King Ambarish the great devotee

In the ancient age there was a very powerful king in the name of Ambarish. He was also a great devotee of Lord Narayan. At that time nobody was comparable to the power and devotion of Ambarish. He was a descendant of Baibaswat Manu and son of king Nabhag. In spite of having all the power, authority, wealth and grandeur he was disinterested and indifferent towards the material world. He was ruling on the earth considering it a duty. His principal and primary interest was one pointed devotion to Lord Narayan. He was very fond of his subjects who were well taken care of by the emperor. All his subjects loved and respected the emperor. Most of the time Ambarish was busy worshipping Lord Narayan and chanting the name of the Lord. 

Like the king, the subjects also were great devotees of Lord Narayan. Worshipping, chanting and singing the praises of the Lord was their way of life. Seeing the king and his subjects being busy in his devotion,Lord Narayan himself instructed his principal weapon Sudarshan Chakra to watch and guard the security of the king and his kingdom. 

Ekadashi thiti (day) in Hindu religion is considered to be the most auspicious day for the devotees of Lord Narayan when they keep fasting for the whole day and night till the next day (dwadashi). This is called Ekadashi vrat(ब्रत) and the person who keeps the vrat is called vrati(ब्रती). On the day of Ekadashi  devotees do not take food or water till dwadashi. Before the end of dwadashi devotees are supposed to distribute various types of prasad (offerings) to the Brahmans and other needy people and then  the brati is supposed to eat the prasad of Lord Narayan. But the brati must take the prasad before the end of dwadashi otherwise the brat will be treated as incomplete. 

Ekadashi falls twice in a month. King Ambarish kept the brat every year. In one Ekadashi Maharishi Durvasa with his hundred disciples came to the palace of Ambarish when he was about to take the prasad after finishing the puja in a grand way. The king welcomed the sage with great respect and requested him to take the prasad of  Lord Narayan. Durvasa is well known for his short temper and instant cursing. The sage told the king that before eating he would go to the river for a bath along with his disciples. The king agreed and told the sage that he would wait for him. After the sage left for a bath the king didn't take the prasad nor took any other food although he was fasting since yesterday. He kept waiting for the sage to feed him and his disciples before taking the prasad himself because it is the tradition not to take food before feeding guests. 

But Durvasa didn't return till evening and the Dwadashi tithi was about to end. On the other hand Durvasa was getting late knowingly to examine the patience and tolerance of the king. Although the king had enormous patience and tolerance to wait for days together, he was compelled to break the fast before the end of Dwadashi to adhere to the rules of Ekadashi. So on the continuous insistence of the priests he took the Charanamrit (water used for washing the feet of the idol of Lord Narayan) and concluded the brat but didn't take any food for the sake of the sage. 

After some time Durvasa returned with his disciples and instantly knew with his ‘tapo-bal’ (power of austerity) that the king had concluded the brat without waiting for him by taking charamrit. He became  infuriated with the king. He was in such a rage that he wanted to kill the king. So he plucked a hair from his jata(matted hair) and produced a blazing Kritya, a fierce female demon and ordered her to kill the king. Getting the order from his master she advanced towards the king with a blazing sword to kill the king. But to the dismay of the sage King Ambarish the king was neither afraid nor tried to fight back. He stood there unmoved with a smiling face because even in vicious Kritya he was seeing his beloved Lord Narayan. 

To his misfortune Rishi Durvasa was unaware about the invisible presence of the mighty Sudarshan Chakra, the obedient servant of Lord Narayan keeping guard on the king who instantly killed Kritya and moved towards Durvasa to punish him for his cruelty. Seeing the mighty Chakra coming towards him with an evil intention, the sage being severely frightened fled towards the forests but the Chakra didn't stop following him. From forest to mountains,  mountains to caves, caves to sea, sea to sky nowhere could hide himself. The Chakra followed him everywhere. Seeing no other way out, the sage tried to take shelter in heaven. But Indra, the king of heaven expressed his incapability to save him. 

Then he begged before Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva to save him but they also expressed their incapability to give him shelter. Rather they reprimanded him for trying to harm a devotee like Ambarish. However Lord Shiva suggested him to take refuge before Lord Narayan because he is the master of Sudarshan Chakra. Thereafter Durvasa went to Vaikuntha, the abode of Lord Narayan and prayed to him profusely. But The Lord also expressed his inability to help the sage and revealed the secret that he is powerless before the devotion of his devotees and advised to beg forgiveness before king Ambarish. 

At last Durvasa understood the authority of dedicated devotees of God and proceeded to the palace of king Ambarish. There in the palace the king was worried about the sage. He was feeling very guilty thinking himself to be responsible for the troubling Rishi Durvasa. It was already one year since the sage fled his country to escape from Sudarshan Chakra. So as a penance the king was waiting for the sage to return without taking any food. He was living only on water. When he was sitting in the garden of his palace thinking about Durvasa, the sage entered the palace and went to the king. Bowing before the king he begged forgiveness to him and requested him to save him from the blazing Chakra. Seeing Durvasa knelt down before him the king felt very ashamed and prayed Durvasa not to embarrass him by kneeling down before him. Then the sage stood up and embraced the king. 

On the fervent prayer of the king, Sudarshan Chakra left the sage unharmed. Durvasa now being left alone by the Chakra relaxed and on the request of the king ate food offered by the king. After knowing the sacrifice and egoless respect of the king for him despite his cruel behaviour Durvasa felt very much ashamed of his deeds. He praised and blessed the king with an open heart and left the palace. Although a great king Ambarish was more famous for his one pointed devotion for Lord Narayan.

Source: Shrimad Bhagwad Purana.