On Behalf Of Animal Angels…
Monday, April 1st, 2013
Do animals enhance the quality of lives of human beings…? Do not animals make their entry into human lives donning the role of angels…Animals turn angels when human hearts turn towards them with unsullied, unconditional love…Ms Mercini Sheratt shares her views about Animal Angels, quoting Bhagawan…
“Why should you argue that animals, beasts and birds are bad? Each is treading its own dharma. It does not overstep or undermine. They have greater cooperation and mutual love than even men. Each has to be judged from the point of view of the equipment and the opportunity. Man can live better if he learns from animals. He is degrading himself even lower. When the Lord incarnates, He has as one of His tasks the protection of sadhus, or beings with quiet innocent nature. Among animals are countless sadhus, remember”. (from Questions and Answers: Sai Baba and John Hislop – in Peggy Mason’s magazine, Summer 1996)
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba tells us “You have earned this human body by the accumulated merit of many lives as inferior beings (animals, birds, beasts, reptiles etc., ……….)”
Have you ever wondered what these deeds of merit could be? First of all, you could spare a thought for the thousands of working horses, donkeys and mules working in poor countries around the world, most often worked to death, in pain, neglected, starved, beaten but without whom their owners could not live as they are a vital part in helping them to earn a livelihood. Then there are the dogs who lovingly and conscientiously look after the disabled, the deaf and the blind as well as cats who do their own kind of quiet healing work in different venues and dolphins who have saved humans from drowning and cured them of depression with their unconditional love, to name just a few examples!
There are literally hundreds of amazing true stories coming to light now which demonstrate such deeds of merit, including loving and often life-saving services carried out by our apparently younger brothers and sisters in animal form. They show us what animals do to serve not only us but also members of their own and other species. In so doing, they demonstrate a much higher degree of consciousness, love and feeling than they have been credited with over the ages. Even now, many human beings sadly have no understanding or recognition of this. However, as our own awareness of the world we live in is growing, so too is our acknowledgement of the fact that animals are most sentient beings and not objects without feeling which can be cruelly exploited for our own ends as has been the case for centuries but continues now more than ever. For this reason as much as any other they deserve our loving kindness and protection on their evolutionary journey upwards. Baba has said that when we love and look after an animal, we help to raise the whole of creation and if we can’t care for an animal, then we should try and feed the birds. Our loving interaction with them quickens their evolutionary progress, just as the Avatar does ours. Even wild animals respond to love.
“When a devotee seeks with humility and purity to give seva and prema to my creatures who are in need of such selfless service and sublime love; when he considers all creatures as my children, as his beloved brothers and sisters, as the blessed manifestations of my immanence, then in fulfilment of my role as Sathya Sai, I descend to help, accompany and carry that yogi. I am always near such a yogi to guide him and to shower my love upon his life.” (Sathya Sai Baba).
The following true stories demonstrate a little of what souls in animal form are capable of. One is about one of man’s least favourite creatures: rats! Even though rats are generally not popular they do have their share of fans. This is because when removed from the arena of sewers etc and living in a clean environment where they receive love, they can be very personable, sociable and affectionate creatures. Highly intelligent, they have even been found to ‘chuckle’ and come back for more when tickled by scientists studying animal behaviour. They are even actually capable of altruism as the following story demonstrates:
“In order to test maternal instinct, a laboratory experiment required mother rats to cross a live electric grid in order to pick up their babies. In spite of the fear and pain of electrocution, the devoted little mothers crossed the electric grid even though they received many shocks and some rescued babies not their own. One little mother carried fifty-eight babies across the grid receiving electric shocks all the way before researchers ran out of infants with which to test her”..(abbreviated from ‘Peaceful Kingdom – Random Acts of Kindness by Animals’ by Stephanie Laland.)
The next one is taken from the Daily Mail (June 20 2002). It relates to how a seal saved an unknown dog from drowning in the River Tees. A certain Mr Hinds and his sons were walking by the river when they spotted an Alsation/Labrador cross on the side of the river. It was bleeding from its head and leg and whimpering. When Mr Hinds approached it to help it, it panicked and jumped into the river. The currents were so strong that it struggled to keep afloat and was in danger of drowning when, out of nowhere, lifesaving help came in the form of a seal! The seal charged up to it, circled it and then, with its nose, pushed it firmly towards the shore and safely back on the river bank. Then it swam back into the middle of the river and waited for Mr Hinds to reach the dog before swimming away, an unsung lifeguard!
Another story is told in the same article of a woman, Charlene Camburn, who got into difficulty while out swimming off the coast of Lincolnshire in 1999. Seven seals appeared and surrounded her for two and a half hours until she reached the shore, gently nudging her to the surface each time she slipped under the water.
The following story was printed in an Indian newspaper. Below, we can see another animal angel…………..a mother monkey helping two blind men to drink. She opened the tap for them, let them both drink first, then had a drink herself and turned off the tap.
Baba has advised us to pray for our animal brothers and sisters for apart from the loved pets that we own, many, many others are treated with unbelievable cruelty in so many situations. They have no voice and are powerless against us.
“The Upanishanthic declaration, “Kaarunyam paramam thapah”………….means “Compassion towards all beings is real spiritual discipline”. Man is the crown of creation; he is the highest among living beings. Therefore, he bears great responsibility. He has to love other living beings, serve them and save them, for they are his kith and kin and they too have the Divine Principle as their core.” Sathya Sai Speaks Vol 14, p 182.
II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II II Samastha Jeevah Sukhino Bhavantu II
Posted in Animal and Nature |
