Ambarisha and Durvāsa

This episode is told in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25, and told again in Chapter 50. Ambarisha is a king of the Sūryavaṃśa, the solar dynasty, whose mind rests always on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. He keeps the Ekādaśī vrata (the vow of fasting on the eleventh lunar day). On the morning of Dvādaśī, the twelfth day, the ṛshi Durvāsa comes hungry and asks for food. When Durvāsa goes to bathe and the tithi (lunar day) is about to end, Ambarisha drinks pāda-udaka (the water that has washed Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s feet) to end his fast. Durvāsa is angry and sends an ākṛtyā (a destructive being) at him. The Sudarśana Cakra destroys it and chases Durvāsa through all the worlds. At Vaikuṇṭha, Bhagavān Vishṇu tells Durvāsa that his bhaktas are dearer to him than everything, and sends him back to Ambarisha.

Aurva’s grief and the opening of the account

The chapter opens with Aurva Muni. His daughter Kandalī had been turned to ash by a śāpa (a curse) of Durvāsa in the events of the chapter before. Aurva learned of Kandalī’s fate by his yogic sight and hurried to Durvāsa’s āśrama. He came, saw the ash, and fainted in grief. When he woke, he faced Durvāsa and spoke in a controlled but heavy speech.

He had given his daughter willingly and in good faith. Durvāsa himself had agreed to the marriage, knowing Kandalī’s one fault. If her harsh speech was too much to bear, Durvāsa could simply have left, instead of using the greatest weapon, a śāpa. Aurva told Durvāsa plainly: “A great humiliation awaits you from this action.” Aurva left, weeping. Durvāsa was shaken, left alone with his grief and Aurva’s warning. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

From here the account moves to the main episode, which fulfils Aurva’s warning completely.

The king who lives only for Kṛshṇa

Ambarisha is a king of the Sūryavaṃśa. His name is the same as perfect bhakti (devotion). The text describes him with care. His mind rests on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa as the ocean rests on its own bed, naturally and without effort, and could not be otherwise. He has a kingdom, wives, sons and great wealth, but he is not tied to any of them. The kingdom is ruled by dharma. His family is loved but not clung to. His wealth is freely given as dāna (gifts). None of these is the centre of his life. Bhagavān Kṛshṇa is the centre, the edge and the whole content of his life at once.

The Sudarśana Cakra, the divine discus of Bhagavān Vishṇu, is always at Ambarisha’s side. He does not carry it as a weapon. Bhagavān Vishṇu has placed it there to guard him. It goes with him as a shadow goes with a body in sunlight. This will matter in all that follows. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

The Ekādaśī vrata and Durvāsa’s arrival

Ambarisha keeps the Ekādaśī vrata with complete devotion. He fasts through the eleventh lunar day, does the pūjā and meditation laid down for it, and spends the night awake. On the morning of Dvādaśī he does the full pūjā. He bathes the mūrti, offers flowers, incense and food in the right order, gives gifts of gold and silver to brāhmaṇas, and feeds them richly. He has done every part of the vrata. The time of pāraṇa, the ending of the fast by eating, has come, and he is about to eat.

At that very moment the ṛshi Durvāsa arrives. He is hungry, plainly and urgently hungry, and asks Ambarisha for food. Ambarisha is as generous a host as he is a bhakta. He welcomes Durvāsa with full honours and agrees at once to feed him. But Durvāsa says, “I will go and bathe first and then come back to eat.” He goes to the river. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

Ambarisha waits. The sun moves. The Dvādaśī tithi is moving toward its end. If the tithi in which the pāraṇa must be done passes, the whole vrata is lost. And if Ambarisha eats before his guest returns, he breaks the sacred law of atithi (the duty to a guest who has come to one’s door), which is also a great pāpa (sin).

Ambarisha asks his guru Vasishṭha, who is present. Vasishṭha says that both paths involve serious pāpa. But there is a third way that neither eats food without the guest nor lets the tithi pass. Ambarisha can drink the pāda-udaka, the water that has washed Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s feet.

Ambarisha takes the pāda-udaka, meditating on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s lotus feet, and drinks it. He has not broken his fast in the ordinary way. He has not left his guest. And the Dvādaśī tithi has been honoured. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

Durvāsa’s anger and the ākṛtyā

Durvāsa comes back. He is sarvajña (all-knowing, seeing all things by inner sight), and he knows at once what Ambarisha did while he was bathing. He takes it as a deliberate insult, as if a king had chosen to eat before a brāhmaṇa guest came back, which would be a serious breach of the dharma of hospitality. He does not stop to hear Ambarisha’s reason. His anger rises fast and hot. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

He tears out a lock of his matted hair and from it makes an ākṛtyā, a terrible being of great destructive power. He sends it straight at Ambarisha to kill him. The ākṛtyā comes screaming through the air toward the king.

