Story of Ambarisa Maharaja

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Maharaja Ambarisa engaged all his senses in the service of Krsna. First he

engaged his mind and then he engaged the rest of his senses. One gives an

order to his subordinates, "Do this and that," and if they don't properly

follow, he gives them punishment. Similarly, Maharaja Ambarisa threatened

his mind and made it afraid to disobey him. The demigods serve Krsna in

fear. Without fear, or without vaidhi-bhakti, prema will never come. If one

gives a gentle request to someone else, that person may not listen to him.

If he puts fear in the other's mind, however, that other person may follow

his instruction.

 

Ambarisa Maharaja is the ideal of all Vaisnavas, and in this regard Srila

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura continues to explain the deep meaning behind

the conversation between Bhagavan and Durvasa Muni. Bhagavan is telling

Durvasa, "How can I give up My devotee who has left his family, children,

wife and sense gratification, and who has taken exclusive shelter of Me? I

can never give him up."

 

ye yatha mam prapadyante

tams tathaiva bhajamy aham

mama vartmanuvartante

manusyah partha sarvasah

 

"As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My

path in all respects, O son of Prtha. As they surrender I reward them

accordingly." (Bg. 4.11)

 

"My nature is that I reciprocate with My surrendered soul. How is it

possible for me to save you from My Sudarsana cakra? What have you left for

Me?"

 

Durvasa says, "O Brahmanyadeva! You are fond of, and have great respect for

the brahmanas, and I'm not a simple brahmana. I'm a very high-class

brahmana. Why are you neglecting me?"

 

Krsna replies, "Yes, I'm neglecting you. Do you think that I should give up

My devotee for you? I should save you? I will not save the enemy of My

devotee. I won't do so even if you request this of Me again and again. O

brahmana, My devotee has left everything for Me and he has taken shelter of

Me. Have you left a farthing, or done any service for Me?"

 

Durvasa Muni replies, "What has Maharaja Ambarisa left for you?"

 

Bhagavan says, "Oh, you don't know? He is a saranagata-bhakta. Devotees

don't make any attempt to save themselves. When you created Krtya, the fire

demoness, and she went to destroy Ambarisa Maharaja, he didn’t make any

attempt to save himself. You are an atmarama-muni. You are supposed to be

self-satisfied, and yet you became afraid when My Sudarsana cakra came

towards you. On the other hand, Ambarisa Maharaja didn’t become fearful at

all. Therefore he is saranagati. Why should I worry about you? If you’ve

surrendered to guru and Krsna, why are you running here and there to save

yourself? My devotees are like purchased animals; they are never concerned

for their own maintenance. On the other hand, as soon as you saw the

Sudarsana cakra, you ran here, there, and everywhere, to caves, mountains

and oceans. You went to take shelter of Brahma and Siva. You call yourself

atmarama, but actually you are a foolish person. Why did you pray to the

demigods?

 

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura sings:

 

manasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mora

arpilun tuwa pade, nanda-kisora!

 

"Mind, body, and family, whatever may be mine, I have surrendered at Your

lotus feet, O youthful son of Nanda!"

 

Bhagavan continues, "What is your value? You have no saranagati. You are a

foolish person. How can I convince you?" A guru can't convince a foolish

disciple. Such a disciple thinks that he knows everything, but actually he

knows nothing.

 

"You are a brahmavada-rsi. I can't be controlled by a yogi such as yourself.

There is no example anywhere in sastra that I am controlled by a yogi. Just

as a chaste wife is controlled by her husband, I am controlled by the

service of My bhaktas who have so much bhakti that they control Me. I am not

known as yogi-vatsalya-bhagavan. I am known as bhakta-vatsalya-bhagavan. My

bhakta does not want any of the five types of liberation, even if I want to

give it to him. By the influence of his bhajana, mukti automatically comes

to him although he has no desire for it. When the sun rises, both light and

heat are manifest. This is not actually a proper example, however, because

devotees don’t want heat and light. Other than bhakti itself, My devotees

are udasina, indifferent, to all benefits given by bhakti. These devotees

have given Me their heart and I also have given them mine in exchange. They

are samadarsi; they have equal vision to all. They do not consider, 'Oh,

this is my special sister,' or 'This is my special mother.' "

 

Ambarisa Maharaja is niskama-parikasta, the topmost example of niskama.

 

sadhavo hrdayam mahyam

sadhunam hrdayam tv aham

mad-anyat te na jananti

naham tebhyo manag api

 

"The devotees are always in My heart, and I am always in the hearts of the

devotees. The devotee does not know anything beyond Me, and I also cannot

forget the devotee. There is a very intimate relationship between Me and the

pure devotees. Pure devotees in full knowledge are never out of spiritual

touch, and therefore they are very much dear to Me." (Srimad-Bhagavatam

9.4.68)

 

Bhagavan continues, "Durvasa, you wanted to burn Ambarisa Maharaja, and that

means that you wanted to burn Me. Do you understand? You have given pain to

My heart. My heart is in the bhakta, and therefore you gave Me pain when you

wanted to give him pain. If you make a bhakta suffer, it means that you are

giving pain to Me. I feel pain when the sadhu feels pain because My heart

and the heart of the sadhu is the same. Conversely, if a sadhu is happy, it

means that I am also happy." When a bhakta like Ambarisa Maharaja is pleased

then I am pleased. However, my bhakta never desires his personal pleasure.

