At first I pay my innumberable prostrated obeisances to the lotus feet of my most merciful and 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 observing 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

yaḥ svātmanīdaṁ nija-māyayārpitaṁ
kvacid vibhātaṁ kva ca tat tirohitam
aviddha-dṛk sākṣy ubhayaṁ tad īkṣate
sa ātma-mūlo 'vatu māṁ parāt-paraḥ

kālena paṣcatvam iteṣu kṛtsnaśo
lokeṣu pāleṣu ca sarva-hetuṣu
tamas tadāsīd gahanaṁ gabhīraṁ
yas tasya pāre 'bhivirājate vibhuḥ

na yasya devā ṛṣayaḥ padaṁ vidur
jantuḥ punaḥ ko 'rhati gantum īritum
yathā naṭasyākṛtibhir viceṣṭato
duratyayānukramaṇaḥ sa māvatu

didṛkṣavo yasya padaṁ sumaṅgalaṁ
vimukta-saṅgā munayaḥ susādhavaḥ
caranty aloka-vratam avraṇaṁ vane
bhūtātma-bhūtāḥ suhṛdaḥ sa me gatiḥ

na vidyate yasya ca janma karma vā
na nāma-rūpe guṇa-doṣa eva vā
tathāpi lokāpyaya-sambhavāya yaḥ
sva-māyayā tāny anukālam ṛcchati

tasmai namaḥ pareśāya
brahmaṇe 'nanta-śaktaye
arūpāyoru-rūpāya
nama āścarya-karmaṇe

nama ātma-pradīpāya
sākṣiṇe paramātmane
namo girāṁ vidūrāya
manasaś cetasām api

sattvena pratilabhyāya
naiṣkarmyeṇa vipaścitā
namaḥ kaivalya-nāthāya
nirvāṇa-sukha-saṁvide

namaḥ śāntāya ghorāya
ghūḍhāya guṇa-dharmiṇe
nirviśeṣāya sāmyāya
namo jñāna-ghanāya ca

kṣetra-jñāya namas tubhyaṁ
sarvādhyakṣāya sākṣiṇe
puruṣāyātma-mūlāya
mūla-prakṛtaye namaḥ

sarvendriya-guṇa-draṣṭre
sarva-pratyaya-hetave
asatā cchāyayoktāya
sad-ābhāsāya te namaḥ

namo namas te 'khila-kāraṇāya
niṣkāraṇāyādbhuta-kāraṇāya
sarvāgamāmnāya-mahārṇavāya
namo 'pavargāya parāyaṇāya

guṇāraṇi-cchanna-cid-uṣmapāya
tat-kṣobha-visphūrjita-mānasāya
naiṣkarmya-bhāvena vivarjitāgama-
svayaṁ-prakāśāya namas karomi

mādṛk prapanna-paśu-pāśa-vimokṣaṇāya
muktāya bhūri-karuṇāya namo 'layāya
svāṁśena sarva-tanu-bhṛn-manasi pratīta-
pratyag-dṛśe bhagavate bṛhate namas te

ātmātma-jāpta-gṛha-vitta-janeṣu saktair
duṣprāpaṇāya guṇa-saṅga-vivarjitāya
muktātmabhiḥ sva-hṛdaye paribhāvitāya
jñānātmane bhagavate nama īśvarāya
(Srimad Bhagavatam 8.3.2-18)

