Chapter summary
अष्टभुजमाहात्म्यम् Aṣṭabhuja Māhātmyam
The Glory of Aṣṭabhuja
**The revered Sadguru said:**
In the illustrious Pāṇḍya kingdom, reigned a renowned monarch named Indradyumna. Guided by the sage Agastya, he dedicated himself to the sacred observances of Vishnu. One day, the revered pot-born sage, Agastya, came to visit the king. However, Indradyumna, absorbed in his worship of Vishnu and perhaps inflated by a touch of arrogance, failed to offer the sage the proper reception. (v.1-2)
Indeed, one who disregards a Guru who has come in person, treating him as less than a supreme deity, and instead worships another god, is truly unfortunate. (v.3) To impart a lesson to his disciple, the Guru then pronounced a curse: "Go forth into the womb of an elephant, you who are by nature intoxicated with pride!" (v.4) After a moment of reflection, the compassionate sage, Agastya, himself revealed to the king the means by which he might be released from this curse. "O King," he declared, "when Vishnu, the Lord of all, lifts you up with the grasp of His divine hand, then shall you be freed from this curse." (v.5-6)
Thus cursed, the great king was transformed into an elephant and roamed through a vast forest, intoxicated by rut and accompanied by a herd of female elephants. One sweltering summer, he approached a lake and began to revel in water-sports with his female companions and their calves. (v.7-8) Within that very lake, a crocodile seized his foot. By cruel chance, the mighty elephant, though strong himself, was overwhelmed by a yet stronger adversary and plunged into profound misery. All the female elephants, their calves, and the other elephants, terrified for themselves, abandoned him and fled into the forest, just as people forsake one seized by the grip of death. (v.9-10) Seeing himself utterly helpless, the lord of elephants became greatly distressed. He struggled to free himself from the crocodile's tenacious grip, but his efforts proved futile. A thousand years passed in this agonizing struggle. Then, by the awakening memory of his previous birth, the king of elephants cried out to the Lord of the Universe. (v.11-12)
**Gajendra said:**
Salutations to that Lord, the very cause of creation, sustenance, and dissolution; to You, the primal origin and sovereign of all worlds. Salutations to You, who are the root of all means of valid knowledge (pramāṇa), whose form transcends all such means, who are the eternal witness, Your own self-evident proof, and the very embodiment of truth. (v.13-14)
Salutations to You, who stand as the witness to the triad of knower, knowledge, and the knowable; who are distinct, utterly pure, and to be apprehended through the sacred Vedas. Salutations to You, who are revealed by the Vedānta, and who are also the witness of the Vedānta itself. Salutations to You, who thus transcend the very words of Vedānta, yet are its profound essence. (v.15-16)
Salutations to the self-luminous one, who illuminates all worlds, yet is not illuminated by any other. Salutations, salutations to the very Light Supreme. (v.17) Salutations, salutations to the one without attributes (nirguṇa), and salutations, salutations to the one with attributes (saguṇa). Salutations to You, who are devoid of the guṇas [qualities or modes of material nature] of Māyā and transcend all guṇas. (v.18)
By whose existence the world exists, and by whose non-existence there is naught, I bow to that support of the universe, the ultimate cause of all causes. (v.19) I bow to the Supreme Person (Puruṣottama), who is not void yet is perceived as if void, who is the witness of voidness, the supreme reality beyond all darkness (tamas). (v.20)
I praise the Lord, who manifests as the insentient and the sentient, and as both sentient and insentient; who is the imperishable, sentient form whose very nature transcends both the sentient and the insentient. I praise the Lord, who manifests as the non-existent and the existent, and as both existent and non-existent; who is the imperishable, existent form whose nature transcends both the existent and the non-existent. (v.21-22)
**The revered Sadguru said:**
Upon hearing this hymn, which was directed to the attributeless Supreme Brahman, the gods did not approach; indeed, others declared, "This is not for me, this is not for me," recognizing its profound, universal nature. (v.23)
After striking down the crocodile's face with His discus, the Lord then lovingly grasped the elephant's trunk. By the mere touch of the Supreme Person's lotus-hand, Gajendra attained a form similar to the Lord's (sārūpya), his chains of bondage to worldly existence having been utterly released. (v.26) The Gandharva Hūhū, who had previously incurred Devala's curse for an offense and had been reborn as this crocodile, tormenting the elephant's foot, was now, by the touch of the discus released from Keśava's [another name for Vishnu] lotus-hand, freed from his curse and ascended to heaven. (v.27)
Then Gajendra, shedding his gross elephantine body, attained the supreme abode of Vishnu. The mountain itself also became renowned by the name Hastigiri [Elephant Mountain], its slopes ever resorted to by all sages, siddhas, and gods. (v.28) Therefore, the best of men, desiring liberation, should behold the eight-armed Vishnu on the bank of Gajendra's lake, for such a sight ensures the destruction of the bonds of saṃsāra [the cycle of birth and death]. (v.29)
Thus ends the second chapter, named 'The Glory of Aṣṭabhuja', in the Second Part of the 'Divyadeśavaibhavam', composed by Śrī Kṛṣṇapremi Mahāprabhu.
