Once Sudama asked Shri Krishna out of curiosity, “Kanha, I want to see your Maya. What is Maya actually like?” Shri Krishna wanted to avoid this question, but in front of Sudama’s insistence, he smiled and said, “Okay, I will show you myself when the time comes.” One day Krishna said, “Sudama, come, let us go to bathe in Gomti.” Both of them reached the banks of river Gomti, took off their clothes and entered the water. Within a few moments, Shri Krishna returned to the shore after taking bath and started wearing his Pitambara. Sudama thought – I will also take one more dip. As soon as he took a dip, God showed him his illusion.
Sudama felt that there was a sudden flood in Gomti and it was flowing. Somehow he stopped near a ghat and came out. There was an unknown city all around. When he moved ahead, he saw that an elephant came and put a garland of flowers around his neck. People gathered and said, “Our king has passed away. The tradition is that the one on whose neck an elephant puts a garland is the king. Now you are our king.”
Sudama was surprised. He was crowned king, married a princess and with time he also had two sons. Life was going on happily until one day his wife fell seriously ill and eventually died. Sudama drowned in grief. Then people said, “The rule of Mayapuri is that the king has to enter the funeral pyre with his queen.”
Sudama got scared after hearing this. He thought – I have not died, then why should I burn? Now, forgetting his wife’s grief, he started worrying about himself. He said, “I am not a resident of this city.” But no one agreed. At last he requested – “Let me take a bath before I die.” He was taken to the river with guards. As soon as Sudama, trembling with fear, took a dip in the water and came out, the city of Maya was lost. In front was the same Gomati bank and Shri Krishna was still wearing Pitambara. Sudama started crying bitterly.
Shri Krishna, pretending to be unaware, asked, “Sudama, why are you crying?” Sudama said, “Lord, what I saw – was it true or this?” Krishna smiled – “Whatever you saw and experienced was Maya, a dream. Truth is I. Maya is ignorance, self-forgetfulness. One who knows Me, Maya cannot bind him.” Sudama understood and whoever understood, how could he be different from Shri Krishna.