Friends from across the pond

What are you doing, Spotty? asked Stripes stifling a yawn and sneezing.

Dusting up! said Spotty, Go back to sleep.
I wasn't sleeping, I was practicing self-enquiry, answered Stripes, a little annoyed at being disturbed.

Little six-month old Spotty was removing layers of dust and cobwebs from the tables and chairs and furniture.

What has possessed you? asked Stripes really surprised.

Some devotees are coming over, from far far away.

How far, enquired Uncle Stripes, almost awake now.

Spotty dusted and turned the globe on the table. Here is where we are, and there, across the pond is where they are coming from.
Thats a huuuuge distance, son. It's not exactly a pond, its a huge ocean, I believe. It would take them ages to reach here.

They land tomorrow morning!

Tomorrow! Land! said Stripes, aghast.


They are flying in by dragon, and should be in time for iddlies and saambaar. I am getting some lassi ready in case they find the saambaar a tad hot for their western palates.

Stripes looked around the cave. Apart from the desk on which Father's photographs stood, and the other pictures on the cave walls, the rest of the cave looked quite ... like a cave should look ... dirty and dusty.

See, I have written a little poem for my lion bwuthers.

Lions did you say, asked Stripes shivering. (Lions frightened him.)

Stripes read the poem slowly:

Lord, people find their joy in things of this world
What they see in it, i do not have eyes to
I find my joy in You, You are my love,
my eternal love.
Your eyes are my favorite jewels,
my eyes see only You.

I hope Mum Lioness approves, asked Spotty nervously. It's my forst poem.

post written by Tirucub

One day the cubs were going along waiting for their math class to start. Omcub was saying don't you think long division is too long, and Arunacub was saying to Tirucub are you sure you know the square root of 65? And Tiru was saying oh yes of course I do but I don't like to waste words.

Then Mum Lioness called them into the cave. It was a very instrading math class. Number one, Spotty was trying to remove his spots with the chalk eraser but it was not being too successful and Mum Lioness kept asking for the eraser back. Then a little later in the class Mum Lioness was asking Arunacub the powers of 2 and using the example of turbans ... if a turban doubled and then each of those turbans doubled ... but Aruna was insisting that he take his turban down to Bhagavan to have it blessed. Mum lioness was saying but I also have to teach you social studies and science but Arunacub insisted that the turban could only be fully blessed right NOW due to matters known only to extreme turban lovers. Finally math was over and it was time for science. Mum Lioness started planning the lesson. The lesson went as follows:

Mum Lioness took Spotty to the front of the class and perched him on a little box which she assured him had been blessed by Bhagavan. Then Spotty's picture was drawn on the blackboard by Mum Lioness and Spotty was allowed to count the spots and then erase them with the very same chalk eraser he had tried to use before on his real spots. Then all the cubs were supposed to give in a little report on how different Spotty would be without his spots.

After that Mum Lioness had to think and think about the next lessons, so the cubs had a little free time and they chose to use that free time on going to Med Tiger. They found Med Tiger in his cave with a little pot of ink and a pen going over some writing that seemed to be all about how he could be helped by Bhagavan on self-enquiry. He was editing his writing with the pen Bhagavan had lent him. Med Tiger was drinking some very weak coffee. He sent his writing down the hill to Bhagavan in the form of paper airplanes.

Tirucub got to the point immediately. "Unca Stripes, it kept me up all night, the mystery of Spotty staying six months old forever. I can't stand it anymore! PLEASE explain this!"

Sundaram Iyer Day

Mum Lioness woke up to a cub joyfully biting her ear.

"Sundaram Iyer Day!" whispered Arunacub, in case the ear nipping had not pulled her from her dream.




"I'd better get Spotty," said Omcub and he dashed to the cave next door where he found Meditator Tiger sound asleep and Spotty wide awake.




"C'mon, it's Sundaram Iyer Day," shouted Om. Spotty leapt for his brother, tackled him twice, and then followed him back to the other cave.

