Talk:Guidelines for Raising Children: Pets

By Vishal Agarwal

In the Hindu Dharm, animals have an ātmā that is identical to the human ātmā even though the former are not as developed mentally and spiritually as human beings are. People also believe in transmigration – the ability of the ātmā to change its biological species in different life spans. This core belief motivates people to be kind and compassionate towards all animals and to minimize the suffering and pain that we can cause them. Hindu Dharm does not treat animals in a condescending manner, even while recognizing the fact that humans are endowed with superior intelligence and power. The notion that animals possess a soul just like human beings.

May I be dear to all animals. Atharvaveda 17.1.4

A text exhorts us to regard animals as if they were our own children:

Deer, camel, donkey, monkey, rats, creeping animals, birds and even flies – one should consider them like one’s own children, and not differentiate between one’s children and these creatures. (i.e., we must love all creatures). Bhāgavata Purāṇa 7.14.9

Pets and Karmic Debts People to whom we owe debts are reborn in our lives as our pets so that by serving them, we repay them back. For this reason, it is recommended that we be kind, caring and loving towards our pets.

Unlike human children who are never treated as an owned commodity, pets are usually treated as the human owner’s property. Although animals can be sold and purchased, they are living creatures and have a right to life and happiness. Śāstras prescribe atonements and penances for even accidental killing of animals, birds, insects and aquatic creatures (Manusmṛti 11.69, 71). These penances are required to atone for killing not just domesticated creatures, but even wild creatures (Manusmṛti 11.132–142).

Types of Pets

1. Pets kept solely for pleasure – like dogs, cats etc., in households, dependent on their human owner for food and treatment during illness.
2. Beasts of burden – bullocks used for pulling carriages, horses used for riding or pulling chariots, mules used for carrying loads.
3. Agricultural animals – bullocks used for tilling/plowing.
4. Dairy animals – milch cattle and other animals yielding milk like goats and llamas.

Animals reared for meat cannot be regarded as pets by any stretch of imagination.

He who gets joy in beating non-violent (docile) animals with a stick will never get happiness in the next world. Mahābhārata 13.113.5

Lessons from Pets

One learns the following six qualities from a dog – Eat fast, remain satisfied with few possessions, alert even while asleep, work without much expectation of compensation, courage, loyalty to one’s master. Vṛddha Cāṇakya 5.8

The Mahābhārata narrates the story of King Yudhiṣṭhira, an embodiment of truth, who is accompanied by a black dog till the very end. When the Deva-s come to welcome the King, he refuses to enter Heaven till his faithful dog is also allowed to accompany him (Mahābhārata 17.3.9–11). The Deva-s are so enthralled by Yudhiṣṭhira’s gesture of justice and compassion towards his dog that they declare that there is no equal to him in the entire heaven (Mahābhārata 17.3.20).

Several Śāstras contain idyllic descriptions of forest hermitages of Ṛṣi where animals gathered to escape from hunters and lived peacefully. The love that man can have for pet animals is depicted in several scriptures such as the Viṣṇu Purāṇa 2.13, which narrates the story of the ascetic Jaḍa Bharata who forsook his spiritual practices and risked his own salvation so that he could take care of an orphaned fawn.

Humane Use of Animals

When employing animals to facilitate travel, scriptures recommend not using them in a way that causes them injury, pain or death.

One must not travel with animals that are young, diseased or in some other pain without giving them rest. Nor with animals that are deficient in limbs, weak, or untrained. He should not satiate his hunger and thirst without first giving water and grains to his animals. Viṣṇu Dharmasūtra 63.13–18

When travelling, he should not employ animals which are badly trained or which suffer from hunger or disease, or have damaged horns, eyes or hooves, or misshapen tails. Manusmṛti 4.67

He should always travel with animals that are well trained and swift, and have good characteristics, color and appearance, without whipping them too hard to drive them. Manusmṛti 4.68

Animals used for agriculture must also be treated kindly and fed before their owner eats himself:

People with conviction in dharm yoke eight bulls to pull their plough… A cruel man yokes only four bulls to plough his field and he who employs just two bulls is guilty of killing a cow. Atri Saṁhitā 1.219; Āpastamba Smṛti 1.22; Parāśara Smṛti 2.8b–9a

A ploughshare drawn by two bulls should be used only for three hours, by four bulls for six hours, by six bulls for nine hours, and by eight bulls for the entire day. Atri Saṁhitā 1.220

Milk and milk products form an important part of the diet, even among vegetarians. Humane and loving treatment of dairy cattle was implied in teachings. The colostrum of a cow was reserved for the calf. Riding milch cattle was prohibited (Manusmṛti 4.72). A portion of milk was first collected specifically to feed the calf before humans could use it. The intentional killing of a cow was considered a cardinal sin, especially if the cow was pregnant. The Mahābhārata recommends protecting cattle from blazing sun with roofed sheds, not obstructing their path, and rescuing them if stuck in mud (Parāśara Smṛti 11.41–42).

Veterinary Science Just as scholars composed texts on human medicine, they also compiled compendiums on veterinary medicine. For example, Sage Palakapya wrote the Hastyāyurveda on the treatment of elephants. Five works on Aśvāyurveda (texts dealing with treatment of horses) were authored by scholars, and at least three still survive.

Story: Sant Eknāth gives his holy water from Gaṅgā to a donkey

Once, Sant Eknāth (1533–1599) was travelling from Vārāṇasī towards Rāmeśvaram with some water from the Gaṅgā River, intended for offering to the Śivaliṅga there. Passing through an extremely hot and dry region, Eknāth and his disciples felt great thirst, but refrained from drinking the sacred water. Suddenly, they saw a donkey lying on the ground, dying of thirst. Eknāth was filled with compassion. He immediately poured the Gaṅgā water into the donkey’s mouth. The animal revived at once.

A disciple asked, “Guru-ji, what about our worship at Rāmeśvaram now?” Eknāth replied, “This is my Rāmeśvara.” He demonstrated through his deed that Bhagavān resides even in a donkey, and if we cannot treat animals with compassion, we cannot claim that we love Bhagavān.