The entire Srimad Bhagavatam is meant to bestow love of Supreme Lord and for His satisfaction only. Gajendra recited the prayers and satisfied the Lord. We have the hope that when we shall recite the prayers uttered by Gajendra, the Supreme Lord shall become satisfied. Since those prayers were uttered by Gajendra who was a devotee of the Lord, there is hope that by reciting those prayers the Lord shall become satisfied. But inside we do not have such intense feelings for the Lord. Every day I am reciting the same prayers because my condition is very bad. What can be done? Any moment could be the last moment of our life in this world and our body shall perish. Up till now I could not submit myself sincerely to Gurudeva. Srila Gurudeva is the grace-incarnate form of the Supreme Lord. If I am not submitting to him that means I am ignoring the grace of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord came to me as His grace incarnate form Gurudeva. By ignoring him I am not wanting the grace of the Lord, then what can the Lord do. Krishna came to a fallen soul like me directly in the form of Gurudeva but there is some defect in my submission. It is not sincere submission there is hypocrisy inside it. For that reason I am repeating the prayers so that my abominable condition might be rectified. You all might think that I am spoiling my time by repeating the same thing every day. Here Gajendra says in his prayers that living beings cannot know what is going on in the hearts of other living beings only the Supreme Lord knows. As Paramatma (the Super-soul) He resides in the hearts of all the living beings and knows everything. The Lord knows about what is going on inside the hearts of both Gajendra, the leader of the wild elephants as well as the crocodile. He knows the hearts of all living entities. The Supreme Lord even knows my condition very well. The grace incarnate form of the Lord has come to rectify me and my last moment may arrive anytime. What I have got? I have got nothing. For that reason I beg to be excused for my repetition of the same verses every day. It may be my selfishness.

ātmātma-jāpta-gṛha-vitta-janeṣu saktair
duṣprāpaṇāya guṇa-saṅga-vivarjitāya
muktātmabhiḥ sva-hṛdaye paribhāvitāya
jñānātmane bhagavate nama īśvarāya
(Srimad Bhagavatam 8.3.18)

The glories of the Supreme Lord were being manifested in the heart of Gajendra. The Supreme Lord is nirguṇa (beyond the three modes of material nature) and His glories are also nirguṇa or aprākṛta. While speaking about the glories of the Lord Gajendra didn't mention His Name specifically. Gajendra says, mādṛk prapanna-paśu-pāśa-vimokṣaṇāya—You rescue an animal like me from the entanglements. We heard about this yesterday. In His real form Gajendra is a pure devotee of the Lord. But he is identifying himself as an animal. He took shelter to the Lotus feet of the Lord. He was caught by a crocodile. Here crocodile signifies the horrible figure of this worldly bondage or entanglement. I can be rescued from this only by the Supreme Lord because the illusory energy of the Lord has enveloped me. It belongs to the Supreme Lord. He is the owner of everything and not any other demigods or living beings. There is no other way to be rescued other than taking shelter of the Supreme Lord Whose illusory energy enveloped me because of my committal of offence to His lotus feet by not serving Him. All the living entities who are enveloped by the illusory energy of the Lord are passing through cycles of births, deaths and three-fold afflictions and getting immense sufferings. Such sort of bindings and sufferings are signified by the crocodile. In Western countries like USA, Japan etc. they call crocodile as 'Alligator'.

There are so many different types of people in this world with so many different types of mentalities and natures. Prakṛti pāravasya—they are subdued by the material modes of nature and possess attributes like envy, malice etc. The Supreme Lord is addressed as muktāya. Gajendra says to the Lord, “You do not possess such negative traits born out of the material modes of nature. You are unlimitedly merciful in nature. There is no end to Your mercy.”

I heard the same instructions from Srila Gurudeva when I had asked him one question, "I have many shortcomings within myself so I am hesitating that whether it shall be correct for me to leave family life or not?" I asked Srila Gurudeva for his help. Guruji signifies the Lord Himself. He said, “Okay, you may have shortcomings within you but the Supreme Lord doesn't have any sort of shortcomings. He is All-Powerful and All-Merciful in nature. If you take shelter to Him you shall get His grace.” Mercy of the Lord always flows downwards. If anybody possesses pride and ego of this world, he shall not get the grace of the Lord. So one should surrender to the Lord.

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śharaṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣhayiṣhyāmi mā śhuchaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita 18.66)

“Abandon all varieties of Dharma and simply surrender unto Me alone. I shall deliver you from all the sinful reactions; do not fear.”

