There was once a very handsome King named Trishanku. He had a strong desire to go to Heaven with his physical body, so he went to his Master, Vashishtha, and told him about this desire. Trishanku begged Vashishtha to create for him a special mountain so that he could walk right up to Heaven.
Vashishtha said to him, "You fool, nobody can do that. With the physical body, you cannot go to Heaven. It is impossible. Give up this desire. It is the height of stupidity."
Trishanku felt sad and miserable. He left his kingdom on foot to look for another Master who would be kind enough to fulfil his desire. One day he came upon Vashishtha's sons. He said to them, "Your father could not help me, but I am sure you have more spiritual power. You are practising austerities, while your father is now old and does not practise spirituality anymore. I am not criticising your father, but please, please help me. Please grant me this boon: I want to go to Heaven with this physical body of mine."
Vashishtha's sons became angry at Trishanku. They said, "If our father discouraged you, if our father dissuaded you from this desire, we will never fulfil it! It is impossible! What the father says has to be carried out by the sons. We will not help you in any way, you fool. Now, allow us to meditate peacefully."
Then one of Vashishtha's sons cursed Trishanku. He made the King's face ugly and took away his royal stature.
Now Trishanku felt more miserable than ever. His Guru had not helped him. And his Guru's sons had not only failed to help him but had been rude and ruthless to him. He went on walking until he came to the cottage owned by the sage Vishwamitra. He told Vishwamitra his sad story and prayed to Vishwamitra to help him.
Since Vishwamitra and Vashishtha were always at daggers drawn, Vishwamitra was very kind to Trishanku when he heard his story. Vishwamitra said, "I shall definitely help you. I will use all my spiritual and occult power to enable you to go to Heaven with your physical body. But I do not want to waste my power in transforming your face once again."
So Vishwamitra used all his power and took Trishanku to Heaven bodily. But when Trishanku arrived in Heaven, some of the cosmic gods, especially Indra, became terribly jealous of him. "You are a mortal," they said. "How can you be here with your physical body? How can you break the cosmic law?" And they threw him out of Heaven.
When they threw Trishanku out, it took a little time for him to fall to earth again. While he was descending, midway between Heaven and earth he cried out, "Vishwamitra, you took me to Heaven, but the gods have thrown me out. What are you going to do?"
Vishwamitra said, "Wait, wait! I am coming to save you!" With his occult power Vishwamitra kept Trishanku suspended in mid-air between Heaven and earth. Vishwamitra was furious with the cosmic gods. He said, " I used all my occult power to take him to Heaven; now the cosmic gods are jealous of him. I will fight against Indra and all the cosmic gods. I shall meditate and get more occult power and spiritual power to fight against them."
Vishwamitra meditated for many, many years, and then he mustered all his occult power and spiritual power. He said, "All right, if Brahma could create the universe, then I too can create a universe." And he created another world with stars, a sun and planets, only for Trishanku to live in.
As soon as Vishwamitra created a new world for Trishanku, the cosmic gods again became jealous. They said to the sage, "Why have you made him another world? He doesn't have to have another world. You demolish it, and we shall allow him to remain in Heaven."
Vishwamitra said, "Even if you allow him to remain in Heaven peacefully, I shall keep my world safe. Now you are promising that you will allow him to stay in Heaven, but I know that as soon as I destroy my world, you will throw him out again. Then again I will have to meditate for many years to get occult power and spiritual power to help him."
The cosmic gods said, "All right, we agree that he can stay either in our world or in your world. But we have only one request: while he stays in your world, let him hang in midair with his head towards the earth and his legs towards Heaven." Vishwamitra said, "Oh, that is nothing to him. From now on his legs will remain upward and his head downward."
So poor Trishanku had to stay upside down in Vishwamitra's world to enjoy Vishwamitra's new creation.