Surrender unto His Lotus Feet - Part 19

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

This is in continuation of the previous offering, "Surrender unto His Lotus Feet" wherein we were meditating on Srimad Bhagavatam verse 2.6.7 and about elephant king Gajendra surrendering to Lord's lotus feet when being attacked by crocodile in the lake. In the last offering we saw the verse 8.3.13 wherein Gajendra offers his obeisances unto the Lord Who is, the Supersoul, the superintendent of everything, the witness of all that occurs, the Supreme Person, the origin of material nature and of the total material energy, the owner of the material body. 

Now we shall see next prayer.

In verse 8.3.14 Gajendra prays

sarvendriya-guṇa-draṣṭre
sarva-pratyaya-hetave
asatā cchāyayoktāya
sad-ābhāsāya te namaḥ

My Lord, You are the observer of all the objectives of the senses. Without Your mercy, there is no possibility of solving the problem of doubts. The material world is just like a shadow resembling You. Indeed, one accepts this material world as real because it gives a glimpse of Your existence.

Gajendra glorifies the Lord as

1. sarvendriya-guṇa-draṣṭre - the observer of all the objectives of the senses.

Herein again we see Gajendra glorifying the Paramatma feature of the Lord, Who is the witness or sakshi of everything that is happening in our present and past lives, Who is not only observing all the actions, but even the intent of our senses. So whenever we are doing some activity in the garb of devotional service, we should very well remember that we cannot cheat Krishna. We may cheat people around us. But Lord knows the intent of all our actions. Our beloved spiritual master HH Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj used to say, "How long will the show continue? We should be devotees everywhere. Not just in temple"

His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada nicely mentions in the purport, "To paraphrase this verse: “The objectives of sensual activities are actually observed by You. Without Your direction, the living entity cannot take even a step forward. As confirmed in  Bhagavad Gita 15.15 - sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca"  Srila Prabhupada explains further as to how Lord makes us either to remember Him or forget Him according to our desire to enjoy in this material world. Maharaj says that our greatest fortune in life is remembrance of Krishna and greatest misfortune is to forget Him. In order to give up the demoniac thought of forgetting Krishna, we should take shelter of pure devotees of the Lord who always remember Krishna. By remaining in their shelter, we will also be able to remember Krishna. That is why Sri Vrttrasura prays in Srimad Bhagavatam 6.11.24

ahaṁ hare tava pādaika-mūla-
dāsānudāso bhavitāsmi bhūyaḥ
manaḥ smaretāsu-pater guṇāṁs te
gṛṇīta vāk karma karotu kāyaḥ

O my Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, will I again be able to be a servant of Your eternal servants who find shelter only at Your lotus feet? O Lord of my life, may I again become their servant so that my mind may always think of Your transcendental attributes, my words always glorify those attributes, and my body always engage in the loving service of Your Lordship?

2. sarva-pratyaya-hetave -  who is the solution to all doubts (and without whose help one cannot solve all doubts and inabilities);
In the battlefield of Kurukshetra, when Arjuna had so many doubts as to fight or not to fight, he took shelter of Lord Krishna and glorifies Him as Madhusudana, Kesi-nisudana etc. Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport that doubts are like demons and since Krishna is very expert in killing the demons, Arjuna is addressing Krishna by these names so that He would kill his demoniac doubts. By surrendering unto Lord Krishna, all of Arjuna's doubts got clarified and He became victorious in the battle of Kurukshetra. Without Krishna's mercy we will not be able to take a single step forward both in material and spiritual life. 

His Divine Grace also says in the purport - "The word sarva-pratyaya-hetave is explained by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, who says that a result gives one a glimpse of its cause." Srila Prabhupada gives the nice example of pot and potter. By seeing the pot, we know that potter exists. Likewise by seeing this material world which is perverted reflection of spiritual world, we can have a glimpse of the existence of the Supreme Lord.

Krishna willing we shall meditate further on this topic in the subsequent offering.

Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva
Sudarshana devi dasi