The Tiger and the Donkey

Many people have become enlightened after hearing this story.
There was once a dhobi, a laundry man. Every morning he would
collect soiled linen from all the houses, load it on his donkeys, and
take it to the river to wash as they do in India today. You can see
them down at the Gomti here in Lucknow.

After washing the clothes he would place them out to dry. When they
were dry he would load them back on his donkeys and return to his
stall to press them. In the evening he would return the clothes to their
owners. This is the job of a laundry man here in India.

While he washed the clothes, the laundry man would let his donkeys
graze on the grass nearby.

One day while he was washing the clothes, he saw a tiger coming to
drink water at the river. It was a female tiger and she was pregnant.
Just then a poacher came along and shot her. He wanted her skin
and head to sell. Many people like to decorate their home with these
things.

The poacher came and took away the skin and head of the tigress.
But there was a little cub in her and it jumped out.

While the laundry man was at the river he saw the tiger cub lying
there. He took pity on it and so he washed it, wrapped it in a cloth, put
it in his basket, and took it home. Every day he fed it milk with a
feeder.

It grew day by day. Soon it began to walk and became quite strong.
Finally, the laundry man was loading it with dirty clothes and taking it
to the river every day along with the rest of his donkeys.

Some months passed in this way.

Now this tiger has been growing up in the company of donkeys. He
lives with them, eats with them, works with them, and sleeps with
them. Every day he is loaded with dirty clothes along with them. He
eats grass as they do. He doesn’t even know what his natural food is.
The food of the donkey is grass but the food of the tiger is donkey,
isn’t it? But this tiger doesn’t know it. He thinks he is a donkey. He
eats like a donkey and gets loaded with dirty clothes like a donkey,
that’s all.

One day another tiger comes along and watches the grazing donkeys
and one tiger. He watches this from a distance and thinks, “I am
confused. This looks like a tiger but he is eating grass. I don’t
understand. Let me take a closer look and find out what is going on.”
When he went closer the donkeys ran away. This donkey-tiger also
ran away along with the others.

The tiger sped up and caught hold of the neck of the donkey-tiger.

“Who are you? Who are you?” he demanded.

“I am a donkey, sir. I am a donkey. Don’t eat me. My brothers and
sisters have gone. Please, don’t eat me.”

“No, no, no, no, no, my dear boy. You are not a donkey. You are a
tiger. You are a tiger like me.”

“No, sir. Don’t fool me like that. Don’t fool me. If you want to eat me,
you can straight away eat me. But don’t tell me I am a tiger. I can’t
stand this insult!”

If I tell you, you are Brahman, some people are insulted. It’s too much
for a donkey to be a tiger, isn’t it? I say you are Brahman, you are
atman, and not even Yama can come near you. And you don’t
believe it. You don’t believe. This is a story about the same thing. The
donkey-tiger doesn’t accept what the other tiger is saying.

So the tiger takes hold of this “donkey” by the neck, drags it to the
river and says, “Now look at the reflection. Look at your face and look
at my face. Look at your face and look at my face. We are the same.”

“Yes! Yes, my lord! I see! This is the first time I have seen this. My
face is like your face!”

“Now open your mouth,” says the tiger. “Utter a single roar, ‘I am
Truth!’ Okay? Utter a single roar.”

And he did. And instantly the “donkey” became a tiger.

What is it? How did this donkey become a tiger? Did the tiger tell him,
“You have to meditate. You have to meditate. First of all, sit down
here in the lotus posture and perform yoga and then I will give you
some initiation”? Did he tell him, “First of all, sit down and do this
exercise and your kundalini will rise from the base of your spine and
slowly travel upward”? Did he say, “You perform some pranayama”?

No. He didn’t say anything. He simply showed him a reflection. And
told him, “Utter a roar, ‘I am Brahman’” and that’s all. And he became
a tiger because a tiger he was.

By spending his whole life with donkeys he had become a donkey
himself.