Today, my adorable
pet dog, Bhotu , passed away at the age of 13 years-- which is the equivalent
of 90 years of a human. He died while still moving around. In fact he was
standing and simply turned to look at something behind him, and then collapsed
of a heart attack. He had successfully fought chronic kidney failure for six
months and the disease was very much under control.
Up to the last he was
serving his Master, prepared to bark at any strangers that intruded. While I
slept in peace inside the house in the darkness of the mountains, he was awake
and alert preserving my house and myself.
It has been said that
a dog is a man's best friend. Today morning, when everything was all right I
had found myself repeatedly in tears, and I did not know why the tears were
flowing. It was only in the afternoon that the dog died and I knew why the
tears had flowed so copiously.
I still prefer to
remember him as the little pup when I had first got him in 2000 A.D. and I have
posted the picture of him as a pup rather than the elderly dog that he was now.
This is how I prefer to remember him, rather than the elderly Bhotu we buried
in the Himalayan Mountains, where he shall lie forever, while his soul has gone
on to regions beyond to Heaven.
As a matter of fact
in my opinion a dog has qualities that far supersede the qualities of human
beings.
If you are angry with
your dog, if you even slap him or kick him, he will still hold no grudge
against you. The next time you call him he will come running to you with a
wagging tail as loving as ever. No revengeful feelings, no resentment, only
love and loyalty. Even if you go out for a short walk and return home your dog
leaps with love all over you as if you had been away for ages. No human being
is capable of such love!
He is one guard who
cannot be bribed by your enemies ever. Money means nothing to him. His life
centers around his love for you his Master. Indeed those who have experienced
the love of a dog can never live without one. And the dog is living only for
you and for no one else, with no deceit no betrayals, no treachery which are
the hallmarks of humans.
In my opinion dogs
are angels of a kind, sent down upon earth to teach the lesson of love and
loyalty to humanity. If a human can learn to love even as much as a dog can
love his Master he will have learnt a lot and the face of the world can be
changed.
My Father, HH Shri
Bhola Nathji (1902-1992) the Founder of the World Prayer Day loved dogs and
called them the epitome of loyalty, sincerity and love.
He would tell this
tale of a Holy Man who kept a dog at his gate. Once the Emperor came to visit
the Holy Man, and the dog did not allow him inside and might even have bitten
him. It did not matter to him that the visitor was an Emperor. Status meant
nothing for the dog, who lived only for the love of his Master, the Holy Man.
The Emperor said in a
fit of rage: " There should not be any dogs at the gates of Holy
Men!"
The Holy Man replied
back from inside: "There should!! So that the dogs of the world may not
enter within!"
By "dogs of the
world" the Holy Man meant greedy, selfish, violent folk who lived only for
their own sake and to harm others, like the Emperor.
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