Gajendra

I recently came across a kirtan song about the ancient legend of Gajendra in Hinduism. (With roots in the Vedic tradition, a kirtan is a call-and-response style song or chant, set to music, wherein multiple singers recite or describe a legend, or express loving devotion to a deity, or discuss spiritual ideas). God Vishnu came down to earth to protect Gajendra, the elephant, from the clutches of a Crocodile. With Vishnu's help, Gajendra achieved moksha, or liberation from cycle of birth and death. The symbolic meaning of Gajendra moksha is that materialistic desires, ignorance and sins create an endless chain of karma in this world and are similar to a crocodile preying upon a helpless elephant stuck in a muddy pond. Humans are thus stuck in a continuous cycle of death and rebirth until the day when they can look beyond everything in this creation and connect with the transcendent.

As I’m listening to this song depicting the journal of our soul, I’m overwhelmed by a profound sense of longing and devotion to being in union with that Unlimited, Original, Sweet, Subtle, Deepest of the Deep, Seen by the Sages part of myself, a sensing, feeling, knowing, living organism. This is my prayer.

Underneath the golden sky
Fighting for a life time
But all my feet are slipping now
And I feel so tired
I thought that I would have the strength
But I'm so out of my element
So frozen in the moment with flowers all around

Let go, come and claim me as your own
From now on, I depend on you alone

Unlimited, original, sweet, subtle
Deepest of the deep
Seen by the sages
Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya (I bow down to the Lord who resides in the hearts of all beings)
Sit on the lotus of my heart
Let go, hold the flower in the air

Let go, this is my prayer