Tale of the Tiger
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a small town in India, there was a family consisting of a father, mother, son, daughter and a grandfather.
It was a family, neither poor nor rich, of farmers who lived quietly and without too many shocks within their little world, consisting of the village and the lands that surrounded it.
Their possessions were not many, but they were enough to lead a dignified existence and they were, in a way, honored within the village as the old man of the family was considered very wise and very wise.
The two children - who were called Rasa, because she had a sweet look, and Rani, because she was beautiful and kind, - spent most of the time together with their wise grandfather, as their parents were busy most of the day. looking after the fields, the animals and the household chores.
Grandfather was very attached to his grandchildren, and as they grew older he began to think that they needed to understand higher things and to be able to pass on some of his wisdom to them.
So he began, even before they both reached puberty, to tell them the ancient theories he knew, clearly telling them how they could be told to two children.
In short he came to tell that people, when they died, did not die definitively but transmigrated to another body, and that this transmigration was dictated by particular laws thanks to which if an individual had behaved in a way that was not morally right in the course of his existence, he would have been reborn in an inferior animal, while if he had behaved in a wise and good manner, his rebirth would certainly have been better than that which he had had in the abandoned body.
To better understand what he was saying, he gave an example and told them about his wife, a woman who was not very good and whose infidelities he kept in his memory more than anything else.
So he explained to the two boys, and in particular to the older one, Rasa, that his wife had certainly already reincarnated by now and that, precisely because of her infidelity, her wickedness and her ease of scratching, she was destined to be reborn in a tiger.
Now it happened precisely in that period that the young man went to the fields to go to collect crops but, as soon as he reached a grove where mangoes spread their scent in the air, he suddenly found himself in front of a tiger.
There was a moment of silence; the tiger only moved the tip of its tail, staring at him, and he stared at it in turn, thinking, "This is definitely my grandmother," instead of running away.
Of course you can imagine what the tiger did with him.
A few days later - when the crying was pushed back because life had to continue and, of course, the parents had to return to the fields otherwise they would not have been able to live - the girl, talking to her grandfather, asked him why her grandmother had done this. to her brother and grandfather absorbed in her sad thoughts, he replied: "I said it, boys, I said it and it was true that grandmother has become a man-eater!"
In the evening Rani had to go to the small river that ran beside the village to draw water, and had just come by the mangroves that grew along the banks of the river, when she saw two bright yellow buds in the middle of the grass, and she too found herself facing the tiger.
Once again there was a moment of silence.
The grass was shaken by the tip of the tiger's tail and the girl remained motionless to observe the animal, very frightened.
It seemed to last an eternity but in the end the girl, reassured by what her grandfather had said, came even closer to the shore without caring about the tiger.
But the tiger took care of her and the family was thus left without her shoots.
Below we publish the intervention of the Guides and we omit the discussion among the participants for reasons of length. Who wants to consult the original file, find it here.
The meeting with the Guides
So, dear ones, too io, like the others, I have heard you argue and I agree with much of what you have said.
Of course the perspectives in which Ananda's fables can be observed - as we have often said - are many, and you have all remained more or less faithful to one perspective, but if I asked you, at this moment, who is the main interpreter of the fable what would you say?
D - The reader of the story? The Tiger? Grandpa? The children? The "feel»Why children have to pull it to the surface ...
How naive you are, creatures: I was absolutely not interested in knowing if you had identified the main interpreter of the fable, but I was interested in your answers being recorded!
First of all because this shows how different you are from each other (there were few similar answers, and those few were gradually modified by what the others said), and also because if these meetings are made to help you understand not only teaching but, as a consequence, even yourselves, you could for once try to use the answers that each of you has given to ask yourselves because that aspect struck you for which you have given that very answer; not now, of course: calmly and, perhaps, it is a job that you have to do by yourself with yourself, more than with others.
But, beyond this example of practical application of what we are saying about knowing oneself, we return to the real story.
In the context of the fable the main interpreter is the tiger, as an embodiment, concretization of the effects of the grandfather's teaching.
Or rather: we have an old man, presumed to be wise, who brings a teaching to his people disciples (in fact the children, in relation to their grandfather, are basically nothing but disciples); an old man who believes in what he says and certainly had no intention of harming his disciples; an old man who carries a teaching which on the other hand, as you all know, is completely wrong, absurd, as there is no human being who can be reincarnated in an animal with a lower consciousness which can be the tiger.
There is the tiger who is nothing other than the materialization, in the world of reality, of experience, of what the teacher (or allegedly) tried to teach; so it can also be interpreted, as you have done, as reality. A double symbolism, therefore, for the tiger.
So, in this light, what is the meaning of the two boys going towards an unconscious death? Can you simply indicate what gave today's meeting its title, which is: "What are the pitfalls of teaching?" and, therefore, advise you to do not do as you all usually do, that is, judge the teacher and not what he teaches!
Because, you see, the children show that they have listened to their grandfather's teaching and that, all in all, they believed him and that they took it as pure gold.
