So, Rasikananda just looked at him right in the eyes and the elephant stopped right in front of him and they both just looked at each other in the eyes and the king from his throne was looking down and seeing this whole scene and Rasikananda said to the elephant, that “you should chant the holy names of Krishna. Why are you doing all these bad things causing so much harm to the innocent people? You are an eternal spirit soul, you are part of Krishna. Krishna is your mother, Krishna is your father, Krishna is your only real friend, Krishna is your life and soul, you should always remember Krishna and you should constantly chant the name of Krishna and you should always be the servant of Krishna’s devotees, in this way you will find real happiness in life. Krishna will forgive you for all the offenses you have made, just chant His holy name and serve His devotees.” And when the elephant heard this in his heart of hearts he began to think everything that this person is saying is according to the shastra. It is true and then the elephant bowed down, placed his head at Rasikananda’s feet and then Rasikananda put his one hand on the elephant’s head and with the other hand he lifted the elephant’s ear, his right ear and then he put his mouth right near the elephant’s ear and then he said, you chant these 16 names of God, HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE and when the elephant heard the Mahamantra, he jumped up and then he came down and started offering his obeisances again and again and again to Rasikananda, he had just received diksha, hari nama diksha and then Rasikananda said, your new name will be “Sri Gopal Das” and upon receiving the spiritual name and the Mahamantra this elephant began to weep tears, ecstatic tears from his eyes and he fell down and began to bathe the lotus feet of Rasikananda Thakur with his profusely flowing tears. And then he bowed down offering his prostrated obeisances hundreds of times and he circumambulated Rasikananda and came back and started bowing down again and again and again, he couldn’t give up the association of this devotee.
