What I am going to say in this biographical article might be offensive or degrading for a few, but is sure to be a reminder of many pleasant memories for the ones who have actually experienced it personally in their past. Still I would like to request you all to read this once and then take your decision as it ends.
There are two kinds of SPRITITUAL MASTERS in this world.
One - who have been here amongst us in physical forms as ‘prophets’, constantly trying to give us the divine message of The ALMIGHTY through their magical words. We all love, respect and worship them deeply and they are always there with us as an essential part of our life undeniably. We all bow down to them in our own accepted styles and seek their blessings with the each new sunrise. The difference might be of origin, region & religion but their message remains the same considering all originating and merging back into the One Supreme Power called with distinctive names.
However, here we also have the second kind of SPIRITUAL MASTERS who are not with us in any human form. Who don’t speak a word at all in the language we understand. But most importantly who can easily be brought into our personal homes by either buying them from the market or adopting from the street as per our personal wish or understanding.
The expression may sound illogical and insane to many. But for the friends who know the secret, these words are all true referring to ‘our beloved pet dogs’ who spend their entire limited life-span with us in our homes loving all the members of the house equally and then choose to walk away one fine day forever, teaching some hugely precious lessons that cannot be taught by any spiritual master, meditation technique or a divine scripture ever.
These SPIRITUAL MASTERS never say a word to you in their entire life, neither they ever give you some positive assurances for the future times. Yet they are always there as a lovable companion participating in your happiness, sorrow & pain just through their expressive eyes and bodily expressions without simply asking for anything in return.
So the sole purpose of this write-up is to convey that what actually you gain when you have a loving pet dog in your home and how you can learn a lot from those valuable days spent together, walking on that unique divine passage of “Unconditional Love without any expectations”.
In few words, a pet dog in your home precisely teaches you both LIFE as well as DEATH in his fixed and short time-span spent with the entire family. But let me start from the time when it all begins.
The day someone brings home a dog, he takes the first step to rejoin his family, once again sharing a lot with each other through ‘a newly found connecting factor’, that mostly remains missing despite of living together for so many years. In fact it’s nothing different than a new born baby coming into the house, bringing more joy and celebration all of a sudden in just a few days. In many cases, one or two member might show their disliking towards this new addition at first or may feel a little uncomfortable with the puppy moving all around making an adorable mess. But in almost all the cases, it’s these members of the family only who actually become the most caring & worried ones for the new entrant just within a few months. And that’s the transformation, the bonding that I strongly doubt any ‘Spiritual Guru’ or spiritual lessons can develop with all their constant efforts and counseling even in years.
A dog enjoys an exclusive gifted persona to be lived in his short span of life of around 10 to 15 years, teaching you Love, Sharing, Contentment and Caring for others through his innocent sparkling eyes, a wagging tail and a licking tongue. He never demands anything in return and always seems to be impartial in his expression of love (though every member of the family likes to believe that he actually responds to him a little more).
In strong words, it’s really a boon if you get to meet a blessed human master in this life time and can cherish some enlightening insights from him to change your inner self. But if not, then here is one easily available living master who can teach you “The Art of Compassion” like no other option in the entire visible world and that too without asking anything at all in return from his disciple. This speechless loving master just knows “The Art of Giving” and gets satisfied hugely with only a tight hug in return full of love, warmth and good vibes coming from your human body.
Moving on to the other extreme phase, your beloved dog also teaches you ‘The Hard Truth of DEATH’ through his own end. In fact the moment one lovingly brings home a dog, the same very moment one also knows that he is here to stay for only a few years and would be giving us all a real tough time too after his granted life-period is over. So as I see, bringing home a pet dog can also be looked upon as bringing home the reminder of our own death, because in almost all the cases he is sure going to die in our own arms after around a decade.
Here many friends would be thinking that I should have quoted “all pets” instead of dogs. But that cannot be said because dogs have a certain ‘Sad Truth’ associated with their end or departure as commonly conveyed in a Hindi verbal abuse used very often. To give you the exact info, dogs don’t usually die a comfortable death like a curse and face many physical abnormalities or organ failures in their final days. In fact that is the reason why we have a famous saying in India, (mostly said in the state of anger) which goes, “Tu Kutte Ki Maut Marega!” meaning “You will die a dog’s death”.
This over-famous saying or abuse is based on the harsh truth that dogs in most of the cases don’t depart from this world easily or calmly. The sight is so painful and disturbing in the end that in many cases you even have to make them go wishfully (with a medicine) in a more peaceful manner. And that’s not an easy day to face for their owners/friends since that kind of departure is really tough, tragic and indeed quite heart piercing for the entire family unconditionally.
In those last days, one can easily feel the whole divinity of this entire universe in those quite & lonely eyes trying to say goodbye to every single person in the house. Those last few hours, when you are taking him alive towards the doctor to make him go to sleep forever stay with you always, teaching something……… which can never be found in any scripture, prayer or religious place.
Those few final moments are like your direct contact with the life force when your beloved suddenly becomes ‘a body’ in seconds, lying lifeless in the doctor’s clinic and you are asked to make calls to arrange for his final burial. That very moment, when he stops responding to his name being called upon softly fills you with such a pain that goes beyond any possible explanation in words. And that’s the moment, when he leaves this world, providing us with an enlightening flash about our own END which is sure to come sooner or later without an exception.
But please don’t be discouraged by reading the above lines and please don’t take a decision that you would never bring home a pet dog after going through the above painful experience shared intentionally. On the contrary, I would like to comment that a human life lived without feeling the speechless love of a family pet is simply like “Missing A Great Opportunity Given by THE ALMIGHTY”. If you don’t like pets then you need to develop that loving feeling towards them for sure, since in absence of that you are not living a complete or normal life on this beautiful planet at all.
Frankly speaking, it feels strange and weird to me when people say that we can easily feel the emotion of love towards a person but don’t really feel like loving a pet or an animal……… as if LOVE itself has its own intelligent quotient of choosing……!
If truth be told then LOVE is an inner characteristic of our deep existence…..and if we cannot feel the same love towards these speechless, innocent friends asking nothing in return then there is something surely missing or superficial in our so called feeling of LOVE towards our human partners too. Putting it bluntly, this most blessed emotion gifted to the mankind cannot be a one sided coin at all. And if it is there in a person then it has to be like a fragrance ready to reach each and every identity coming its way without any set preferences or conditions.
Hence my sole motive of writing this piece remains that if you really want to experience LIFE in its totality then at least for once bring a pet dog in your home and give your utmost love and care to him like a child. Honestly, the world would surely become much more peaceful and a loving place to stay, if each and every home has an adorable pet dog in it to keep the family together and intact. Because they are nothing less than the second SPIRITUAL MASTERS on this planet ready to teach us both LIFE and DEATH in the best possible manner through their silent lessons.
Summing up I would like to share a recent instance when a friend sent me a message saying, “I wonder why the reverse spellings of GOD become DOG………..?
To this I replied, “I very well know why it is so but it can only be understood once you have that GOD calmly sleeping besides you on the couch in your house.”
Personally speaking, I would really feel blessed if even one reader here decides to go for a pet dog after reading this sincere write-up remembering my own departed friend lost a couple of years back. And the decision is sure going to bring a major positive change in your family undoubtedly…….....as then there will be a GOD freely moving all over your house spreading happiness and love forever.
HIS BLESSINGS
