Gautama Elephant

Gautama and the Elephant

The ancients say that God has a way of testing great persons he has taken note of. He can put on any shape he wishes, and you will see how this happens in this story from the Mahabharata, India’s master-classic.
    In a forest hermitage there lived a gentle, self-controlled hermit named Gautama (not Gautama Buddha). One day he found a baby elephant whose mother had been killed. He was very sad. Gautama nursed it, however, until it grew into a large and mighty beast. Now the Lord took notice of this saintly hermit and his elephant, and decided to make an experiment – to put him to the test.
    He took the form of the country’s king. The king’s name was Dhritarashtra (Possibly you cannot even pronounce that, but you should try, because you will see it again when you read the Bhagavad Gita).
The king went to the hermitage, seized the huge elephant and began to lead it away with him.
    “You are a mighty king, no doubt,” said Gautama, “but this is my source of fuel and water. He guards me too, and is obedient. Do not take him away.”
    The king replied, “The elephants are royal animals; they are fit for kings, not common people.”
    “Even if you go to the land of Yama – Death – I shall take back my elephant,” the hermit said.
    “Only sinners and unbelievers go to Yama’s realm,” answered the king.
    “But in Yama’s land there is truth, and there the weak can overcome the strong,” Gautama shot back.
    Said Dhritarashtra: “I will be going to a higher plane.”
    “Even if you go to the heaven where the fairies and fair maidens dwell, I shall take back my elephant.”
    “I will go even higher,” said the king.
    “If you go to the summit of Mount Meru, where flowery woods are full of divine musicians, I will come for my elephant.”

    So it went, on and on. At every point the king would describe a higher plane of heavenly existence, a rarer world, where he would leave the hermit behind: the groves of Narada, the perfumed land of Soma, the heavens of Indra with his dancers; even to the abode of the rishis, most ancient of sages. Lastly, Brahma-loka. “You will not reach me there,” taunted the king. Said Gautama, “Even there I shall find you and take back my elephant.
    “But now I know who you are: you are God himself, who wanders the universe in disguise, in all these shapes. Pardon me, Lord, for having been so obstinate.”

    God was pleased with him and offered him a “boon,” a free choice. Of course Gautama asked to have his beloved elephant returned. “It is so young,” he said, “only ten years old, and I have brought it up as my own child. It has been my dear companion in these woods.” Whereupon the elephant came to the hermit and bowed at his feet.
    Do you know the hidden meaning of this story? It is two-fold:
Do not be satisfied with the beauties, delights and joys of the higher heavens — stop not till the Lord Himself is reached. And (as Gautama did) study everyone and everything in this world till you see it as Brahman in disguise: discover that, and all will be well with you!

— Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists
by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Sister Nivedita