"What prazackly is Sundaram Iyer Day?" asked Spotty, hoping no one would laugh at his not being too clear about this holiday.

"It's prazackly a day all about Bhagavan's FATHER," Om explained.

Arunacub, adjusting his turban so no fur showed on the top of his head, gazed into the distance murmuring, "Sundaram, Sundaram," so lost in bliss he could not add anything to Omcub's explanation.

"What do we do on Sundaram Day?" asked Spotty, wanting to get the whole thing straight.

"Don't look so worried," said Tirucub gently, "We know you weren't even born last Sundaram Day, so no one could expect you to know."

Spotty looked very relieved.

"But since Spotty is always six months old, won't he still not know what Sundaram Day is next year?" asked Arunacub, who never tired of trying to solve the mystery of Spotty's permanent baby age, or its implications.

"That's right," said Tirucub, and he turned back to Spotty to explain things further. "We don't do ANY work and we eat chocolate covered almonds."

Mum Lioness raised a very skeptical eyebrow.

"And we look at Sundaram's picture and blow kisses to him," added Arunacub, rushing over to his favourite Sundaram photo.



"Chocolate covered almonds before brekkie?" asked Spotty hopefully, looking over at Mum Lioness with an extra cute expression.

"No, no, chocolate covered almonds FOR brekkie," said Tirucub. "Almonds are full of nutrition." He noticed Arunacub and chided him, "That's enough of that bliss stuff, let's do something practical ..."

Arunacub seemed not to hear him, but Omcub excitedly asked, "What kind of pracktabul stuff can we do?" He hoped it might involve scissors and glue, or, better yet, hammers and saws.

"Let's make some turbans and give them out to hungry turbanless sadhus, along with some of the chocolate covered almonds," said Tirucub.

Dreamily, Arunacub turned and nodded his ascent.

"I've never made a turban," said Spotty.

"Neither have I!" said Omcub.

"None of us has," said Tirucub.

"Will you show us how?" asked Arunacub, bringing out some cotton and scissors. Just then a sleepy Med Tiger came strolling over with his cup of weak coffee.

"If Mum Lioness teaches us, we can make a whole bunch and Mum Lioness won't have to have a dazausting day making them all by herseff," said Omcub persuasively.



To be continued ...

Keep Advaita within the heart while eating waffles

The cubs were eating their waffles and remembering the lesson Mum Lioness had given them the day before on manners ... though luckily Mum Lioness had not taken the whole thing too far and had added that if one has ever made maple syrup, or is born to a lioness who has made maple syrup, one is fully entitled to lick the place clean, though never in front of visitors who are unfamiliar with this unusual rule.



But still, the cubses did not like their freedom being curbed at all ... so Tirucub hit upon what he thought was the perfect retort. "If all is one, why does it matter how we eat our waffles?" And then he added a little self-enquiry twist at the end, just in case his first argument was not enough to bring Mum Lioness around. "And who minds?" he asked, hiding a pleased smile behind a sticky paw.

Mum Lioness did her best to explain ... but a little while later, Tirucub teased Arunacub, who could not bear any sort of teasing and raised a small toy in his paw to create the impression that he might have to throw it at Tiru if the teasing went any further.

"Don't!" shouted Tirucub dramatically. "If you throw that, you are throwing it at Bhagavan."

"No I am throwing it at YOU!" countered an impassioned Arunacub.

"All is the Self," said Tiru, comfortably strolling back and forth in front of Arunacub's raised paw, knowing Arunacub would now be unable to throw the toy. Tirucub stretched and purred a little to show how VERY relaxed he was.

At this point Mum Lioness felt she had to try to explain the first part of verse 39 of Ulladu Narpadu. "Keep advaita within the heart. Do not try to carry it into action," she told them firmly. The cubs forgot their argument and began to pepper her with whys and but what abouts.

"The ego is crafty, and will work this to its advantage," explained Mum Lioness."Who is suddenly saying All is One when not getting its way?"

"The ego?" said Arunacub.

