Searching for the missing cubs - II

Mum Lioness misses cubs

Poor Mum Lioness!
She was so used to having one cub biting her tail, or waging an imaginary battle with it, another chewing upon her ear, and one (thankfully!) rubbing her back. And now she was cubless!

And how were the cubs? They would be hungry, or thirsty. Deep down she knew that they would be safe, with Bhagavan as the Lord of all there is, and with His will being the destiny of all. But yet a mother's worry gnawed at her.

Meditator Tiger Stripes was (as expected) rolling on the floor in the most pitiable state. She kept telling him to have faith in Ramana, and each time she said that, it made her feel better.

They had walked around quite a bit. The cubs weren't at Uncle Annamalai Swami's nor at the mansion. C'mon Stripes, she said, let's go to Bhagavan. They both sprang up and walked down as fast as they could to the ashram (knees trembling a bit).

They sat quietly, there were many many visitors. They got a place in the rear. They prayed to Bhagavan for help. Some time later a devotee asked Bhagavan something about God removing or erasing a person's karmas. (Stripes' tamil is weak, but he catches words here and there.) Bhagavan replied with a glance at them, "If your belief in God is strong enough, then He can erase your karmas".
Mum Lioness thought, oh Lord, my belief in you has not been strong enough. Forgive me.

Then a three year child read Bhagavan a nursery rhyme about Little Bo Peep losing her sheep. One lady devotee next to Bhagavan picked up the child and answered, "If Bo Peep's belief in Bhagavan is strong, He will be able to help her in finding her sheep". The little child seemed satisfied and ran off to play outside.

Bhagavan again gave a glance in their direction, Mum Lioness and Stripes looked at one another. They prostrated to Bhagavan and left.

Outside the hall, Stripes spotted one ashram dog he often fed cocunut biscuits to. The dog wagged its tail. Stripes was not interested in games at the moment. "Later" he told the dog.

The dog was walking ahead and looking back at them and barking.
"Maybe Barky is trying to tell us something", said Mum Lioness to Stripes.
"Yeah, like: Take me for a walk!" quipped Stripes.

"Let's follow him!" said Mum Lioness to Stripes. They silently walked behind him. He walked without distraction taking a tiny path away from the hill.

"Hey, this way leads to the waterfall", said Stripes, "Yes, we never thought of that!"
After a while Stripes and Mum Lioness started quickening their steps. Barky was unable to keep pace and was panting. They could not slow down and began taking long leaps as they galloped down the path. Soon they had left Barky way behind.

They ran for about five, maybe ten minutes. At this point, the path forked into two. Stripes thought for a moment and then decided that the right fork would lead to the waterfall. They had never tried the left one. Probably a dead end. They ran on taking the right path.

Woof! Woof!

Suddenly at a bend, they heard barking. The same dog, Barky, was standing there blocking the path, barking viciously. Stripes backed out. What was wrong? Why is he stopping us, and how did he reach here?

Barky inched forward barking. They were forced to back out.
"Maybe he doesn't want us to take this route. Praps we should have taken the left path", Mum reasoned.
They turned and walked back to the fork.

As they reached the fork, they picked up the scent of Barky. Within a minute he reached the fork panting and wheezing from the ashram path. Then who was that dog who stopped them way ahead, they wondered?

Barky comes huffing and puffing

They ambled along taking the left path this time. After a few minutes Barky stopped. He looked confused. He looked here and there. There were some paths leading into bushes, perhaps not used for a long time.
"Why not just continue on the main path?" asked Stripes, a little impatiently. Then Barky starting barking.

Some monkey business goin on up there

They heard a rustle of leaves and looked around. A berry fell on Stripes head. He looked up annoyed. Hanging on a branch was Hobbler, the monkey. Hobbler smiled. Then he began pointing his finger in one direction.
"We must follow him.", said Stripes understanding finally that the animals were helping out.
They looked down. Barky was returning slowly on the path they came on.
"Thanks a lot, Barky!" they called out with gratitude.

Hobbler was shaking a branch and gesturing with urgency. He began moving from tree to tree. Stripes and Aunt Lioness followed him as best as they could. It was a thorny route, unused and full of small pebbles.


They shouted Ouch and Aah as they jogged through the route. At one point Hobbler stopped, again pointing ahead.

They broke through some bushes. Surprisingly, they had reached one side of the mansion.
"For God's sake!" exclaimed Stripes "We are not interested in the troublesome sadhus today. We have other matters!"
Mum Lioness began walking carefully around the mansion keeping herself hidden in the bushes. They were downwind so no one could detect them.

As they came around to the front she spotted Flora, the goat, cleaning up the front garbage. She looked at Med Tiger and nodded her head slowly.
Stripes said, "Something smells fishy, although I don't know how fish smell!"
Mum Lioness walked up quietly upto the little goat.
"Hello there", said Mum very softly.
The goat was startled. "Oh hello, I am surprised to see you here. Er .. you should not be here."
"So am I surprised to see you." said Mum Lioness, "I thought you were on your way home."
"Oh yes. The cubs left me home. Then I came here to so some cleaning up." She looked visibly nervous.
Mum Lioness proceeded towards the door. Flora immediately tried stopping her, "You must not go in"
"And why not?"
The goat tried blocking the door.
"Only devotees of swami may enter!"
"Oooooh!" said Stripes, "So you are a devotee! Very nice!"
"Would you mind stepping aside, Fawna."
"I'm Flora, not fauna."
"Flora, Fauna whatever, I don't care, please let us enter", replied Mum Lioness with impatience.
She tried the door. It would not budge.
They were unable to detect the smell of the cubses or Spotty.
Stripes thought he would turn into a sparrow and check out the windows. He tried saying Om three times but could not complete even one. He could not understand what was happening. His mind was stuck. He tried praying for help but he could not complete his prayer.

"Do you know where the cubs are?"
"I don't", replied the goat.
"Where exactly is your house, Flora ?"
"That way" she pointed.
"The way to the ashram?"
"No, that way." she pointed in another direction.
"Perhaps we should call the police here", suggested Stripes.
"No No, you must not," pleaded the goat "They must not disturb Bhagavan!"
"Who?"
"Bhagavan Krackaswami."
The word "Bhagavan" was the word both Mum Lioness and Stripes were trying to remember but were getting stuck at.
"BHAGAVAN!" both shouted with triumph, "RAMANA!!!"
"No, please don't take his name here!"
They again shouted Bhagavan loudly.
Suddenly they could here voices. The cubs. They could smell the cubses, too.
Stripes went and tried the door. It opened!

To be continued. See this post.