Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 8 Chapter 4 Verse 10

Canto 8: Withdrawal of the Cosmic Creations | Chapter 4: Gajendra Returns to the Spiritual World

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 8.4.10

tasmā imaḿ śāpam adād asādhur

ayaḿ durātmākṛta-buddhir adya

viprāvamantā viśatāḿ tamisraḿ

yathā gajaḥ stabdha-matiḥ sa eva

SYNONYMS

tasmai — unto Mahārāja Indradyumna; imam — this; śāpam — curse; adāt — he gave; asādhuḥ — not at all gentle; ayam — this; durātmā — degraded soul; akṛta — without education; buddhiḥ — his intelligence; adya — now; vipra — of a brāhmaṇa; avamantā — insulter; viśatām — let him enter; tamisram — darkness; yathā — as; gajaḥ — an elephant; stabdha-matiḥ — possessing blunt intelligence; saḥ — he; eva — indeed.

TRANSLATION

Agastya Muni then spoke this curse against the King: This King Indradyumna is not at all gentle. Being low and uneducated, he has insulted a brāhmaṇa. May he therefore enter the region of darkness and receive the dull, dumb body of an elephant.

PURPORT

An elephant is very strong, it has a very big body, and it can work very hard and eat a large quantity of food, but its intelligence is not at all commensurate with its size and strength. Thus in spite of so much bodily strength, the elephant works as a menial servant for a human being. Agastya Muni thought it wise to curse the King to become an elephant because the powerful King did not receive Agastya Muni as one is obliged to receive a brāhmaṇa. Yet although Agastya Muni cursed Mahārāja Indradyumna to become an elephant, the curse was indirectly a benediction, for by undergoing one life as an elephant, Indradyumna Mahārāja ended the reactions for all the sins of his previous life. Immediately after the expiry of the elephant's life, he was promoted to Vaikuṇṭhaloka to become a personal associate of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, in a body exactly like that of the Lord. This is called sārūpya-mukti.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness