Story of Sage Vashishta and Vishwamitra is associated with the divine cow Kamadhenu and about Vishwamitra realizing that spiritual power is more powerful than the powers of a king and his weapons.
During a hunting expedition, King Vishwamitra visited the ashram of Sage Vasishta. The king was impressed with the serene and peaceful environment. Sage Vasishta invited the king and his retinue to have food in the ashram.
The king doubted whether the Sage had the capacity to feed his large retinue. So he politely requested the Sage to avoid the hardship.
But the Sage insisted and the King relented.
Sage Vasishta then invited Kamadhenu, the divine cow, which lived in the ashram of Sage Vasishta.
The Sage then requested Kamadhenu to provide food fit for a great king.
In the blink of an eye, food fit for the royal entourage was created from thin air by the divine cow.
Vishwamitra and his army ate to their heart’s content. They had never tasted such tasty food and delicacies.
King Vishwamitra felt that the divine cow would be of greater use to a king than to a sage.
As the king of the land, King Vishwamitra demanded that the cow be given to him. The King gave the Sage several tempting offers in exchange of the divine cow.
But Sage Vasishta was not ready to forgo the cow and this led to a confrontation between the king and the sage.
The king ordered his soldiers to capture the divine cow. But the cow shook off his tormentors and ran to Sage Vasishta.
Sage Vasishta used his spiritual powers and requested the divine cow to protect herself and the ashram from the unruly king.
Suddenly hordes and hordes of warriors sprang up from the body of the cow and rushed towards the king’s soldiers.
The army of the king was destroyed. The sons of the King were burnt by the spiritual power of the Sage.
The king realized that his soldiers, kingly power, weapons are of no match to Vasishta’s power of penance, truth and nonviolence.
He then gave his kingdom to his only remaining son and went to perform intense austerities.
After several years, he became a Rishi. Soon, he became a Brahmarishi with powers equal to Sage Vasishta.