Before it reaches Ambarisha, the Sudarśana Cakra, his ever-present guardian, moves. With one easy stroke it destroys the ākṛtyā and reduces it to nothing. Then the cakra turns toward Durvāsa. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

The flight through the three worlds

Durvāsa sees the blazing Sudarśana Cakra turn toward him. It has sixteen spokes and the brightness of ten million suns. His all-knowing sight tells him exactly what this means, and he runs. He flees from refuge to refuge through all the worlds.

To Brahmā. Durvāsa reaches Brahmaloka, bows before the four-faced creator, and begs for protection. Brahmā answers at once and honestly: “I cannot stop it. Neither I nor Śiva nor any of the devas can stop the Sudarśana Cakra when it moves against one who has wronged a bhakta of Vishṇu. The cakra could burn all fourteen worlds in a single moment if Vishṇu wished it. Leave here quickly, and go to Śiva.” Brahmā adds that the heat of the cakra is already beginning to be felt at the edges of Brahmaloka. He speaks with real urgency and not coldly. He would help if he could, but this is beyond all created power. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

To Kailāsa. Durvāsa runs to Kailāsa and comes before Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī. Bhagavān Śiva receives him with compassion and speaks with deep understanding. Bhagavān Vishṇu is the Supreme among all devas. His bhaktas are the best protected of all beings. Whoever attacks a bhakta attacks the very life breath of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and the answer cannot be turned aside. Bhagavān Śiva says this without any bitterness, as the nature of things. He cannot stop the Sudarśana.

As he speaks, the heat of the cakra begins to be felt on Kailāsa. The snow and ice of the mountain begin to melt, and those who live there suffer from the heat. Pārvatī speaks a śubha-vākya (a good wish) for Durvāsa, a sign of true concern, but she has no power beyond that. Bhagavān Śiva tells Durvāsa: “Go to Vaikuṇṭha. Only Vishṇu himself can call it back.” (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

At Vaikuṇṭha: the greatness of bhakti declared

Durvāsa arrives at Vaikuṇṭha, the highest abode. He goes in and sees Bhagavān Vishṇu seated on his jewelled throne. Lakshmī is at his feet in service, and Sarasvatī stands before him singing his praise. The great pārshadas (attendants) Sunanda, Nanda, Kumuda and Prachaṇḍa stand in their places. Behind Bhagavān Vishṇu the Sudarśana Cakra hangs in the air. It has come ahead of Durvāsa and waits calmly for the matter to be settled. Durvāsa bows and recites his stotra. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

The stotra draws on the Sāmaveda, the Veda of melody and holy song. It is one of the most exalted prayers in this part of the text. Durvāsa praises Bhagavān Vishṇu as the ādi-tattva (the first reality) to which all the Vedas point but which they cannot fully reach in words.

He gives the scale of time as proof. One day of Brahmā equals twenty-eight reigns of Indra. After the span of Brahmā’s life, which is one hundred such years, even Brahmā dissolves. But Bhagavān Vishṇu is untouched by all these cycles. He is the witness of all creation, dissolution and new creation, and is not changed by any of it. Durvāsa says that even the highest beings, Śesha with his thousand heads, Śiva with his five heads and Brahmā with his four, become speechless when they try to describe Bhagavān Vishṇu truly. Their finest praise still falls short. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

Then Durvāsa asks plainly for mercy.

Vishṇu’s words about his bhaktas

Bhagavān Vishṇu’s reply is warm. There is no coldness or blame in it, and this is itself part of the teaching. He accepts that Durvāsa’s stotra is sincere. Then he speaks the truth of his own nature, very directly:

“I am bound by my bhaktas. Their bhakti is the rope that holds me. My bhaktas are dearer to me than my own prāṇas (life breaths). They are dearer than Lakshmī, who serves me here. They are dearer than Śiva, who is my devotee and friend. They are dearer than Sarasvatī, dearer than Brahmā, dearer than the Vedas themselves, dearer than the Gāyatrī mantra, which is the mother of the Vedas, dearer than the gopīs of Vṛndāvana, and,” the text says, “dearer even than Rādhādevī herself, who is my supreme śakti (power).” (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

