"We are free!"

Morning came at the mansion which Swami Blissananda had taken over from its german owners in their absence.

Parambhaktananda rubbed his eyes. Suddenly, he remembered the dream he had. He sat trying to recall every detail he could. His wife, Paramjyoti, awoke too and sat still for a while. Parambhaktananda recounted his dream to her. She then told him she had had a similar dream.
He said, "We are free ....". After a pause, he added in a hushed whisper, " of the clutches of ... this place!"
She nodded.

"We shall quietly pack our belongings and leave them in the shed behind from where we can collect them later. We shall go to the young swami at Virupaksha Cave."
She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.
"We have finished our life here!". She nodded slowly and said, "I already know I belong to him, I am sure our young swami awaits us, let us not keep him waiting!"
"But he has never seen us, Paramjyoti, My eternal light!", he laughed.
"From now on I am not your eternal light. From now on, the young swami is our Eternal Light!", she replied.

And so they talked, packing their bags, she sniffling and occasionally wiping a tear or two from her eyes. Before they knew it, they were walking uphill towards the cave where the young swami lived. The stolen book "Have love for all creatureses" was wrapped in a clean cloth and lay clutched in her hands.

As they approached the caves, Paramjyoti's chest began feeling heavy. She could feel emotion welling up. Tears came to her eyes. She could not hold them back. Almost as if in response, her husband, Parambhaktananda, also began crying. They were almost weeping like two little children throwing a tantrum!

Just as was in the story, they found the swami sitting on a rock. There were followers sitting around him. As they approached, the Swami turned his head this way and looked at them! It was a moment they were never able to describe all their lives. Did it feel like a huge lion or tiger had suddenly looked at them in the middle of a forest, or like God himself had looked at them? They shook with emotion, shivered and almost fell to the ground. Someone helped them as they tottered, and were about to fall, and eased them into the back row. Then he remembered the book, and quietly placed it at the young swami's feet.

Just as he did so, his wife suddenly remembered the story of the little cub which she had not yet heard. It was too late now! After that, she forgot about it, and they both sat in a daze, unable to understand how they felt, or believe that they were even here. Parambhaktananda kept looking around himself, and at the sky and the earth and Bhagavan, and thinking, "I am here! I am finally here! I cannot believe it!" He felt like shouting with joy.

In disbelief, they breathed in lungfuls of air, took in the sounds, and the sights around them knowing that this first magical day would never return. It would never again be like this first day, the day their eyes first saw the swami, the day they first sat in His presence.

Much later someone prodded him. He realized that the swami was calling him. Parambhaktananda got up (his legs were still weak and trembling). He almost crawled to the front. Bhagavan smiled and told him to keep the book. "The owner of this book will come in the evening. Since you are here for some time, please come again and give it to the owner personally."

Paramjyoti took the book from her husband, and kept stroking it saying "It has been touched by Him!".

A devotee began asking Bhagavan about the lions and leopards on the hill and whether he had ever encountered them. Bhagavan began narrating a story.

Some time ago, I was sitting with some people near here. We were chanting the vedas. We then heard a loud roar and stopped. Some people hid in the bushes. Suddenly from the path we had been walking on, came this large lioness with three cubs running around her.
She stopped next to me and began smelling my feet. I sat down. She sat down too, looking around her. I told the others, she has come to hear you chanting the vedas, but they remained hidden. She is asking, why have they stopped.

Then her littlest cub came running up and jumped onto my shoulder. He refused to get off. His mother kept calling him "Om, come down!" "Om, this is not done!", but little Om would not listen. I tried to tell her that it was quite alright, but she was clearly not used to such indiscipline. I was actually quite enjoying the little cub sitting around my shoulder. Except for his ticklish ears! And he was rubbing his soft baby fur on my neck.

Finally she gave little Om one glare, and he jumped off. They went away since no one was chanting the vedas. The little cubs were nibbling at their mother's feet as she walked off, trying to hold her back.

* * *

Hearing this story, Paramjyoti wanted to just melt into Bhagavan's feet this very moment. She felt she could not continue to live separately any longer. She longed to merge with Bhagavan instantly, even though she knew this was her first darshan.

She later sat next to all the rocks, touching them with reverence, saying "Bhagavan has sat on this rock, and this one... and this one."

Parambhaktananda told her, Come let us sit and read the story about the little cub before the owner of the book arrives. They sat down under the shade of a tree, and suddenly realized that the story sounded quite familiar! It was the story Bhagavan had just told them.