Post by Amritha Varshini on Dec 27, 2013 6:59:00 GMT 5.5
Bhagavan's LOVE for Animals (From Sri V. Ganesan)
The fervour about Sri Bhagavan's LOVE for animals still dominates my Heart ! How spontaneously and with natural ease that our Great Master moved with them - no difference whatsoever between 'man' and 'animal', at all ! Isn't it amazing ?
It all happened NOW -- a few decades back -- in the presence of those with whom I had physically, closely moved with --- not any Puranic narration that had happened hundreds or thousands of years back ! The existing samadhis of animals at the Ashram "done by Sri Bhagavan" Himself speak for themselves!
With what ecstatic gusto did Annamalai Swami describe to me as to how Sri Bhagavan lied astride on the ground and plastered the top portion of inside of the small tomb for "Deer VALLI" [which he could not himself fully do due to physical non-pliability, though he plastered all the rest] !
Sri Bhagavan is not only the Supreme Master, but the Greatest Human Guru -- again -- not only to human beings, but also almost to every species of the animal kingdom !
______________________________________________________________
26th February, 1946 -- Morning
Sri Bhagavan : "See ! How many animals and birds live in this world, without planning and stocking their food. Are they all dying ?"
Sri Bhagavan then began speaking of monkeys and said, "They eat what they can find, and go and perch on trees when night falls. They are quite happy. I have known something about their organisation, their Kings, laws, regulations. Everything is so perfect and well-organised. So much intelligence behind it all. I even know that tapas is not unknown to monkeys.
A monkey whom we used to call 'Mottaipaiyan ' was once oppressed and ill-treated by a gang. Hw went away into the forest for a few days,did tapas, acquired strength and returned. When he came and sat on a bough and shook it, all the rest of the monkeys, who had previously ill-treated him and of whom he was previously mortally afraid, were now quaking before him. Yes, I am clear that tapas is well known to monkeys."
***********************************
10th April, 1946 -- Night
In the night, Sri Bhagavan asked attendant Vaikuntha Vasar whether the monkeys were properly fed in the noon and whether many monkeys turned up. It being " Sri Rama Navami " [ Lord Rama's Birthday ], Sri Bhagavan had suggested, "This is their (monkey's) day. We must give them our food. Vaikuntha Vasar seems to have taken a good quantity of food, vegetables, vadai, payasam, i.e., all that we were taking, all mixed up together, to the steps at the back of the Ashram for the monkeys. Sri Bhagavan's question had reference to this.
Vaikuntha Vasar replied, "When I went, there were only two or three monkeys. But, after a time, all of them came and they were all well-fed. They did not qauarrel with each other or bite each other."
Sri Bhagavan said, " They won't fight when there is enough food for all. All trouble arises only when there is want. They would also raise a big cry as an indication of their joy, whenever they get plenty to eat. We have had such experiences when I was on the Hill. They used to be fed frequently there."
************************************
25th November, 1945
Sri Bhagavan also narrated at length the history of the monkeys associated with His stay in Virupaksha Cave and Skandashram, explaining in particular how 'நொண்டிப்பைய்யன்' ( 'The Lame Boy,' Sri Bhagavan's pet name for him) came under Sri Bhagavan's influence. It seems, while Sri Bhagavan was in Virupaksha Cave, a monkey had been bitten and mauled badly by the then King Monkey and left for dead near the Cave. Sri Bhagavan took pity on him and tended him and he recovered. Afterwards, he was attached to Sri Bhagavan and was always with Him, getting his daily feed at Sri Bhagavan's Ashram. When the other monkeys came there, the lame one would not allow them to approach Sri Bhagavan and he pointed out to Sri Bhagavan the King who had made him lame.
But, later on, all the monkeys used to come there and used to show regard and love to their erstwhile enemy, the-lame-monkey. In course of time, the lame one became the Monkey King. One day Sri Bhagavan and His party had left Skandashram for Giripradakshina, leaving the Ashram in charge of one or two who stayed behind. During Sri Bhagavan's absence, the lame one and a host of other monkeys came and braoke the twigs and small branches of all the trees at Skandashram and played havoc with all they found there.
Sri Bhagavan was wondering why they did so. The next day, the monkeys again came and the lame one got up the highest tree, reached the highest point and shook it and then got down. This it seems is a sign of royal precedence among the monkeys. When Sri Bhagavan offered food as usual to the lame one, he would not take it, but led the man offering it to where three other monkeys were sitting, and there he shared his food with them. The three monkeys were the Queens of the deposed King, who were now the lame one's Queens according to their custom and usage. Then, Sri Bhagavan knew that the lame one had become King, that the previous day they all came to have his coronation in Sri Bhagavan's presence and finding Sri Bhagavan absent expressed their disappointment and chagrin by breaking branches, etc.
The lame one had afterwards six children by the three Queens and all the six would get a morsel each from Sri Bhagavan when He took His meal every day. It seems the lame one misbehaved on two occasions and hurt Sri Bhagavan by hitting Him. Each time, Sri Bhagavan thought of punishing him by denying him admission to His presence. But finding his pet repentant, and seeing that it was only his monkeyish nature that was responsible, Sri Bhagavan excused him. One of the occasions was when Sri Bhagavan took up a plate of milk intended for the monkey and was about to blow into it to make it cool, as it was too hot for the monkey. The monkey thought that Sri Bhagavan was taking the milk near His mouth to drink it Himself.
