Animal souls

I don't know many BKs who would be at ease adopting it in the case of an animal's departure, "the Sister's cat has left the body". Due to cultural background, BKs don't usually consider animals deserving titles such as eternal.

Omshanti. Ideally speaking BKs/PBKs should adopt the above language in case of animals too. But as you said, most of us don't treat animals like souls.

May be they will set up a discussion forum to discuss this injustice meted out to them by the BKs/PBKs .

I hope nobody is copyrighting the word 'soul consciousness' . Otherwise who will plead the case of the animals' right to soul consciousness?

Regards,
OGS,
Arjun

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Animal karma? Of the general Hindu theory that souls transmigrate through different species, I always wondered, for example, what karma could a slug do to become a human being? There are cases of dogs, horses or dolphins saving humans, even one recently about dolphins coming to save some beached whales by leading them back to the sea. Wonderful and heartening stuff.

Now we are told there is no transmigration. Mostly, I suspect, animals in contact with humans are psychically overshadowed by their personality and become unwilling expressions of their owners, and their owners problems, not just follow their examples in a pack like fashion. Hence the 'thug with vicious dog', the 'yappy little dog with the pretty young girl' stereotypes. One of the great gurus of India used to have a peaceful tame lioness as a pet that travelled with him even to England.

A couple of news stories on the Associated Press feed came up that amused me.

Praying' dog at temple

Attendance at a Buddhist temple in has increased since the temple's pet, a two-year-old dog, has joined in the daily prayers. Conan, a Chihuahua, sits on his hind legs, raises his paws and puts them together at the tip of his nose. "He may be showing his thanks for treats and walks," says a priest at Jigenin temple.

Priest Joei Yoshikuni would like Conan to meditate, but "it's not like we can make him cross his legs", he says. "Basically, I am just trying to get him to sit still while I meditate," he told Associated Press news agency.

Mr Yoshikuni said it only took Conan a few days to imitate the motions of praying. "I think he saw me doing it all the time and got the idea to do it too," he said.

Noto bene to BKs; Jigenin temple now gets 30% more visitors than it did before Conan joined in the prayers, Mr Yoshikuni said.

Nazi dog owner gets sentenced

A man who trained his dog to give a Nazi salute has been handed a suspended sentence for shouting 'Sieg Heil' in public and wearing a Hitler T-shirt. A Berlin court found the 54-year-old German guilty of displaying Nazi symbols and insulting a policeman. The dog, Adolf, performed his trick in front of police and the man received a 13-month suspended. Nazi symbols and gestures, including words and actions which can be seen to condone Nazism, are illegal in Germany.

'Sweet dog'

The dog's owner was questioned by police after members of the public in the Berlin suburb of Lichtenrade complained that they had seen the two of them saluting together. The dog, a German shepherd crossbreed named Adolf after the German dictator, is also said to have performed the trick in front of two policemen.

German authorities dropped initial charges against the man for training the dog - as it was not clear if he had broken the law by doing so. "Adolf is a very sweet dog," said the man's attorney. "He loves cookies just like his owner!"

A friend of the man told the Associated Press news agency that the dog had been hit by a car, damaging his right paw. "It's all bent, he cannot stick it out anymore," he said.

So there you go ... even canine karma will come and get you! I makes me wonder though, what sort of individuals report to the police dogs that making nazi salutes!?!

Do plants have souls?

Some BKs believe they have.

Dear mr green.

This question whas also ask in the PBK Q and answer section with Baba.

Question No.102: Do trees and plants have souls? If yes, then, in which part (of The Tree/plant)?
Ans: Yes, they have souls, but they are inert. In the seeds.

On your service .

peterbindi.

I do not care about the BKs' opinion on such matters. Science is constantly proving more and more how animals and plants have feelings similar to those of humans (well, not as vicious!). I am proud to be an animist .

In any case, I had the practical example of witnessing how love, care and good vibes influence plants positively. Some respect and humility from humans, after thousands of years of exploitation of nature, would have such an impact! Green, if you are skeptical about plants' emotions, I will tell you an interesting story in pm!

Ans: Yes, they have souls, but they are inert. In the seeds.

As with many of the written answers we are able to receive, this is a bit inconclusive.

Is he saying that "plant souls" are equal in form and nature to "human souls" (and, by extension, that all souls are the same). I am not sure what "inert" means. In English, inert means "not active, inanimate, lifeless" etc.

I suppose the next questions are; what does it prove ... what practical difference does it make ... what can we do with them ... what are our responsibilities to them? I suspect transmigration, either up or down, is still out of the question?

Some religions believe similar, that other simple spirits (devas, kamis) live in amongst plants looking after them but that they are not the spirit or soul of the plant or animal itself. A general and widespread concept about other species, e.g. ants and bee etc, is that they do not have individual souls but operating of one "hive soul".

I have no comments to make, its not my field of interest and does not appear to be of immediate practical benefit. I would say though that some shamanistic traditions talk about the general "overspirit" of a particular plant, e.g. dope, tobacco, ayahuasca ... some of which can be not too pretty. What it does all point to is that life entails a much more rich and extensive spiritual cosmology than the one presented by the BKWSU.

I am just off to teach my gladioli Yoga now ... so, are the flowers in the Subtle Regions karmateet? (No answer necessary).

Dear ex-l.

Looking in the dictionary about "inert".

Inert; lacking the ability or strength to move.

peterbindi

Fair enough. That supports my theory that it is OK to eat vegetables, even if they have feelings, because they cant run away when you stick a fork in them. (A theory which fails when you consider many seafoods, like mussels).

I guess we have to ask what the original Hindi term that was translated in the first place and what he means.

Fair enough. That supports my theory that it is OK to eat vegetables, even if they have feelings, because they cant run away when you stick a fork in them.

No ex-l, they scream when you pull 'em from the soil, it is karmically no different from slowly inserting a skewer into a baby's head you sick bastard .

I am afraid you have to eat soil to be free of any accounts (unless you believe the earth has a soul) .