Spotty, be careful!

For some days Jagaswami and Balanandaswami and Krackaswami managed to keep out of sight of the creatures on the Hill. The swamis would hop a train, jump off some distance from Tiruvannamalai, set up their sign and a few chairs and other necessary items, and hold a satsang.



Though they kept the satsangs short, the whole thing was exhausting them. Dragging those chairs all over the country! It felt so beneath them! At night they sat around planning easier ways to conduct their business. "We just need to develop some siddhis!" said Jagaswami, and the others agreed.

Meanwhile, after the cubses had taken the pizza to Andavane, Mum Lioness got ahold of the rediclious idea that it would be good for the lion cubses to memorize their times tables. Spotty did not much care for the sound of that. No one of six months old, he felt, needed to trouble themselves with that sort of thing.

Besides, he was a bit suspicious about whether the "swamis" had really left town. How exciting it would be to be able to tell his brudders that he had spotted them!

So he scampered along in the direction of the mansion. As he got close, he decided it would be safer to turn himself into a little bluebird and fly by the mansion windows to see if there was anything going on inside.

"Om Om Om, let me be a bluebird!" he said.

He did not realise someone .... Balanandaswami ... was nearby. Balananada could hardly believe his eyeses!!! There was the glorious moment of seeing the tiny leopard who he so badly wanted to capture, all alone and so close by.



And then, before he could pounce ... Spotty vanished and a small bird was in his place.



At first Balanandaswami was furious, but then his fury gave way to delight. The little cub actually had powers! He, Balananda, could capture him and make such great use of those powers. For starters, he would insist that the baby leopard teach him how this transforming was done.

Balananda turned to call Jags and Kracks, who had been close behind him. "Get over here at once! Jags! Kracks!" he shouted. Already he felt like their leader. His new siddhis were so close he could ommst taste them! Jags and Kracks could lug the chairs. He, Balanandaswami, would step in when all was set up, perform a miracle or two, collect the dakshina ....

"I just saw that little leopard cub turn himself into a bird," he told the others. "We need to catch him."



"A bird?" asked Krackaswami, in incredulous tones.



"Yup ... there he is up in that tree," said Balanandaswami.

"I see the bird," said Krackaswami, "but are you SURE that bird was just a leopard?"



(to be continued)