The relation between a devotee and god is inseparable and unconditional. The Bhagavat Puran mentions countless tales of such great devotees and their devotion towards Bhagwan Vishnu. One such story is about Maharaj Indradyumn who belonged to the line of Swayambhu Manu.
Maharaj Indradyumn was a saint devotee king who ruled righteously over his kingdom and engrossed himself into meditation of Bhagwan Vishnu. It once happened that Rishi Agastya visited the king. But, Indradyumn was in deep meditation and did not notice the arrival of the great sage. Rishi Agastya feels that he has been neglected by the king, and curses him to become an elephant. Knowing about his curse, Maharaj Indradyumn feels remorse and requests the Rishi to forgive him. Rishi Agastya says that Indradyumn would be relieved from the curse with the divine touch of Bhagwan Vishnu.
Indradyumn thus turned into an elephant and roamed in the wild forests becoming the king of elephants with the title Ganjendra. Along with his herd, he roamed in the great forests at Mount Trikut with his herd. One day, he went to drink water from a lake in the forest. In that lake, a celestial Gandharv named Huhu, was living as a crocodile due to a curse given by Rishi Devala for disturbing his penance.
The crocodile caught hold of Gajendra as soon as Gajendra stepped into the lake, and tried to drag him under water. Gajendra lashed it with his trunk and tried to loosen the crocodile’s grip, bit could not. Although the ashes of Gajendra made it loosen its grip, as soon as Gajendra wanted to come out of the water, it caught him again. In this way, the fight between Gajendra and the crocodile went on for thousand years.
The strength of a crocodile is very strong in waters, and Gajendra was becoming tired of the relentless fight. He tried hard but could not overcome the crocodile. With last hope and total surrender, he calls out for Bhagwan Vishnu for help to save him from the vicious crocodile.
The Supreme Being is always there for the aid of his devotees. However, one needs to totally surrender to him to get his benevolence. Till thousand years, Gajendra depended on his own strength to fight his problem. This signifies the pride which nurtures in mind and heart of a human. Only, when one removes that pride of self, and completely surrenders to the god with total faith that God answers immediately.
As soon as Gajendra renounced all attempts to fight and surrendered to God, the crocodile started lssoing its strength. Listening to his devotee’s call for help, Bhagwan Vishnu immediately rushed to save his devotee and killed the Crocidile with his Sudarshan Chakr and r relieved Gajendra from its clutches. Then, he approaches Gajendra and fondly touches its trunk by which Gajendra retains his original form of Maharaj Indradyumn. With the touch of Bhagwan Vishnu, the king attains salvation and reaches the abode of Vaikunth.
The story of Gajendra is significant in representing Gajendra as the human, the crocodile Huhu as the pains and sins of human, and the lake as the world in which we take birth. It is only with total surrender and faith in the Almighty that one can be relieved of the pains and pleasures of the world and make the birth a purposeful one.