Text 33] Gajendra’s Prayers of Surrender 119
PURPORT
The King of the elephants was so very eager to see the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead that when he saw the Lord coming in the sky, with
great pain and in a feeble voice he offered respect to the Lord. A devotee
does not consider a dangerous position to be dangerous, for in such a
dangerous position he can fervently pray to the Lord in great ecstasy.
Thus a devotee regards danger as a good opportunity. Tat te ‘nukamparm
susamiksamanah. When a devotee is in great danger, he sees that danger
to be the great mercy of the Lord because it is an opportunity to think of
the Lord very sincerely and with undiverted attention. Tat te
‘nukampaém susamiksamdno bhuiijana_ evatma-krtam _vipakam
(Bhag. 10.14.8). He does not accuse the Supreme Personality of God-
head for having let His devotee fall into such a dangerous condition.
Rather, he considers that dangerous condition to be due to his past
misdeeds and takes it as an opportunity to pray to the Lord and offer
thanks for having been given such an opportunity. When a devotee lives
in this way, his salvation—his going back home, back to Godhead —is
guaranteed. We can see this to be true from the example of Gajendra,
who anxiously prayed to the Lord and thus received an immediate chance
to return home, back to Godhead.
TEXT 33
S
a dtea fietas: aaah
UMN AA FTTH |
mere frnfagerc ttm Tag
aaarat ateequaghyany 112211
tam viksya piditam ajah sahasdvatirya
sa-graham dsu sarasah krpayojahara
grahad vipatita-mukhad arina gajendram
sampasyatam harir amiim ucad ucchriyanam

tam—him (Gajendra); viksya—after seeing (in that condition);
piditam—who was very aggrieved; ajah—the unborn, the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead; sahasdé—all of a sudden; avatirya—getting down
(from the back of Garuda); sa-graéham—with the crocodile; asu—
