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

yaṁ dharma-kāmārtha-vimukti-kāmā
bhajanta iṣṭāṁ gatim āpnuvanti
kiṁ cāśiṣo rāty api deham avyayaṁ
karotu me ’dabhra-dayo vimokṣaṇam

ekāntino yasya na kañcanārthaṁ
vāñchanti ye vai bhagavat-prapannāḥ
aty-adbhutaṁ tac-caritaṁ sumaṅgalaṁ
gāyanta ānanda-samudra-magnāḥ

tam akṣaraṁ brahma paraṁ pareśam
avyaktam ādhyātmika-yoga-gamyam
atīndriyaṁ sūkṣmam ivātidūram
anantam ādyaṁ paripūrṇam īḍe
(Srimad Bhagavatam 8.3.17-21)

Gajendra is offering prayers with earnestness to the Supreme Lord, “An animal like me who is presently under the clutches of the crocodile is praying to You to get free from it.” What does the crocodile signify here? It signifies ignorance (avidyā tasya viśeṣeṇa mokṣaṇam). The Gajendra is praying to the Lord, “I have come to this material world being entangled by Your illusory energy and is presently situated within her grip. Only You can liberate me from this. I was born as an animal (an ignorant being). I have forgotten You and thus come to this world. Only You can liberate me from this. Other than You nobody else can rescue me from this. I used to serve You before but I left Your service for a long time. I forgot You.” Can the Lord be angry with him? The Lord is not like that. Suppose a person works for another worldly person and then after rendering service for a certain period of time leaves his service and his master. After a certain period of time when he comes back to his master and wants to join his service again the master chastises him saying, “Why did you come back? You abandoned your service and went away without informing me. Now die. I cannot accept you anymore. I do not need you anymore.” Here Gajendra says, “You (the Supreme Lord) are not like such a person of this material world. You are unlimitedly merciful. Your mercy is imperishable and bountiful in nature. For this reason, there is no doubt that You will forgive my offence.”

Gajendra prays, svāṁśena sarva-tanu-bhṛn-manasi pratīta—by Your partial feature as Paramatma, You are situated in the hearts of all embodied beings. Krishna says to Arjun, “Viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat—with a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.” There is no necessity of expressing one’s woes and miseries to the Lord. The Lord knows everything that is going on inside the heart of each and every living being. The Lord sees the feelings that are present inside one’s heart. Lord does not count what we speak externally. He is residing in our hearts and thus knows everything. So Gajendra says, “You are the Supreme Lord (Bhagavan). You are All-Powerful. You are bigger than the biggest, All-Pervasive, All-Seeing. I offer my obeisances to You. Please protect me.” Till this, we have heard before.

After this it is said that the Lord is unattainable to the ones who are attached to their material gross and subtle bodies. Mind, house, wealth and offspring—these are the four things that one becomes attached to. Here, mind means our gross mind. In this material world, our mind gets connected to material objects. Ātmā is transcendental (nirguṇ). The material mind makes us attached to material objects and relations like offspring, house, wealth, faithful servant etc. When we remain attached to these material things and relations the Lord becomes unattainable for us. We should remember the teaching from the life of Prahlad in this regard. There it comes, the one who remains attached to his house and family can neither perform Bhajan himself nor can he make others perform Bhajan. There are six hundred crores of human beings in this world. But if all of them are conditioned, they cannot impart devotion even to a single person. When Hiryanakashipu asked Prahlad, “I arranged so many guards so that no Vaishnava can come and contact you. Also, your Gurus, Sanda and Amarka didn’t teach you Krishna-bhakti. Then how come your mind got directed towards Krishna? Then Prahlad answered,

śrī-prahlād uvāca
matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā
mitho ’bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām
adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ
punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām
(Srimad Bhagavat 7.5.30)

Gṛha-vrata means he whose life is centred around his home and family members. His life revolves only on material sense gratification. Such a person cannot engage his mind in the Supreme Lord. Such a person can never make one person become attached to the Lord. One meaning of gṛha is house. Srila Gurumaharaj used to explain the other meaning of it by quoting—na gṛhaṁ gṛham ity āhur gṛhiṇī gṛham ucyate—merely a house is not a home, for it is a wife who makes it a home. Even renunciates also to stay in a house but they are not called gṛha-vrata. The one who leads his life centred on his wife is called gṛha-vrata. Due to excessive attachment for his wife he even abandons his parents.

