When I pour affection into a bird, this affection flows into the Universal Consciousness. Anything that I offer in the form of love, affection and concern, the whole universe receives.
So even though I go below the human level with my affection, it also touches the human level. Then it enters into my spiritual children. In this way, if I can spread more affection, I feel more fulfilled.
Also, when I buy a bird, I see so many things. The bird in the cage reminds me of how the soul is encaged in this human body. I see how my soul suffers, how your souls suffer; I see how our souls want to fly in the divine consciousness-sky.
23 December 1981I see how restless the monkeys are! My monkey Madhu is restlessness incarnate, but it gives me such joy to watch him.
When I was a child, I used to have animals at home — dogs, birds, monkeys. Now I am bringing back my old habits. These are not bad habits; old habits can also be good.
Everything has an inner reason. The main reason I keep animals is because they give me tremendous joy. Also I feel that these innocent beings need my special attention. Every day I hear the birds and look at the monkeys and various other animals — the guinea pigs, gerbils and so on. Every day I do it.
I really feel sad when one of the birds falls sick or when the monkeys and other animals do not do well.
Animals have restlessness and cuteness and, at the same time, sweetness and fondness. All these qualities go together.
3 April 1981I saw it enter into one cupboard. Databir and Ashrita opened up the cupboard, but it was not there. They think the bird flew out of the house.
27 September 1980Then I pushed it again and it opened its eyes. It was enjoying such ignorance-sleep!
27 September 1980Cats are much less evolved than lions. Lions have developed good and noble qualities. House cats cry for constant affection, and by pouring and pouring affection into a cat, you can change its nature. But, in general, lions are much more evolved.
So many of the disciples have had lion incarnations. We started with Dulal!
23 October 1980The other day I was watching television, listening to news about the UN Secretary-General, Kurt Waldheim. O God, Tigo would not allow me to watch the television. Louder than the loudest it talked!
24 January 1981One scolding and the bird said to itself, “Enough of these human beings!”
30 January 1981The birds will join me in their own way. Around three-thirty or a quarter to four it starts. Upstairs one bird is saying, “Happy Birthday! Thank you!” Downstairs another bird is saying, “Hi! Hi! Hi!” Like that it goes on.
3 April 1981God created the animals. Different people will be fond of different animals. Some you will like; others somebody else will like. Otherwise, there would be no fun for us in the animal world. It is better if there is some specialty!
There are many animals which I do not have, but it is not that they are hopeless or useless. No, no! Only I cannot have all the animals at my house.
Next week I shall invite the disciples to come to my house to see the animals and birds. Their cages will all be decorated.
3 April 1981
The "Sri Chinmoy Zoo" opened its doors for one day on 18 April 1981. The birds and animals in Sri Chinmoy's house had their cages specially decorated and lined up in such a way that the disciples could walk by and view them.↩
Then I told her, “This morning I performed miracle after miracle. Usually people die only once, then finished! They go to God. This morning I died not once, not twice, but three times at the two-mile race. Yet even then I am perfectly alive. Why? Because, one by one, three elderly women passed me. These three thinner than the thinnest and weaker than the weakest women have smashed my athletic pride mercilessly, if not consciously. So you see, I ‘died’ three times, but I am still alive. That is another type of miracle.”
15 June 1981One girl was working downstairs in the kitchen. So I called for her to come upstairs immediately. She came up and I asked her, “How did it come upstairs?”
She answered, “Oh, Guru, the chinchillas have come upstairs many times.”
I said, “They jump up and are so cute. But how do they manage to come?”
She said, “They come!”
In the meantime, the chinchilla was jumping here and there in my room. Then it started hiding under my bed.
I said, “Now it will be a great struggle to catch this one.”
She said, “Let us try.”
Then she tried to catch the chinchilla. I am not familiar with catching them, so I only tried to get it to go to her side. I did not know how to catch it; I only knew how to shout! Since I was trying not to catch it, naturally it came to my side.
I placed my hand near it with the hope that it would not let me touch it. Outwardly I put out my hand. Inwardly I prayed that it would not come and touch me. God listened to my prayer, and it ran to her side. In this way, it went on for five or ten minutes.
I was totally amused, but she was rather discouraged that the chinchilla would not allow itself to be caught. Then I gave her a special message. I said, “This is what God is doing with us: playing hide-and-seek. When we do not pay attention to Him, He comes to us. But when we seek Him and are about to catch Him, He hides from us.
“So this chinchilla is teaching us the same game. When we do not pay attention to it, it will come near us and touch our feet and be around us. And then, when we are dying to catch it, it just disappears. In this way God’s Cosmic Game is being played with us by the chinchilla.
