CYAVANA MUNI- STORY
In Srimad Bhagavatam in ninth canto, there is a story of Cyavana muni.
He was very powerful yogi. Millions of time more powerful than any materialist today in his ability to fulfill his material desires. He had attained very great mystic powers.
And of course when one becomes very powerful spiritually or materially, the tendency is to become very proud and in pride the greatest danger is that we can offend saintly persons.
So Chyavana muni , as it is described, somehow offended the great devotee Garuda. By doing this, although he was very respected for his very high position, if Krishna does not protect us then nobody however great we are , however advanced spiritually we are, we cannot control our senses even from the grossest activities.
It is not possible. The greatest illusion even in spiritual life is to think that by spiritual advancement we can protect ourselves from falling into clutches of Maya, but the fact is
rāga-dveṣa-vimuktais tu
viṣayān indriyaiś caran
ātma-vaśyair vidheyātmā
prasādam adhigacchati (BG 2.64)
It is only by the mercy of Krishna that we can maintain any spiritual position at all.
It is only by the mercy of Krishna that we can control our senses, even from the slightest temptation of illusory energy .
It is not by our own power. Of course we must follow the rules and regulations of Krishna Consciousness in spiritual life according to our capacity and when Krishna sees that we are sincere and we are humbly attempting and trying, He will give us the power to control our senses and overcome the temptations of illusion.
But without Krishna’s help, we cannot do anything.
So Chayavan muni, although was very advanced in the yogic process, because of this pride he offended a great devotee and therefore Krishna simply withdrew His mercy and if Krishna can withdraw His mercy from a great spiritualist like this then what to speak of the gross materialist who is trying to look for pleasures in this world.
Such a powerful yogi he was. He was in the Yamuna under the water for thousands of years performing meditations. Who of us could do that?
Such power of control that he even had the power to control his breath. He did not even have to breathe air for thousands of years. This is the power he had to control his senses.
While he was living under the water one day, he saw a male and female fish enjoying the pleasures of s….x together. Now what is our position in comparison to his as far as the ability to control our senses?
And when we see birds or insects or fish having sexual pleasure together, does it disturb our minds? We just go on walking, doesn’t mean anything to us, but illusory energy of the Lord is so powerful, that if one is not protected by the lord, then even something so insignificant as that, can completely infatuate one’s attention .
So Chayavan muni was thinking when he saw all this that “Oh! the pleasures of s…x are so wonderful. Look at how these fish are enjoying.”
He thought I must have this facility. He came out of the water, simply hunting for a consort to enjoy material pleasures with and he came across some beautiful damsels who were princesses.
He approached their father who said,” You are an old man and my daughters are not attracted to you.
Besides being very old and having long-matted grey hair, and because he was under water for so long, his skin was all wrinkled from too much exposure to water.
They were not at all attracted. After all young ladies do not wish to have a husband who is an old sadhu . They like someone who is very strong, handsome and wealthy.
So by his mystic power he transformed his form into the most young beautiful, handsome prince . Who of us could do that?
Then when he came, all the princesses wanted him. So he expanded himself to satisfy each and every one of them. In this way he married, he enjoyed like anything.
He was given tremendous wealth , tremendous powers. By his mysticism, he was able to create beautiful kingdoms, wonderful wonderful facilities to enjoy.
He had literally at his control everything he wanted by his mystic powers and by the inheritance of what he had been given by his father -in- law.
With these beautiful princesses, to the extent that anyone could imagine, he was enjoying material life.
But after a short time of doing like this, he realized that no matter in how many forms I expand myself, no matter how much wealth I create by my mystic powers, no matter how beautiful these young girls are, he is frustrated and they were frustrated.
He could understand what a great mistake he had made and he realized that this is because I had offended this great devotee of the Lord that I lost all my intelligence completely.
Ultimately he and his wives all renounced everything and accepted the renounced order.
MORAL:
So what is there to be learnt from this story? First of all whoever we are, however great we are, unless we are humbly taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord it is not possible for us ultimately to control our senses because we are all under His power. He can take away our intelligence. He can cover us by Maya. He can cover us by yoga maya. He can do anything He wants. We are eternally His servitors.
(SPECIALITY OF RAMA – STORY! READ HERE!)