The Rise and Fall of Saubhari Muni

There was once a great sage named Saubhari Muni who used to do Sadhana in water in a

Jal Samadhi. He gained more Yogic powers and became extremely powerful with this difficult meditation. 

However, once He saw two fish mating in water and having seen the kusang, his future plans changed. He planned to go back into the world and get married. 

He came out of water and went to king Maanbhaata and said – O King! You have 50 daughters, give me any one in marriage. 

The king thought – The sage is so old. How can I give any of my dear daughters to him? But if I do not, the sage can curse me. He has so many powers.

So the king said - O great sage! It is my great fortune that you have come to ask for the

hand of one of my daughters. But I do not know whom to marry you. So I shall hold a Swayamvar for all fifty of them. Whosoever likes you and garlands you shall be your wife.

Saubhari Muni read the king's mind. On the Swayamvar day, he changed himself to be an extremely handsome 16 year old prince with his Yogic powers. 

All 50 daughters were mesmerized with his beauty and garlanded him. So he married all 50 of them and started a family. He had 5000 kids from his wives. As the family grew, so did his problems and suffering.

One day, he was extremely grieved and broke down to tears. Like a mad man, he started saying to the passers by – O humans! Look at my destruction. Where was I and where have I come? Please take a lesson from my story.

Moral Of The Story

Maya is the power of God. Since God is the power behind Maya, no jeev under its control can challenge it until it realizes God. 

The first thing the Maya does is to make the jeev forget its identity. Under its effect, the jeev begins to feel that it is not a soul, it is a body. And then it starts looking for the pleasures of the body in the world.

With this story, Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj alerts us that even if we are at the last stage of realizing God, we should be extremely focused because Maya can divert us and ruin our Sadhana at any time.