Once upon a time, there lived an angry lion in the Garhwal region of North India. No one knew why the lion was angry. Anyone who crossed his path was killed. It seemed as if terrible death herself had taken a form and descended upon the earth. His terror was spread across all the villages in that region. No one knew from where he might appear and how many he will kill. 

This was centuries before a certain gentleman called Jim Corbett appeared on the scene. The villagers had tried to deter the lion in their own ways. They tried to offer sacrificial cattle outside the villages, they built walls around the villages and let their fields outside the walls go back to the valleys. Once they even tried to hunt the lion with a band of one hundred and fifty strong men. The lion escaped from the hunt and became angrier still.

The villagers had given up any hope. They simply left their life to fate and decided to wait till the lion died its natural death. 

One day a mystic passed through one of those villages on his way to upper Himalayas. He was neither young nor old and had a flowing beard. There was a wooden staff in his right hand, a water pot in his left hand and a rolled deer hide under his armpit. He could sense the feeling of terror in the village. He was intrigued by it and decided to find the reason for that.

There was a temple of the Goddess outside the village walls. He spread his deer hide and sat down in meditation. A villager saw him doing that and spread the news in the village. Soon a group of villagers armed with sticks and spears arrived at the temple and they asked the mystic to leave the temple and get inside the village walls. The mystic noticed that they kept looking at the lush forest on the rolling hills around the place. 

He asked – “Why do you want me to leave the Goddess’s abode? I am perfectly fine here in the lap of my mother.”

The villagers told him about the terror that had besieged their lives. The terrible lion who only lives to kill. No one who had crossed his path was left alive. They were afraid for the mystic’s life.

The mystic said – “You do not need to worry about my life. The Goddess is my mother and the lion is her ride. He won’t kill me. Besides, I know how to converse to animals and I will tell him to stop this madness. You do not need to be afraid anymore.”

The villagers tried a lot to make the mystic leave the temple. But it was to no avail. It was getting evening and in the hills, the night came quickly. They left the mystic in the temple with some food and an oil lamp. 

It was a moonless night. The sky seemed pregnant with stars. The mystic lit the lamp in front of the goddess and sat outside the temple sanctum sanctorum, looking out at the beautiful night. The diffused light from the stars illuminated the grassy land till the edge of the forest and then there was darkness. 

It seemed to the mystic that a part of the darkness left the forest and moved out to come towards the temple. The dark shadow was huge. It came with a steady, rumbling motion – the grace with which it moved was mesmerizing. It came closer and soon the mystic was face to face with the terror of the hills. The lion had such anger in his eyes that for a moment the mystic was taken aback.

But he controlled himself and asked the king of the beasts – “Why are you angry?”

It was time for the lion to be surprised. He had seen countless people cowering before him, this was the first time someone had stood his ground and that someone could also converse with him. But then he roared and said – “I will kill all of them who move on two legs. They killed my whole family when I was small. Now I am big and strong and I will kill them all.”

The mystic then said – “And by killing all of them, your whole family will come back? You are angry because they killed your family. Probably, the people who killed your family are dead by now. But you have kept on killing the innocent ones. Have you thought that if the people retaliate in the same manner and start killing all the lions, or all the animals? What will happen then? A cycle of killing and revenge?

Life is precious, O Brother. Do not waste it in mindless pursuits. You are a lion and are loved by the Goddess. I will initiate you in the process which will show you the secrets of existence. Once you understand that, your anger towards people will go away.”

Then, the mystic and the lion spoke for the whole night. The mystic imparted the timeless knowledge to the king of the jungle. All life is one. We are part of the same family. How to live a good life and progress one’s perception so that one gets rid of the cycles of birth and death. The lion soaked the mystic’s words as if they were drops of water on a parched desert. When the sun arose in the east, the lion was still there – but he was a reformed lion. He had taken a mental vow of non-killing.

With the morning, the villagers came and saw the great sight. The mystic and the lion sitting face to face. They were instantly terrified, but the mystic called out to them and explained that there was no need to fear anymore. The lion won’t kill. He was a peace loving lion now.

The villagers rejoiced and the mystic left on his journey. For the next few days there were festivities in all the villages where the news of the peace loving lion reached. Life had returned back to normal. The villagers started to visit the temple again. The lion also used to visit the temple to do his practices as taught by the mystic.

As it happens with the young folks, some of the youth in the villages started to dare each other about showing bravery in front of the lion. Once, a few boys waited for the lion to leave the temple and then threw a stone at him as part of a dare. The lion was hit but he did not say anything. He controlled his anger and mentally repeated – “this body is temporary, I am not this body.” He felt peaceful inside. 