He goes on: “Whoever hates a bhakta hates my very prāṇas. I punish that person with naraka (the lowest realms) right after this birth, without fail. A bhakta who eats only what has first been offered to me: his ucchishṭa (the leftovers of his meal) gives Hari-dāsya moksha to whoever eats of it. Even if Lakshmī herself offered me food, I would not be as pleased as when a bhakta offers me what has been made with love. The bhakta is the ground on which I rest.” (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

All the devas plead for Durvāsa

All the devas come to Vaikuṇṭha, each pleading for Durvāsa. It is a remarkable gathering. Brahmā comes and speaks briefly. Mahādeva comes. Pārvatī comes. Dharmarāja comes. Indra comes. All the Rudras come. The dikpālas (guardians of the directions) come. The grahas (the planetary devas) come. The munis, including Atri, come. Lakshmī speaks from beside Bhagavān Vishṇu, and Sarasvatī speaks. The pārshadas add their voices, and so do the celestial dancers (nartakas) and the gandharvas. Each puts the plea in his own way. Some speak of Durvāsa’s great tapas and what he has given to dharma. Some speak of the tradition that a brāhmaṇa must always be shown mercy. Some simply ask for grace. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

Bhagavān Vishṇu grants grace. He does not set aside his own rule, but finds the gentle way that his love for his devotees allows: “Durvāsa, go to Ambarisha’s house. The Sudarśana Cakra will not harm you on that path, nor in that house. Ambarisha is the host of your pāraṇa, your meal, and a host’s dharma protects even those who have wronged him. Go to him.” (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

Then he adds quietly, and it shows how closely he is joined to his bhakta: “Ambarisha has been fasting this whole year, waiting for you. He has not eaten. As a mother cannot bring herself to eat while her nursing baby is hungry and crying, I myself have been unable to eat, because my bhakta is fasting.”

Ambarisha’s year of fasting and the end

Durvāsa goes back to Ambarisha’s palace. The Sudarśana Cakra follows behind him, but now it protects him and does not threaten. He finds the king exactly as he left him a full year before. Ambarisha is sitting on his throne. His body is thin and his face is drawn from a year of fasting, but his back is straight and his face is calm in meditation. For a whole year he has sat meditating on Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s lotus feet, waiting for his guest to return. He has not eaten. He has not left his throne. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

When Ambarisha sees Durvāsa come in, he jumps up with joy. It is not the formal joy of a king receiving a guest. It is the joy that comes of itself to a devotee who is glad that another being in distress has been given relief. He bows before Durvāsa and shows every honour. He has a rich feast made ready and serves Durvāsa with his own hands. Durvāsa eats until he is fully satisfied, and only then does Ambarisha eat himself, ending his year-long fast. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25)

After the meal Durvāsa is changed by what he has seen. The ṛshi known for his fearful anger now speaks of only one thing, the great māhātmya (greatness) of the Vaishṇavas, the devotees of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He says again and again, to anyone who will listen, that what he saw in Ambarisha cannot be found anywhere else in the fourteen worlds. A whole year of fasting without complaint or bitterness, waiting for the guest who had tried to kill him, welcoming him with joy and feeding him first. Durvāsa praises Ambarisha with a respect he has never shown anyone. He blesses the king and leaves. He carries with him the living proof of a truth that no tapas alone could have taught him: that bhakti is the supreme reality, and the bhakta is the highest of all beings.

The retelling in Chapter 50

The Ambarisha and Durvāsa episode is told again in Chapter 50 of the same Khaṇḍa, as one of the garvabhaṅga (pride-breaking) accounts that Rādhādevī asks Bhagavān Kṛshṇa to tell. This retelling gives some further details.

The pāyasam. In the Chapter 50 version, the cause of Durvāsa’s anger is given. Durvāsa found a hair in the pāyasam (sweet rice pudding) that was offered to him, and was enraged at this impurity in food served to a brāhmaṇa of his standing.

The Kṛtyā. The being of fire made from Durvāsa’s matted lock is called Kṛtyā here, a being of destruction. The Sudarśana Cakra that came to guard Ambarisha is described as “equal in tejas to a crore suns; impossible to stop”.

Kṛshṇa’s teaching. After telling this episode, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa tells Rādhādevī the deepest truth about his bhaktas:

“My bhaktas are the most dear to me, above even Rādhā, Lakshmī, Sāvitrī, Sarasvatī, Brahmā, Śiva, Ananta, Dharma-deva, brāhmaṇas, gopīs and gopālas. There is no one more dear to me than a bhakta. For their protection I send my own Sudarśana Cakra, and even that does not fully satisfy me, so I come in person to see them.”

(Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 50)

Sources

• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 25
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 50