Story

Grass eating Tiger

One day a shepherd saw a strange sight from a far. A tigress had given birth to a little cub and lay dead. The shepherd brought home the little cub and fed it and brought it up along with his sheep.

Now the little cub grew up, but he ate just the food that the sheep ate – grass. He even bleated like them and he romped and rambled like the sheep.

One day a great thing happened. A huge tiger passed by the sheep and the cub and saw to his surprise – the young tiger cub eating grass and bleating.

He jumped amidst the sheep. They ran away bleating fearfully. The cub too ran away bleating. The tiger caught the cub and took him to the pool of water nearby and said “Look, – you are a tiger like me – the King of all the animals’. Stop your bleating and eating grass. Be a tiger and roar.

The young tiger thus came to know his true nature.

Discussion

how can we know our real nature?

Through prayers, silent sitting and namasmaran. Like the tiger cub who thought that he was a sheep, we think we are the body only. But we are not the body – we are a part of the God who resides in the cave of our heart.