The Annual Animal Games

A LOT of Ramana Munch was needed now. A L.O.T!

The Annual Animal Games were to be held today, and there would be a lot of animals which meant a lot of prizes. That also meant a lot of hungry participants for which Tirucub borrowed one of the Magic Idli Machines from the Animal Hospital.

Aunt Hippolyta was one of the organizers and had insisted that instead of bales of hay, the highly popular Ramana Munches be given as prizes this year. Perhaps she had at the back of her mind the fact that only Mum Lioness could make Ramana Munches, so it would push the entire burden on Mum Lioness. But nevertheless it was a great idea, because it brought participants from near and far, unlike ever before.

Jumping Competition

There were many different events such as jumping, running, climbing trees, chess, writing poems, and finding lost treasures.

The front-runners in the cross-country run

To Aunt Hippolyta's dismay her darling Rumple and Crumple had not won in any event. And to make matters worse the three lion cubs had won the running events in their age groups. Other than Spotty who was shocked to find that there was no race for those under six months. He would have to compete along with Om cub and he knew Om cub would be far ahead of him. He tried very hard to convince Aunt Hippolyta that he should be allowed to run on Uncle Stripes' back, but for some reason no one agreed to that idea.

A lot of splashing in the swimming race

Aunt Hippolyta had told everyone before the Annual Day that her strong, brilliant boys would win most if not all events. Now she was trying hard to think of some event her darlings could win easily at.
She suggested an iddli eating contest, but everyone knew that food was scarce in India and didn't want to start a famine. All her other ideas involved breaking something, or throwing something large which Uncle Krishnamurthy vetoed as being too dangerous or harmful for Arunachala.

Finally, Mum Lioness suggested a prize for the three heaviest animals. Aunt Hippolyta was thrilled since she knew her beloved would have to do nothing to win. And so Uncle Krishnamurthy was sent off to bring the heaviest and strongest scales from Tiruvannamalai. In the meanwhile all the participants lined up.

First in line, of course, were Rumple and Crumple pumping their chests, smelling victory, knowing that two large Ramana Munches would be theirs in a short while.

The line lengthened although everyone knew they weighed nowhere close to Rumple and Crumple. The weighing scales arrived and Rumple and Crumples weight was registered. After that all the others began to stand on the scales.

Rumple tips the scales!

The buffaloes, huge ones, were not even a quarter of their weight. Giraffes, lions and tigers and leopards, snakes, turtles, skunks, mongooses, all tried their luck. Some cows came too, but in most cases the scales would not even move. A huge rhino and his son came up. Everyone got excited. He got on. The scales shook, waved madly between 0 and 200, but then settled at 100! That was still far less than Rumple and Crumples weight.
The hippos were shouting wildly, "We are winning ! We win ! We win!"

Just then there was a little noise from the behind. Everyone turned. An elephant smeared with vibhuti on his forehead and trunk and limbs slowly moved towards them. Aunt Hippolyta shouted, "The contest is over!" But no one paid heed to here.


The elephant was clad in saffron and looked very saintly.
Everyone folded their hands. The elephant folded his limbs and said, "Glory to Lord Arunachala!"
Uncle Krishnamurthy returned his greeting and said, "Kind sir, please step this way and share some food with us!" He pointed across the weighing scales.

The elephant said, "I am from the top of the Arunachala Hill. I heard some voices shouting 'We win! We Win!' and thought I would come to see who has won, and what has he won! Has someone realized the Self here?"

The elephant tried to climb on the scale. But could not. Aunt Hippolyta shouted "Disqualified!"

The elephant stepped back. Just then another elephant slightly larger than the first appeared from behind. He too was vibhuti smeared.


He nudged the first elephant who managed to get on the scales. The needle went madly left and right and finally stopped at 300!

There was an uproar. Aunt Hippolyta went pale and the elephant fanned her with his ears.

What is your name, my respected Sir, asked Uncle Krishnamurthy.
I have no name, son. I am a sadhu. I have nothing -- just my Lord Arunachala.

Meanwhile the second elephant tried to get on the scales but could not. At that moment, a larger one appeared from behind and helped him. The scales creaked and the needle finally settled at 400!

Then the third elephant tried to get on. The first two had to push him, and again the scales almost cracked. After much heaving and pushing he finally got one foot on. The weight of one foot was 600!

Aunt Hippolyta burst into tears, as did Rumple and Crumple. Mum Lioness tried to console her but to no effect. It was becoming late so no new game could be devised.

The elephants asked what the problem was. With Aunt Hippo wailing in the background, Uncle Krish explained the problem to them.

The biggest elephant said: We are sadhus from the top of the hill. We only came down to find the source of the voices. There is nothing for us but melting into Sri Bhagavan. That is all we want. We appreciate your Ramana Munches, and bless them, but we would appreciate if you awarded them to those little hippopotami.

Saying this, the elephants folded their limbs and said: Glory to Sri Ramana! Glory to Lord Arunachala! They then turned, gingerly walked across the scales, and left.

Rumple and Crumple were delirious with joy. Where are the cubs, they shouted, wait till they hear we won a prize. Mum Lioness said she had sent them to return the Magic Iddli Machine and they should be back very shortly.

a huge batch of Ramana Munch

"We've run out of Ramana Munch!" called Tirucub from the kitchen.

"Oh!" said a surprised Mum Lioness. "I just made some yesterday."

"The word is out ... creatures keep stopping by and hinting that they're hungry," said Arunacub. "If I offer them carrots or bananas or an apple, they just start clearing their throats and peeking past me into the cave. Only when I offer them a Ramana Munch do they agree to have a snack."

"Well, we had better make a very LARGE batch," said Mum Lioness, looking out to see what sort of day it was. Outside the cave were two enormous chunks of chocolate.

