This happend in ancient India. A man who is unable to tolerate the tantrums of
his wife and the burden of the family decides to become a “Sannyasi”. In those
times divorce was not an option in India. “Sannyas” was misused as a way to get
out of the family burdens in a respectable manner.
Sannyasi is someone who spends his whole time on attaining realization or
enlightenment. He leaves his family and travels to a forest to do his “tapas”.
Once he reaches the forest he realizes how comfortable his family life has been
where he did not have to worry about food. He finds that it is a lot of work
to gather and cook food for himself.
With determination he continues doing his “tapas”. One day he finds a wolf
with both its front legs chopped off. To his amazement he finds that wolf looks
well-fed. He wonders how the wolf has been able to hunt and fend
for itself given its handicap. To find out how this is happening he hides himself
behind a nearby stone and watches the wolf.
To his shock he finds that lion walks in to the place where the wolf stays. He
thinks to himself that the wolf is dead. Surprisingly, the lion actually brings
meat and feeds the wolf. Looking at the whole situation the Sannyasi infers that
this is a message from God. God is asking him to focus on his tapas and forget
about the silly worry of feeding himself.
Determined with the message from God, he completely ignores his hunger and just
focusses on his tapas. Two days pass by and he is extremely hungy. Five days pass
by and he is weak. Seven days pass by and he starts moaning. He does not have the energy
to gather food and he cannot bear the hunger.
A Yogi who is passing by hears his moaning and takes pity on him. He feeds
this moaning man and enquires about his situation The Sannyasi narrates the
whole story of the wolf and the lion and the message from God. The Yogi responds:
“It is definitely a message from God. But why did you choose to be the crippling
fox instead of choosing to be the generous Lion”