When I operated my pet nutrition center in the early 1990's, I was only in my early 20's. I met many wonderful people, one of who was Yogi Harinanda, who decided to share this article in May, 1996.
By Yogi Harinanda
Happily we have been endowed with the friendship of dogs right
from the beginning of our history. In the caves, when we were hunters and
gatherers, and even into our warrior eras, dogs have always been at our side.
We can't say very much now at how we behaved toward them in
those early times, but I would assume, even by the lowest of standards, they
were kept around as guard dogs and as scavengers, cleaning up the scraps and
refuse we left behind.
The cave drawings of man and animal going out on the hunt
together are a testimony to the close proximity we shared with each other.
There is a wonderful Indian story of how our relationship with
the dog began. It goes like this:
While God was creating the heavens and the earth, and creating
all the animals and differing humanoid races, all the animals were in the
habit of gathering around and staying close to people.
One day the earth began to shake and there was a tremendous
upheaval of the lands. All the animals dispersed - even the dogs along with
them.
As they were some 500 yards away from the human camp, a huge
rift in the earth split the land between the animals and the people. Before
the crevice widened too much the dogs jumped the crack and joined the men
around the campfire and have been with us ever since.
There are so many people that have the weird idea that they can
treat an animal with as much disdain as they wish because they are only
animals
. I once heard a man reply to me, when I asked him why he enjoyed
seeing a fish hooked and thrashing in the water, obviously trying to escape, and
in pain. He said, Well it's cold blooded you see, they don't feel any
pain. They don't know what's happening.
Well then, do animals have a consciousness?
Yes of course they do. But do they have a Self reflective
consciousness?
That is a question for a lot of people. Anyone who has cared for
a few pets during their life time and treated them with care and fondness
realize that animals think. That they have a sense of humor. That they laugh and
smile, and that they can become very sad at rejection.
I think the answer to the question of Self Consciousness was
best answered by Ramana Maharshi, a great Gnana Yogi of India who said:
Any sentient being which is able to perceive is also
able to apperceive.
If you can project your consciousness outward, you can also turn
that same consciousness inward.
If some higher being from another planet was to watch us musing,
thinking ponderously or meditating on the infinite, would he not think much like
we do when we observe a dog lying in the sun, contentedly.
That dog has nothing going on in his mind - except of course
when he's dreaming and his feet are moving - we know he's chasing rabbits. We
appear the same to a non communicating entity.
According to law of concomitant, each specie is endowed with the
same Spirit, but his ability to express
that Spirit is bound by the
concomitant rules associated with that species. Dogs don't sing and birds don't
bark - but they both express themselves, as we do.
It seems that when we are born, our Adams apple (voice box) is
raised up into the throat in the same area as the great ape. Whereas our voice
box descends as we grow, the great apes and other animals, take the position
governed by the concomitant laws associated with each species.
And do our animals read our minds. Of course they do. They do a
better job of it than we do.
So remember, your pet is just the same as you. He likes good
wholesome food. He likes variety, attention, love and clean bedding.
I once asked a young friend why she never married, and she said
I will when I can meet a man who greets me like my dog does every time I
come home.
As to the fact of their attaining realization?
I go back to Ramana Maharshi again. He had two favorite pets, a
dog and a cow. As the cow lay dying he held her head on his lap. When she
expired he said. She attained Moksha (Liberation)
. He said the same
for his dog when it died.
And you know, Ramana is never wrong.