Swami Krishnananda's Vegetarian Lioness

This vegetarian lioness was the constant companion of Swami Krishnananda. She is depicted below with her master at the Khumba Mela of 1936.

This is how Paramahamsa Yogananda describes this encounter in his Autobiography of a Yogi, chapter 42: "After I had given a brief discourse in Hindi on Vedanta, our group left the peaceful hermitage to greet a near-by swami, Krishnananda, a handsome monk with rosy cheeks and impressive shoulders. Reclining near him was a tame lioness. Succumbing to the monk's spiritual charm—not, I am sure, to his powerful physique!—the jungle animal refuses all meat in favor of rice and milk. The swami has taught the tawny-haired beast to utter "Aum" in a deep, attractive growl—a cat devotee!"

http://www.storytellingmonk.org/ref/holy_sights/people/lioness_krishnananda.htm