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Sage Naradha-III
Learning about Maya
 Once Naradha requested Lord Vishnu to explain the meaning of Maya. There are two stories told through which Vishnu explained the philosophy of Maya to the sage.
According to the first, Vishnu brought Naradha to Earth on the Garuda and they both landed near a beautiful lake. Vishnu asked Naradha to take a bath and he did so after keeping the veena and the deer skin under a tree. When the sage emerged out of the river, he found that he had turned into a woman. Vishnu and the veena had disappeared.
The woman also had no memory of her previous form. Thaanathvajan, a king who was passing by, saw her and wished to marry her. He named her Sowbhakyasundari and she accompanied him to his palace as his wife. They were blessed with children and grandchildren.When the king from the neighbhouring kingdom waged a war against them, their children and grandchildren were killed in the fierce battle. When Sowbhakyasundari heard about the death of her children, she lamented in grief at the battlefield.
Vishnu, disguised as a Bhramin, came to the scene of battle and consoled her. He explained to her about the philosophies of life and death. Then he took her and the king to a lake and asked the queen to have a bath. This time, after the bath, the woman turned into the original form of Naradha again. The veena and deer skin appeared under the tree again.
Naradha saw Vishnu standing guard under the tree with a mischievous smile and the Bhramin had disappeared. Then slowly everything came back to memory. The king too was in a dilemma about his wife's absence and Vishnu explained to him what had happened. He asked the king to take a bath and involve himself in penance, which he did and reached heaven. Vishnu and Naradha left the Earth and returned to their abode. (Devi Bhagavatham - 8th Skandam ).
Once, when Naradha was wandering around, it started raining heavily. He took refuge in a nearby hut. He saw a beautiful woman inside the hut, and enamoured by her beauty, he proposed to her. They married and had many children. Then, one day, their place was submerged due to a flood and he lost his wife and children in the flood. When he was filled with sorrow, Krishna came and enquired about his experience of Maya. Naradha told him that he had understood about Maya enough and requested him to relieve him from its grasp.
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