“When we are about to see God, at that time God goes away. And when we do not pay any attention to our spiritual life, when we do not think of God, at that time all good thoughts, beautiful thoughts, pure thoughts, will come to us. The day that someone does not want to meditate, when that person wants to enjoy ignorance, on that very day he gets tremendous inspiration to lead a spiritual life. But the day when he is dying to lead a spiritual life, on that day all wrong thoughts, wrong forces, may try to capture him.”
That is what the chinchilla was teaching us.
15 June 1981I will say, “No, I cannot go higher!”
Then he will tell me that he will give the pet to me at my price provided I keep it in a very large cage. He says he will come to my house the following week to see if I have provided a large cage for it. Otherwise, he says he will take it back.
Usually he brags about his monkeys and I brag about my monkeys. Once he sold us some flying squirrels.
11 January 1982The little puppy, Kanu, stays upstairs in the second room. Sometimes he will cry for three or four hours at a time. If I take him out of his bed, for half an hour he will be very nice and quiet. Then he will strive to get a promotion and come up on my bed. But if I bring him up onto my bed, even for two minutes he will not stay in one place. He goes to twenty different places on my bed!
21 January 1982
NOTE: Sona, a white Maltese, was the first puppy that Sri Chinmoy brought home. He was born on 8 March 1981 and passed away on 29 October 1996.
Kanu was a white Bichon Frise puppy. He was born on 17 October 1981 and passed away on 23 December 1992.
Sri Chinmoy later bought two additional dogs: Chela, a Yorkshire Terrier (21 March 1994-25 November 2006); and Gopee, a white Poodle, born on 8 January 2007.Then I have to go downstairs and bring water for him. In a few minutes, I go down again and cut up cheese from the refrigerator for him.
When I go downstairs, I close the door to my room so he cannot come out. Kanu stays by the door until I come back. Then, after eating and drinking, he falls down flat on the floor.
Always he looks at me to see if I am going away. If I move a little, immediately he looks up at me as though I were a naughty boy!
You cannot imagine my fondness for him and his fondness for me. The owner would not sell him because he said he would not last more than two or three weeks. I said, “I am prepared to take the chance.” So I gave the owner the money and came away with Kanu.
At night I take him upstairs and feed him. Then, during the day, Ranjana and others take care of him.
21 January 1982Two or three times I kept him with me on the bed while I was meditating, but he fell off. I heard the sound, and I felt absolutely miserable.
Then I decided to keep my feet on the floor when I meditated. Kanu sleeps on the floor next to them. But whenever I lift my feet onto the bed, he jumps up and starts crying because he is not seeing my legs any more. Then, when I put my feet down and he sees my legs again, he goes back to sleep.
If Koka the bird makes noise, Kanu will not pay any attention. But if I write something on a piece of paper with a ballpoint, immediately he opens his eyes because he is afraid I am leaving. And if I move or make any noise, right away he starts jumping and crying.
21 January 1982I cannot go anywhere without him following me. Then, when Ranjana comes at eight o’clock, he is so excited and delighted. He jumps and jumps and jumps. Then I am free.
21 January 1982The man who owned the parrot was unbearable and his wife was only a little bearable. They were screaming at the bird as though it were a child. They were trying to get it to say something. But out of its three hundred-word vocabulary not even one word was coming.
So we wasted nearly two hours and did not hear a single word! The bird may not talk for strangers, but in front of the owners — who brag about it in the newspapers — the parrot says three hundred words!
25 January 1982Sometimes Kanu will not allow me to play. He starts biting the bow. But when I play the cello, the bow is too high for him to reach. So he just goes and plays around my feet.
25 January 1982Every day he jumps, but this morning, when I took him upstairs, his eyes were closing and he would not eat.
25 January 1982Four or five days ago, I wanted to feed him, but Sona was too restless to eat. He was only barking. So I just looked at him and contacted his soul. There were ten or twelve disciples on my front porch and I said to them, “Now his soul has told him to eat and, believe it or not, he is going to eat!” Then, as soon as I gave him pizza, he started to eat it.
This dog, in front of so many people, obeyed me. Twenty times at least he ate. Sona did not want to eat at first, but when I asked his soul, the soul convinced the vital.
When I ask the soul of one of the disciples to do something, the soul desperately tries to relay the message to that disciple. But quite often the mind comes and blocks the message. The mind is so powerful! Most of the disciples have ‘wonderful’ minds, so they do not always listen to their souls.