"Yes," said Med Tiger, who had been listening at the cave entrance and noticing that little Omcub had only eaten a few tiny nips around the edge of his waffle which was nicely droozled with syrup. (He hoped his association with Mum Lioness would qualify him to lick the Om plate after he had tidied up the leftovers.)

"Only the Sage can put Advaita into action, because He is egoless ... isn't that what Lakshman Sarma told us?" Mum Lioness asked Med Tiger.

"Exactly so," said Stripes.

"In your cases," Mum Lioness said to the cubses, nudging Spotty between her paws so he could eat off her plate, "you must try to behave impeccably and not justify wrong deeds but suddenly pulling out the All is One card."

"Impeccably?" said Om, liking the sound of the word but not having any idea what it meant.

"Is that something birds do a lot?" asked Arunacub. Before Mum Lioness could try to explain the meaning of the word, Aruna and Om collapsed into a sticky chuckling heap on the cave floor. Repeating the word impeccably would set them off into a fresh burst.

Mum Lioness was laughing just as hard, which gave little Spotty a chance to finish her breakfast.

"Isn't it night time in your cave?' asked Tirucub, watching Spotty so eager to eat breakfast.

"Perhaps," said Uncle Stripes, "but we regard syrupy waffles as the ideal bedtime snack."

The cubs ask more questions on enquiry

The cubs were huddled together. The eldest, Tirucub, was explaining to Aruna-cub and Om-cub the concept of time-zones. Of how it could be night in Unca Stripes cave next door while it was daytime in their own cave.
Or how when it was time for Unca Stripes and little brother Spotty to sleep, when the three lion cubs had just awoken.

Then they went over to Unca Stripes. He was still awake. They asked him to tell them about Self-enquiry. Little Om wanted to know how the desire for liberation arose.

Unca Stripes took a deep breath. No doubt lion cubs were far smarter than human ones, or even other animal ones. However, one usually never had to explain Self-enquiry to cubs who were still being picked up by their mother by their neck. Cubs who looked like their eyes had barely opened a few days earlier.

Unca Stripes took another deep breath. The cubs looked eagerly at him. The loving face of Bhagavan Ramana appeared in his mind and Stripes' heart filled with joy.

He began:

The simplest way is thus. When there is a deep desire to merge into Bhagavan Ramana --

He paused and asked them, do you have a deep longing to merge into Bhagavan's Feet?
All three cubs nodded their heads vigorously.
He continued: When there is a deep desire to merge into His Feet, then He takes care. He will do what is needed so that you join Him, so that the separation is removed.
It is not necessary that you even have to enquire. But if you do need to, then He will himself quieten the mind and do the enquiry.

He will do it, the cubs asked wide-eyed and astonished.

Yes, answered Stripes, It is impossible to put this into words. The Self will bringing silence about. And in that silence or peace, inquiry will happen.

The cubs sat in silence trying to digest that.

Stripes continued: As long as your mind is always on Bhagavan, always happy in Him, or longing for Him, your desire to be your true self will increase. That's all you have to do.
If you are ever unhappy, (which you have no reason to be, since Bhagavan is always here), let it be unhappiness due to separation from the Self, and unhappiness due to no other reason.

We never are really separate from the Bhagavan, are we? asked Tirucub.

No answered, Unca Stripes. Of course not.

It's growing a bit dark here, is it not? asked Om cub.

Yes, let us drop you back to your cave. You should be getting ready for Math lessons, while little Spotty should be getting to sleep.

We go back into the Self when we sleep, don't we? asked Spotty eagerly, yawning.

Yes, replied Stripes.
Spotty promptly jumped into his freshly made bed and the three cubs tucked him in nicely ensuring he was facing Bhagavan's photographs as he slept.
Bhagavan's eyes were clearly fixed on little Spotty as he shut his eyes. It looked like Bhagavan could not take his eyes off the cub. Not for a second.

"I am here", Bhagavan had said. And He was.

Oh ho! So that is where they keep it.