Gurudeva quoted the above verse and explained me. Krishna Himself proclaims this. When a living entity, entrapped by the illusory energy calls out the Lord, it never happens that the Lord does not come to rescue him. In this world when thieves or dacoits attack a person's house and the latter calls the police to help him the police shall not go to help him despite knowing the precarious condition of the victimized person. They may think, "Let them die. We will go later." The Supreme Lord is not like this. The Supreme Lord is unlimitedly merciful in nature. He stays as the Super-soul in the heart of all the living entities. He is named as Knowledge Personified (gyāna-swarūpa) or Undivided Knowledge (akhanda-gyāna). He is Unlimited (ananta). His grace and everything else is also unlimited. There are unlimited universes, unlimited Vaikuntha, unlimited living beings etc. One cannot limit them by any means. They are without limitations (aparichinna). Even if someone commits countless offences to Him, but takes shelter to His lotus feet even once then the Lord frees him from all kinds of fears. The following are the words of Lord Ramachandra in this regard,

sakṛd eva prapannāya tava asmi iti ca yācate |⁣
abhayam sarva bhūtebhyo dadāmi etad vratam mama ||
Source - valmikiramayan 6-18-33
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 22.34 taken from Ramayan)

"It is the vow of Mine that whoever takes shelter of Me I should make him free from all kinds of fears."

Lord Ramchandra says, “What to speak about Vibhishana even if Ravana comes to Me and takes shelter to Me, I shall free him from all sorts of fear.” Traits of worldly people like enmity, etc. are not found in the Lord.

Gajendra prays, ātmātma-jāpta-gṛha-vitta-janeṣu saktair—the Lord is unattainable to a person who is attached to his mind, son, house, wealth and faithful servant. The remembrance of the Lord can only be manifested in the pure heart of that person who is completely aloof from any material attachments. The Lord appear in the heart of such a devotee. The Supreme Lord is Knowledge Personified (gyāna-svarūpa) and is the controller of everything (sarva-niyanta). Gajendra says, “I pay my obeisances to you Oh Lord”. The Lord is addresses here as duṣprāpaṇāya—who is very difficult to attain. When does the living entity get the material mind? He gets it when he becomes averse to the Supreme Lord. He gets this subtle body comprising of material mind, material intelligence and material ego. This material mind desires material objects and becomes attached to them. The mind is the king of all the sense organs. For this reason Ambarish Maharaj engaged his mind in the service of the Lord at the very beginning. All the other sense organs work under the direction of the mind. If the mind remains entangled in worldly life, all other sense organs will automatically remain entangled there only. For this reason one should engage his mind in thinking about the Lord at first. But the mind which is attached to one's family, house, sons, wealth, faithful servant etc. which are all perishable in nature will get the state of these temporary objects as his destination.

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavad Gita 8.6)

Whatever a person thinks at the time of his death, he shall get that state. I have heard an incident from my Guruji that occurred in Bangladesh which was part of India previously but at present is a separate country. Many personal associates of Sriman Mahaprabhu like Gadadhar Pandit Goswami appeared in the Chattagram district of Bangladesh. For this reason all Gaudiya Vaishnavas visit that place. Gurumaharaj went to Chattagram district of Bangladesh. There he was invited by a family. The main person of the family who met Gurumaharaj before had died. So the sons of that person requested Gurumaharaj to go to their place to give his darshan to their mother who was in a critical health condition. When Gurumaharaj went there he saw that their mother is seriously ill. The doctor who was treating her told her family that she won't survive for more than three days. He also told her sons, “Better not to give any more medicines to her. She should now hear and chant the Names of the Lord.” The family was very rich and all the relatives came and surrounded her in her last days. She was very lean and thin due to her sickness and was devoid of any strength. So seeing the condition of her mother, one of her sons approached her, “Mataji.” When she could not hear due to poor hearing power he called her again loudly “Mataji! Please chant 'Hare Krishna' once.”

