One cheetah entered the house of Linganna and dragged two cows along with it.
Satyam who was hardly 7 years old vowed to kill the cheetah. Jayalakshmi, his
mother did not take notice of it. Linganna was worried and asked Krishna to keep
extra vigil on Satyam. Satyam tried to get out of the house and begged Krishna
to let him go. Of course Krishna did not give him any opportunity to do so. One
day Linganna went to the neighbouring village of Kanakapura on business and
brought back some balloons with him for Satyam. Satyam had a flash of an idea.
He collected couple of tins and some thread. In the evening when it was getting
dark, he slipped out of the house with the tins, the thread and the balloons. He
crossed the river Arkavathi and walked towards the hills. In the middle of the
forest there is a 50 foot deep pit. Satyam searched for a convenient spot near
the pit. He found some thorny bushes suitable for his plan. He fixed a tin near
the bush and sat in it. He then tried the thread
to the balloon, held them in his hand and made them fly around the tin. He
placed the remaining tin on his head so that he was not seen and sat still
inside. After a while the cheetah came near the spot. Sniffing around, it came
near the bush. The flying colourful balloons must have given it an impression of
that a strange animal. As is natural with the animals, the thought of a strange
animal did frighten the cheetah. Hesitantly, it went near the bush and started
sniffing. One may say it was a divine act, just at that time a ripe fruit fell
from the tree above on the tin making a strong strange noise. It turned around
in panic. The strong tail hit the balloons and they got burst making noise. All
of this happened within few seconds. In confusion and fear, it leapt forward and
fell 50 feet down into the pit, broke its leg and gave a pitiable cry. On
hearing the strange noises, Krishna ran towards the direction of the noise with
a lamp in his hand. Living in the forest area, one gets
to develop certain codes, which act as signals for communication in various
situations including those due to distress. Linganna and few other gypsies of
the village ran following the signals sent by Krishna. All of them arrived at
the spot. Just then Satyam had come out of the tin and was looking down at the
scene.
The villagers realised that it was probably an act of bravery by Satyam. They
managed to extract the details from him and were surprised and frightened at the
during act shown by the young lad. Linganna embraced him and showered him with
kisses. He gently told off his grandson off for carrying out such an act, which
could have been fatal. Krishna and others meanwhile started throwing stones at
the cheetah and end its life. Satyam stopped them from being very cruel to the
injured animal. He said, “It will not live longer. Let it die naturally.”
Probably due to the associated head injury received in the fall, the cheetah
died that night. Everyone in the village was full of praise for Satyam and he
was their hero for a while. They praised him for his brave and clever act in
killing the cheetah. “Is it not an act of maya, that Linganna who witnessed this
act, at a later date considered that Satyam was a dull head?” The adults were
excitedly listening to the story of their guru. Swamiji
smiled at them and continued his narration. He said, “it does confer punya to
listen to the story of the guru. I consider that one should analyse it and
realise the spiritual “Truth” behind it. (Life History of H.H. Sri Swamiji
223/224)

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