"Look Mummy Lioness!" said Omcub excitedly. "We really can make a HUGE batch!"



No sooner had they started figuring out how many times they should multiply the normal recipe to make good use of the chocolate than Crumple and Rumple arrived, with Mama Hippolyta bringing up the rear. Crumps and Rumps immediately jumped up on a slab and began gouging out big hunks with their very large hippo teeth.



"Crumple! Rumple!" said Mum Lioness. At this hint of sternness, Mama Hippolyta at once announced that the chocolate had been delivered to the cave by mistake, and had really been intended for Crumple and Rumple's morning snack.

Trying to be fair, Mum Lioness said, "Very well, then. Please take it home so the cubs can get on with their studies."

The cubs could not believe it! This was more chocolate than they had even known existed, and their mother was giving it all away to the Hippo family before they, the cubses, has even had a tiny taste! Surely Mum Lioness was going too far this time.

"Very well indeed," said Mama Hippolyta. "Crumple precious, take a side. Rumplyboy, you lift from that corner. I will take this side. Okay, on a count of three. One two three, HEAVE!!!"

The chocolate slab did not move even an angstrom. The cubses all looked at Mum Lioness, paws to mouths to conceal their smiles.

"What! What?!" exclaimed Mama Hippolyta. "What sort of chocolate is this! Maybe some leaded chocolate that will impair their brain function. I have had them to Chennai for IQ tests and the dears both scored 195. Unsurpassed geniuses! Come along darlings, we must abandon this strange and dangerous chocolate." Each taking a final mouthful so large they could not close their mouths, they hopped on their mother's back.



"Won't we need an awful lot of butter?" asked Tirucub, who was still working on scaling up the recipe.

It was true, they did, but Unca Krishnamoorthy arrived almost right away with a big amount.



Unca Krish was just unloading it when Suri Nagamma arrived with a big supply of maple syrup. This was the hardest ingredient of all to find. "Wherever did you manage to get that?" asked Mum Lioness with delight.

"My brother had it delivered," said Suri. "I was just taking it to Bhagavan, but if you could work it into some of that tasty Ramana Munch, we could take that to him instead."

"Yes!" said all the cubs at once. "The ingredients have arrived by his grace, so we will take it all to Bhagavan!"

They then began the melting and mixing work. At one point Med Tiger, who had smelled fresh chocolate on the breeze and come dashing over, was asked by Mum Lioness to make sure the cubs did not nibble away too much. Med Tiger was not the ideal choice of creature for the job, because he got distracted right away by some nibbling of his own.



The gigantic underpining to the bars was pressed into pans and baked till it was golden brown. Next came the very fun chocolate melting and dipping stage. The cubses carried each dipped chunk to a huge tray, wondering how they were going to get all the Ramana Munch down the hill to Bhagavan.



After they had dipped all the chunks, Spotty suddenly fell into the chocolate vat! The chocolate had cooled a bit but was still not solid. Spotty did not get burned at all, but when Mum Lioness pulled him out, he was almost unrecognizable.

"We had better get you cleaned up fast, in case Crumps and Rumps sneak back and mistake you for a chocolate leopard instead of a real one," said Omcub. No one wanted to try the Ramana Munch until Bhagavan had had the first bite, but they were quite happy to tidy up Spotty.

The cubs discuss ... er ... Self-realization

Spotty and Stripes do pradakshina Spotty-style

Once again, on the recent full-moon evening, Uncle Stripes and little Spotty had done Arunachala pradakshina with Spotty riding on Stripes' shoulders.

The Lionses do pradakshina

Uncle Stripes again explained to Spotty that Spotty should walk on his own feet while doing pradakshina. Spotty would ask "Why?". And Stripes hated this question. Because when he replied , "You won't realize the Self if you do pradakshina sitting on someone else!", Spotty would ask, "What is realizing the Seff?"

And whenever Stripes tried to explain that, the four cubs would tie him in knots with further questions and light-hearted comments.


This time once again a discussion was going on on Self-realization, and the cubs were having a field day. Stripes had tried to say something about the ego, the cubs asked what the ego was, and Stripes talked of the mind, and the cubs asked what the mind was, and Uncle Stripes looked like he was going to put his head under a pillow any moment. Or hide under the bed, like he did last time.

Then little Tirucub got a little warmed up and said, "I don't understand why people talk of realization and Self, when actually they mean melting into dear Bhagavan until there is no feeling of 'I'".
Aruna cub supported him saying, "Yes, why can't the whole world just say: we wish to melt into Bhagavan, and not these large, meaningless words like realization ... "
"Even though" clarified tiny Om cub, "strictly speaking, there is no melting into Bhagavan, because we are already part of Him."
"The Seff is already realized!", said Tiru cub.

Then suddenly Om cub declared, "I was born all melty!" and jumped into Mum Lioness's lap melting therein.
Seeing this, the other three cubs raced into Mum Lioness's lap all purring away about being like melted chocolate, or melted butter, or even Paalak Paneer for Bhagavan to swallow.

Melty cubs melt into Mum Lioness

Spotty later had a dream in which he came to the Lions' cave and saw a large sign outside (in Om's paw-writing) saying "Ready to melt", and the little cubs were peeking from the cave entrance hoping Bhagavan would walk by and see it ... and absorb them all.

The flood of love

The cubs had just finished Math class. They loved Math class but for one thing. And that was that little Spotty refused to attend, saying he had a fear of numbers ... he had even invented a long word for it -- something like numerophobia or cuberootphobia. So after Math class, they usually made a dash for Spotty's cave.

They peeked in the cave entrance, noses twitching, whiskers moving accordingly, ears perking up at the slightest sound.

