Bhagavan....Oh! A Tiger Oh! A Man

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\In those years there used to be tigers and leopards on Arunachala. Ramana had

no fear because the sign of a jnani is desirelessness and fearlessness. Hence

the wild animals would not be frightened of him. An interesting incident is

recorded by Vasudeva Sastri. " In the broad daylight Swamiji and I were seated

on the rock outside the cave. In the valley below, a tiger and a leopard were

playing with each other and Bhagavan was smiling as he watched the friendly

movement of the two animals. I was however in a terrible fright and requested

Bhagavan to come into the cave. he was adamant and sat there motionless. As for

myself, I sought the shelter of the cave. The two animals played about for a

while, looked at Swamiji in the same way as pets do, and without any fear or

expression of anger, went their own way, one going up the hill and other down.

When I came out of the cave and asked, 'Swamiji, weren't you afraid when the two

animals were playing about so close to you?' Bhagavan said with a smile, 'Why

have fear? I knew as I saw then that, after a while, one of them would go up the

hill and the other down. And they did. If we get frightened and say, 'Oh! a

tiger! they will also get frightened and say, Oh! A man!. and will rush forward

to kill us. If we do not have fear, they too will not have any fear and will

then move about freely and peacefully'. in spite of all the Bhagavan had said,

Sastry added, 'My fear never left me'.

 

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This was snipped from Timeless in time by Natarajan