Amal Kiran was a direct disciple of the God-realized sages Mother Mirra and Sri Aurobindo. The following is an eye-opening excerpt from his book: Our Light & Delight.
– Mother Mirra, Aurobindo Ashram
Our next dog was Épave, meaning “Waif”. It was a street pup, a bag of bones, with severe diarrhoea and with a rump hurt by a cow’s kick. Thoughtless street-urchins were harassing it. We took it into our garden to let it have a peaceful death. It survived the crisis and grew into a sturdy specimen of a cross between a bull-terrier and a fox-terrier.
When, after years of a happy and even “bossy” life, it fell ill and its condition seemed to go from bad to worse, Sehra informed the Mother. The Mother went into a short meditation and then said: “I don’t feel it can recover.” Soon after, Épave sank into a coma.
Our sadhak-friend Barin Ganguli, a great lover of animals and an expert veterinary doctor, tried his best to bring it round but to no avail. Sehra watched over the inert body all through the night following the evening when she had spoken to the Mother. At one point she felt as if she had to touch the dog to make sure it was alive, but suddenly she saw a faint form approach with outstretched arms and make the motion of taking up Épave.
That very moment Épave gave a gasp and died. The next morning Sehra reported the night’s experience to the Mother. The Mother said: “Yes, I came to take your dog’s soul.”
Source: Our Light and Delight.
“Animals have an altogether rudimentary mind. They are not tormented by incessant thoughts like human beings. For example, they feel a spontaneous gratitude for an act of kindness towards them, whilst men, ninety-eight times out of a hundred, begin to reason and ask themselves what interest one could have in being good. This is one of the great miseries of mental activity.
Animals are free from this and when you are kind to them they are grateful to you, spontaneously. And they have trust. So their love is made of that, and it turns into a very strong attachment, an irresistible need to be near you.”
– Mother Mirra
Part 2: Sage Mirra’s Boundless Compassion for Reptiles and Even Insects – How Mother Mirra dealt with ants who were troubling bakery operations; and bees who had built their hive near where people worked.
