Afraid, anxious

झुंड का राजाThe king of the herd

On the mountain called Trikūṭa lived the lord of a herd of elephants. He went through the forest breaking whole trees as he walked, thorns, bamboo and all. At the mere scent of him lions and other elephants, tigers and rhinoceros, great serpents, wolves and boars fled, and the small creatures, the deer and the hares, wandered without fear because he let them. When he walked, the mountain shook. 8.2.20 to 23

One hot day, with his eyes rolling in the heat of his musth, he caught the scent of lotuses on the wind and led his thirsty herd down to a lake. He plunged in and drank deep, and the tiredness went out of him. He filled his trunk and sprayed his mates and his calves, giving them water to drink, bathing them, like a man looking after his house. Wild with his musth, he did not see what was coming. 8.2.24 to 26

स पुष्करेणोद्धृतशीकराम्बुभिर्निपाययन्संस्नपयन्यथा गृही।
घृणी करेणुः करभांश्च दुर्मदो नाचष्ट कृच्छ्रं कृपणोऽजमायया॥Bhāgavata 8.2.26

पकड़The grip

A crocodile, stronger than he was, took him by the foot in its anger. The mightiest creature of that mountain was caught. He fought with all the strength he had. His mates cried out to see their lord dragged away; the other elephants came to his aid, pulled at him from behind, and could not free him. 8.2.27 to 28

हज़ार बरसA thousand years

So the elephant and the crocodile fought, each dragging the other, in toward the water and out toward the shore, and a thousand years went by. The gods watched and could not believe that both were still alive. 8.2.29

ततो गजेन्द्रस्य मनोबलौजसां कालेन दीर्घेण महानभूद्व्ययः।
विकृष्यमाणस्य जलेऽवसीदतो विपर्ययोऽभूत्सकलं जलौकसः॥Bhāgavata 8.2.30

And in that long time his strength of mind, of body and of spirit was spent. He was dragged, he sank in the water, and for the one whose home the water was, all of it went the other way. 8.2.30

पुकारThe call

When he could do nothing more to free himself, a thought came to him, slowly, after long brooding. 8.2.31 to 33

न मामिमे ज्ञातय आतुरं गजाः कुतः करिण्यः प्रभवन्ति मोचितुम्।
ग्राहेण पाशेन विधातुरावृतोऽप्यहं च तं यामि परं परायणम्॥Bhāgavata 8.2.32

My own kin, these elephants, cannot free me in my distress; how could my mates? I am held by this crocodile as by the noose of fate. And still I go to Him, the highest refuge: the One who guards whoever comes to Him in fear, and from whose fear death itself runs. 8.2.32 to 33

And from the water he began to pray. His first words are the words this site gives to wonder: 8.3.2

ॐ नमो भगवते तस्मै यत एतच्चिदात्मकम्।
पुरुषायादिबीजाय परेशायाभिधीमहि॥Bhāgavata 8.3.2

Om, salutation to the Lord, from whom all this, which is consciousness, comes; to the Person, the first seed, the highest Lord, we turn our minds. The whole of his prayer is this lamp's hymn, the third door. 8.3.2 to 29

कमलThe lotus

His prayer was to the One without qualities, not to any one form, so Brahmā and the other gods, each taken up with his own form, did not come. Hari, who is all of them, came: carried by Garuḍa, whose body is the metres of the Vedas, the discus in His hand, quickly, to where Gajendra was. 8.3.30 to 31

सोऽन्तःसरस्युरुबलेन गृहीत आर्तो दृष्ट्वा गरुत्मति हरिं ख उपात्तचक्रम्।
उत्क्षिप्य साम्बुजकरं गिरमाह कृच्छ्रान्नारायणाखिलगुरो भगवन्नमस्ते॥Bhāgavata 8.3.32

Still in the middle of the lake, still held by that great strength, in pain, he saw Hari in the sky on Garuḍa, and he lifted his trunk with a lotus in it, and with difficulty he said: Nārāyaṇa, teacher of all, Lord, I bow to You. 8.3.32

With difficulty. Not a shout of victory. Not a fine hymn now. A few words, got out, and one lotus held up out of the water. It was all he had left, and it was enough.

तं वीक्ष्य पीडितमजः सहसावतीर्य सग्राहमाशु सरसः कृपयोज्जहार।
ग्राहाद्विपाटितमुखादरिणा गजेन्द्रं संपश्यतां हरिरमूमुचदुच्छ्रियाणाम्॥Bhāgavata 8.3.33

Seeing him in pain, the Unborn came down at once and drew him out of the lake, the crocodile and all, out of compassion. And while everyone watched, He freed Gajendra from the jaws. 8.3.33

उसका सरोवरHis lake

Every Jyotirgana has been the king of the herd. Strong, the one others leaned on, walking down to the water on a hot day because it was cool and it smelt of lotuses. Nobody goes into the lake to be caught.

Then the grip, and the years. The family pulled from behind and could not free him, and that was not their failure. The story is honest about it: a thousand years, his strength of mind and body and spirit spent. It does not call him weak for that. It calls him the king of the herd to the very end.

And the call did not come from his strength. It came when his strength was gone. That is the fear this lamp is for: the fear of the one who has tried everything and is still held. The story does not promise that the grip will loosen tomorrow. It tells what Gajendra did when nothing was left: he lifted the one lotus he had and said the few words he could. With difficulty is enough.

The story: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, 8.2.20 to 8.3.33, read in Sanskrit in the GRETIL e-text (Ulrich Stiehl); the verse numbers are that text's. The telling in English is ours, and so is what it means for him.