The elephant ‘INDRADYUMNA’ and 'Self-Realization'- "NARAYANA-AKHILA GURO, BHAGVAN NAMASTHE;SREEMAN NARAYANA CHARANAM SARANAM PRAPADHYE". ‘Bhagvan Narayana’ is the all-pervading, undivided, infinite, omnipresent, and omnipotent absolute reality- Truth-Being-Existence- Consciousness and bliss.

*Glimpses of self-realization*

The elephant ‘INDRADYUMNA’ and Self-realization

The king ‘Indradyumna’ once became an elephant, due to the curse of sage ‘AGASTYA’. He started living as an elephant, in the mountains of ‘TRIKUTA’. One day along with so many fellow elephants, ‘Indradyumna entered a lake for playing and drinking water, when a crocodile caught hold of one of his hind legs. Even though he tried his level best he could not get freedom from the iron clutches of the crocodile. The fellow elephants tried in vain, to rescue him. After a while the other elephants left, unable to pull him out from the lake, from the clutches of the wild crocodile.

Worldly sorrows are actually blessings in disguise. ‘Indradyumna’ knew that, nobody can help him other than ‘LORD NARAYANA’ himself. ‘Indradyumna’ surrendered to ‘LORD NARAYANA’ and started praying with devotional hymns, with which he was familiar, in previous lives. “ NARAYANA-AKHILA GURO, BHAGVAN NAMASTHE;SREEMAN NARAYANA CHARANAM SARANAM PRAPADHYE. (I surrender myself up to the ever benevolent feet, of ‘Bhagavan Narayana’ - the primordial preceptor of the whole world ). Immediately ‘BHAGVAN NARAYANA’ appeared before ‘INDRADYUMNA’ and gave liberation to him and the crocodile as well.

Actually this is the plight of every ‘man or woman of the world’. Usually somebody loves somebody, for fulfilling his or her desires through him or her. If one is not getting the desired results, worldly love ceases to exist, being transitory and fleeting. The husband is not being loved, for the sake of the husband, but for the sake of the self; and the wife is not being loved, for the sake of the wife, but for the sake of the self. The whole family is not being loved for the sake of the family but for the sake of the ‘SELF’. Only ‘GOD’ loves everybody unconditionally. When worldly love is directed towards ‘GOD’, that gets transformed into ‘BHAKTHI’, through self-surrender, resulting in ‘SELF-REALIZATION’ and ‘SAHAJA SAMADHI’.

Moral of the story

‘Bhagvan Narayana’ is the all-pervading, undivided, infinite, omnipresent, and omnipotent absolute reality- Truth-Being-Existence- Consciousness and bliss. Due to self-forgetfulness - Athma-vismruthi- through the body-mind-intellect complex , the five sense organs and their objects; We revel in the ephemeral, phenomenal world, without ever knowing what it is all about. Due to divine grace of the ‘GURU’( our own ‘SELF’), when We get ‘Self-knowledge’, We start perceiving unity amidst diversity and that is ‘SELF-REALIZATION’. The crocodile is the ‘Ego-centric’ latent impressions and the desire- prompted actions (PRARABDA), already begun and nearing their fruition, accumulated through myriads of previous births. 'BHAKTHI' ( devotion ) results in self-surrender to ‘GOD’ ( ONE` OWN SELF ), ego-less- ness and self-realization where as ‘JNANA’ - SELF-KNOWLEDGE - results again in self-surrender, ego-less-ness and self-realization. When there is self-realization, there is sahaja Samadhi- two sides of one and the same coin.

~SWAATHMAARAAMAN