When we take incarnation in a human body, we willingly submit to a veil of forgetfulness so that we can experience duality, gather experiences, and test our growth as a soul. This veil of forgetfulness is called Maya in the Hindu tradition, and much has been written about its baffling power.
One of the most beautiful and famous parables in Hindu philosophy—a story about the deity Krishna and the celestial sage Narada—is often used to illustrate the staggering grip of Maya. It shows just how quickly we can forget our true spiritual nature and our soul’s deepest intentions once we are immersed in the material world.
The Parable of Narada and Krishna
Narada, a supreme devotee of Vishnu (incarnate on Earth as Krishna), was traveling through the worlds. Because of his intense devotion and high spiritual standing, a tiny speck of spiritual pride had crept into his heart. He believed he fully understood the nature of the universe and considered himself completely immune to the illusions of the material world.
During a visit with Krishna, Narada confidently asked, “Lord, I understand the workings of this world, but please, explain to me the secret of your Maya. What is this illusion that binds all human beings?”
Krishna smiled his characteristically enigmatic smile and said, “Narada, Maya is difficult to explain in words. Let us take a walk, and perhaps you will understand.”
They walked across a hot, dusty desert under a blazing sun. After some time, Krishna sat down under the shade of a tree, looking visibly exhausted.
“Narada,” Krishna said, “I am terribly parched. There is a village just over that hill. Would you be so kind as to fetch me a cup of water?”
Narada, eager to serve his Lord, immediately grabbed a vessel and rushed off toward the village.
The Illusion Takes Hold
When Narada reached the village, he knocked on the door of the very first house. The door opened, and standing there was a young woman of breathtaking beauty. The moment Narada looked into her eyes, something shifted inside him. The desert, his mission, and even Krishna waiting under the tree completely vanished from his mind.
He was utterly captivated. Instead of asking for water, he found himself speaking to her father, asking for her hand in marriage. The father happily agreed.
Narada married the beautiful woman and settled down in the village. He built a home, farmed the land, and became a respected member of the community. In time, they had children, and later, grandchildren. Narada was deeply happy, completely absorbed in the joys, worries, duties, and deep attachments of a householder’s life. Twelve years passed in what felt like a rich, full lifetime.
The Storm and the Wake-Up Call
In the twelfth year, a catastrophic monsoon hit the region. The nearby river broke its banks, and a violent flash flood tore through the village, sweeping away houses and crops.
In the chaos, Narada tried desperately to save his family. He held his wife with one hand and his children with the other, wading through the raging, waist-deep waters. But the current was too strong. One by one, his children were ripped from his grasp and swept away. Finally, a massive wave struck, tearing his beloved wife from his arms.
Narada was washed downstream, battered, exhausted, and utterly broken. He eventually dragged himself onto a muddy bank, weeping uncontrollably in absolute despair. He had lost everything—his home, his beautiful wife, and his children.
The Return to Reality
As he lay there crying out in agony, the storm clouds suddenly vanished, and the raging waters disappeared. The landscape instantaneously shifted back into the dry, dusty desert.
Narada looked up. There was no village, no flood, and no family.
Standing right in front of him was Krishna, looking perfectly relaxed, holding out an empty hand. With a gentle, teasing look in his eyes, Krishna asked:
“Narada, I have been waiting for quite a while. Where is my water? You have been gone for nearly half an hour.”
The Remorse of Narada
Narada fell at Krishna’s feet, weeping now not out of grief, but out of a profound, shattering realization. In just thirty minutes of earthly time, Krishna had allowed him to experience twelve years of an entire lifetime—complete with its intense love, deep attachments, crushing grief, and absolute distraction.
The story serves as a profound metaphor:
- The Village represents the material world (Samsara).
- The Beautiful Woman and Family represent the attachments, roles, and identities we form (as spouses, parents, professionals).
- The Flood represents time and our ultimate physical death, which inevitably sweep away everything we own or cling to in our human life.
Krishna’s demonstration showed Narada that Maya is an incredibly powerful, immersive psychological force that can make a soul completely forget its divine origin and purpose in the blink of an eye.
Parallel Near-Death Experiences
This ancient concept of a “cosmic forgetfulness” is not just confined to old texts. Time and time again, modern individuals who undergo Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) report a strikingly similar phenomenon. Upon crossing over, they are shown how completely they forgot their soul’s intentions, often realizing they were not living the life they had carefully planned for themselves before birth.
Anita Moorjani
Dying of end-stage lymphoma, Anita Moorjani’s organs were failing when she slipped into a coma in 2006 and experienced a vast, hyper-aware dimension.
During her NDE, Anita realized that she had spent her entire life engulfed in fear—fear of not being good enough, fear of disease, and an intense compulsion to “people-please” at the expense of her own well-being. She understood that her true purpose wasn’t to be a martyr or to shrink herself to fit into cultural expectations, but to be fearlessly authentic and embody her own divine value.
She was shown that her cancer was a physical manifestation of this severe, lifelong emotional and spiritual energy depletion. She was told that if she chose to return to her body, her purpose would be to live fearlessly and share this truth with others. Upon making the choice to return, her body underwent a miraculous, rapid healing, and she completely pivoted her life to become an author and speaker.
Erika McKenzie
Erika McKenzie was a registered nurse who, on the surface, seemed to be doing everything right. Internally, however, she was battling a severe, hidden addiction to diet pills and an eating disorder. In 2002, her heart failed, leading to a profound NDE.
When she entered a realm of overwhelming, non-judgmental love and stood in the presence of God, the superficial metrics she had used to measure her worth—her physical appearance, her weight, and the masking of her pain—instantly dissolved into irrelevance. She realized she was completely missing the mark on why she was here.
She experienced a profound wake-up call regarding the value of the soul over the external vessel. She was shown that every individual has a unique, invaluable piece of the puzzle to bring to the world. She returned with a completely restructured worldview, leaving her destructive habits behind to focus on holistic healing, emotional vulnerability, and helping others look past external illusions.
George Ritchie
Dr. George Ritchie’s 1943 NDE (which famously inspired Dr. Raymond Moody to begin his pioneering study of the phenomenon) offers a classic example of a paradigm shift regarding purpose. As a young soldier who died of pneumonia, Ritchie was guided through a life review by a Being of Light.
Ritchie had always considered himself a good, religious person. However, during his life review, he watched his actions from a detached, spiritual perspective and realized that many of his “good deeds” were actually driven by a desire for personal validation, pride, and ego, rather than pure love.
The Being of Light asked him a central, staggering question: “What have you done with your life to show me that you’ve learned to love?” Ritchie realized he had been fulfilling a superficial, checklist version of righteousness rather than the true spiritual purpose of selfless love. When he revived, he dedicated the rest of his life to psychiatry, teaching, and deeply impactful counseling, fundamentally altered by that confrontation.
Awakening from the Dream
The striking parallel between Narada’s thirty-minute “lifetime” and the modern NDE life review reveals a timeless truth: the physical world is a beautifully designed, highly convincing simulator. Just as Narada forgot his thirst-stricken Lord the moment he entered the village, we too become easily ensnared by the earthly scripts of status, fear, bodily perfection, and ego validation. We mistake the roles we play for the reality of who we are.
Whether through an ancient parable or a modern medical crisis, the message remains identical. We do not need to wait for a literal “flash flood” or a flatlining heart to remember why we came here. By stepping back from the demands of the ego and peering through the veil of Maya, we can remember our true mission in real-time: to transcend fear, to honor the unique puzzle piece we carry, and to answer the only question that ultimately echoes into eternity—how well did you learn to love?