He always thinks, 'How can I please Bhagavan?'

 

"You sent the Krtya demoness to kill Ambarisa Maharaja. He has so much power

that he could have protected himself and punished you also. But he is

surrendered to Me and therefore he did not do so. I also could have easily

and immediately punished you, but Maharaja Ambarisa would have been sorry

and thought, 'A brahmana was killed only because of me.' This is the example

of My honor for brahmanas. I wanted to give you appropriate and immediate

punishment, but I could not. I was bound by Ambarisa Maharaja. His desire

was that you should not be killed, and it is only by his desire that you are

alive."

 

Durvasa replies, "You should not simply see my faults. I'm a very high-class

brahmana. You should also see Maharaja Ambarisa's fault. I never accept

invitations, but because he respected me I accepted his invitation. But then

he insulted me by eating before me. Why do You only see my fault? His

drinking water before he fed me was his 'cleverness.' He thinks he is very

clever. He invited me and then he drank water before feeding me."

 

Bhagavan is now very angry and says, "Go and ask this question to Maharaja

Ambarisa. He was simply following the srutis, the Vedas, and the Upanisads,

which state that in order to break ekadasi on the dvadasi, paran [prasada

taken after a fast] must be honored at a specific time. Otherwise, if this

is not observed, the bhakti that would have been gained by following ekadasi

disappears. Water is neither considered eating nor not eating, and therefore

Maharaja Ambarisa cannot be criticized. Maharaja Ambarisa believes the

injunctions of sastra, but you don’t. It's much better to observe ekadasi

and dvadasi than to respect a proud brahmana. He took dvadasi paran because

he didn't want to lose his bhakti. Whatever he did was for My pleasure.

 

When Durvasa Muni asks, "What is more important: dvadasi paran or respecting

brahmanas?" Bhagavan's anger increases and He replies, "I have no time to

answer you. Go to Ambarisa Maharaja. He knows more than I do."

 

Durvasa persists, "He couldn't wait for a few minutes until I got there and

ate first?"

 

Bhagavan now becomes very angry and says, "I have no time for these nonsense

questions. You're so stupid. He only took Deity water, caranamrta. That

means he was eating and not eating. One cannot blame him for doing either."

 

Durvasa Muni then thought seriously and considered, "Yes, I'm a brahmana,

but the Sudarsana cakra made me fearfully flee everywhere. I couldn't save

myself and I couldn't find any shelter. There must be some power in

ekadasi-vrata."

 

Bhagavan then tells Durvasa Rsi, "I'll let you know how you can be saved.

Listen to Me. You should go and take shelter of Maharaja Ambarisa."

 

Durvasa replies, "How can I go to him? He'll be angry."

 

Bhagavan tells him, "No; he's samadarsi. He sees everyone, enemies and

friends, with equal vision. Just go and see. One of the symptoms of

high-class Vaisnavas is that they'll forget whatever harm another person

does to them, but they’ll never forget whatever good one does to them. Don’t

see Maharaja Ambarisa as the creator of your suffering. You are the cause of

your suffering .You brought him suffering, but still he prayed to the

Sudarsana cakra to save you. It was only because of his prayers that the

cakra did not destroy you."

 

Nanda Baba told Vasudeva Maharaja, "My son Krsna did not kill Kamsa. Kamsa

was killed by his own actions." In a similar way, Bhagavan is telling

Durvasa Muni, "Your own actions are the cause of your suffering."

 

In the meantime Ambarisa Maharaja has been praying, "O Sudarsana, don't burn

Durvasa Rsi." The bhakta knows that suffering is coming to him from a past

life, so he never takes revenge, nor does he blame anyone else.

 

Bhagavan continues, "You are not qualified. Your so-called knowledge is

actually avidya, ignorance. You think that you are intelligent and learned,

but tapasya and vidya never stay with proud persons. They stay only with

those who are humble."

 

Visvamitra Muni and Vasista Muni once had an argument about which was more

powerful and important: tapasya or bhakti. They asked Anantadeva, and

Anantadeva replied to Visvamitra, "Take the burden of one of my hoods. Take

one universe on your head." Visvamitra gave fifty thousand years worth of

the results of his tapasya. Anantadeva then placed the universal planets on

his head, and the planets immediately pushed his head down. Vasista then

gave one minute's result of his sadhu-sanga, and he was immediately able to

hold the universe on his head.

 

Durvasa now says "O Prabhuji, how can I go to him? He is a Ksatriya. He is

of a lower caste, whereas I am a brahamana."

