Bull Among Sages Refuses to Refill Ocean
The gods have won. The danavas are dead or scattered. But the ocean is still dry — and the sage who drained it has digested every drop. When the gods ask him to give the water back, he tells them plainly: it is gone. They will have to find another way.
The battle was over. The danavas lay dead, and the gods stood in the dry bed of what had once been the ocean. They turned to the bull among sages — the one who had drained the waters in the first place — and they gratified him with diverse praises and words.
"O immensely fortunate one! Through your favours, the worlds have obtained great happiness. The Kaleyas, cruel in valour, have been killed through your energy. O mighty-armed one! You ensure the welfare of the worlds. Fill up the ocean again, by giving up the water that you had drunk."
The bull among sages listened. Then he replied.
"The water has already been digested by me. Think of some other means and make your best efforts to fill up the ocean."
The gods were surprised. They were distressed. The sage whose soul had been perfected stood before them, and his words were final. The water he had drunk was no longer water. It had been absorbed, transformed, become part of him. There was no way to extract it and return it to the ocean basin.
The gods took each other's leave. They bowed in salutation to the bull among sages and departed. The subjects and brahmanas who had gathered to witness the events also returned to wherever they had come from.
The thirty gods, together with Vishnu, went to the grandfather — Brahma, the creator, the one who had been born from the lotus and who sat at the center of all things. They joined their hands in salutation and spoke to him about the problem. They consulted again and again about how to fill up the ocean.
The sage had done what they needed him to do. But he could not undo it. And so the gods, who had just won a great victory, found themselves facing a new question: how do you put back what has been consumed? Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 400