To their delight the lionses and lepudd and tiger found they were perfectly able to read the Aksharamanamalai in Elephant after they had Om-ed themselves into elephants. This was specially surprising to Om-elly, because he only knew how to read one word in Lion .... Om. But in Elephant, he could read all the words! He got so excited he bit Mum Elly's's ears and disarranged her vibhuti, but because he was Om-elly, Mum Elly could not even think of reprimanding him. And then little Spotty got so excited to see Om so excited that he bit Om's ears.

Med Tiger looked over at the most serious elderly elephants to see if they were shocked, but he noticed they were chuckling.

"Let the baby elephant read the verses," said the head elephant priest. "It is very auspicious to do one's first reading from this sacred Marital Garland."

So Om-elly read the verses and waved his trunk around in disbelief that he could even read huge words that meant "jugglery" and "transcendent" (though they looked and sounded quite different in Elephant). Tiru-elly raised an eyebrow nearby, thinking Om did not know the meaning of these words, but that did not seem to interfere with Om's joyful reading.

After this, the family left the elephant temple steeped in the sweetness of elephant bhakti, Oming themselves back into their usual forms a little distance from the temple.

"I hope we will be able to find this temple again!" said Arunacub.

"Yes, I thought we had been everywhere in the Hill, but we have never seen it before," said Tirucub.

Just then a big group of elephants came up beside them, heading home.



"If you are trying to find the temple, picture that book your little one just read ... picture it very clearly, and it will glow so brightly you will have no trouble finding the temple where the book lives."

"Oh!" said the cubses, glad to know this secret. ".... but, we did not know about your Elephant Aksharamanamalai when we found the temple today ..."

"Bhagavan must have wanted you to find it," said one of the elephants.

"I can't wait to tell Bhagavan!" said Spotty. He jumped up on Unca Stripes' back and clicked his back paws against Unca Stripes' sides to make him run fast.

"I am not a horse, and you are not a cowboy," objected Unca Stripes.

Spotty laughed at this and shouted out for Unca Stripes to run his very fastest to Bhagavan.

Quite soon Bhagavan was spotted, out for a walk. Spotty took a flying leap off Med Tiger's back and all four cubses scampered ahead to Bhagavan.

"You will never guess where we have been!" said the cubses, all speaking breathlessly at once. "The elephant temple! And the elephants were all doing pradakshina around the Aksharamanamalai you translated into Elephant for them."



"Oh ho," said Bhagavan, "So that is where they keep it!" He smiled His beautiful smile which caused a total melting of the cubses and Med Tiger and Mum Lioness who had caught up. Tirucub pretended to trip and fell in such a way that his furry little face ended up against Bhagavan's Feet. "It's Melty Day!" he murmured in bliss. The other cubs then all pretended to trip too and there was jostling to rest faces against the Divine Feet.

Bhagavan looked down and laughed, saying he had never known so many nimble-pawed creatures to trip on smooth ground all within moments of each other. Then he told them he would take them too a very beautiful spot.



"Look! It is Sri Muruganar and Annamalai Swami walking too," said Mum Lioness.

Together, they all let Bhagavan lead them on.

Meditator Tiger much better

Uncle Stripes was much better now.
The cubs had taken him out for a spin. Arunacub insisted he run over some bushes and hedges to get his heart rate up. After a little sweating, Stripes said he felt quite recovered and enjoyed the run tremendously.
The cubs were concerned whether Unca Stripes' Self-enquiry was going well, and he assured them it was even stronger than before the cold and fever.
Mum Lioness made a cup of hot honey water with turmeric, pepper and some other spices for them all. The little cubs made faces but Strips happily sipped it.

He then confided to them that while he had the fever, he had been just unable to find the "I". He feared he had lost it. Finally, he prayed and prayed to the Self to come back. And it had come back stronger!

Bhagavan has caught hold of you, and won't let go! assured little Om cub.
You are in jaws of the tiger! said Tiru cub, showing his teeth and looking frightening.
The cubs sat in front of Bhagavan's picture and gazed at Him joyously while Mum Lioness groomed them.

A link for all.