 

Bhagavan again says, "Tapasya cannot stay with a proud person. You're not

qualified, and therefore tapasya and vidya cannot stay with you. If you want

your welfare, go to Ambarisa Maharaja. A thorn in the foot cannot come out

from the head. Go to Ambarisa Maharaja. A person who is proud, who is puffed

up with false ego, cannot have real tapasya or vidya (learning)." It is not

possible without faith in a self-realized guru. In fact, tapasya and vidya

become like death for such a person. Even if one can give good lectures due

to his learning, if he is not surrendered, his tapasya and vidya will become

like death for him, and this was the case with Durvasa Muni. One should be

humble and practice the principles of Sri Siksastakam. Trnad api sunicena

taror api sahisnuna amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih.

 

Durvasa tells Bhagavan, "Tapasya and vidya are not in me? I'm a

brahma-vidya. I know everything. I'm also a tapasvi, whereas Ambarisa is

only a ksatriya."

 

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura sings in his song Bimala Vaisnava, "If I think

I'm a Vaisnava, I'll want respect from others." If you want to become a pure

Vaisnava, then don’t think that you are a Vaisnava. You should think, "Why

is everyone giving honor to me? I'm not qualified." A real devotee will weep

when he considers this.

 

Once we went with our Guru Maharaja to Asana. There were more than twenty

five devotees there, and one of those devotees was Bhagavan dasa Brahmacari.

He was very learned and was always serving, but he made a statement that

grhasthas are rotten and degraded. Hearing this, I became upset and told

Guru Maharaja. Guru Maharaja called him and told him to twist his own ears

and bob up and down as a punishment. He said, "All grhastha bhaktas are

better than you. We do not see one's designation, but how much attachment

one has for guru and Krsna." He then told Bhagavan dasa about his disciple

Madhusudana prabhu, who at that time was a grhastha. He was so qualified

that Gurudeva made him the editor of the Gaudiya Patrika magazine. He also

had vast wealth and spent all of it for Gurudeva.

 

Finally convinced, Durvasa Rsi left Vaikuntha. In the meantime, Sukadeva

Gosvami explains, Ambarisa Maharaja felt ashamed and thought, "A brahmarsi

like Durvasa is suffering on my behalf." He therefore prayed to Sudarsana

cakra. "O Sudarsana, you destroy demons and maintain bhaktas." Still

Sudarsana was emitting tremendous heat. Ambarisa then prayed, "If in my life

I have given donations to devotees and sadhus, and if I have done any

service to Bhagavan, then please cool down Your heat." Sudarsana was still

not pacified, and therefore Ambarisa continued, "If God is pleased with me,

and if I have seen others with equal vision, then please cool down." By this

time Sudarsana became cool like the moon. When Durvasa saw that Sudarsana's

heat had gone down, he began to understand the glory of Ambarisa Maharaja.

He said, "O king. Now I have seen the glory of the bhaktas." We have seen

guru and bhaktas so many times, but we have never really seen them.

 

Ambarisa said to him, "O, brahmana, I have been waiting for you for one

year. I am so worried because you have been going here and there without

food, just because of me. Please take prasadam."

 

In this way Durvasa Muni saw that the mahatma of the bhakta was more than

that of any brahmana. If a brahmana does not give honor to a Vaisnava, he is

not a brahmana.

 

Once, when I was in Madras with Guru Maharaja and some of his other

disciples, a god-brother named Ananga-mohana had tuberculosis. No one wanted

to take him to the hospital and take care of him, but I saw how Gurudeva

loved him, and so I decided to take care of him. I told Gurudeva, "You can

go and preach, and I will take care of him." On his last day, the doctors

said he had no pulse and that he was very soon going to die. Even without a

pulse, however, he was calling out to Gurudeva, "O Baba! O Baba, Baba! Krsna

is calling me, and Srimati Radhika is calling me. I'm going. O Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu, O Nityananda Prabhu." I placed a photo of Gurudeva for him to

see, and then I prayed to him, "O prabhu, please be merciful." I saw how

Ananga-mohana heard Them calling, and I heard him speaking even without any

pulse. I saw the glory of a Vaisnava and therefore I realized further the

glory of my Gurudeva. This is just one example. If one is surrendered, he

can see the glory of his Gurudeva.

 

My Gurudeva dragged me to the lotus feet of Krsna and made me desire only to

be a Radha-palya-dasi. If Krsna Himself offers me another service, I will

not be interested. Sri rupa-manjari pada sei mora sampada. My only wealth is

the lotus feet of Sri Rupa Manjari. I realize my Gurudeva's arati song. I am

realizing something, and I'm trying to give something to you.

 

Maharaja Ambarisa served guru and Krsna with all his senses. Although he was

a grhastha, all his senses were engaged. If one is a householder there is no

harm. If he is renounced, there is no harm. In whatever situation one finds

himself, if he engages all his senses in service, he is a devotee.

 

If a devotee is not in bhava-bhakti, Krsna will not send His Sudarsana

cakra. This is our problem. Although we try to engage our senses, we can't.

On the contrary, Maharaja Ambarisa engaged all his senses and moods. We

should do the same, either in vaidhi-bhakti or raganuga-bhakti, either in

Vrndavana or anywhere else.

 

Gaurapremanande

 

 

 

 

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