A Short Story
One day, a cow went out to graze in the jungle. Suddenly, she noticed a tiger running towards her. She turned and fled fearing that at any moment the tiger would pounce on her. The cow desperately looked for some place to escape and finally saw a shallow pond. She just jumped into the pond and so followed the tiger. To their surprise, the pond was too shallow and was filled with sticky mud.
Soon they found themselves a short distance apart, stuck in the mud up to their necks. They had their heads above the water but were unable to free themselves no matter how much they struggled to do so. The tiger repeatedly yelled at the cow, made fun of her and roared” I am going to enjoy the sound of crushing and crunching your bones between the teeth.” But the cow thoughtfully laughed as the tiger was unable to free himself and asked him,” Do you have a master?” The tiger spontaneously replied,” I am the king of the jungle, Why do you ask me if I have a master?. The cow said, “You may be the king of the jungle but here all your powers have failed to save your life. And what about you? Asked the tiger. You too are going to die here in this mud! The cow smiled and said,” I am not”.
The tiger got anguished with anger, said” When I, the king of the jungle cannot free myself from this mud, then how can you, an ordinary cow? The cow gently answered, “I cannot free myself from this mud, but my master can”. When the sun sets and he finds me absent at home, he will come looking for me. Once he finds me he will raise me up and escort me to my sweet home. The tiger fell silent and glared at the cow. Soon, the sun set and the cow’s master arrived. He immediately realised the plight she was in and lifted her to safety. As they walked home, the cow and the master felt deep gratitude to one another and pitied the tiger. And they both would have been happy to save if only the tiger had allowed them to do so.
The COW represented a surrendered heart, the TIGER represented an egoistic mind and the MASTER represented the Guru. The mud represented the world and the chase represented the struggle for existence.
Moral: Surrender your heart and soul to the Acharyas and be enlightened spiritually in order to relieve yourselves from the worldly pressures and pleasures. We need to let go our egoistic, arrogant mind and make a beginning in learning the true essence of our birth.