Vedantic Tales: The Discipleship of
Sri Nag , The Cobra

'Very good,' the sannyasin said. 'Now I shall be off. I shall be coming this way in a year from now to see how you are doing. Goodbye, my son. And he strode off across the fields into the woods on the west.

For several weeks Sri Nag lay in a dark corner of the temple, happily repeating his mantra. He ate nothing. He could still feel the touch of the sadhu's hand on his head, filling him with quiet joy. But slowly, slowly that touch lost its immediacy, its intensity. He began to feel extremely restless, as though the life he was trying to live was unnatural, almost a matter of make believe, a pose. A depression came over him. Now and then he slid out into the sunlight, but that warmth, once so reviving, failed to lift his spirits. 'What am I doing?' he would ask himself. But the only answer that came to him was that he was obeying the words of his guru; and that was answer enough. He continued to repeat his mantra through sheer will power, of which he had a great deal.

It was not long before one of the more daredevil boys of the village noticed that Sri Nag was not his usual self. It had been the habit of this boy to venture within a stone's throw of the abandoned temple and pelt it with rocks, until the cobra, infuriated, would appear and give rapid chase. The boy had always judged his distance well and had invariably escaped to safety. In the past, less clever boys had been losers at this sport, which was, of course, what had provided its intense thrill. But one morning Sri Nag failed to make his customary angry emergence from the temple. Perhaps he is off hunting, the boy thought and, disappointed, went away. But the next day and the next there was still no response. Each day the boy, and now a few of his friends, ventured closer, throwing their rocks. Nothing. Although they knew Sri Nag was not one to play tricks or lay ambushes, for he could well afford to be a very straightforward cobra, they advanced slowly, cautiously, until one day they at last came up to the very threshold of the temple itself. There, in the tall grass they saw Sri Nag lying prone, looking at them with one unblinking eye. Terrified, they fled. But the cobra did not give chase.

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