She replied, “I can't speak so many words.”

'Hare Krishna' are only two words but she said she cannot speak so much. She is able to utter, “I can't speak so many words.” How many words are there in this sentence? But she is not able to utter "Hare Krishna"!

She then said, “Call Yadubabu.” Yadubabu was not a good person. He earned money by unfair means. Even by listening his name one has to take bath in Ganges to get purified. But the distressed lady took the name of that person in such a situation. On hearing this her grandson came and said to her, “What! You are remembering such a bad person in this state!” He continued, “Dadiji (O Granny) please call out Radhey Govinda!” To this she replied, “I cannot speak so much now. Call Yadubabu.” While she can speak so many worlds but she was not uttering Lord's name. Ultimately Yadubabu was called. She held his hand and said to him, “I am on deathbed. I have so much land and property. But my sons are not intelligent and they will not be able to take care of my property after my demise. You please take care of my property after my demise.” She was speaking so much. Yadubabu also told her, “Mataji all of your sons are very much eligible. They are intelligent than me also. They will be able to properly take care of all your wealth and property. Without worrying about all these you chant Hare Krishna.” To this she replied, “I cannot speak so much.” Till her last moment she was not able to chant Lord's Name. This was because of the previous impressions in her heart (sanskara) were not good. If we have attachments to things of this world during our life time we shall think about them even at the time of our death. A person will get good destination if he will be able to remember the Lord at the time of his death. These worldly relations are all temporary. We have our relation with the Supreme Lord. When we forgot Him we came to this world and got attached to the objects of this world. Since we have not loved the Lord as our son, our master, our friend, our husband etc. we have received perishable son, perishable master, perishable friend and perishable husband in this world. This is the punishment we are receiving here. What more serious punishment could have been than this! For this reason it is said that the one who is attached to these temporary things of this world will never be able to attain the Lord. The reason is because he does not want the Lord from the core of his heart. So how can he get Him? His attachment is for something else and not for the Lord. So the word duṣprāpya (who is very difficult to achieve) is used in this context. It means that those who doesn't want the Lord from the core of His heart will not be able to attain Him. Here the word muktātma (liberated soul) used in the Shloka has two meanings. One is mūktajīva ātmārāma-gaṇera dvārā svahridaye cintita—the ātmārāma (self satisfied persons) always remember the Lord from the core of their heart.

The other meaning is tyakta hayiyache ātma jāhādera dvāra which means ātma-ghāti jana-gaṇera dvāra paribhāvitaya—māyika vigraha viśista eyi parameśwara, eyi gyāne tirskṛta han jini tahāke. The other meaning of muktātma given here is who have abandoned the natural propensity of the soul also called ātma-ghāti—the destroyer of the existence of the real-self. They think, “The Supreme Lord cannot have a personal form. If He possesses a personal form then He also comes under the control of illusory energy. Whomever you worship, Krishna, Goddess Kali, Ganapati or for that sake any tree or even your own son or wife, in the ultimate state, the worshipper, worship and the object of worship will not have their individual existence. They all will become one. They will ultimately merge in themselves and will become zero. Ultimately nothing shall remain.” This is called suicide of the real-self.

There is a wife who serves her husband very much but with ulterior desires in her mind. The husband said to her, “You are serving me with so many intentions. You serve me from the core of your heart and you shall get everything.” But she didn't stop serving him with desires.” There used to be quarrels amongst them. And one day, the wife out of anger hung herself and died. She completely deprived the husband from her service. In a similar manner, the living entities because of their material desires suffer miseries in this world. They are advised repeatedly to serve the Lord but being averse to His service they try to destroy their existence by merging oneself into the Brahman form of the Lord. This is the topmost duplicity. They will definitely have to suffer the fruits of not believing the personal form of the Supreme Lord. Mahaprabhu Himself said that the person who does not believe in His personal form is cutting Him into pieces. If we do not believe the One Who is the cause of everything then whose shelter would we take and who will protect us?