Spotty and Meditator Tiger (Uncle Stripes) were having a chat. The three lion cubs, Om, Aruna and Tiru curled up beside Spotty. Stripes was saying:

One way that Bhagavan's grace manifests is that you see Bhagavan, or his photo, or perhaps even hear about Him, and there is this falling in love with Him. It is a complete mind, body , soul turning to Him. At the same time, there is this flood of love that hits the person. And this flood is ever-present. This flood of love is of course Bhagavan Ramana Himself.

It's like a sunflower that turns to the sun and the suns warmth falls upon it. So there is a two-way process happening. Your heart opens up upon seeing Bhagavan Ramana, and love gushes out to Him, and having opened up, it receives a deluge of love that never stops.

This love wipes out all pain, all suffering, all longings and desires.

The cubs asked: Unca Stripes, some people tell us, "It's all in your mind!". For us it's very real. What answer do you have for that?

Unca Stripes said: Yes, to others it would seem like it is in the mind. But this flood of love is not something that ever subsides with time. Nor is it something that gets pushed aside or eclipsed by worldly pains or longings.

Any other kind of love you may feel that gives you only a certain amount of solace, or that you can forget in a moment of extreme pain, can be said to be in the mind. But there is no worldly suffering, for that matter, nothing -- no worldly pain or even pleasure, that can conquer or exceed the love of our Lord Ramana.

That is why we know it is real.

It is our weapon against the suffering that this world or ego tries to put us through.


Then Om cub asked: Unca Stripes, we cubs too know of this love. But often, when we have our discussions we wonder whether it will merge us into Bhagavan ...
Arunacub added: Or do we still need to meditate. We are so small. We worry that we may not be able to meditate, and then we won't realize the Self.

Unca Stripes replied: I think you should ask Mum Lioness about this. But I think, and hope, that being in this love, this two-way flood of love is enough to merge you completely with Bhagavan. This love enables surrender.



After a while, Stripes added: You do remember Bhagavan's promises, don't you ?

(The cubs all nodded.)

In simple words, for you dear little cubs (patting them all on their smooth, furry heads):

For this ego to end, for this false self to end, the correct way is to entrust all your burdens on Bhagavan Ramana.

If you completely surrender all your responsibilities to Bhagavan, He will accept them as His and manage them.

At that moment, several stomachs began to rumble. There was a knock on the entrance. A familiar voice called out: Did anyone order a bag or Krishna Crunches?
The cubs yelled "YES!"
Mum Lioness walking in carrying a hamper full of Krishna Crunches, freshly prepared. These were promptly offered to a photo of Bhagavan. When the cubs were satisfied that Bhagavan had received them and blessed them, then Om cub distributed them, and a crunchy party began.

the elephant visitor

After the cubs, in their baby elephant forms, had rescued the chained temple elephant, they led her straight to Bhagavan.

"Where are we going, exactly?" the elephant kept asking.

Her rescuers would not say. They just kept smiling, and leading her on encouragingly.



She found she could not help smiling too. She had no idea where she was being taken, but she trusted the little elephants who had so gently tended to her sore leg and even given her toys to play with while they broke her chains. Also, some mysterious happiness was blossoming in her heart.

At last they arrived! The happiness which had been getting stronger with each step she took toward this place exploded and she was temporarily blinded by tears of joy. She sank to her knees at Bhagavan's feet.

Bhagavan, always able to recognize the cubs no matter what form they were in, smiled lovingly at them, and then looked for a long time into the eyes of the elephant. Somehow, though her tears did not stop, as soon as he looked at her, she was able to see him perfectly.

He asked his attendent to bring in some iddlies, and he fed these to her from his own hands. She had never tasted anything so delicious!

Afterwards, the little rescuers took her back to their cave, along with Mum Lioness and Med Tiger who had also come for darshan.

Mysteriously, the rescuer elephants turned into three little lion cubs and one baby leopard as soon as they got home.

For the next few days, the temple elephant played with the cubs and rested while they did their studies. Each morning, they all went for darshan. The cubs were always begging for rides on the elephant's back.



Life was quite perfect, except for one thing ... sometimes the elephant would see the look in Mum Lioness' eyes as she was looking at the cubs (the elephant could not understand why one of them was spotted!) and she would feel a longing to have a baby of her own to look at and love like that.

On the fourth morning, she heard a sound in the distance. What was it? Could it be?

Yes! It was the sound of other elephants, calling.

Before long, Unca Tuskers and two other elephants appeared.



"Unca Tuskers!" said Mum Lioness, welcomingly. "Who have you brought?"

"Oh, it is a sad situation," said Tuskers. "This is my brother Gambhiram, and this is his baby ... the mother has just passed away from a dreadful elephant flu. We hoped you might help us with the little one...."

Before Mum Lioness had a chance to agree, the temple elephant burst out, "Oh, let me be the one to care for the little one! Mum Lioness has been blessed so many times over with this furry bunch, but I have no baby at all!"

"Oh, would you be so kind?" asked Unca Tuskers, looking terribly relieved. "My brother has no idea how to care for the little one ... he is at his wit's end."

"Oh, absolutely!" exclaimed the elephant, rushing to the little one's side.

Saraswati Puja

Mum Lioness and the cubs were strolling on the Arunachala Hill. Sometimes, they liked going for long walks. The cubs were always excitedly looking out for Siddhas. Spotty had told them that there were golden cities and palaces hidden inside the hill, but very few had seen them. The lion cubs used to often wonder about these things.

