THE LION THAT YOU ARE!🔗

Let me narrate a beautiful story from Vivekananda, an enlightened Master, to explain to you this idea:

There was a lioness in a forest about to give birth. One day she was searching for food, looking for some animal in the forest. She saw a herd of goats and jumped. When attacking, she gave birth to a lion cub and died. The cub was left orphaned; nobody was there to attend to it. The goats took the cub in and raised it. The cub started living like a goat, drinking goat's milk and eating grass. Based on how we're brought up, we have an idea about ourselves. The cub believed it was also a goat.

After a few years, a lion attacked the goats. When he saw the cub, he picked up the cub and took it away from the goats. The cub pleaded with the lion not to kill him. The lion tried its best to convince the cub that it was not a goat, but a lion. Although the cub refused to believe that at first, he slowly started wondering about it and started contemplating on the lion unconsciously. Over time, when the lion did not attack the cub at all, the cub started trusting the lion and started getting attached to it. One day the lion took the cub to a nearby river and showed him his reflection to prove that they look similar. The lion then forced him to eat a piece of meat. The cub liked it and let out a roar and eventually realized that he was also a lion! He started living like a lion.

This is exactly what happens between you and the Master. When you see the Master, and he says you are not you as you think, that you are not a human being with spiritual experience but a spiritual being having a human experience, not only are you not ready to believe, but you are uncomfortable also. You feel he is preaching his ideas, trying to convert you. You get frightened and run away. You want to be happy with your goats and be stuck with your regular life. After a while, when the Master catches you and gives you the same idea, you stop resisting, but you are not yet convinced. After some time, the energy of the Master attracts you and you start remembering him and he becomes a part of your being. Still you are not ready to accept what he says. You play a game of hide and seek.

At some point when you trust him, he shows you that you are same as him. Again you get frightened and act like a goat. Then the Master also acts like a goat to make you comfortable, and feel that he is one among you. Once you relate with him and start trusting him, he forces you to experience that you are a lion. That's what I call initiation or the first experience. He forces you to experience that you are a lion, but even after that experience, people deny it. After a long time, the Master makes you experience your true nature and gives you the ultimate freedom. Then you realize that you were always a lion.