RI Rangaswamy Iyengar was a businessman in Madras. He had been frequenting Sri Bhagavan much earlier than even the Pachaiamman Koil days of 1906. When Sri Bhagavan was in the Pachaiamman temple during the days of the great plague in Tiruvannamalai, Sri Iyengar one day arrived at Bhagavan’s place by the train at 1 o’clock, in the blazing sun. Sri Bhagavan received him with His usual beaming face of smiles and the sweet milk of kindness. Sri Iyengar was asked by the devotees around to have his bath in the pond nearby and he left Sri Bhagavan’s presence to bathe there in front of the temple.
The spot was very lonely; Sri Iyengar was bathing at the eastern ghat. All of a sudden Sri Bhagavan, who was seated inside the temple, left that place. Those around thought He was walking out for some bodily need of His own. When He came there He saw a leopard come to the tank to quench its thirst at the northern edge.
Says Bhagavan quietly to the animal: “Go now, and come later; he would be afraid,” referring to the man bathing nearby. At these words of Sri Bhagavan, the animal went away.
Sri Bhagavan then went up to the bather, who had by then finished his bath, and said to him: “We should not come here at this part of the day; wild animals come at these hours to quench their thirst.” He did not add that a wild animal had actually come there, lest the man be frightened. Thus did Sri Bhagavan reveal His equality of being in both the brute and the man. A few days later, He Himself told us of this incident.