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.

Med Tiger was still sniffling and snuffling. Om had spread a rumour that Mum Lioness had her hands full with four sick cubs, Spotty having gotten the cold from Stripes, and Omcub from Spotty, and Arunacub and Tirucub from Omcub. "Mum Lioness felt all the cubses' foreheads and found them to be very hot," he was overheard telling Fluffaswami. There did not, however, seem to be any truth to this. It was simply a case of Omcub trying to copy his baby brother's habit of rumour spreading.

The cubses instead were friskier than ever.

"I know how we can get Unca Stripes perked up!" said Arunacub. "We can take him for a walk."

They bounded in to the cave where Unca Stripes was lying under a blanket, looking reasonably restored by the very spicy rasam. He was taking sips of his herbal drink. Omcub daringly dipped in one claw and sucked it. Right away he let out a huge yelp and had to have a big bowl of yogurt and maple syrup to recover. The big yelp seemed to help get the tiger out from under the blanket. And as soon as Med T smelled maple syrup, he told Mum Lioness that it had long been recognized as a back-up cure for colds, so she had to fix him a big bowl too.

After the bowls had been licked clean, the all set out on the walk.

"Where shall we go?" asked Med Tiger.

"We're going to take you on a different path ... a path most creatures don't know about," said Omcub.

"Oh?" said Med Tiger, who was doing his best to keep up with the racing cubses. Spotty and Omcub very soon both insisted on riding on Mum Lioness's back. Tirucub set a very brisk pace.

After a while, a great many elephants were spotted.

"Where are they all heading?" asked Mum Lioness.

"They look specially happy," said Tirucub. "Wherever they are going, it must be somewere extra good ... let's follow them."

Suddenly they came upon a temple none of them had ever seen before or even heard of. The elephants were vibhuti-ing their foreheads near the temple entrance, and some elephant singing could be heard coming from inside.

"Such beautiful chanting," said Mum Lioness. To their delight, a baby elephant who had dipped his trunk in the vibhuti unexpectedly striped all their foreheads. Omcub began laughing helplessly, saying the trunk was too ticklish but then asking for more stripes. Tiru pretended his name was Ramanatha Brahmachari so the elephant would do his stripes all over.

"Soon you will be mistaken for me!" said Unca Stripes, quite liking the idea.

They entered the temple which turned out to have quite a few parts to it. Omcub bounded in to an inner shrine with a mother and father and baby elephant and found to his joy that there was a big beautiful picture of Bhagavan in the shrine.



From another part of the temple, he heard Mum Lioness give the soft half purr/half growl that meant "where is my missing Omcub?" and he bounded along in her direction. He found his mother and brothers and uncle standing at the edge of a beautiful room. All the elephants were slowly walking clockwise in a circle.



"What is that in the centre?" asked Spotty, curiously.

A little elephant who was just circling passed him whispered, "In the centre is the only known copy of the Aksharamanamalai written in Elephant. Bhagavan gave it to us as a gift. He wrote it himself."

The cubs looked over at the sacred text.

"Let's om om om ourseffs into elefinks so we can do this pradakshina too, in full elefink style!" said Omcub in high excitement.

"Om om om let us be elephants!" they all said. The other elephants glanced over, a bit astonished, and went on with their worship.

Meditator Tiger a bit down these days!

Are you making a batch of Ramana Munches, Mum Lioness? asked Om cub.

No, i am making some hot rasam for Unca Stripes. It will help with his cold.

Poor unca stripes! Spotty was saying that his nose has been running for 2 days. All Spotty does is take tissues to him all day long.

How terrible! exclaimed Mum Lioness.

But that's not the worst, added in Tiru cub.
Mum Lioness turned to him, her eyes opening wide.

Spotty was saying that Stripes is having a problem doing Self-enquiry with this cold.
Really? remarked Mum Lioness.
Will the hot rasam help Uncle Spotty in self-enquiry, asked Om cub innocently.

Well, we'll put it in front of Bhagavan. And pray to Him to bless this rasam, so that Unca Stripes gets well fast.
The cubs sat down in front of Bhagavan praying to Him as Mum Lioness placed the piping hot rasam at Bhagavan's Feet. She allowed the aroma to waft towards Bhagavan, knowing how much Bhagavan would love it.

Did you put extra red chillies for Unca Stripes? asked Arunacub.

Yes, and one for little Spotty, too. In case he steals a sip!, said Mum Lioness with a wink.

The three lion cubs saw some large red chillies floating on top and shrunk back in fear!

Om burst into laughter and told the others that he remembered that Unca stripes liked to bite into the red chilli at the start of the meal. He would love the taste of the chilli exploding in his mouth. And then the rest of the meal would seem hot.

As they sat they could hear Unca Stripes sniffling in the next cave.

Arunacub decided he would read to Unca Stripes about the Self, as this would help Stripes to focus.
Om cub decided he would ask Unca Stripes to enquire who is unable to enquire. They all thought that was a great idea.
Tiru cub asked Mum Lioness to fill a flask with hot water, honey, turmeric and black pepper, and a few other herbs he had collected from their garden. Tiru's knowledge of herbs was amazing!

With the rasam, the hot water, and a few verses about the Self, they visited Uncles Stripes and Spotty.

(Edit: The cubses would like to share this video with animal lovers)

A golden day for thirst

Dandapani Swami was visiting his daughter and son-in-law. It was 1923 and C. K. Sambamurthi (later to be known as Muruganar), who had long been searching for his Guru, was taking a little break from his busy schedule of teaching and tutoring and Tamil dictionary compiling.

"You must take a look at this," said Dandapani Swami, holding out a slender text. Muruganar looked up with interest. What could this be?



Muruganar took the text into his own paws. Ah, the title! He had not even read the first line, and already, the magic was at work! Aksharamanamalai. He lost all awareness of the room and his family as he read the 108 verses. At last! None but his own longed-for Guru could have written THIS! And how obvious it was that this Bhagavan Ramana was none other than Siva himself.

His longing for Bhagavan's divine feet grew so intense that he resolved to set out as soon as possible for those feet. He began to plan his journey to Tiruvannamalai. He could feel that Bhagavan, in his infinite compassion had claimed him. To melt in that One was Muruganar's only wish. Bhagavan Ramana drew him like a magnet.

On his way to Arunachala, he stopped at the Arunachaleswara Temple and composed eleven verses to Bhagavan, addressing Him as Siva and pleading for His grace. And on he went, his journey almost complete.

~~~~~~~

That September, Bhagavan was still living in a little thatched hut on Mother's samadhi. Muruganar drew near. But how to greet the Lord of all? What exactly to say to that ocean of compassion?



Muruganar stood outside the hut, turning over possibilities and thinking, 'Oh what a golden day this is for the thirst I have endured for countless lifetimes!' But how to let Bhagavan know he had arrived? A tiny throat clearing? The gentlest tap on the door? He wanted to fall at the holy feet and wash them with his tears of gratitude. And never stand up again.

Meanwhile, up in a nearby tree, three young cubs were observing him. A fourth cub was about to climb up onto the platform of their newly built tree fort. "I smell a devotee!" whispered up the cub on the ground to the ones above, with tremendous joy. "Yes, yes!" whispered the others back. "Just jump into Bhagavan's lap!" Omcub urged under his breath, but Muruganar continued to stand outside the hut.



Suddenly Bhagavan came out of the hut. "Enna?" he said to Muruganar.

To explain why he had come, Muruganar began to sing the verses he had composed but soon he was too choked up with emotion and his eyes were too full of tears to go on.

Bhagavan took the poem from him and read it out himself.



"It's too beautiful for words!" said Arunacub in wonder.