Ma they have been bad disciples because they didn't put anything of them in as their grandfather tried to convey to them: the true teacher teaches the disciple so that he can implement (or elaborate, or create on what he has taught) something useful; instead they simply took note of the thing and accepted and applied it without asking any questions, thus becoming, at that moment, like donkeys with blinkers who only see the carrot and do not notice that underneath there is a abyss.
Of course I interpret it in this way because, today, this was precisely the theme of the meeting and, therefore, this is the perspective we wanted to give to the story. But if, perhaps in two or three cycles, we decide to restart this series of meetings on fairy tales who knows, we could give another theme and the story could be interpreted in a completely different direction. This is to make you aware that symbolism actually allows - as I always say - to interpret anything in any way ... if only one has the mental agility to be able to do so.
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D - I don't think the boys took literally what their grandfather said: he told them that the tiger was biting, but they remained passive in front of the tiger, they didn't listen one hundred percent.
They listened to him but, first of all, they didn't make the slightest effort to understand what the grandfather was saying. Because if, really, they wanted to make the effort to understand and be good disciples, then they would also remember the fact that grandfather said that grandmother was scratching and that, therefore, she was dangerous. They took this gift from their grandfather, they just put it in their pocket. And this is certainly not being a good disciple and following a teaching well.
D - But it seems to me that if he taught and said, at least: "beware that it is dangerous", they remained indifferent to the point of going to death with indifference.
And here we have another very important aspect: all those who approach the teachings a little different from the usual, such as ours or others, tend to remember, to hold back, to take care of what concerns the "strange" part of the teaching. ", the exceptional part (how can reincarnation be in a tiger), the phenomenal part and away and away and away, then losing contact with reality.
The two boys have heard the teaching of their grandfather, have accepted it or, at least, have introjected what struck them most, what struck their imagination the most, namely the fact that the grandmother could be embodied in a tiger. And that, then, the grandmother scratched or not, after all, was a problem of the teacher and not theirs and, therefore, for them she did not count much, so they did not take it into account.
D - But they took very much into account that it was the grandmother.
In reality, the fact that it could have been the grandmother did not interest them in the least: it is the fact that there had been the reincarnation of the grandmother in the tiger, what had struck their imagination, what had somehow made them feel - as it happens, alas, so often, between you - above the norm, as they knew something that others could not imagine.
There is someone next to me laughing, because they know how often, in this environment, it happens that people are bewitched, fascinated, by the idea of astral travel, by the idea of having been pharaohs in previous lives, by idea of having particular powers, from the idea of being able to heal others, from the idea of being able to help all suffering people and away, and away and away ... but then, when you look carefully for a moment, there realizes that these people, alas, they have no power over themselves, and how can they have power over others?
They cannot heal their own diseases, and how can they heal those of others?
They do not know their own interiority, and how do they know that of others?
They can't make a small journey within their own ego and what can they need to travel in the astral?
Yet many stop, attracted to this outline part of the various teachings and, like the two boys in the story, very often they end up being devoured by the outline instead of devouring the outline.
This is one of the pitfalls of teaching: stopping only at what pleases or satisfies, trying to avoid what, perhaps, forces you to think and brings in the face of your suffering, your pain, your needs, your inexperiences, your selfishness ... and you know how many things there are to add!
But, in reality, any teaching has its best fruit precisely in leading in front of oneself, not in the possibility of being one step higher than what those around are.
Here, then, that from this discourse it follows that in order to follow a teaching, whatever it is, it is necessary, first of all, (and not only necessary but even essential) that there is a great humility, otherwise the teaching lived, even unconsciously, like will to power towards others, will not be understood and will lead to painful karmic repercussions as it will almost always end up with lose touch with reality and, little by little, as you begin to forget about those around you: you will begin to no longer see the outstretched hands that are in need, you will begin to forget the responsibilities that everyone has in their life getting lost in a labyrinth of fantasies from which it is then difficult to get out.
Also because it's so easy compensate, sometimes, squalor of a life like the one you often live, with dreams of great powers and great possibilities and abilities ... but, perhaps, we are going beyond the simple tale of the tiger and, since I don't want to bore you, then I would prefer you to be bored me with your questions!
D - It seems to me that what you said is all very right.
I am pleased, and these things should be said precisely to you who are not "young" but "new" next to us ("new" in this life, at least) as it is good that you know from the beginning that there may be dangers, and that it is necessary to live all this with balance in order to be able to reap the benefits for oneself.
If you think about it, from the start the disciple approaches the master out of selfishness, not altruism: he approaches the teacher because he needs to grow, because he needs to take, he needs to understand, perhaps with the ultimate aim of giving to others but , initially, he must complete his selfishness and take whatever he can need.
If it were not for his selfishness he would be firm and from this we deduce that too selfishness is a necessary and useful phase, without which the individual would remain immobile.
Ah, how beautiful, what a great Thinker the Divine has been who has managed to create such a perfect balance and in which everything is necessary, is useful and serves to grow!
Q - But does the story of affections have to do with it? I interpreted it in the sense that having not yet reached global love, we need affections that affect us more.