With time he also stopped killing for food and subsisted only on the animal sacrificial offerings at the temple. He learnt to deny the body and worked to raise his spirit and consciousness. 

Slowly, the news of the dare spread throughout all the villages. With this news, the suppressed terror turned into hatred. There were many families in the villages who had lost their loved ones to the lion. The knowledge that the lion doesn’t retaliate brought hate fuelled cruelty in them. Soon, hitting the lion with rocks and sticks became a game. The game was who could hurt him more. Any area outside the temple walls was filled with danger of getting hurt badly for the lion. 

The lion further controlled his anger by telling himself about Karma. He told himself – “there was a time when moving outside the village walls was dangerous for the humans and that karma has resulted in keeping me within the walls of the temple. I should not be angry at getting the results of my own karma.” 

There were some folks in the village, ardent devotees of the Goddess who tried to keep the lion alive by offering animal sacrifices every few days at the temple. 

Soon, he – who once was the king of the jungle – was a weak and feeble self, confined within the walls of the temple. A few months passed in this manner.

Then the mystic returned from his Sadhana. The villagers welcomed him. He was happy to see them free of fear and become prosperous. Rid of the fear of the lion they had reclaimed their fields from the valleys and were growing various kinds of crops. 

The mystic told the villagers that he will again spend the night at the temple of the Goddess. This time the villagers made grand arrangements for his stay. There were several lamps, a bed and sumptuous food for him. He refused all of that and asked them to leave an oil lamp and some food. He told them that he will spend the night in meditation. 

After everyone left, he made his seat ready for mediation. Then he went in the sanctum sanctorum to light the lamp. He heard a soft groan of someone in pain. He took the lamp and went deeper in the temple. Behind the statue of the Goddess, he saw the lion. The lion was weak and feeble. He had many wounds on his body, some were still fresh and bloody. The mystic immediately sat beside the lion and checked all the wounds. He brought water from the temple well and cleaned the wounds and bandaged them as best as he could with his own clothes. 

The lion got some strength due to the mystic’s ministrations. As his pain receded, he opened his eyes and saw the radiant form of his Guru. The lion then tried his best to bow down to the mystic. The mystic stopped him and said – “You are my brother, you do not need to bow down to me. But what have you done to yourself? Last time we met, you were the very form of strength and grace. Now you are so weak.”

“Oh Brother, I found the light. When you told me that killing is not good, I stopped killing. The kids in the village tested my resolve. They hit me with stones, rocks and sticks. But I managed to control my anger. I did not kill anyone.” The lion said.

The mystic had tears in his eyes. He said softly – “I asked you to stop the wanton killings. Oh my stupid brother, when did I ask you to stop roaring?

Roar, my lion roar. Let them know that you are still a lion. Goddess herself rides upon you. Their life is precious and so is yours. And if it is between them and you, to you – your life is much more precious. Do not let anyone think otherwise.”

And the lion roared that night. The king of the jungle was still the king.

The problem of philosophy is that sometimes we do take the words literally. For example, Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – The world is one family.

It so happened a few years ago when India and China were at loggerheads on Doklam (which was not even our territory as we were told by many news channels), I had the fortune of interacting with a group of young and not so young peace lovers. The group had a leader and he engaged me in a debate.

In addition to telling me the follies of going to war with a powerful country like China over a piece of land that was not even ours, finally he brought up the culture argument. “We are a peace loving country and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is the mantra that we have given to the world.” – He said.

I asked – “What does it mean?”

“Of course, it means The world is one family.”

“Whose family?” – I asked.

“Mine” – he said, “I mean ours.”

“What happens to the family when you are gone?” I asked.

He said – “I am gone but the family is still there.”

“And what happens if you are the only one who believes in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, and you are gone? Do we still have a family?” – I said.

“And also, if in the family your uncle wants to kill your mother – is it still Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam?” – I continued. “See, in order to keep the All the world is my family thought alive, I have to be there. And if someone from that family is trying to kill me, I will retaliate with all my might. If that someone dies, the world is still my family. If I die then there is no family.” – I continued.

Obviously, the debate also continued. The peace loving young and not so young ones have many philosophies, and almost all of them are either geared towards non-action or anarchy. But at this moment when a part of our family is again trying to rob our mother, I have a message to my nation – “Roar my lion, roar. Roar the mightiest roar, the roar that instils terror in the heart of anyone trying to hurt you. And if need be kill my lion, there is no sin in that.”