The cubs were quite surprised when they came across Aunt Hippo and her babies, Rumple and Crumple again. Mum Lioness greeted Aunt Hippo and said, "Oh Mum Hippo, you have gained a lot of weight recently!"
Aunt Hippo blushed and was visibly happy. She thanked Mum Lioness profusely for the compliment. Then she continued, "And you would not believe that I have put on a ton or two during the navratri (nine day fasting) period.
"I was so afraid I or my tiny darlings would lose weight during the fast, but we stocked up high on potatoes, so we could eat all day long!"

Aunt Hippo was very large-hearted, thought Mum Lioness. On the day of breaking fast, Aunt Hippo would prepare a huge feast and would feed many poor people. She sent prasad to many homes, including the Lionses, and the cubs loved the prasad, even if it was overly sweet or dripping in ghee.


Mum Lioness gave a loving pinch to the hippo babies as they parted.
Then they went to Virupaksha Cave. The cubs had told Mum Lioness that it was Saraswati Puja, and they must get Bhagavan's blessings. Mum Lioness smiled for she knew that the cubs needed an excuse to cuddle up in Bhagavan's lap.

The return of Aunt Hippolyta

All the animals were panicking. They came running to Mum Lioness. "Earthquake! Earthquake!" they shouted.
Mum Lioness also panicked, then she burst into laughter. The cubs also iksploded with laughter.
They ran to the cave entrance and peeked out.
A cloud of dust could be seen. The cubs shouted "Brothers Rumple and Crumple are coming!" excitedly.
"Pull out the chess board!", called out Omcub ascitedly.
"Are you joking?" asked Tirucub.
"Not my new chess board!", shouted Arunacub. "I don't want it flattened out again!"

Aunt Hippolyta and her two babies, Rumple and Crumple appeared at the entrance. Aunt Hippo had her eyes screwed up and was snorting angrily.
"Where's Meditator Tiger?", she demanded.
"He lives next door", answered Mum Lioness. "Why don't you come in, while Tiru calls Stripes?"
Aunt Hippo had one look at the cave entrance and iksploded in anger. "You have a door fit for sparrows and mice, not for strong animals!"
Even her babies Rumple and Crumple could not fit through the door. Mum Lioness was often thankful to Lord Arunachala for that, due to all the damage her cave had faced due to the boisterous hippopotami.
Meanwhile a baby elephant larger than Rumple sat silently in corner flapping his large ears, thus fanning everyone. This made Aunt Hippo angrier, that an elephant could get in somehow but no Hippo could.

Uncle Stripes came trotting in. "Come in Aunt Hippo, its hot outside, you'll catch a tan!", he said sweetly. "Aah, there's a nice spot here for you by the fan", he said, pointing at the little elephant.

Soon realizing that the hippopotami just could not enter ("was this another trick of Lord Arunachala", thought Arunacub) they came out and sat in the shade.

"Med Tiger, let me come straight to the point", said Aunt Hippo.
The cubs looked around searching for a point, suppressing giggles.
"You have not been bringing that little leopard cub up properly!", she said pointing a gigantic paw at little Spotty. Spotty was about to burst into tears, brother Tiru put an arm around him reassuringly. Omcub sprinted in for a Ramana Munch.

"And you too, Mum Lioness!"
Mum Lioness raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Your cubs are all skinny! They set a bad example for the rest of us animals. See my little darlings here ... (pointing at her babies) ... Rumps and Crumps, both bursting at the seams already. So proud we are of them."
Now it was the lion cubs turn to be surprised. They could outrun all the animals on the hill, even outwrestle most. And here was someone saying they were skinny!

Aunt Hippo went painfully through the story of Bhagavan taking food in his hands, and how Spotty had concocted that story. "Since Rumps and Crumps were born,", she said giving them a meltingly loving look, that made Mum Lioness wish to hug them, "I have been teaching them how much Bhagavan ate. And its due to that that they have become such strong, handsome lads".
The two hippos blushed.
A bee buzzed around Aunt Hippo for a moment and she shook herself. The cubs watched in wonder as rivers of fat rippled and shivered all over her. After quite a while, the ripples stopped.

Then Aunt Hippo went through the story of the ladies who force-fed Bhagavan one day, carefully omitting the part of Bhagavan refusing. She made it sound as though Bhagavan was happy eating so much. She complained about how Bhagavan's attendants are depriving him of adequate nutrition. It is telling on him, i tell you, she bellowed, you can count Bhagavan's ribs, she said choking back tears. His cheeks are sunken in, when they should be bursting. All His baby fat is gone, what is this world coming to?. It appeared to Mum Lioness that Aunt Hippo was about to faint after saying the last sentence, and she got herself and the cubs out of the way.

Mum Lioness also gave the cubs a stern stare hinting that they were not supposed to laugh at elders, but knowing that tiny little cubs could never help laughing.

Mum Lioness then tried to explain to Mum Hippo that realized sages should never be forced. They know what is right. We should respect their lifestyle and let them live as-is.
But Aunt Hippo was the kind that liked to impose themselves on others. And the best way was to force food on others. She was known to stuff her guests till they could not step out of the swamp. Sometimes they had to be hauled off.
She was also known to land up at Virupaksha Cave and force Bhagavan to eat the sweets she had brought. She would usually ignore the attendants who tried to reason with her. That was her way of expressing devotion, and it was quite common in India.

Meditator Tiger tried weakly to tell Aunt Hippo that he had left the upbringing and life of little Spotty on Arunachala and Bhagavan. But Aunt Hippo was the action-oriented kind of busy-body lady who liked to storm everywhere, demanding she get what she wanted, even it meant great inconvenience to many others.

Mum Lioness did not want to be impolite and knew that Aunt Hippolyta always had to have the last word. So she assured Aunt Hippo that the cubs would not undermine the wonderful upbringing of the little hippos (whilst with the corner of her eyes noting that the two unruly beasts were trampling her vegetable patch).
"What a mess you have there, Mum Lioness!", she said looking at the vegetable patch that her Rumple and Crumple had just rifled through, "Come on darlings, it's not your job to tidy up Mum Lioness's garden!"


