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Elephant
Plinth
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Some descriptions
of the Gajendra Pith panels that impart the messages of eco-friendliness,
harmony and love:
- Elephant family in the bamboo jungles of
E. India.
- Equipoised and nonchalant amidst barking
dogs.
- A lost goat in a dark jungle takes refuge
in a lion’s footprint to save itself from the danger
of wild animals. When the lion arrived it was pacified and
pleased to see the little goat’s faith in his footprint.
He blessed her with protection and summoned an elephant. He
told the elephant to place her on his head and transport her
honorably to her home. The moral of this Panchtantra story
is that even an ordinary soul is protected and attains greatness
by taking refuge of the great.
- Once a rabbit became friends with an elephant.
One day, on the rabbit’s invitation, the elephant arrived
at its home. The rabbit was perplexed as to how he could invite
the giant elephant into his little burrow? So, it started
performing an amazing act. “O, what are you doing?”
enquired the elephant. “This is a rabbit’s roll,
” replied the rabbit. The intrigued elephant enquired,
“Meaning?” The rabbit revealed, “I have
no means or capacity to honor you. So to please you I am doing
the rabbit roll.” The elephant was pleased by the pure
sentiments of the rabbit.
The moral of this story narrated by Brahmaswarup Yogiji Maharaj
is: When one makes pure efforts to please God and his Sadhu,
no matter how trifle the effort may be, they believe it to
be great.
- Exuding motherly love on her baby elephant.
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| Some descriptions
of the Gajendra Pith panels that convey family values and service
to mankind:
- Man feeds and quenches the thirst of an
elephant.
- Employed in transporting construction logs.
- The king rides in an elephant howdah.
- An elephant plays ball with children.
- Elephant worship.
- Transporting a wooden pillar for mandir
construction.
- Once a king became pleased upon a poet and
promised to reward him with gold equivalent to the weight
of an elephant. But the challenge was how to find the exact
weight of an elephant. A brilliant minister discovered a way
to solve it. An elephant was led into a boat. The depth to
which the boat dipped into the water was marked. Then the
elephant was led out of the boat and the boat was filled with
gold till it sank to that mark. This was the weight of gold
equivalent to one elephant. The king was pleased at the minister’s
intelligence.
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Some descriptions
of the Gajendra Pith panels that reflect the relationship between
the elephant and God:
- Elephant offers oblations on a Shivling.
- An elephant presents a garland of flowers
and worships a deity.
- The inspiring story of Gajendra Moksha in
the Mahabharat reflects the power of refuge in God and God’s
compassion for his devotee.
- Churning of Ocean:
The once warring devas and danavas observe a truce to churn
the ocean for amrut. With the aid of Mt. Mandrachal and serpent,
Vasuki, the devas and danavas churned out 14 gems. Out of
these priceless 14 gems was the seven-trunked Airavat elephant.
This was claimed by Lord Indra. Since then Airavat has become
the hallmark of auspiciousness, wealth and power.
- Lord Indra and Airavat.
- Ved Vyasji, the author of the Mahabharat,
had the grand epic scribed by Ganapatiji.
- Many kings and great personalities honored
Bhagwan Swaminarayan on elephants and in colorful processions.
During one such grand procession of Bhagwan Swaminarayan on
an elephant in Junagadh, Gujarat, a poor boy offered a cucumber
to him. Bhagwan Swaminarayan bent down to take the cucumber
and then lovingly ate it in response to his devotion. This
scene of Bhagwan Swaminarayan eating a cucumber on an elephant
is a story of his immortal love for his devotees.
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