PLATE SEVEN
Sagara Mahārāja performed  aśvamedha  sacrifices and thus satisfied the Supreme Lord, but Indra, the King of heaven, stole the horse meant to be offered at the sacrifice. Then King Sagara ordered the sixty-thousand sons of his wife Sumati to search for the lost horse. They finally found the horse near the  āśrama  of Kapila Muni, the great saint and incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu. "Here is the man who has stolen the horse," they said. "He is staying there with closed eyes. Certainly he is very sinful. Kill him! Kill him!" Shouting like this, the sons of Sagara raised their weapons. Then, because they had lost their intelligence and disrespected a great personality, fire emanated from their own bodies, and the sons of Sagara were immediately burned to ashes. Later, King Sagara's grandson, Aṁśumān, also searched for the lost horse and came upon Lord Kapila sitting near the remains of Aṁśumān's uncles. When Aṁśumān saw Kapila sitting by the lost sacrificial horse, he offered Him respectful obeisances, folded his hands and prayed with great attention: "O Supersoul of all living entities, O Personality of Godhead, simply by seeing You I have now been freed from all lusty desires, which are the root cause of insurmountable illusion and bondage in the material world." Thereupon, out of His causeless mercy, the Personality of Godhead said: "My dear Aṁśumān, here is the animal sought by your grandfather for sacrifice. Please take it. As for your forefathers, who have been burned to ashes, they can be delivered only by Ganges water, and not by any other means." ( pp. 242-259 )