Before anyone could say anything, they stormed out, raising an enormous cloud of dust, and shaking the earth. Birds flew out of trees, monkeys screeched in fear ... but soon things settled down. The cubs had a hearty laugh.

Meditator Tiger put on a very harried look and begged the cubs for a double dose of Ramana Munch to recover from the recent onslaught. They raced in and came out with their paws full of Ramana Munches.

the rescue of the temple elephant

The four cubs went into town for a little adventure and were having a great time ... until they happened to come upon the place where the temple elephant lived. First, they smelled elephant, and looked around puzzled. There were no elephants to be seen. Just two rather horrifying looking metal things, one with some chain attached.

Tiru was the first to put the clues together. "This must be where the temple elephant stays when she is not at work," he said.

"Here?" said Spotty, his voice trembling.

"An elephant? On this concrete patch?" asked Omcub with disbelief.

Arunacub was speechless. Tears began to run down his furry cheeks.

All four lost their desire to have ice cream cones, which is where they had been heading next.

"Let's just go home," said Tirucub, gently wiping his cub-brother's cheeks with a paw.

It was suppertime when they arrived back at the cave. Mum Lioness thought they looked quite worn out, so she fed them and settled them for bed early, outside the cave because the evening was so beautiful.

But the cubs could not fall asleep. Images of that chain were haunting them. They waited until Mum Lioness dropped off. Then they extracted themselves from her paws very carefully, so as not to wake her.



A little ways away, they conferred in whispers.



"There was no where for the elephant to play."

"No one for her to play with."

"No leaves for her to nibble on."

"We must go back ..." said Arunacub.

The other cubs nodded. Without speaking, they began to gather supplies. Tirucub got some sturdy tools. Arunacub got a blanket a sadhu had given him one night when he was doing a moonlit pradakshina. Spotty got a ball and Omcub got a teddybear. They gathered up food, and a medical kit, and some elephant salve.

"We'd better switch to elephants," said Arunacub.

"Om om om, let us be elephants!" said Omcub, and immediately they were.



They hurried along on their mission. When they got to their destination, they found the elephant was standing there, chained and subdued. They were worried they might frighten her, so they called out softly to her from a little distance away, "Elephant friend! We are here for you!"

She perked up and looked in their direction. "Come closer so I can hear you better," she said.



Her eyes grew wide when she saw the crate on Tiru-elly's back, and the little cart they were pulling.

"Are you hungry?" they asked, arranging an assortment of fruits and vegetables close to her mouth, while Tiru went to work on the chains.



They put the soft blanket over her back, gave her the ball and teddy, and rubbed some of the elephant salve into her leg where the metal ring had rubbed her skin.



"But where should I go?" she asked. Her leg was free, but she had no idea what to do with her freedom.

"Come with us," said Tiru.

But as they were about to leave, they looked back and imagined the elephant owner arriving in the morning and seeing the chain lying elephantlessly on the ground. How would he feed himself now? And what if he had a family?



"It would be nice if we could leave an elephant statue in your place," said Om to the elephant. "People could ask the statue for blessings, and offer coins ... and a living creature would not need to suffer."

As soon as Om said this, a large and wonderful elephant statue stood before them. Ganesha was sitting on the elephant statue's back. "I will bless this elephant for your ex-owner, so he will not suffer any loss of income," said Ganesha generously, and he hopped down and walked with them.



The elephant could hardly believe what was happening to her ... she had not seen another elephant for ages, and now here were four -- not to mention Ganesha -- romping cheerfully around her. And her tummy was so pleasantly full. And how good that salve felt on her sore ankle!



"Where are we going?" she asked.

The other elephants laughed joyfully. "You are in for the treat of your life!" they said.

The elephant felt a shiver of excitement and anticipation ...

The cubs tease Aunt Hippo

The cubs were returning from Sri Annamalai Swamy's house after giving him lunch. They were trotting happily humming "Arunachala Siva".
Little Om cub was happily announcing to the trees, "We are married to Arunachala!" (whatever "married" meant).
Little Arunacub looked at a tall tree and told it (pointing at Arunachala Hill), "You see that hill over there? We are married to that Hill forever!"
Little Tirucub pointed in the direction of Virupaksha Cave and told the bushes and birds, "Our Lord Ramana lives there! We belong to Him!"

Then they heard some hoarse voices. "Tell uth a bedtime 'tory, Mum Hippo"


Their ears stood up. Quietly they peeked through the bushes. In a muddy pond, the Hippo family lay floating. It was Aunt Hippolyta and her babies, Rumple and Crumple.
"Perhaps they need a bedtime story for their afternoon nap", whispered little Spotty to the others.

So Mum Hippo began telling Rumple and Crumple their favorite story of Bhagavan. Once Bhagavan had had more breakfast than usual and thought he would have a long walk to help digest it.
The hippos wanted all the details of what was there for breakfast and Mum Hippo used to invent new dish names each time she told the story, which was everyday.
Then on the way some ladies stopped Bhagavan. They pulled out some vessels which were filled with food and forced Bhagavan to eat.
"Mum dearest, why did they have to force Bhagavan?"
The Hippos could never understand this point, of how anyone could refuse food.
The ladies then told Bhagavan that they would be back for lunch.
Bhagavan took a different route thinking that He could evade them.
"Mum dearest, why did Bhagavan try to evade them?"
The ladies appeared again at lunch time. Bhagavan's second breakfast had hardly settled. They forced Bhagavan to eat lunch, too.

