Cubs relate their experience at the mansion

They had just finished dinner. It had been two tough days in a row. "Allow me to wash the dishes" offered Stripes.
He then put the dishes and cooking pots in a row and licked each one clean and spotless. Tiru did an inspection by sniffing each one for food traces. All was okay. The dishes were ready for tomorrow's breakfast!

The monkeys then began telling everyone how Bhagavan had been kind with them. Stories of Hobbler did the rounds. The little deer told everyone stories of Valli, a deer Sri Bhagavan had looked after. Junior (Rhino) recounted the incident of the rhinos from Africa, he had read on some blog.

Once again the cubs tried to tell their mother and Unca Stripes what had happened when Flora the little goat had lured them into the mansion where Krackaswami (Krax) was staking out. All the animals became silent.



"So we all ran in behind Spotty"
"It was ommst as though we were pulled in by some strange force" added Om.
"Uncle Krax was ackshlly quite nice with us. He asked us to sit on a couch. We sat. He requested us to listen to him for a while.
He asplained that what he really had in mind was this global enlightenment thing. "

"He is also in on the global enlightenment bandwagon?" asked Stripes with some sarcasm.

What is this global electrification business. Sounds good!

"Krax asplained that he needed funds to build a temple of gold which would have his statue and his energy in it, and it would help enlightenment to spread.
"And his golden throne also", interjected Om.

Listen up cub brudders. We're hitting big time!

As more and more people come to him and accept him as the Lord, their state will deepen and this temple will be able to spread enlightenment faster.
"It sure sounded like a lot of hogwash to me!" commented Arunacub.
"But could be convincing for many people --" countered Tiru.
"Like Flora" said Omcub.
"He then began quoting figures to us, of how many people are benefitting from his grace, and how fast his movement if growing.
"Finally he said, now here is what i need from you all. In order to help humanity, in order to liberate everyone from suffering, i need some help from you."

"We sorta looked at him wide-eyed wondering what help could we cubses possibly give." said Om.
"Like if he asked Unca Stripes for help, or Mum Lioness, we could understand, but US!!" said Spotty.

He said You cubs have sortan siddhis which have come to you by mistake. You need to share them with me, and promise not to use them ever again. As the Lord of the Universe, it is my wish that only I use them.
However, if you decide not to, then global enlightenment will be stalled by about, lets see ... two million years. It all depends on you cubs.

And so we sat there a few moments wondering what to say. For some reason we knew we could not just run out. We had no idea we could even change our shapes or do anything in there. it was awfully suffocating. It was like being controlled.

Then Krax said, take your time ... think it over, tell me when you are ready. And he took us up to the room where he locked us in.

By Golly! The enlightenment of the world depends on us four lickle cubses!

"He told Flora to lock us in with Uncle Jags first. Then he said, NO, we'll put them in elsewhere where no one can find them!", added Arunacub.
He told Flora to take off Arunacub's turban before locking us, so we could not do anything smart while locked up, added Om cub.
Mebbe he wanted to put some charm on the turban, suggested Spotty.

Unca Hobbler: where is this sound coming from?

"Then we saw Uncle Hobbler outside!" said Tiru suddenly.
"Oh yes!" the cubs shouted.
And then they all began to narrate how they were shouting out hoping someone would hear them and they saw Uncle Hobbler outside on the trees. He was cocking his ear as though he could hear something in a distance. But he kept looking around and he could not see us, it seems.

Something funny is going on here! I must go for help.

Flora must have been below our window. We heard her saying that we could be heard outside. Krax replied that with his jinx no one else could hear or see us.

But then they came in, and took us to another room from where there were only some tiny ventilators, no windows. Mebbe facing the back of the mansion.

"One strange thing was .." started Om cub (this got everyone's attention) " ... that while we were there, we were unable to think of Sri Bhagavan. Only much later we suddenly heard Unca Stripes and you shouting out 'Bhagavan' and 'Ramana', that we remembered, and then we again called out to you. We were chanting His name till you came and got us."
"It was like there was a curtain around the mind." said Spotty.
Tiru: "I felt like something was controlling me"
Aruna: "Something dark"
Tiru: "Yeah, dark."

Suddenly they heard a snore. They looked aside to see Unca Stripes falling asleep. The cubs ran around him and took their position around his neck, on his back, on his shoulder...

Tomorrow would be another day, another adventure, another gift from Bhagavan Ramana.

Searching for the missing cubs - III

Continued from this post.

Tiger Stripes tried the door. It opened ...

Krackaswami was sitting on what looked like a throne! He looked up shocked. "How did you get in? I had jinxed the door!"

You must leave! Global enlightenment is at stake!

A group of people sat around the living room with eyes closed.

Deeksha in progress. Some participants are on the cusp of enlightenment

"You must leave immediately. I have a deeksha going on. I am enlightening these devotees. You are not worthy of being here."

"Where are the cubs?" Mum Lioness demanded.
"Security!" shouted Krackaswami, without looking at them.
Flora, the little goat came running in. "You called, Lord?"
"Throw them out!" ordered Krax.

Lord, you called for Security?

