Nārada and Suśīlā

This is the account of how Bhagavān Vishṇu showed his māyā (the power that makes the world appear real) to Nārada. It is told in the Brahma Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 229. Nārada dived into water and came out as a woman named Suśīlā. He lived a whole life as her, and then came out again as Nārada.

The teaching comes in layers. The ṛshis ask Vyāsa how devotion to Vishṇu arises. Vyāsa tells them that Sūtapomuni asked Bhagavān Vishṇu to show his māyā. Bhagavān Vishṇu answered with the account of what happened to Nārada.

How devotion to Vishṇu arises

The ṛshis at the assembly ask how bhakti (devotion) for Vishṇu arises in the ātmā. Vyāsa describes the steps of devotion. Worship of other devas leads to Agni. Worship of Agni leads to Sūrya. Worship of Sūrya leads to Śaṃkara. Worship of Śaṃkara leads at last to Vishṇu.

When the ātmā reaches Vishṇu, bhakti grows deeper. Then the question of māyā arises. The devotee wishes to know the power that makes this whole saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death) appear.

Sūtapomuni’s request

Sūtapomuni was close to Bhagavān Vishṇu. He asked a request that many devotees make. He did not ask to be freed from māyā. He asked to see māyā at work.

Bhagavān Vishṇu did not show him a sight in the sky. He told him what had happened with Nārada: “Nārada Maharshi once made this same request of me. Here is what occurred.”

Nārada becomes Suśīlā

Nārada had asked Bhagavān Vishṇu to show him māyā. Bhagavān Vishṇu told him to dive into a nearby body of water. When Nārada came up, he was no longer Nārada. He was Suśīlā, the daughter of the king of Kāśī.

Suśīlā grew up in the palace of Kāśī. In time she was given in marriage to Sudharmā, a prince of Vidarba. The marriage was full and complete. She lived as a devoted wife and bore children. She watched them grow up, and in time she became a grandmother. The household was full, rich and ordinary.

Then war came. The sons and grandsons of Suśīlā went to battle. In that battle they were all killed, every one of them. The grief of a mother and grandmother who has seen the death of all her children and grandchildren came down on her. She could not live with that grief, and she entered the funeral pyre.

The fire became water. Suśīlā came up out of it as Nārada, the same Nārada who had dived in. The whole experience was the length of one dive and one rising: marriage, children, grandchildren, war, deaths, grief and fire.

Nārada’s answer

Nārada came out as himself and understood. He had asked, “Show me your māyā.” The answer was not a vision. It was an experience so complete that he could not tell it from the real world while he was inside it.

He did not ask to understand māyā any further. He asked Bhagavān Vishṇu for bhakti. Bhagavān Vishṇu gave it to him.

The two tīrthas

Bhagavān Vishṇu told Nārada that the place where Suśīlā entered the fire, and was freed from that māyā, would become a tīrtha (a holy place). This is also the tīrtha where Indra’s brahma-hatyā (the guilt of killing a brahmin, after he killed Vṛtra) was once cleansed. It is known as Kapāla-mocana tīrtha. The waters of the nearby Sitoda tīrtha are also made holy through this link.

The same teaching for Sūtapomuni

The same teaching is then given to Sūtapomuni by his own experience. He dives into the Koka-mukha tīrtha and comes up as a Cāṇḍāla woman in a poor household. He lives that life as a woman, with poverty, a hard husband and suffering. Then he comes out again as himself.

The account goes on. The cycle passes through many births. At last moksha comes through the worship of Bhagavān Varāha, who is Vishṇu, at the Śūkara-vaktra kshetra (also called Rūpa tīrtha), a holy Varāha-kshetra. In one of the births the ātmā, as Purūravas, has a bond with the apsarā Urvaśī. This is another well-known case of attachment born of māyā.

The Padma Purāṇa

The Padma Mahā Purāṇa, in the Uttara Parva, Chapter 3, also tells of Nārada becoming a woman. There her name is Sundarī.

What the account shows

Māyā cannot be known from outside. It can only be known from within, and while a person is inside it, he does not know it. Nārada’s answer shows the way. After living through māyā, he did not ask for more explanation. He asked for bhakti, which turns the mind to Bhagavān Vishṇu, who stands beyond the dream and makes it.

Sources

• Brahma Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 229
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 3 (named for the account of Sundarī)