प्राणस्य देही विवशो यदृच्छया ।
अपारयन्नात्मविमोक्षणे चिरं
दध्याविमां बुद्धिमथाभ्यपद्यत ॥३१॥
itthaá¹ gajendraḥ sa yadÄpa saá¹…kaá¹aá¹
prÄṇasya dehÄ« vivaÅ›o yadá¹›cchayÄ
apÄrayann Ätma-vimoká¹£aṇe ciraá¹
dadhyÄv imÄá¹ buddhim athÄbhyapadyata
ittham - in this way; gaja-indraḥ - the King of the elephants; saḥ - he; yadÄ - when; Äpa - obtained; saá¹…kaá¹am - such a dangerous position; prÄṇasya - of life; dehÄ« - who is embodied; vivaÅ›aḥ - circumstantially helpless; yadá¹›cchayÄ - by the will of providence; apÄrayan - being unable; Ätma-vimoká¹£aṇe - to save himself; ciram - for a long time; dadhyau - began to think seriously; imÄm - this; buddhim - decision; atha - thereupon; abhyapadyata - reached.
When the King of the elephants saw that he was under the clutches of the crocodile by the will of providence and, being embodied and circumstantially helpless, could not save himself from danger, he was extremely afraid of being killed. He consequently thought for a long time and finally reached the following decision.
Everyone in the material world is engaged in a struggle for existence. Everyone tries to save himself from danger, but when one is unable to save himself, if he is pious, he then takes shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (7.16):
catur-vidhÄ bhajante mÄá¹
janÄḥ suká¹›tino ’rjuna
Ärto jijñÄsur arthÄrthÄ«
jñÄnÄ« ca bharatará¹£abha
Four kinds of pious men — namely, one who is in danger, one who is in need of money, one who is searching for knowledge and one who is inquisitive — begin to take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in order to be saved or to advance. The King of the elephants, in his condition of danger, decided to seek shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. After considerable thought, he intelligently arrived at this correct decision. Such a decision is not reached by a sinful man. Therefore in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ it is said that those who are pious (suká¹›tÄ«) can decide that in a dangerous or awkward condition one should seek shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.
