Dog Eat Dog in a Dog's Life!

Five cute puppies were born to Sundari this season. Sundari was just one of the many skinny, flea-ridden strays, until she wandered into the compound of our community about three years ago. Now she is the only dog in the area that has a name.

Affection is something most dogs in India simply do not know. A dog is considered one of the lowest and dirtiest life forms, and the vast majority are forced to scavenge for a living, dying young from disease or brutal fights over food or territory.

The sickening image of that dog... a patch of raw flesh to the bone instead of an ear... returns to mind.

But these puppies are fortunate. They will not have to grow to be so tough, I think, while I watch them from my window as they play on a pile of small rocks used by the builders.

One finds a larger stone and takes possession of it, inviting the others to steal it away if they dared... little growls warning of his superiority, yet continuously teasing.

Another manages to playfully trick him into letting go of the stone then, picking it up himself, he takes off with it. The first puppy takes chase.

Suddenly they both stop. I cannot see why. The clever one drops the stone. He looks shocked. He whimpers in pain. He turns and limps away, looking sorry for himself.

The one who had been out-done makes for the rock, looking pleased with himself.

It dawns on me... and I relate to the shock and sorrow...

He had been bitten. By his own brother.

I realise that it is not quite circumstance, but Nature, that dictates.

Sadly, it sure is a dog-eat-dog world.

Freedom!

"I am free to express myself!"

"I am free to wear what I want!"

"I am free to do as I like!"

But where is freedom to be found here?

Could this, perhaps, actually translate as slavery to the need for self-identification, desire and sense-gratification?

Could there be more freedom in the absence of this need?

How about...

"It doesn't matter whether I get an opportunity to express myself or not, because I feel complete and fulfilled anyway."

"What I wear no longer affects how I feel about myself. And I am not concerned about others' perception of me."

"I am equally satisfied while fulfilling your wishes rather than mine, and while working or playing."

"It is not a matter that I am not free to do that, but rather I am free from the desire, or the need, to do it."

This is not suggesting annihilation of personality, rather equanimity in all situations presented before a person.

This is true freedom: freedom to be fully active without the sense of necessity or attachment.

In reflecting upon this point, I dug into the timeless wisdom of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, ancient Vedic text, and decided to share some of it here:

2:15
yam hi na vyathayanty ete, purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram, so ’mrtatvaya kalpate

O noblest of men, the wise man who is equipoised in pleasure and pain, and undisturbed by sense-experiences, is alone qualified for immortality.

2:64
raga-dvesa-vimuktais tu, visayan indriyais charan
atma-vasyair vidheyatma, prasadam adhigachchhati

The integrated person who can control his mind at will, and who, free from attraction and repulsion, accepts his worldly necessities through his controlled senses, attains tranquillity.

3:19

tasmad asaktah satatam, karyam karma samachara
asakto hy acharan karma, param apnoti purusah

So perform your prescribed duties without attachment. By selflessly executing one’s duties a person attains liberation. (True liberation is the state of pure devotion, attained in the maturity of selfless action.)

6:8
jnana-vijnana-trptatma,kuta-stho vijitendriyah
yukta ity ucyate yogi,sama-lostrasma-kancanah

One who is always satisfied within by both knowledge and realisation, who is always fixed in his spiritual nature, who is sense-controlled and who has the vision of equality for a clod of earth, a rock, or gold—it is said that such a person has attained yoga.