Lord will become finite. So, all creations exist within the Infinite Lord. Some Western people, without knowing, comment on Hindus that they believe in many Gods. But in actuality there are not many Gods. God is one only; but He possesses multiple potencies. By means of His marginal potency all the living beings are created. There are infinite potencies, infinite transcendental realms etc.

Though He is beyond anything material, the material potency is possessed by Him only. He has innumerable transcendental spiritual forms and infinite pastimes. The highest pastimes is in Nandanandan Krishna in which there are different delightful relations by means of which we can love Sri Krishna. All the transcendental mellows (rasas)—Santa, Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalya and Madhurya along with seven secondary mellows are present in Him in full. All these sweet mellows are not present in other Avatāras. Krishna is Avatāri—the source of all Avatāras. So God is one only—the Parameshvara. He comes as Rama, Nrisimha, Varaha etc. Ontologically, They all are one but Their Pastimes are different. It is written in Ramayana that by seeing the beautiful form of Lord Ramachandra, the sages of Dandakaranya wanted to serve Him as their husband. The Lord told them that in His this pastime as Rama, He is only eka-patni-vrata-dhari—one who has accepted the vow to have one wife only. He is playing the pastimes of Maryada Purushottam—the pastimes of the Lord in which He follows codes of morality. So He told them that in His advent as Lord Ramachandra, He will not be able to fulfil their desire of having Him as their husband. If He will not follow the right conducts in this form then the conditioned soul will not be benefitted. He has descended to remove irreligion. He further told them that when He will take His birth in the family of Gopas, they should also take birth there in the form of Gopis (milk-women). And in following the footsteps of Gopis, they will get Him as their husband and their desires will be fulfilled. In this way, all sort of sweet delightful relations exists in Nandanandan Sri Krishna only.

yasminn idaṁ yataś cedaṁ
yenedaṁ ya idaṁ svayam
yo ’smāt parasmāc ca paras
taṁ prapadye svayambhuvam
(Srimad Bhagavatam 8.3.3)

“The Supreme person in Whom the entire world exists, Who is the creator of the ingredients of this material world, Who Himself has created this material world and nonetheless He is different from the cause and the effect of His creation. I take shelter of the independent Supreme Lord.”

Viswanath Chakravarti Thakur is giving an example in the commentary of this verse as follows. There exists a pot in a house. This pot is made up of mud. Now if mud is available, also there is availability of danda-chakra (wheel and rod for making a pot), can the pot be made without the help of a potter (person who makes things out of mud)? The potter will use those tools (wheel and rod) and create the pot out of that mud. Thus he will become the instrumental cause behind the creation of the pots. So even if there is mud and those tools (danda-chakra) present, the pot will not get constructed by itself. Only when the potter uses them the pot will be constructed. Other than instrumental cause, there are two more causes namely efficient cause and material cause. Just as the pot exists inside that house, the entire material world exists inside the Lord. All the causes and effects are in Him only. So if one uses the word ‘vishwa’ to refer the Lord there is no fault in it. But it is not used because we may not understand such reference. There is one incident in regards to this.

Once a person named Genda Ramji invited our Guruji to attend a religious assembly at Ambala Cantt. Guruji accepted his invitation and went to the assembly from Chandigarh. We were also present there. It was a Sanatan Dharma Sabha—religious assembly for the discussion on the eternal nature of the soul. It was held at Lakshmi Narayan temple for two days. One day while discourses were taking place one Swamiji named Manishananda arrived there and prayed to Genda Ramji to give him the chance to speak. Genda Ramji who used to address our Guruji as ‘Guruji’ told the saint, “I have invited Guruji (Madhav Maharaj) to listen to his Harikatha. He will speak on the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. His time is valuable so we will not be able to give you time before he leaves.”

But the Swamiji repeatedly insisted Genda Ramji to allow him to speak in that assembly. Genda Ramji came to our Gurudeva and told him, “We have invited you to speak about the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu but another Swamiji has come and repeatedly insisting me to allow him to speak. What shall I do now?”

Our Gurudev said, “No problem, you allow him to speak. Let him speak for half an hour and I shall speak for the remaining half hour.”

Genda Ramji told the Swamiji to speak for half an hour. We were present there. We had some knowledge on Punjabi language. So we all started listening to his speech in which he was using many words of Urdu Language. We have no knowledge of Urdu language which was understandable by people of Punjab. While speaking he said something which made our Gurudev little bit suspicious. He said, “Main To Ram Ka Roop Hun Sajada Karu Kiska” — I am the form of Rama so why should I serve anyone else? All of us started wondering what he meant by such words. After the assembly was over our Guruji asked our Puri Maharaj (Bhakti Prasad Puri Maharaj) the meaning of his words. Puri Maharaj explained, “That person was claiming that he is Lord Rama and so why should he worship anyone else?”

Anyhow at night Guruji went there to give discourses. Our Guruji was very tall and strong and Swami Manishananda who was like his disciple came and paid obeisances to him. Guruji praised him and said, “Everyone is very delighted to hear your discourse the day before. Please come inside.” So Guruji took him inside, made him seat and started conversing with him. The man said that they had Math at three places. They will take funds from Government and open schools and do other welfare activities.

Guruji asked him, “I did not understand the meaning of one thing you spoke yesterday. Please explain me.”

The man said, “What was that?”

Guruji said, “What did you mean by ‘Main To Ram Ka Roop Hun Sajada Karu Kiska’!”