It is very difficult for the soul to convince the human mind. It is also extremely difficult to convince the vital. How desperately the souls of the disciples try to convince their vitals if they are doing the wrong thing! But it does not always work.
In Sona’s case, the soul contacted the vital of the animal and convinced it so easily. The vital of a dog may be more willing to listen to the soul than the vital of a human being. In terms of evolution, man is far, far superior to the animals. But in terms of obedience, it is a different story. Human beings can be much more complicated!
31 January 1982I told him, “When you are in front of your Guru, do you think you can act like this? You have got a promotion, so you have to act like a human being!”
16 February 1.982When I came back, I stood in front of Kanu and Sona for at least five minutes. Both of them were showing off — showing how high they could jump. So with both hands I had to bless both of them.
27 April 1982Then a gentleman greeted me. The man was laughing. He said, “I am sorry he is barking, but he is the boss!”
20 May 1982Kanu’s soul has come to me so many times. When Kanu was a month and a half old, his soul started talking to me. At that time, Kanu was lying on my chest, and then he began looking at me. It happened at two or three o’clock in the morning.
2 July 1982Nirvik was massaging me at the time. He said, “Oh, Guru, how could they do it?”
But they knew the gifts were theirs.
21 July 1982Now, does Kanu want a human incarnation? Kanu has come from the planet worlds, from Neptune. Look how peaceful Kanu is. When Kanu starts crying, he cries in a particular key, in intervals, as though he were playing a musical instrument.
9 August 1982Then he lies down and makes unconditional surrender at my feet. The trouble is that his surrender lasts only for a second — like my disciples’ surrender!
Sometimes when I am going out, Sona looks at me so soulfully and pitifully. Then, when I come back inside, he will not let me come in unless I bless him and show him affection.
See how the animal world is responding to my love and concern! The amount of affection, love and concern that I shower on human beings is unimaginable! But these innocent dogs are responding to my divine qualities most satisfactorily.
27 August 1982Three times he playfully bit me so gently that it was nothing. Now he has started biting me regularly. He is not afraid!
12 October 1982Today I was hearing that same noise again, so I went down to the bird room to see if the noise was coming from there. When I entered into the bird room, I saw that one of the birds was saying, “Ahh! Ahh!” It was whining!
The bird is not actually suffering. It just whines.
15 February 1983Even if another person is holding Sona when I am holding Kanu, Sona barks and barks. Then, when he comes to me, he is satisfied.
But, generally speaking, when we got Kanu, Sona accepted his little brother right away. He has sincere affection for Kanu.
When human beings become jealous of someone, they do not maintain their real affection for that person. But dogs are not like that. My two dogs follow each other and play together. Even if Kanu bites Sona, Sona will only threaten him and growl. But he never bites Kanu.
20 February 1983Cheese, medicine, food, water — no matter what I tried to give Kanu, always he gave me a hard time.
One of our disciple boys loves the two dogs so much. Kanu started crying this morning, and then that particular disciple also started crying.
20 May 1983I also was begging Sona to get out, but Sona would not go. I said to Kanu, “What can I do? I am begging him. Do I have to go and grab him?”
Kanu was waiting for Sona to go, but he would not go. So, after some time, Kanu went to Sona’s bed.
8 November 1983As soon as I come down from upstairs, they open their eyes and start crying. But if I sit in front of the middle door, they do not see me. So they do not cry.
It is all right with them if they hear the cello. As long as they do not see me, they do not cry.
3 February 1984Today, when I went upstairs, the first thing Kanu did was to lie down with his head on my feet. Then, after two or three minutes, he got permission to change position. So he lay down right on my head!
5 April 1984Then the other bird starts screaming, “Carreras! Carreras!” I bought that bird in Venezuela. Carreras happened to be the leader of one political party.
29 April 1984He takes such a long time to eat one piece! I enjoy watching Sona’s performance.
9 June 1984I did not know if my breath would ruin his breath, or if his breath would ruin mine, but I did not have the heart to move him away. I said, “This much love I have for my dog!”
When Kanu was breathing in and out with me, how devotedly and soulfully he was praying! He was not praying for anything in particular; he was not asking for a human incarnation like that famous cat in Brooklyn did once. Only he was looking at me with such a devoted feeling.
There are so many times during the day when I will grab him and try to get him to look at me, but he will not look. When he does not want to pray or meditate, no matter how hard I beg him, he will not do it. But this morning, he just started praying spontaneously.
4 February 1986Sometimes it tries to say, “Happy Birthday!” Unfortunately, it only says, “Happy Birth!” The ‘day’ it does not say. Then it comes and starts biting my toe!