At this stage, the cubs could hardly contain their laughter. Little naughty Spotty broke through the bushes.
"Aunt Hippo, may I tell brother Rumble and Crumble a story?"
"Now you get my little darlings' names correct, little tiger!", she retorted annoyed.
"I am a little leopard", Spotty corrected.
"I could not care!", she said lifting her nose, causing huge ripples in the puddle.


Spotty narrated the story of Bhagavan visiting a temple for lunch. But they respected Bhagavan so much that they served Him extra (on a leaf plate). Which He did not like.
"Why did they respeck Bhagavan if He did not like to eat extra?", asked Crumple.
The lion cubs concealed their laughter.
So then, continued Spotty, after that day Bhagavan would not accept food in a plate. He would take it in his hands, so they could not overfeed Him.
Mum Hippo was angry now. "How dare you teach my little darlings bad habits! I have taught them with such difficulty to eat and eat and eat like there's no tomorrow, and you tell them these stories which cannot possibly be true! I shall have a stern word with Meditator Tiger about your upbringing."

Aunt Hippo snorted and lowered herself into the puddle, thus spraying slush all around. The cubs scrambled for cover and came running home.

They came racing home and all crashed into Mum Lioness. Mum Lioness and Unca Stripes were talking. They heard the name "Bhagavan" and quietly settled down to hear.

Unca Stripes was telling Mum Lioness that the previous night he had a dream of Bhagavan. All four cubses eyes opened wide with delight.
Unca Stripes narrated that Bhagavan was sitting cross-legged in front of him. And Unca Stripes was overwhelmed by emotion and burst into tears.
And then what happened, enquired the cubs?
That's it, replied Stripes. I sat in front of Bhagavan. We were both sitting on the ground. And I kept bursting into tears. I was soooo happy!
They all turned towards Arunachala Hill and kept looking at it.
Till Unca Stripes' stomach began rumbling, signalling lunch time.

gifts returned

The next morning the cubs and the frog-turned-boy and Elfi and Heinrich carried the trunks of treasures and money to a nice sunny spot. There was no need to put up signs letting creatures know what was happening ... Spotty had put the word out that today was the day the Miracleananda gifts were being returned.

Horses, cows, monkeys, foxes, zebras, goats, birds ... so many creatures were already milling around chatting, waiting to see if the exuberant announcements of the little leopard cub could really be true. Had the gifts really taken on such a tremendous weight that Miraclenanada's crew could not lift them? And, if so, how were some little cubs going to be able to heave them along to the spot where the leopard cub had told the animals to gather?



"Look!" said a chestnut horse. "That little leopard was telling the truth!"

The creatures turned and saw the cubs and children coming along with some chests. They were carrying them so easily the creatures thought for a moment that the chests must be empty, but then they remembered the leopard cub had said the trunks' grew heavy when Arunchala-Siva wanted them to ... presumably they could also turn very light if He wanted this.

As each creature reached the front of the line, the little boy who had been a witness at the prosperity puja and similar events would name the gift to the cubs, who would hand the item back.

Some of the creatures took their gift back and said they were going to donate it to the ashram so it could be sold and the money used for food or printing books. "I never expected to see this again," said a zebra. "It would bring me more joy to feed some sadhus with this than take it home ... I got along fine without it these last few weeks." Other badly needed their money back, and rushed off to pay recent debts. Some wanted their treasures turned into medicines for the new hospital.



Only one false claim was made. Tirucub's ears began twitching when he saw the hippos in the line. "They never went to Miracleananda!" whispered Arunacub. "Let alone gave him a gift."



When Crumple and Rumple's cousin Dodo reached the front of the line, he said in a very important voice, "I donated Rs 100,000, and a diamond necklace, and 50 gold bangles," unlike the others who had quietly waited to see what was being returned to them.

The little witness-boy looked at Dodo carefully. The cubs held their breath.

"When did you donate those things?" asked the little boy. He looked puzzled. Indeed, he was racking his brain to remember this young hippo ... thinking back to the prosperity puja, and other events when Miracleananda had promised all sorts of things in exchange for gifts, including stopping sulking and coming out of his room. How glad I am I only pretended to drink that awful drink Miracleananada's closest devotees kept giving people, thought the little boy. But even though my memory feels so crisp and clear, I cannot remember this hippo!

"I donated them in a private interview I had with Miracleananda," said the hippo.

The little boy remembered how Miracleananada was always shouting that people were deceiving him, and letting him down. The boy could not bear to say the suggest the hippo was being dishonest. He saw the cubs were not moving a paw toward the chests, so he dipped his own hand in and took out the only diamond necklace left, hoping it did not really belong to someone further back in the line.

At first he thought the necklace had somehow bonded with the bottom of the chest. Then he realised it had grown so heavy he could not lift it. He tried to pick up some bangles ... thin as they looked, they might have weighed 300 kilos each! The money was just as immovable.

All four cubs buried their faces in their paws and turned away, trying not to iksplode with laughter.

Seeing what was happening, Dodo turned around and waddled off in a huff, his aunt close behind him, saying, "Oh Dodo! Imagine that boy not giving you back your treasures! The nerve! Life can be so unfair!"

Soon all the items were returned to their rightful owners.

Tiru looked up at the sun and shouted, "Uncle Annamalai's lunch!" and carrying the empty chests, the cubs and children rushed back to the cave.

the golden frog

When it was time for the cubs to head back to the cave from the mansion, the little gold frog flatly refused to get off Omcub's back.

"I hope we won't be thought to have stolen him!" said Arunacub with concern.

"No one could think that," said Elfi. "He badly wants to go with you for some reason."

So the cubs set out for home with the frog. They hoped they had not been gone for more than an hour ... being a little late for their studies was one thing, but they did not like to keep Uncle Annamalai waiting even a moment for his lunch.



