Recently I read a story about a "Tiger Saint" in the book "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramhansa Yogananda. The summary of the story goes as followed.
Once Paramhansa Yogananda, when was a young boy heard about a Tiger Saint. An ascetic who could fight the tiger with his bare hands. This saintly figure, when was a young man who was well built, strong and focussed. When the curious young Yogananda met this saint, he must have been in his seventies and yet looked young for his age. His biceps, as Yogananda describes, were like a football! Yet, there was a calm demeanour within. The curious boy asked the saint, is this true that you can fight a tiger?
The saint smiled and said, yes. And as he strode towards the adjacent room he knocked the wall with his fist and a brick fell off. He continued his story about how he fought tigers when he was young. While narrating the story, he paused briefly and said, "It's not that I'm stronger than somebody else. It's just that many, even the stronger ones, get fearful at the sight of a royal tiger. Along with the strength, the mind is something that needs to powerful as well."
Life was as usual, and this young man for his ability to fight the wild beast was gaining popularity. He fought not the opium fed circus tiger but the real wild ones. He would bring them into his control and soon they would behave like his pussycat. This brought not just fame to him but also a sense of pride and ego within.
Once, when an ascetic was passing by this young man's home, alerted his father that your son should stop displaying his ability to fight tigers. He is hurting the wild animals for his own pleasure. If he continues to do so, he will be defeated once by a powerful Bengal tiger and then be bedridden for six months. After which, he will realise his purpose and become a saint. Instead, he should seek his purpose without paying this trouble.
The father made this same request to his young tiger fighting son. The son did not pay any heed. Instead, when he was invited by a neighbouring town's ruler to fight a tiger that he had hunted, he went there.
The ruler received him, welcomed him into his palace. He said, I"'ve heard so much about you. Can you display your talent for bringing the feline creature into your control?" He further continued, "If you do so, you will be adequately rewarded. If not, your name will be tarnished forever." The young man agreed to the king's challenge and a date was set a week from that day.
People from the village gathered. And for the first time in his life, something unusual happened. The tiger pounced upon him so hard that his right hand was ripped and it bled. Once the tiger had witnessed the taste of blood, he started attacking with even more vigour. Our hero, the young man, still did not give up and managed to fight with the tiger with on hand and eventually after a lot of stifles got the tiger into control.
He had won the bet but was badly injured - so much that, like the saint at his door had predicted, he was bedridden for six months.
During those six months, what he realised was something that the Tiger Saint now narrated to the young Yogananda. He said, "that it's not about getting the wild tiger from the forest in your control, but it's the tiger within you that one needs to learn to control that made him what he is known for today. The mind is an even wilder beast that can go anywhere and out of control, and the one who learns to have total control over this animal is able to see, feel and experience life differently and richly".
Comments