Duvidha

The story from the Puranas about King Ambarish is very significant to us. The king was undertaking a fast and at that time Durvasa muni came to him. The King had to break the fast with water and tulsi before the sage could return from his bath and so the sage got angry and sent a ogre after the king. The Lord who was pleased with Ambarish's devotion sent his sudarshan chakra after the ogre and killed it. Thereafter the astra turned its attention to the sage Durvasa and started to follow him. The sage finally took refuge with Vishnu who told him that only his devotee Ambarish could save him. The sage asked for pardon from the king and the astra went back to its abode. Such is a simple story but what significance does it have in our life.

The duvidha or Dichotomy is always there in our life which we have to solve but when we do we always have a distaste for the solution. Let me give you an example here.

Here is a woman who is facing a husband who has caused her harm by assault and battery on one side and her small child on the other side. If she annuls her marriage that would be against the marriage vows on one side and if she doesn't she is doing injustice to her own self and the kid. So whichever decision she takes she is going to be left with distaste in her mouth. If she decides to divorce her husband, that means she has broken marriage vows and if she decides to bear the brunt of an abusive husband she has destroyed any personal pride of herself that she may ever have. She will never be able to forgive her own self for taking that decision of continuing in such a marriage. In both the cases she will be filled with the problem of 'guilt'!

This happens because of the ego which says she has taken such a decision in her life. This person within her which says that she has taken this decision herself is her little ego. Now coming back to the story of Ambarish, just like him we too face such dichotomy in life in decisions. but when we are devotees of the Great God we have to let Him decide whatever is right for us. That means we should do what our heart desires since we know that God lives within our heart! The onus of this onerous decision will then rest on Him instead of our little self(ego)!

When we direct all such decisions to the Lord, He takes care of us and does not let harm come our way. The dichotomy which we face will then wither away and we can face life with full confidence and 'move on'!

Every human being is like an Ambarish, the dichotomy or duvidha is Durvasa.

The sudarshan chakra is His(Gods) grace. When we have grace of the Lord we can calmly do what comes to us and not fret about the decisions taken then and this feeling of "guilt" will vanish forever.

Trust God and put all your faith in Him and let Him decide what is right for you, then we will be devoid of guilt since we know He is the Doer and the Decider in our life.