Text 31] The Elephant Gajendra’s Crisis 63

aparayann atma-vimoksane cirarn

dadhyav imam buddhim athabhyapadyata

ittham—in this way; gaja-indrah—the King of the elephants; sah—
he; yadi—when; a@pa—obtained; sarikatam—such a dangerous posi-
tion; pranasya—of life; dehi—who is embodied; vivasah—circumstan-
tially helpless; yadrcchaya—by the will of providence; apdrayan—
being unable; dtma-vimoksane—to save himself; ciram—for a long
time; dadhyau—began to think seriously; imém—this; buddhim—deci-
sion; atha—thereupon; abhyapadyata—reached.

TRANSLATION

When the King of the elephants saw that he was under the
clutches of the crocodile by the will of providence and, being em-
bodied and circumstantially helpless, could not save himself from
danger, he was extremely afraid of being killed. He consequently
thought for a long time and finally reached the following decision.

PURPORT

Everyone in the material world is engaged in a struggle for existence.
Everyone tries to save himself from danger, but when one is unable to
save himself, if he is pious, he then takes shelter of the lotus feet of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita
(7.16):

catur-vidha bhajante mam
Janah sukrtino ’ryjuna

Grto jijfdsur artharthi
Jnani ca bharatarsabha

Four kinds of pious men—namely, one who is in danger, one who is in
need of money, one who is searching for knowledge and one who is in-
quisitive—begin to take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
in order to be saved or to advance. The King of the elephants, in his con-
dition of danger, decided to seek shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord.
After considerable thought, he intelligently arrived at this correct deci-
sion. Such a decision is not reached by a sinful man. Therefore in
