Can Mum Lioness really resist carrying us?

Awwww !!! This is soooo sad. We really aspected to ride on Mum Lioness's back cos Mum Hippo does not have that soft furry back we have heard so much about. And Mum Hippo has to be pushed and nudged to complete pradakshina herself.

Also we wanted to ride on Mum Lioness because we have heard that Mum Lioness is in cahoots with Bhagavan! So piggy-backing on Mum Lioness brings extra grace of Bhagavan and Arunachala while doing pradakshina.

Yes, the servings you left for us were so large, we had to finish it on the spot. We were afraid we would have to share the iddlies with our cousins, Dodo and Frodo, who are larger than us.

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 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.