The Lion That Thought It Was A Sheep

Sant Ajaib often use to tell us this story many times, that our soul’s condition is like that lion which cannot roar, neither is it strong, and it lives with a herd of sheep. Once a shepherd was taking his sheep for grazing through a dark jungle. In that jungle there used to live a lion with his two cubs in a cave. Once it so happened that his two new-born cubs were playing outside the cave and the lion left to go and hunt for food. Along that same path a shepherd was returning with his herd of sheep back to his farm field, and mistakenly one of lion clubs also started walking with the herd of sheep assuming that they are his real family.

So when that cub had fully grown up he couldn’t roar nor could he run. He was living among sheep and eating grass all the time and had assumed himself to be a sheep instead of a lion.

Eventually another lion noticed this young lion living with the sheep. He was amazed and shocked. He asked the young lion, “Hey, don’t you feel weird living with sheep and eating grass? What has happened to you? Don’t you know you are a lion?” That young lion replied, “No, I’m not a lion, I’m a sheep.” So the elder lion told him to come with him to the lake and showed him his true reflection. The elder lion said, “See, we both look exactly the same; no difference.” So, by seeing his appearance, the young lion was convinced and the elder lion said, “Hey look here now. I will roar.” Watching him, the lion started roaring. This is exactly our soul’s condition. We have lost ourselves. We have lost God Almighty and our true identity…

We should try to listen to the Satsang and Bani [hymns] of Saints and Mahatmas with utmost dedication and love, so by listening to the Bani of Saints our karma gets redeemed.

— Above is excerpted from… based on… a recent account of a bhandara satsang talk by Baba Ram Singh Ji at Wai Ashram in Maharashtra.