The Swamiji was not a deceitful person. He was simple-hearted. He said, “The meaning of it is I am the form of Lord Ram Himself so why should I worship anyone else?” He thought that most of the persons there including our Gurudev are the follower of Mayavadi School of thoughts, so they all will be pleased if he speaks so.

Then Guruji told him, “See, there is no one in this place except you and me. So tell me, are you Lord Rama?”

The person got perturbed on being asked so. Guruji continued, “Why did you say such a thing?”

He replied, “I told this because I heard it before. I shall leave Sannyas and return home.” The man got the feeling of frustration inside his heart. Srila Gurudev assured him that he has nothing to fear and that he has done the correct thing by accepting Sannyas. The person was simple-hearted. Then Guruji said him, “See what you spoke has some meaning. There is difference between what is meant by ‘roop’ and ‘swaroop’. ‘Shakti’ or potency can be called a ‘roop’. The world is an expression of the material potency of the Lord. So there is no fault in saying that the material world is one form of the Supreme Lord. But the world cannot be the ‘swaroop’ or the personal form of the Lord. Similarly the living entities can be called as one form of the Lord but they are never the personal form of the Lord. I am a part of the potency of Lord Rama. I have come from Lord Rama, I am by Lord Rama and I belong to Lord Rama. I shall remain for Lord Rama. Since I am a part of the potency of Lord Rama I should serve Him. This is the correct meaning of what you spoke. It doesn’t mean that I am Lord Rama myself.”

So it is nothing wrong to refer to the Lord by using the word ‘vishwa’ (the world) but we should understand the proper significance of what it means. So it is said that all the actions as well as their causes are situated inside the Lord. But He, at the same time, is separate from all the actions and their causes. The Lord is self-effulgent. He doesn’t need anyone to illuminate Himself. Dharma also originates from Him.

In the sixth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, there is a conversation between Vishnudutas (the messengers of Vishnu) and Yamadutas (the messengers of death) regarding the glories of the Holy Names of the Lord. There, the Vishnudutas asked the Yamadutas about the qualities of Dharma and Adharma. They further asked whether all are liable to get punished or not. Who is liable to get punished? So, when the Yamadutas were carrying away Ajamila to Yamaloka, the Vishnudutas stopped them and told, “You claim yourselves to be the servants of Dharmaraj and carrying away this person. Explain to us what is meant by Dharma and Adharma.” The Yamadutas replied,

yamadūtā ūcuḥ
veda-praṇihito dharmo
hy adharmas tad-viparyayaḥ
vedo nārāyaṇaḥ sākṣāt
svayambhūr iti śuśruma
(Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.40)

The Yamadutas replied, “Whatever is sanctioned in the Vedas is Dharma and whatever is not sanctioned in the Vedas is Adharma. The Vedas are directly the Lord, Narayana Himself, and are self-born. This we have heard from Yamaraja.”

So the Vedas contain undivided knowledge and are thus non-different from Narayana. The Supreme Lord is absolutely independent, self-effulgent and is the cause of all causes. He is the cause of Brahma and Paramātmā. In Chaitanya Charitamrita Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami has written that Adwaita Brahma is the halo or the bodily effulgence of the Supreme Lord. People tend to get attracted by the effulgence of the Supreme Lord but that halo is the glow of Shyama Shundara Murti. So the cause of this halo is the Lord Himself and Paramātmā is His plenary portion. The Supreme Lord is the possessor of all opulences. This self-effulgent independent Supreme Lord descends and He has got no cause.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Brahma-samhita 5.1)

Govinda is the cause of all causes. Since He has no other cause, He reveals Himself in the heart of a surrendered soul. The Lord is the shelter of this world and acts like the potter to create this material creation from material ingredients which also come from Him. All these examples are already stated before.

The word ‘idam’ is repeatedly mentioned in the prayers of Gajendra to stress the relation of the Lord with His material creation. There are three causes namely ‘mool karan’, ‘upadan karan’ and ‘nimitta karan’. But the Lord is completely separate from the cause and the result. He is called ‘svayambhu’ — Who does not have any cause and ‘svtah-siddha-tattva’ — Who is self-effulgent. He reveals Himself in the form of Rama, Krishna etc.

yaḥ svātmanīdaṁ nija-māyayārpitaṁ
kvacid vibhātaṁ kva ca tat tirohitam
aviddha-dṛk sākṣy ubhayaṁ tad īkṣate
sa ātma-mūlo ’vatu māṁ parāt-paraḥ
(Srimad Bhagavatam 8.3.4)

“The Supreme Lord, by expanding His own energy, keeps this cosmic manifestation visible and again sometimes renders it invisible. He is both the supreme cause and the supreme result, the observer and the witness, in all circumstances. Thus He is transcendental to everything. May that Supreme Lord give me protection.”

The Lord reveals Himself during the day-time of creator Brahma. During his day-time, creator Brahma creates the material world by the will of the Supreme Lord. During the night of Brahma, the destruction (Pralaya) happens. Everything gets destroyed during the night of Brahma. The Lord sees all these (creation and destruction) in a non-perturbed manner. Now, in a place in Maharashtra thirty three thousand people died. In Gujarat one lakh people died. So we may think that the Lord is not seeing all this. Even if the entire world gets destroyed the Lord will remain neutral. Crores, crores and crores of living entities had perished. But still the Lord remained unperturbed. Actually the living soul never dies. The soul neither takes birth nor does it die. All this is written in the Gita. But the living entity being enveloped by the illusory energy thinks that he has taken birth, he is suffering three-fold afflictions and he will perish ultimately. So even if the entire world gets destroyed nothing happens. The soul or ātmā never gets destroyed.