This is normal, it is a very normal speech, of the psychology of everyday man.
But let's say that, even when you are later on, a close affection will give you more than a distant affection: of course you are all brothers (I am not speaking, of course, of those who have reached God, because those who achieve fusion with the Absolute, that moment is also all other men and, therefore, there is no longer close affection or distant affection), but certainly an individual, for example, in the last incarnations, still feels some difference since, at least, the distant affection does not for example, it includes the sensory element and seeing your loved one helps affection.
Affection is not only made of feeling, thought or sensation, it is also made of physicality: a small child must be touched to grow, to learn, to feel affection and you, in your inner world, are still, inside, like small children who need to be touched as well as reasoned and pampered… and it is also for this reason, among other things, that Michel comes to caress you!
Q - I did not understand one thing when you analyzed the figures of the teacher and the disciple: did you criticize the disciple, the teacher or both?
To both of them, without a doubt: the true teacher is the one who gives the teaching to others, knowing what teaching to give and how to give it, based on what he knows to be the needs of the disciple.
The grandfather, if he had been a true teacher, would have known that the grandchildren would have had to learn the thing by dying from the tiger's teeth ... but, certainly he was not, also because this grandfather (poor man: so criticized this evening) is not that he was then accused of being a teacher: he simply tried to pass on his little knowledge to his grandchildren, wrongly but in good faith.
However, without a doubt, the true master manages to do what I said before, just as the true disciple can listen to the teacher and do something not only because the teacher tells him, but he can understand what the teacher says and do it because he feels that what the teacher says is right. The thing is quite different!
There is always, therefore, one active condition on the part of the disciple, and never passive, because when the condition is passive the disciple will not be able to move away from his limits at that moment.
D - In this sense, therefore, the disciple is also a master of himself.
Ah, without a doubt: no teacher can teach anything to those who do not want to be taught, this without any 'shadow of doubt.
And then, creatures, do not be fascinated - since we are talking about the pitfalls of teaching - by the idea of a guru (embodied or not), of a teacher (embodied or not) and away, and away, and away.
Remember that it is difficult for you to meet a total master, but it is very easy that whoever is next to you, even without knowing it, is to be a teacher, perhaps unknowingly!
However each of you is the channel of that Grand Master who guides the whole design of the universe and, therefore, it can be the bearer of gifts for other men. Instead all of you tend to listen, usually, to what a (presumed or declared such) teacher says, while you tend to ignore what he says to you - perhaps with greater wisdom and adherence to reality! - your neighbor!
D - It is a very generic speech because in the current times it is difficult to establish a relationship with a neighbor.
Dear, sorry, but this is a cliché and, in my opinion, silly (and sorry if I tell you): what do you do so that the neighbor doesn't say "good morning" or "good evening" and that's it?
D - When I moved home, to make myself known, I baked some cakes and brought them to my neighbors, but it all ended there. We talk a lot about brotherhood but we always clash with the coldness of others ...
Maybe they didn't like cakes! Seriously, it may be that your way of giving fellowship is a way that others can't accept… but we're going off topic: any other questions?
D - It is difficult for those who approach these teachings not to be fascinated by the teacher!
This without a doubt, and this is why we so often warn: because we do not want robots, individuals enchanted and hanging from our lips ... if we wanted that we could do wonderful things to obtain it, but we have no ego to satisfy and we it just matters that you understand and grow.
Q - Do you think I am too enchanted and hang too much on your lips?
Not for the moment, but it could happen and the instrument would end up in difficulty because, weighing what you weigh, it would find itself with the lip on the ground!
Well, stop joking, creatures. Before greeting you with the usual affection, I want to remind you of one thing about Ananda's fables: very often there are elements in his fables that escape those who try to examine them and which, very often, are traces of interpretation or keys to reading the fable itself.
One of the common techniques is to repeat a particular detail more than once, as if it were a light that flashes to indicate something. I ask you to think (and then you will talk about it, perhaps, at the next meeting): what is the meaning of the tip of the tiger's tail moving in the grass? Scifo
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It is always necessary to nourish a strong critical spirit, which means nothing but autonomy of judgment. Furthermore, it should be remembered that it is necessary to listen to one's feelings in order to understand the direction.
It is necessary to have the will to try and also to make mistakes, because making mistakes is necessary and required of us, on our journey.
Beyond the judgment there is neither disciple nor teacher.
Thank you.
Master is the one who is capable of insinuating a doubt, a concept, which undermines a balance.
Disciple is the one who uses that crisis to metabolize a new balance through his feeling and his experience.
Nothing is predefined, nothing fixed, nothing absolute.
This is the great game of Life!
I have to think about it. Thank you.
To tell the truth when you teach children to say something like that said by their grandfather is very dangerous, because children trust the teacher and do not question the teaching.
That fable could only be suitable for adults who could discern between real and metaphorical tiger.
Very interesting. The whole theme of the teacher and disciple and the pitfalls that are hidden in carrying out these functions are themes of absolute topicality.
Being capable of discernment, this is the center and this will be possible the more we are active in the path of self-knowledge.