Question: Can dogs feel if you were a dog in your previous incarnation?

Sri Chinmoy: Developed dogs, if they are about to take human incarnation, may recognise that you were a dog. When you look at some turtles or monkeys, you can see that they are approaching human life. When I go into a zoo and I see some monkeys, I know in their next incarnation they will become human beings. It may be a matter of only a few months. Last Christmas when I went to the World of Birds in South Africa, I saw five or six animals all ready for human incarnation. I could see that it would be only two or three years, or even a matter of months, before they would take human incarnation. In some cases I saw that it would not take even two more weeks for them to leave their animal body. There was a special purpose for my visit there. I was able to give them special blessings. When I saw clearly that a particular animal would not last more than two weeks, I asked myself, “Why?” But there was a special reason why God brought me to visit that particular place. It was so that I could give special blessings to those animals. Otherwise, was there any reason for me to go there? Was it not God-ordained, God-planned?

Developed dogs can easily feel something in you. They may not take you, a human being, as a dog, but they will feel in you a very, very close friend. Something sweet, illumining and fulfilling they will feel. They will feel a tremendous sense of satisfaction when they see you, if they are very developed. But ordinary dogs will feel something only if you give them a piece of bread.