A professional long ago was feeling a sense of something was not quite right, it was a spiritual thirst that just could not be quenched by knowledge from the day to day, one day he decided to free himself from everything and went off into the jungle to seek the truth for himself.
He sat under a tree chanting “Om” for sometime but as soon as his tummy rumbled, he headed off in to town to fill up on whatever he fancied and then returned to his tree, assumed the posture and began chanting again.
To his astonishment he noted a lame fox close to where he was sitting, it had lost two of it’s legs yet it looked healthy and well nourished. He said to himself that surely with the law of the jungle and survival of the fittest this was an impossible situation. Suddenly he heard an almighty roar of a lion, without hesitation he climbed up the very tree he was sitting under. To his astonishment he saw a magnificent beast of a lion walk up to the lame fox and drop a huge piece of meat from it’s mouth. The fox tucked in and devoured the meat, the lion turned it’s head with humility and ran off into the jungle.
Never had the man thought in his wildest dreams would he ever witness something like this, could it be a coincidence? The following day, he waited again up the tree and again he heard the roar. The generous lion walked over to the lame fox, dropped the meat and walked off. He thought that this must be a sign, that all his needs would be met, what was this running off to fill his stomach, god was giving him a sign surely!
He made a commitment, no matter what happened, he was going to stay at that tree as he had nothing to fear as all his needs would be met. Two days passed and his stomach began to rumble, but he was determined. Five days passed and he felt nauseous but he was being tested right? In fact he was so determined to find the truth that beyond nine days, he was still there weak, barely conscious or able to move.
Just then a sage just happened to be passing by, he asked this dishevelled morsel of a man what had happened. The man explained the whole story to him, everything from the longing to finding himself out here and even the situation with the lion and the fox. He asked, “surely great sage that was a sign? “
The sage looked at him with pity in his eye and said “Yes it was a sign, but unfortunately it was you who decided to be the lame fox instead of the generous lion!”
Reflection, throughout reading this story, which did you chose to become the lame fox or the generous lion?
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