Text 49
sa kadācid upāsīna
ātmāpahnavam ātmanaḥ
dadarśa bahv-ṛcācāryo
mīna-saṅga-samutthitam
saḥ — he, Saubhari Muni; kadācit — one day; upāsīnaḥ — sitting down; ātma-apahnavam — degrading oneself from the platform of tapasya; ātmanaḥ — self-caused; dadarśa — observed; bahu-ṛca-ācāryaḥ — Saubhari Muni, who was expert in chanting mantras; mīna-saṅga — the sexual affairs of fish; samutthitam — caused by this incident.
Thereafter, one day while Saubhari Muni, who was expert in chanting mantras, was sitting in a secluded place, he thought to himself about the cause of his falldown, which was simply that he had associated himself with the sexual affairs of the fish.
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks that Saubhari Muni had fallen from his austerity because of a vaiṣṇava-aparādha. The history is that when Garuḍa wanted to eat fish, Saubhari Muni unnecessarily gave the fish shelter under his care. Because Garuḍa’s plans for eating were disappointed, Saubhari Muni certainly committed a great offense to a Vaiṣṇava. Because of this vaiṣṇava-aparādha, an offense at the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava, Saubhari Muni fell from his exalted position of mystic tapasya. One should not, therefore, impede the activities of a Vaiṣṇava. This is the lesson we must learn from this incident concerning Saubhari Muni.