They ran about searching various rooms but found nothing. Hobbler came in and began gesturing to them. They followed him to a room. It was the attic!
The cubses locked in that attic! Mum Lioness launched herself against the door but it would not budge.
She heard muffled sounds and some kicking from inside.
Stripes also tried to break down the door. "Bhagavan, please help us!" he prayed. Suddenly the lock broke. He burst in.

It was dark. He heard grunting coming from one corner. As his eyes adjusted he saw gagged and tied, a big gorilla -- Jagaswami! And next to him was Arunacub's turban!

Stripes untied Jagaswami. "Have you seen our cubs?", he asked.
Jagaswami did not reply. He was furious, wanting revenge!
Mum Lioness picked up the turban and dusted it lovingly. Jagaswami's eyes fell upon the turban. Jags immediately clutched his chest! It hurt. He felt the pain of Mum Lioness without her cubs.

Jagaswami reflecting on his life while behind bars

"Oh Lord!" he moaned. Then he turned to them and said, "I am only helping you to reduce this pain. Don't think i really care for any of you."
"Oh sure, Perish the thought." replied Mum Lioness.
Holding his chest Jags stumbled out of the attic.

Jagaswami down in the dumps

They heard loud voices from below. Krax was shouting at the devotees to return the next day for the deeksha. "We are postponing our session. This unfortunate incident has happened since you are not worthy of my grace. Your gratitude is not enough, your gifts are measly..."

Deeksha participants get up to leave, Global enlightenment averted!

Then Krax came running towards them. "You won't be able to find them", he said. "This whole place is protected with my dark magic."
"Dark Magic, my foot" said Jagaswami exploding with anger. He took the turban from Mum Lionesses hands and put it on.
"Lord Arunachala, please help!" he called out.
Suddenly, they could hear the cubses again. "We are here, Mum, Unca Stripes!"
"You broke my jinx!", shouted Krax, his face crimson with rage.
He tried hard to re-charm the mansion, but amid the shouts of Arunachala and Ramana he was powerless.
Jags led them up the stairs and stopped at a landing, and knocked on the wall. They heard a door cracking open, and four cubses burst out. They had not even seen this door earlier!

"Are you okay, cubs! You must be starved!" enquired Mum.
"Mum, Uncle Annamalai's lunch?", said one little voice urgently.
"Uncle must be starved!", said another.
"No no, we took care of that before coming", replied Mum.
"Thank God! We were so worried about his lunch."
"You mean to tell me you little chaps were sitting in there, cub-napped, and all you were worried about was Uncle Annamalai swami's lunch!" Stripes slapped his own forehead in disbelief.
Jagaswami took off the turban and put it on Arunacub carefully and said "I really don't deserve this. I don't deserve to be here at Arunachala either. I should just go rot someplace else."
"Oh, don't go away like that!" said Om-cub feeling sad for Jags.
"Before you go anywhere, do have one darshan of Bhagavan.", pleaded Arunacub.
"Yes. I should beg him to forgive me, and then leave!", Jags declared.

"Why don't we all go to the ashram!" suggested Mum Lioness. They brushed past Krax (whose ears were smoking), and Flora who was scrubbing the deeksha room.
"Bye, Fauna" called out Stripes (on purpose).
"Fiona is my sister, I am Flora!", she replied angrily.

Stripes was famished by now (what with the running they had to do). As they reached about a mile from the ashram, Stripes' nose picked up some prasad aroma. His pace increased.
They all trooped into the ashram and prostrated to Bhagavan. By some strange coincidence, the first person to be offered prasad was Stripes. He quietly pawed about three helpings.

Bhagavan was asking the little three year old child, "Has little Bo Peep found her sheep?". The child nodded her head vigorously and sat beaming in her mother's lap.

Jagaswami sat quietly in a corner his head bent and eyes looking down. Later when they got up, they noticed he had already left. Maybe he has found his peace.

Jagaswami repents at darshan

Searching for the missing cubs - II

Mum Lioness misses cubs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Woof! Woof!

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

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

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

Barky comes huffing and puffing

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

Some monkey business goin on up there

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

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


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

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

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

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

To be continued. See this post.

Searching for the Missing Cubs

When the cubses did not come home at lunch time, Mum Lioness started to get worried. She was calling for them when Meditator Tigr appeared, looking for Spotty.



"They always come back in time to make Annamalai Swami's lunch and take his food to him," said Mum Lioness with a furrowed brow.

"We had better set out and search for them," said Med Tiger.

"Let's start down at Palakottu, just in case they are visiting down there, and that way we can deliver Annamalai Swami's lunch ourselves ... though it makes no sense ... the cubses have never once forgotten to take him his food and sweep his hut."



There was no sign of the cubses at Palakottu. Annamalai Swami suggested they search at the Germans' mansion.



They set out at a brisk pace. They had not even known that Annamalai Swami knew of the mansion. Perhaps the cubses had told him.

Disappointingly, all was quiet at the mansion. They knocked, and called out, but there was no answer. Mum Lioness even tried opening the door, but it was locked.



They continued searching and calling. A family of zebras said they had seen no sign of the cubses and wished them luck.



They came upon an orangutan and baby rowing on the pond the cubses loved to play at, but they had not seen the cubs that day.