Puṇḍarīka and Ambarīsha

Puṇḍarīka was a brahmin and Ambarīsha was a kshatriya. They were friends, and both had given up their dharma and lived against it. A chance meeting at a yajñaśāla turned their lives. A Vaishṇava (a follower of Vishṇu) sent them to Jagannātha at Purushottama Kshetra. They went there. After six days of fasting and nāma-saṅkīrtana (singing the divine names), they saw Jagannātha, Balabhadra, Subhadrā and Sudarśana, and they reached moksha. The account shows that Purushottama Kshetra can free even those who have spent their lives in great pāpa (sin).

It is told in the Purushottama Kshetra Māhātmya of the Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa.

The two friends

Puṇḍarīka the brahmin and Ambarīsha the kshatriya had given up every part of their duties. They had left svādhyāya (study of the Veda), vashaṭkāra and svāhā-svadhā (the calls made in a yajña), and all other holy practice. They lived among women of loose conduct and took forbidden things. They had spent half their lives this way without one thought of the next world.

The meeting at the yajñaśāla

One day they were walking near a yajñaśāla (hall of a yajña). They heard the beautiful sound of Vedic chanting and the rites of the yajña. The sound of the Vedas and the sight of the rites stirred them. They remembered what they had once been, a brāhmaṇa and a kshatriya. They said to each other: “We have done these dreadful deeds knowingly, in this very birth. We do not know any śāstra that can free us from them. Prāyaścitta (the rite of making good) for such deeds is also very hard.”

They went to the senior brāhmaṇas of the sadas (the assembly of the yajña), bowed, and told them the whole story of their wrong living. They asked for a way to be freed. The learned brāhmaṇas fell silent. The weight of these pāpas was beyond any prāyaścitta the śāstras lay down. They shook their heads. No śāstra could answer this.

The Vaishṇava’s direction

But one man in the assembly was a Vishṇu-bhakta (devotee of Vishṇu), whose own pāpas had been destroyed by his bhakti. He spoke to them: “If you want to be freed from this terrible heap of pāpa, go at once to Purushottama Kshetra. That kshetra (holy ground) is the best of all kshetras. Purushottama is there in a dāru (wooden) form. He took that form to bless the rājarshi (royal ṛshi) Indradyumna.”

He went on: “Worship Jagannātha, who holds the śaṅkha (conch), cakra (discus) and gadā (mace). You will surely gain either the destruction of pāpa or moksha. That Svāmi is a fire that burns even the most terrible pāpa. Your pāpas cannot be destroyed even by the tapas of a crore of lives. But those same pāpas will be destroyed by one darśana (sight) of the Svāmi.”

“So go to him at once, without delay. In the holy land of Utkala, on the southern shore of the ocean, on Nīlādri, take refuge in that kind Svāmi. He will surely grant your wish.”

Puṇḍarīka and Ambarīsha were filled with joy when they heard this. They set out at once for Purushottama Kshetra.

The seven days of waiting

The two came to Purushottama Kshetra and bathed in the Tīrtharāja, the ocean. They went to the entrance of the prāsāda (the great temple). They bowed to the ground before the prāsāda and looked toward the Svāmi. But no darśana was given. Their faces fell. They made a vow: “Until the Svāmi gives us darśana, we will not eat. We will stay here.”

They chanted the names of Jagannātha, who destroys all pāpa. On the third day, in the third watch, in the middle of the night, they saw a light (jyotis). The sight gave them strength to go on. They kept on for three more days. In all they fasted and sang the divine names for six days. On the seventh night, in the middle watch, they were given darśana of the Svāmi.

The darśana

The darśana was complete and overwhelming.

They saw Jagannātha on a divine throne. He was dark as a rain cloud, with eyes wide like lotuses and a calm face. He held the śaṅkha, cakra, gadā and padma (lotus). He wore the vanamālā (garland of forest flowers) and the pītāmbara (yellow cloth). He was adorned with the Śrīvatsa and the Kaustubha, and his feet rested on sandals set with jewels.

At the Svāmi’s right was Balabhadra. He held the halāyudha (plough), and he was white as the peak of Kailāsa. He had serpent hoods and shone with divine ornaments. His eyes were red from vāruṇī (divine drink). He held the śaṅkha, cakra, gadā and padma.

Between them stood Subhadrā, red as kuṅkuma, the most beautiful of all, worshipped by all the devas.

At the Svāmi’s left was the Sudarśana cakra, made of dāru and covered with gold.

Lakshmī was on the lotus of the Svāmi’s chest. She held a divine padma. She is the wish-granting creeper for those who seek refuge, and she destroys all impurity. The divine company was there: Nārada and others, gandharvas singing divine music, devas in vimānas (celestial chariots) showering flowers, and Prahlāda and other great bhaktas.

The stotras

Puṇḍarīka offered a stotra (hymn of praise): “O Nārāyaṇa! O Paramātman! You have no birth or death. You can be seen only with the eyes of dhyāna. You are cinmātra (pure awareness), jagadīśa (master of the world) and parātpara (beyond the highest). Even to say ‘Nārāyaṇa’ without meaning to gives dharma, artha, kāma and moksha. O Svāmi, give me firm bhakti at your lotus feet.”

Ambarīsha offered his stotra: “O Deva, you have countless heads, arms, lives and eyes. You are beyond the thirty-six tattvas. From what has no appearance you made what appears. You are the four kinds of world. O Viśvamūrti, I bow to you. Your lotus foot is the seed of all purushārthas. May firm bhakti in you stay with me as long as I live.”

Liberation

The divine darśana and their honest stotras bore full fruit. At that moment they became knowers of all the eighteen vidyās (branches of knowledge). Their confusion left them and jñāna (knowledge) rose in them. They understood: “This is not a wooden image. This is Parabrahman himself, shining here from within the dāru form at the foot of the vaṭa tree on the bank of the Brahma-tīrtha. Whoever sees the Svāmi here in the four forms is freed.”

They decided to stay at Purushottama Kshetra for the rest of their lives, turning fully away from lower desires. They were given to Vishṇu-bhakti and kept repeating the name “Nārāyaṇa.” In the end they reached moksha.

The fruit of hearing this account

Jaimini ends: “I have told this secret account, which destroys pāpa, as a side-teaching. Those who hear the account of Puṇḍarīka and Ambarīsha, or always praise it, will gain joy and will reach Vishṇuloka. Their pāpas will also be destroyed.”

Sources

• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Purushottama Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 4
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Purushottama Kshetra Māhātmya, Chapter 5