They had not gone far before the little frog began hopping up and down on Omcub's back.

"He's trying to tell us something," said Om.

They all stopped, and the frog jumped down. They listened carefully. He did seem very keen to tell them something.



"I think he is hungry," said Spotty.

"Well let's get him back to the cave. Mum LIoness is sure to have a snack waiting for us."

Sure enough, when they arrived at the cave, Mum Lioness was waiting with a fresh supply of iddlies.

"These are very special ones," she said. "Freshly blessed by Bhagavan."

The frog hopped up on the rim of the iddli bowl and took a big bite.



"Spottykins, you must have been right that he was hungry," said Tirucub.

Within half a second, a most extraordinary thing happened. The frog turned into a little child!



"Whew!" said the boy. "I thought I was never going to get back to my usual form!"

Mum Lioness looked from cub to cub, her eyes saying: tell me what on EARTH you have been up to.

"We ... we found him in the safe," said Arunacub.

"But as a frog," added the child. He ran to each cub and hugged them. "Thank you for getting me out of there! It was so lonely in the safe, and so dark."

"How did you turn from boy to frog?" asked Mum Lioness.

"That swami did it to me! I told him to give everyone's treasures and money back, after his prosperity puja didn't work. He said it DID work ... it was a perfect demonstration of everyone's childish attachment to material possessions and his demonstration was a greater gift to them than all the diamonds in the world. I laughed at that, because everyone could see he cared about the stuff more than anyone else did, and then he had a big temper tantrum and turned me into a frog."

"Have another iddli," said Omcub.

The child took another and hungrily ate it. Then he smiled. "I know who every single one of those treasures belongs to. Let's give them all back!"

"Yes, starting with the Gurunathans' money and Jyoti's mangalsutra," said Tirucub. "But first we must make Uncle Annamalai's lunch. You can help us."

The little boy was alternately turning summersaults and eating iddlies, overjoyed to be out of the safe. "How can I help?" he asked cheerfully.

Swami MiracleAnanda's whereabouts

The lion cubs had just finished Math class. Spotty was outside playing with Rumple and Crumple, the unruly hippo babies.

Spotty had now made it quite clear that he was having none of this mathematics business.

Mum Lioness had also enforced a new rule. All were to wipe their feet before entering the cave. And Rumple and Crumple so hated to do that, and that meant that they would have to stay outside. Which some suspected was the reason for the doormats.
So the headache of broken furniture and soiled cushions was more or less over.

When the cubs bolted out they found with quite a large gathering of the hill animals. He was telling them a story!
The three cubs peered through the circle of larger animals to see what was happening. Spotty was sitting in the center.

One deer was asking what had happened to the swami who had been taking money from everyone. Someone said "Namechangeananda", someone else said "MiracleAnanda".
Commotion prevailed with each animal trying to get himself heard.
The cubses' ears stood up at those names.
Would little brother Spotty really know what had happened to that swami?

Spotty shut his eyes for a minute. There was silence. And then little Spotty theatrically opened his eyes.

Swami Miracleananda also known as Blissananda or Swami K has gone quite far away. The officials and villagers and others chased him away. And i don't believe he will be coming back here again, Spotty said.



A giraffe poked his head through some other animals and asked, "But where is he and what is he upto?"

Spotty said "Om" three times and again closed his eyes for a moment. He could see Swami Blissananda and his followers quite clearly in his minds eye!

Swami K was talking to a follower named Chakrananda. In the background, a large tract of land was being cleared. Trees were being felled. The Swami was explaining that a large temple was to be constructed in this spot. And this spot was to be declared as the holiest spot on earth, the spiritual axis of the universe. Stories were to be circulated that the consciousness of all the Gods and saints since creation were hovering around here waiting for advanced seekers to arrive, so they could be given enlightenment.
Let them also say that all the Gods and saints are coming here for My darshan.

Another follower, Kundalini-ji, came with a fancy jewelled dress. Spotty was momentarily blinded by the dazzle of the gold and other stones on the kurta (shirt). Let everyone know that I wear these clothes only because my devotees insist. Otherwise i would wear orange robes. And what is the progress on my throne? Please tell that stupid fellow that if he does not deliver by tomorrow then the wrath of the gods, er, my wrath will befall him.

He then called another follower. We must focus on the West European countries and United States. They have rich people. We need land and money. Forget the asians and east europeans and south americans and africans.
The follower swallowed hard. He was a Russian who had sold his house to pay for MiracleAnanda's programs.

The scene cleared. Spotty opened his eyes.
A buffalo asked, what will happen to all the money and jewels we turned over to MiracleAnanda for his grace?

Again Spotty closed his eyes and narrated as he saw:

It was another day now. Swami K and his people had just reached the place they were in. They were unpacking and taking stock of all that they had brought over.
K was asking where his trunks full of money were. Dmitri was swallowing hard afraid of telling Swami K the truth. We could not open the safe, my Lord.
So, you did bring the safe, did you not. I will open it.
Lord, we could not lift the safe for some reason. We all tried. We could not move the safe one millimeter.

Swami K's eyes opened wide in anger. Dmitri almost died of fright. "And the suitcases full of jewelry and dollars?"
"Even that, Your Holiness. It would not budge!"
"So are you telling me that we have come all this way empty-handed?", glared Swami K.
"No, we did bring the suitcase with a million dollars which Chakrananda donated. And also what Kundalini-ji donated. About half a million."

The scene cleared. Immediately there was an animated discussion among the animals. They were all wondering where their money and jewelry was.

One skunk asked, "What for is the temple they are building ?" Spotty said he had just explained it. But everyone wanted to know more about it.

