When we relate with kids, people or animals, we don’t have the awareness and sensitivity to cognize that the beings in front of us are on their journey of evolution. We really don’t know the purpose of these beings and how to help them. The limited human logic can only see the obvious but not the Whole. Due to ignorance and lack of sensitivity, sometimes we judge or do detrimental things to the beings.
I was reminded of an incident which happened in the life of Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi, an enlightened master in Tamil Nadu, South of India. He used to say to his disciples, ‘Don’t touch a single tree here, don’t disturb a single animal here’. Still, one day an unfortunate incident happened. Bhagavan had a pet dog and everyday it would come near him when he was eating. He would give it a handful of food from his own banana leaf, and the dog would eat the food and leave.
One day, an orthodox devotee saw this and he was very angry and he started shouting at the dog, ‘How dare you put your mouth in Bhagavan’s banana leaf and eat his food! It is such disrespect! Get out of here!’. That dog was so depressed about this, that it just went and jumped into the well in the monastery (ashram) and died. When Bhagavan was informed about this tragic incident, his eyes became watery and he called that devotee and said,” You don’t know what you did. That dog was a Siddha Purusha (perfected being) who was living around me, just for my presence.” Then he said,” Do not touch a single tree, do not touch a single animal living in this area, they are all here for my satsang (discourse).”
When I was invited to attend a 3-month training program called Nithyananda Yogam with my Guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda (fondly known as Swamiji) in 2016, I noticed a part of his morning ritual, the moment he came down from his room before the morning walk, he would go around and touch the 2 particular trees in his courtyard. Later, I found out from the disciples that these 2 trees were his brahmacharini (student disciples) in the past birth and they decided to come down as trees to enjoy his presence.
Swamiji once told us that these beings are called yogabhrashtas, people who were on the verge of enlightenment, but lost the body through an accident or in some other ways. These kinds of souls come down to planet earth again as animals and plants, live in the presence of the living master and get liberated in a very short span of time, without wasting time by taking another human body. When you take a human birth, the human mind comes with it. With a human mind, there is always the possibility of taking diversion, the possibility of being distracted by the outer world. Even if you have been with the master for a long time, till the ultimate enlightenment happens, there is always the danger of dropping out, taking a diversion or even a U-turn! So, these yogabrashtas, siddhas, yoga purushas, ishvarakotis (evolved beings), they do not want to miss the satsang by a living master, they assume an animal body or a plant body and land on the planet earth and live around the masters and get liberated just through satsang.
The same thing goes with my own son. The moment I became aware of his past birth, I could no longer relate with him unconsciously the way I did in the past. I now know how to support him on his path. One powerful cognition that I learned from Swamiji during the last December program – Mahasadashivoham is ‘Life is a continuous rhythm’, meaning there is no break even by death or old age or smrutinasa (losing memory). For example, you lost memory of past, it does not mean, the effect of the past has been taken away from you. Smrutinasa – losing memory of last birth, does not mean that you lost what you have acquired in last births. If the life is rhythmic continuum, all bodies through which you travel, everything can be re-invoked, rekindled. Knowing the truth that life is a continuous rhythm and still acting unconsciously, this just creates more karma (the spiritual principle of cause and effect) and suffering to one self.
In essence, the way of life is rhythm, a rhythmic flow. Every one is here to continue his or her journey of evolution from the last birth. Humanity needs to imbibe this truth so that we have the sensitivity and compassion to relate with evolved souls on planet earth. Namaste 😀