20.
IN BRUTE AND MAN ALIKE

SRI Rangaswamy Iyengar was a businessman in
Madras. He had been frequenting Sri Bhagavan
much earlier than even the Pachaiamman Koil days of
1906. When Sri Bhagavan was in the Pachaiamman
temple during the days of the great plague in
Tiruvannamalai, Sri Iyengar one day arrived at
Bhagavan's place by the train at 1 o'clock, in the blazing
sun. Sri Bhagavan received him with His usual beaming
face of smiles and the sweet milk of kindness.
Sri Iyengar was asked by the devotees around to have
his bath in the pond nearby and he left Sri Bhagavan's
presence to bathe there in front of the temple.

      The spot was very lonely; Sri Iyengar was bathing at
the eastern ghat. All of a sudden Sri Bhagavan, who was
seated inside the temple, left that place. Those around
thought He was walking out for some bodily need of His
own. When He came there He saw a leopard come to the
tank to quench its thirst at the northern edge.

      Says Bhagavan quietly to the animal: "Go now, and
come later; he would be afraid," referring to the man
bathing nearby. At these words of Sri Bhagavan, the animal
went away.

      Sri Bhagavan then went up to the bather, who had
by then finished his bath, and said to him: "We should
not come here at this part of the day; wild animals come
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at these hours to quench their thirst." He did not add that
a wild animal had actually come there, lest the man be
frightened. Thus did Sri Bhagavan reveal His equality of
being in both the brute and the man. A few days later, He
Himself told us of this incident.

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