Spotty shut his eyes. A scene different from the first appeared in his mind.
Swami MiracleAnanda was introducing a lady to his devotees. This is my spiritual wife he told them. She represents the Mother. Those who have problems worshipping me, can worship her. She will grant boons to you.


Ma Boonananda put her fair feet in front of her. Devotees came forward one by one and tied golden anklets on her feet. She raised her hand and blessed them.

Then the devotees cleared away. Only the closest remained. Swami K spoke in a hushed whisper.
The temple we are building is actually to control mankind completely. However, we must communicate to all that the world is coming to an end soon, and only I can save the earth. Only I. And for that I need to build a huge fantastic temple, to myself. A temple that will require billions of rupees to build. When you ask people to donate, tell them it is not for me, but for the temple that will save the earth from sure destruction.

The devotees nodded. Tell everyone that sitting in that temple will give them enlightenment. We will think of more details later. We must rope in some scientists to talk of magnetic waves, and radiation and brain waves and other such scientific mumbo-jumbo.

Spotty opened his eyes suddenly. He pressed his forehead a bit. Questions were being fired at him.
The cubs signalled to him. He came to the side.
Tirucub told Spotty, "Spotty, you must not use these powers like this!"
Spotty looked a little dismayed as though pulled away from something fun.
"We'll talk later. I feel a little off", replied Spotty.
"No now.", insisted Tiru. "Spotty, don't expose yourself to that dark energy."
Arunacub added, "Spotty, you must only think of Arunachala Siva."
"Arunachala is the highest and purest power!", said Omcub.
Spotty felt much better. He agreed, "It felt just like being back in that mansion when Swami K was there. It was full of that dark, controlling energy. Ugh!"

Tiru advised Spotty to use such powers only if really necessary and preferably to ask Mum Lioness first.

discoveries in the attic

Elfi and Heinrich came over to play with the cubs in the morning. The cubs were doing their math.

"Care to join in?" asked Mum Lioness.

"Oh no!" said Elfi. "We are far far too jet-lagged!"

"You've been back for days and days," protested Arunacub.

"You have never travelled farther than Tiruvannamalai, so you would not know how bad jetlag is," said Elfi.

"This math is not at all like regular math," said Tirucub.

"Oh?" said Elfi, perking up and looking at what the cubs were working on. Soon all traces of jet lag had vanished and Heinrich had joined in too.

After an hour, Mum Lioness told them they could run and play. "But not for too long," she cautioned. "We have to precipitate some DNA before lunch."

"That kind of science is just as fun as math," Tirucub explained to the children.

"I want to patifigate some too!" shouted Omcub joyfully.

"You will, you will," Mum Lioness assured him.

Spotty dashed ahead and hid and the rest of the cubs and the children ran off to find him.

They played hide and seek for a while, then switched to tree climbing.

They were all up and big tree when Tirucub asked, "Did you ever get that safe open?"

"No," said Heinrich. "Papa kept trying that night when the police and all those others were at our house, and Mama tried too, but it would not budge. The police came back in the morning, but it still wouldn't open."

"Want to come and see it?" asked Elfi.

"Of course!" said all four cubs at once.

They all climbed down from the tree and set off with great excitement.

Up in the attic, they all looked at the safe.

"What were the numbers?" asked Arunacub. "Or do you know?"

Papa tried it so many time that I remember," said Elfi proudly. "6-2-5-1-6-9-1-4-4."

"Oh," said Arunacub. "Those are all perfect squares. Let's try 2-5-1-3-1-2 and see what happens."

"But it wasn't all those numbers you just said," said Heinrich.

"Let's just try it," said Arunacub, and he told them the numbers again.

They tried it, and the safe unlocked immediately! When they opened the door, the contents poured out.



"Wow! Look at all this!"

They all drew near. A golden frog suddenly jumped up on Omcub's back, to his great surprise.

"I'd better call Mama and Papa," said Elfi, but when she went to the top of the stairs and shouted, there was no response. "Probably meditating," she said, returning to have a good look at all the treasures.

Arunacub could not resist trying on a gold turban. Spotty began running around in excitement. He ran around behind the safe ...



"Hmmm, what are these?" he asked.



Everyone rushed over to see what Spotty had found.

"Those were never there before!" exclaimed Heinrich.

"Never seen them in my whole life," Elfi agreed.

"Must be something left behind by Miracleananda when they left so suddenly," said Tirucub.

They all tried their best to open the trunks, but the lids would not budge.

The Marital Garland

Mum Lioness lay drowsily remembering the previous meeting of the cubs ...

Little Spotty asked the cubs the overall meaning of the Marital Garland of Letters. After taking Spotty round and round for a bit, Tiru declared that it means that we are married to Bhagavan.

What is "married"? asked little Spotty.
The older cubs were shocked that Spotty did not know what marriage was.
Spotty was almost in tears at the thought of not knowing something that seemed so simple.



Mum Lioness barged in with a plate of Ramana Munches. She asked the older cubs what marriage was.

The cubs looked at each other, each hoping the other would answer. One by one they gulped.
Then one said, in a marriage there's a whole lot of people in shiny clothes.
And lots of good food.
And there's a horse!
And someone rides the horse!
And there's a lot of noise.
And awful lot of noise!

Spotty looked puzzled and asked, i can't still understand why Bhagavan Ramana would be married to us. If it means noise, and shiny clothes....
The cubs looked puzzled.

Mum Lioness gave everyone a Ramana Munch and said that Tiru cub had understood the meaning of the Marital Garland of Letters very well.

"It means that Bhagavan will always be with us, protecting us, looking after us, every moment, forever and ever.", she explained.
"Loving us, too?" asked Spotty.
"Yes"
"In the Heart?", asked Om.
"Yes"


"As you also?" asked Arunacub to Mum Lioness knowing the answer was Yes.