A farmer lived in a village. The farmer was very happy with his wife and children. The farmer had a cow in his house, which the farmer and his wife kept with great love. The farmer used to take the cow at the time of going to the farm in the morning, which used to graze in the forest nearby. In the evening, the cow used to return with its owner farmer. The farmer and his family used to drink cow’s milk and serve the cow. In the forest, the farmer used to see the cow repeatedly whether it did not go away or wandered.
Once the farmer missed the eyes and the cow went into the dense forest and lost the way. The evening was close to falling. The cow noticed that a tiger was rising to her and her legs. The cow rushed and ran into a nearby pond. The tiger also entered the pond after chasing him. The pond was not deep. The water was less but the mud was very much. It was a mud maze. The cow slowly began to sink into the mud, the tiger’s feet also started to sink into the mud. The distance between the cow and the tiger was not much, but neither the tiger was able to move forward nor was the cow moving. The distance between the two was reduced but the tiger was not in a position to do anything. His claws were thrown into the mud. Both were almost trapped in that mud till the throat, both were not even able to move. The tiger was unable to catch him despite the tiger being in front of him.
After a while the cow asked the tiger- you have a guru or a master. The tiger replied with his natural ego, how Swami Swami! I myself am the king of this forest. The cow said what is the use of your power here- you cannot get out of this mud on the strength of your power. Now the tiger told the cow that you are also in a situation like me. You are also trapped and close to dying. The cow smiled and replied to the tiger- it will not happen at all. In the evening, my boss will go back to the farmer home and will not find me, then the farmer who is my owner will definitely come here and take me out of here.
And the same happened, after a while the farmer came to the pond searching the cow and took the cow out of the mud and took him to his house. Both the cow and the farmer were grateful to each other, they could not remove the tiger from the mud even after wishing that the tiger was threatened by both of them.
This story gives us the knowledge that the tiger is a symbol of ego, the owner of the cow is a symbol of the farmer Sadhguru and the mud is the world. To get out of the mud in this world, we need a friend or a guru in some form or the other who can give us knowledge in this world struggle and take it out of it.
Ashok Suri, spiritual writer
