No Pets for Devotees -- Only Servants of Krsna

[Guest guest]

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"ISCOWP (Balabhadra Dasa & Chaya Dasi - USA)" <ISCOWP (AT) pamho (DOT) net>

Saturday, January 24, 2004 8:00 am

Re: Boar

 

> Then if you have two such dogs there is more of a chance of

> bringing down

> the boar.

>

> If anyone remembers the BTG article about how devotees should not

> have dogs

> by Urmila. Well Jayadvaita Swami who was in charge of the BTG at

> the time

> came her for a visit. We were on top of the hill with the cows and

> Mela(the dog-her brother was Kumbha) came running up the hill with

> a large dead

> groundhog in her mouth and dropped it at our feet in front of

> JayadvaitaSwami. So I thanked Mela for her service and she was

> quite elated although

> I was worried what Jayadavaita Swami was thinking. Later he said

> he would

> have to bring Urmila here to see Mela to realize what a real

> service she

> was performing and the true value of having a dog in the country.

> Visit us at: www.iscowp.org

 

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All devotees are familiar with the story in the Bhagavatam about how the pious

Maharaja Bharata fell down from Krsna consciousness by taking a pet deer.

Taking an animal (or even a spouse or a child) for the purpose of sense

gratification is certainly a means of falling from Krsna consciousness.

 

But just because one has an animal does not mean that it is a pet -- just as

because one has a spouse or a child does not mean that the central purpose of

those beings is sense gratification.

 

It seems like we forget that Srila Prabhupada approved of marriage when it is

used as an aid to Krsna consciousness, thus he personally performed marriages

for many devotees and actually encouraged them in their married life. Even by

the smallest gestures, he would encourage them in their married service.

Innumerable letters include references like the following one to Ravindra

Svarupa (21 May 67)

 

"I am very glad to learn that you are doing your best and your good wife is

helping you nicely. I have received her letter but I am sorry that I could not

reply this good girl. I very much appreciate her feelings and specially the

hand writing. So you have very nice qualified girl as your life's companion and

I bless you all that you peacefully carry out the message of Krishna

Consciousness to the needy men of the world."

 

Similarly, Srila Prabhupada approved of devotees keeping animals, when those

animals are kept to be engaged in Krsna's service, and not simply for sense

gratification.

 

The most memorable example in my mind is the story of how when Srila Prabhupada

visited Gita-nagari in July 1976 he commented on a cat and a dog that he saw

curled up asleep in an empty calf stall, "Just see, the Krsna consciousness on

this farm is so nice that even the cat and the dog are peaceful together."

 

If he were opposed to keeping animals, he certainly would have taken the

opportunity to chastise the devotees on this occasion. Instead, he took the

opportunity to make a favorable generalization about the whole farm.

 

The fact is that these animals were not being kept primarily as pets. The dog

had an important service to do in chasing deer and hunting down ground hogs.

The cat had an important duty to do in killing mice who wanted to eat and

contaminate the cows' grain. In fact, they were servants of the Deity, so no

one would begrudge their presence. Even to give them food and some affection

was proper in that context, because they were regarded as Krsna's servants, and

they deserved sincere encouragement for their work.

 

The special opulence of a farm project as opposed to a city temple is that

there is a much wider range of opportunity for engaging all different kinds of

living entities in Krsna's service. Cats kill mice. Dogs chase away pests.

Barn swallows eat flies that would bother the cows. Song birds beautify the

atmosphere for the pleasure of the Deities, thus also attracting guests to

Krsna. Spider catch mosquitos. Even the flies and mosquitos serve Krsna,

because they offer these other living being a chance to do their service.

Mosquitos suck the blood of devotees who subsist only on the Lord's prasadam,

so their future is actually very bright -- even if they are an annoyance to us.

 

So, even though an animal kept purely for sense gratification is a distraction

from Krsna consciousness, animals who are engaged in Krsna's service are in a

completely different category. When the devotee regards them in this way, and

offers them care and their due affection and respect, just as he certainly

would a devotee in a human body, then they become a source of his advancement,

not his falldown. This is an important aspect of the philosophy of "sama

darshana" to see all souls as equal.

 

So we should not feel guilty about keeping animals who are engaged in Krsna's

service. If we see that all the animals and even plants around us are somehow

engaged in Krsna's service, then we have developed Krsna consciousness.

 

And if we realize that all the living entities surrounding us are actually

Krsna's servants, then what is the difference between living here and in the

Vaikuntha?

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi