The Tame Tiger

A religious teacher and his student were walking from one village to another, when they suddenly heard a roar behind them. Turning their gaze in the direction of the roar, they saw a big tiger following them.

The first thing the student wanted to do was to run away, but as he had been studying and practising self-discipline, he was able to halt himself, and waited to see what his teacher was going to do.

"What shall we do, Master?" asked the student.

The teacher looked at the student and answered calmly: "There are several choices. We can fill our minds with fear, so that we become unable to move and let the tiger do with us whatever pleases it.
"We can faint. We can run away, but then it will run after us. We can fight with it, but physically it is stronger than us."

"We can pray to God to save us.. We can influence the tiger with the power of our mind, if our concentration is strong enough."

"We can send it love. We can also concentrate and meditate on our inner power and on the fact that we are one with the entire universe, including the tiger, and in this way influence its soul."

"What do you choose?"

"You are the Master. You tell me what to do. We haven't much time," responded the student.

The master turned his gaze fearlessly towards the tiger, emptied his mind from all thoughts, and entered a kind of trance.In his consciousness he embraced everything in the universe, including the tiger. The tiger became one with him in consciousness.

Meanwhile the student started to shiver with fear. The tiger was already quite close, ready to make a leap at them. He was amazed at how his teacher could stay so calm and detached in the face of danger.

After a while, the tiger lowered his head and tail and went away.

The student asked his teacher in astonishment, "What did you do?"

"Nothing. I just cleared all thoughts from my mind and united myself in spirit with the tiger. We became united in peace on the spiritual level. The tiger sensed inner calmness, peace, and unity and felt no threat or need to express violence, and so walked away."

All things in the universe have a language. It is not they who must learn to speak, it is we.