9 March 1988Then he said, “Now keep it a secret. Do not tell anybody that I can speak Bengali!” His soul was full of adoration and affection.
9 March 1988I asked, “What happened?”
He said, “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it! In my hands, in my hands, Sona has gone!”
I said, “Mridul, wait for a minute.” Then I put all my concentration on Sona. After a few minutes, I heard Mridul say, “Oh, he has come back, he has come back!”
That was the happiest news!
13 November 1996And after my meeting with President Gorbachev was over, I rushed to the telephone to find out about Kanu.
13 November 1996His soul said to me, “No, I do not want to go, I do not want to go.”
I said, “You are suffering, suffering, suffering. I have kept you on earth. You have been so kind and compassionate to me.”
He said, “Then, all right. I will go with your blessings.”
I told him, “My blessings, love, gratitude and gratitude, and pride and pride will stay with you.”
Then, after leaving the body, again he was sad. He wanted to be on earth. I said, “Now you have left the body. If I wanted you on earth, I would not have allowed you to die. I wanted you to go, and you have left. With my blessings, joy and pride you have left.”
13 November 1996Kanu wanted to play with Sona, but Sona was still sad. On earth, Kanu was so small and Sona was much larger by comparison, although both the dogs were quite small. Now, in the soul’s world, Kanu is so big and Sona is so small. Kanu is full of compassion, and Sona is the little child. Here Sona was the big brother; now Kanu is the big brother.
Kanu is so happy to have Sona with him again.
13 November 1996I asked, “When? In how many years?”
He said, “No, by the end of this year.”
He has already brought two or three pieces of good news. When I have heard fifteen, by the end of this year, in Japan, I will declare the good news that Sona has brought me.
13 November 1996Again, it is all a matter of gratitude. The owner said she would not sell him because the doctor said he would not last more than two or three weeks. She thought that afterwards we would blame her. So I gave it in writing that I would not blame her. One disciple went and gave her the letter and she sold us the dying puppy. He lived, I think, more than eleven years!
I would try to keep Kanu near my chest or near my head. He would not listen. He would go and be at my feet all the time. And I was afraid that my legs would squash him. So again I would bring him back to my chest, then again he would go back there.
Three times, I think, in the last few months of his life, he appeared to be dead. Then I would bring his lifeless body down the staircase. I would be asking myself, “How am I going to give this message to Ranjana? How am I going to give it?”
I saw that he was gone. Then, when I reached the meditation room, I sat with him and looked at him. O my God, he came back. These two dogs really showed me life-and-death scenes.
The first time Kanu left the body was the day I was supposed to meet with President Gorbachev. According to me, President Gorbachev is the world’s greatest man, and I have such admiration for him. The interview was supposed to take place at the Governor General’s palace in Canada. That was the time when Kanu was at Mridul’s Animal Hospital. Somehow Mridul got me on the phone.
I said, “What happened?”
He said, “Kanu has passed away.”
I concentrated and said, “No, Mridul, it cannot be. I know, I know. No, no, no, no.”
Then I hung up. In a few minutes, he called me back. “Oh, Guru, he has come back, he has come back!”
I said, “I told you. He cannot go because my soul has that much connection with Kanu.”
Here I was going to see the world’s greatest man, but when I heard what had happened, believe me, my joy disappeared. My whole consciousness was concentrated on Kanu. How many times I called Mridul from Canada about Kanu.
These little, little animals can be so affectionate. There are so many stories about dogs who give their lives to save the master, in the same way that horses have been known to do during a battle. Is there any human being who gets a little food twice a day and is ready to give their life for somebody? No, no, no.
They say that God gave the name ‘dog’. Reverse ‘God’ and it becomes ‘dog’.
In Shakpura we had a dog called Bhaga. He used to take messages three miles away. We would put the message around his neck and he would go to our aunt’s place and bring the message.
When we were leaving the village for the last time to go to Pondicherry, Bhaga knew that we were not coming back. He jumped into the river and started swimming. Then we had to take him into the boat. He was happier than the happiest. We stayed at our maternal uncle’s place in the town for three days, I think, before we could go to Pondicherry by train. Bhaga was so happy to be with the whole family.
Then we left. After we reached Pondicherry, the message came that Bhaga had died. For one week, he would not eat anything; he fasted. They tried so hard, so hard, to feed him. He would not eat. He was so strong, so strong, but in a week, he died. That was the experience of our Bhaga.
4 January 2005From:Sri Chinmoy,Friendship with the animal kingdom, Agni Press, 2010
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/fak