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Gajendra Moksham

In tri-kuta mountain, in a place called Rtumat, lived Gajendra, a majestic elephant. One day it was drinking water in a lake with its mates. A growling crocodile attacks it. Its mates run away. Gajendra is pulled into water. Crocodile seizes the leg with fearsome growls.

As Gajendra realizes everyone is alone in their birth and death, it loudly invokes that witnessing puruSa (Lord Narayana) as its Atman who is beyond all knowledge and senses, to guide its knowledge and actions in fighting the battle with crocodile. Gajendra shares this wisdom.

Gajendra Moksham translation sung in tamil, essence in english
 
Is this story true? or is it anecdotal?

If it is only anecdotal, I have no question.
Sir, thebigthinkgji,
May be my line of thinking is wrong, LOL


Three species of crocodilian are present in India. The mugger (or marsh) crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) is found in lakes and rivers throughout the country. The saltwater crocodile is found along the eastern coast of the country and the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is found in river areas, in India.

There are no known instances of a crocodile attacking a fully-grown elephant in India.

 
Is this story true? or is it anecdotal?

If it is only anecdotal, I have no question.
Sir, thebigthinkgji,
May be my line of thinking is wrong, LOL


Three species of crocodilian are present in India. The mugger (or marsh) crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) is found in lakes and rivers throughout the country. The saltwater crocodile is found along the eastern coast of the country and the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is found in river areas, in India.

There are no known instances of a crocodile attacking a fully-grown elephant in India.


Your question has answers and answer has questions

Crocodile attacks elephants on the sly (as in the video). If crocodile attacks an elephant other elephants run away (as in the video). Distress come upon individuals on the sly, though they live in groups (like elephants) and individuals have to fend for themselves (like that elephant caught by crocodile) and can only be saved by own inner strength.

This is what is expressed in Gajendra Moksham sloka that one has to invoke that 'atman' inside. Atman inside you can only save you. So connect with Him, bring him out and fight your battles.

The right example for this is crocodile attack on elephant. (not lion-buffalo or lion-deer attacks). Buffalos do not leave and run their kith and kin, but tend to attack back. Deer tend to give up the slowest moving one. But like distress falls on humans irrespective of their being powerful or not, crocodiles attack elephants, if elephants come into their territory (water) (and probably confident of their own strength).

Even to be anecdotal, one has to pick the right example. If not observed by themselves or heard from someone, how could one pick the right example..?
 
Elephant = huge frontal protuberance= huge head= symbolic of large storage space for karmic imprints/ vasanas

Crocodile = reptilian= symbolic of reptilian brain limbic system in us....the flight and fight response is the middle name of the limbic system.

So the Elephant vs Croc is symbolic of our own Karmic data storage in a constant battle with the reptilian brain limbic system..its hard to handle this battle we all face daily.

So Who you gonna call?

Well, lets see..the fight always happens in the water..Elephant goes to the river and Croc attacks.

Why is Elephant calling Narayana when its in water?
Narayana has multiple meanings..one of it denotes " Having water as an abode"..
Water has currents and the ability to purify one's self.

So in the waters called Narayana one is able to purify himself or herself from karmic imprints in the mind and the effects of the limbic system of our brain.

So sorry guys..Gajendra Moksha isnt a National Geographic Pachyderm Vs Croc scenario.
 
Sorry, I apologize, as I am using this as a platform to present my point.
Should a story be realistic to convey a philosophical opinion?
An entertaining story, such as a sci-fi novel, need not be realistic.
On the other hand, mythological stories with fantasy science may appeal to some, but it seems immature to a rational person.
I was watching Srimad Ramayana a TV series.
Makaradhwaja (or Magardhwaja) is the son of Hindu god Hanuman who is born out of his sweat. Makaradhwaja has appearance in various regional versions of the Ramayana.[1][2] There are many unmatching accounts of his birth, however all of them mentions him being born to a Makara (or Magara) after Hanuman took a dip into the ocean and his sweat drop fell into the mouth of the Makara, impregnating her. Makara begets Makaradhwaja who was later raised by the Ahiravana, a demon king who ruled Patala and one of Ravana’s brother. When grew up, Ahiravana, seeing Makaradhwaja's strength and virility, gave him job guarding the gates of his kingdom

You start judging the intellect of the person writing this kind of BS. Do I want guidance on spiritual matters from such a person? Not at all.
 
This is just my understanding.

Philosophy comes up when science is in-adequate. They are just part of the same circle.

Humans have been observing and explaining various natural phenomena due to their 'intellect'. They see patterns that repeat and use that in their daily life. Probably everything was philosophical at the start. As the human capabilities improved, things that get defined, measured and predicted very well, pass onto the realm of science. The rest is termed philosophy.

As the light of knowledge (various types of jnAna) illuminates the circle more and more, the definition, measurement, predictability becomes more and more, and those parts pass into realm of science (vi-jnAna - that we certainly know) from philosophy (saMjnana, sajjnana etc - the whole or true knowledge).

As vaidika maarg got interpreted into a life of pure rituals, siddhartha started questioning it and came up with shunya tattva, saying there's nothing (shunya) beyond this life and human life is result of our own karma.

With the current tools they have, human beings try to understand what's behind life, discover how life rides on matter, how matter evolves, what exists behind the matter, the law (dharma) and order (rta) that make the Universe etc. They have come up now with a similar shunya tattva hypothesis, that there exists nothing beyond and Universe and life are a result of a 'chance' or a set of freaking accidents. Now philosophy has passed into realm of modern science.

Shankara countered this saying there should exist something, but that remains a sAksi (just a witness) who knows the players and the playground, but don't influence anything and just remains a witness. (purusa sAksi or the brahman or the shiva who cannot be perceived without the shakti). How is this non-interacting witness different from a Shunya, if existence of something is equal to non-existence..?

In his philosophy, this witness exists everywhere in every domain and the witness guides the evolution in every domain by mere act of witnessing. In human mind, it is the conscience or manas-sAksi that resides in every being. It's the two birds of Rgveda, one enjoying the fruits and other witnessing the act of eating. Our 'self' (aham) can be identified with both this manas and manas-sAksi.

This philosophical model states that we should identify our 'self' more and more with that manas-sAksi, the witnessing mind that witnesses our own actions and deeds, be detached from the pleasures and plains, see our actions and deeds as same as others actions and deeds, if we want to guide our manas/mind to drive our own evolution and better handling of our life.

How do we develop that detached self to live like water on lotus leaf..? It could be devotion to any external divinity (bhakti) or self-realization (various forms of jnAna, jnA means to know).

With freud's semi-scientific explanation of human consciousness with id, ego, superego, this aham, manas and sAksi. is passing onto scientific realm. As more work gets done on quantum nature of our consciousness (indicating how both energy and consciousness have a similar nature), how the id,self,superego gets developed etc, some of this philosophical model will get accepted, some more detailed and some refined or even rejected. But that's how the journey from philosophy to science happens.

The nature of science or philosophy is to keep changing again and again, like a wave. Because they are continuously evolving, we all get to take a snapshot measurement to understand them. Different people have different snapshots and they explain them in the way they perceive, as I explained here, in one way.
 
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