Sri Ramana and the animals

[Guest guest]

"On the 24th instant at 10-30 a.m. the Master was dozing. A female squirrel

leapt on his couch and bit his thumb which he quickly pulled back and stroked,

remarking, 'I'll not feed her.' Other squirrels crowded on his couch and for

half an hour he continued to feed them with cashew nuts, one nut at a time to

each. Then he turned to us and, pointing to one of them, said: 'This

She-squirrel has been trying to fool me, thinking I do not recognise her, and so

shall feed her. Once she comes from this side, once from the other, once from

under the couch and once from above it. But I recognise her very well. She shall

not have anything,' and laughed. At that the following vague thought crossed my

mind: 'Where is the Christ's injunction that if a man slaps you on one cheek

offer him the other?'

 

 

 

"Today a squirrel jumped from the window to the couch. The Master looked at it

intently. He gave it a nut, then another and addressed it: 'Now go. Have you

come to bite me again?' I quickly guessed that that was the guilty squirrel of

four days ago and wondered how Sri Bhagavan recognised it and relented.

Nevertheless, I asked him if my guess was right, and he confirmed it. After a

while the same squirrel came back for more nuts. Usually the Master continues to

feed the animals till of their own accord they cease to come. But to this one he

refused to give again and, seeing it persisting, he lifted his fan in threat,

which made it disappear at once. Then he sat with a pensive look and a faint

smile on his face. After a while he turned to my direction, broadened his smile

and softly spoke in Tamil in his usual telegraphic brevity to my neighbour:

 

'Even animals understand a rebuke and, if it is repeated a sufficient number of

times, they learn to behave. Some of them are more sensible than some others...'

This was immediately translated to me. I laughed, frankly admitted the vauge

thought I had had on the first day, and added that although I had never doubted

Sri Bhagavan's wisdom, that thought needed the explanation, which made the

Master nod approvingly.''

 

from Guru Ramana Memoirs and Notes

By S. S. Cohen