This is not correct. Entering into marriage life for maintaining ‘dharma’ and begetting offspring after receiving the consent of their elders is correct. Another type of marriage is where husband and wife live with mutual attachment and do not serve the elders and other members of the house who deserve to be served. So by living in the family, if we do not serve others who deserve to be served, it is injustice (adharma). Sanatana Dharma does not accept this. The manner in which I shall behave with my parents, my son shall also behave with me like that when I shall become a father. To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Mother and father give birth to their children and rear them. They have the right to tame us but not vice versa. Now if we disregard them then our children will do the same thing with us. They will lie to us etc. For this reason, in Bharatvarsha such a thing is not taken nicely. One should serve his parents considering them worshipable. Children are not conceived with the aim to achieve bodily pleasure. For this reason, it is said na gṛhaṁ gṛham ity āhur gṛhiṇī gṛham ucyate. This material body is called 'gṛha' (house). The gross body is also regarded as one type of gṛha. I am not this body. I am residing within this body. I have got this body based on my karma. It is like a possession to me. The person who remains body-centred always thinks of satisfying the pleasures and the needs of the body all throughout day and night. Such a person is also called gṛha-vrata. They only contemplate how to beautify this body, make it strong and perfect, how to satisfy the needs of this body etc. He will also think of persons who are connected to his body. He will also think of the bodily requirements of persons who are connected to his body. And this thing is done by all persons of this world. The conditioned souls only endeavour for this and nothing else. But the birth of a human being is not meant to fulfil bodily needs. The body of a human being is only given to perform worship of the Lord. But instead of performing worship of the Lord, if he acts as per the directions of his mind then such a person is called gṛha-vrata. A person who is a lives by mental-speculation , who is attached to his mind and subtle body, wants to move as per the directions of the mind, always contemplates on how to satisfy the needs of the body and is also attached to his house, wife and other bodily relations – such types of persons are themselves conditioned. How can they rescue other conditioned souls? Such types of persons shall go to hell themselves.

śrī-prahlād uvāca
matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā
mitho ’bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām
adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ
punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām
(Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.30)

The person who is a gṛha-vrata and identifies himself with his house and family will go to the inferno by enjoying repeatedly in an unrestricted manner. Such a person cannot rescue himself, so how can he rescue others?

Prahlad Maharaj is saying, "My mind has not become attracted to the Lord by means of my own efforts or by the efforts of my Gurus who give worldly teachings on how to attain –dharma (so-called piety), artha (money), kāma (lust) and mokśa (liberation) or by the combined efforts of the two. The one whose sense organs are uncontrolled, he keeps on enjoying the objects of the senses by means of those sense organs and finally goes to hell." Who will rescue such a person?

na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ
durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ
andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās
te ’pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ
(Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.31)

Someone may argue with Prahlad Maharaj saying that when your Gurus (Sanda and Amarka), being well versed in the knowledge of Vedas, did not teach you Krishna-bhakti that implies that Krishna-bhakti is Avedic (something which is not mentioned in Vedas). So Prahlad Maharaj here says, "My Gurus (Sanda and Amarka) in spite of being learned in the Vedas did not really understand the actual teachings of the Vedas which is to worship Lord Krishna. Being attached to the fruitive results mentioned in the Vedas, they understood the karma-kāṇda to be the actual teachings of Vedas. They themselves could not understand their welfare. They themselves do not perform worship of the Lord, how can they make me perform the same?”

na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ
durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ
andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās
te ’pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ

“My mind became attracted to the Lord by the mercy of Narada Goswami who is a Brahma-nishtha—whose mind is fixed on no objects of this world, and only on the Supreme Lord Himself. One can attain devotion only by bathing in the foot-dust of Narada Goswami.” Devotion can be attained only by the mercy of a pure devotee of the Lord.