Before he became a Sage, Vishwamitra was a king named Kaushika. He was a powerful and arrogant king. The story of the transformation of Kaushika to Vishwamitra symbolically shows the greatness of spirituality over wealth and power. One day King Kaushika and his troops reached the ashram of Sage Vasishta. The king and his soldiers were warmly welcomed by Sage Vasishta. Sage Vasishta invited them for food. The arrogant king doubted how a poor sage could feed him and his army. To his surprise the king and his soldiers were treated to the best foods. So much food and different varieties of food was served to all the people. King wanted to know how a poor Sage could prepare such huge amount of food in a short span of time. The Sage Vasishta revealed that he was the owner of the divine cow Kamadhenu – the holy cow was a wish fulfilling cow. Kaushika now wanted the cow as he felt the animal would be more useful to a king than to a sage. Sage Vasishta said that