Jasjit,

I too have a dog and he is like my baby. I can imagine what your cousin must have goe through while putting him to sleep. At this point I can't even imagine doing that to my dog (if the need comes). You know whats so special about dogs is the unconditional love that they give us. If I go out of the house even for 5 minutes, in my return he will be as enthu as he is when I come back home from office after a gap of 8 hrs.

They can sense it when you are feeling low. My dad has high blood pressure. At one point his pressure kept increasing. It was at that time that we got our dog. Believe it or not my dads pressure just stopped climbing and its been over 8 years and its still constant.

Jasjit,

You know better than anyone else, that I am not really a dog person. But this story has pierced right through me, specially with that adorable picture of Coco. Just breaks your heart to think that you have to let it go.

I remember, when I was in school, one day, I reach my class room and find a friend crying profusely, eyes red and swollen, completey shattered. When I asked her what happened, she said, her dog had passed away the previous night. And thats when I realised how much they come to mean to the people who own them - they are no less than any member of the family, and sometimes, much more....

"I hope you will remember that for all else in your life too. Know when to let the past go, have the courage to let it go and free it and yourself"

Beautifully put.

Thanks for the sweet yet powerful story Jasjit.

very touching share...thank you...

What a lovely song of gratitude Jasjit. Truly unconditional love seems to be the forte of canines. My dog is just a bundle of joy. No matter how many trips to the vet one has had to make with him, or the endless potty cleanings when he was a pup I know I dont give him a fraction of what he gives me.

Interesting connection you made between your cousins tumour and the dog's response. Its completely understandable. Apparently men who are very close to their wives often experience labour pains when their wives give birth. Just one example of how connectivity can/does manifest itself.

Beautiful piece Jasjit. It must be so difficult for your cousin and her daughter to let go of her.

May Coco rest in peace and in love. Wishing your cousin and her daughter solace in the wonderful memories that she leaves behind and warmth in the wisdom that her love surrounds them always.

love
anusheh

A beautiful and touching farewell song Jasjit! Thank you for sharing this with us.

I am not a dog person myself, but the families are... so to a great extent I can feel and understand.. my mom and 10 year old nephew, my ex husband and in laws, all are great canine people.. in fact i have seen them go through this pain and loss when we had to put Mom's dalmatian to sleep, and my ex-husband's pomeranian, how devastated he was... Seeing the love that existed between them, I used to say, god please make me a dog in my next birth...

In tribute to the pets who bring so much love and well being into our lives..

thanks and love

Sukanya be careful what you ask for. Not only a dog but also a dog born into a nice loving family which has the resources to feed and look after:-) There are many poor dogs out there having a hell of a miserable time.

Yes ma'am.. I should have added that... I recognize completely the issue that you flag... but being around mom, who has her own army of strays at her door.. her stringers i call them, dogs and cats.. we have them all the time.. in case she is late in putting out the food, the cats come through the back yard and scratch at the kitchen door with loud meaows.. and the dogs stay at the front door because they wont stomp through her kitchen garden.. so yes, I'd want to be dog, around people like her..

jasjit, lovely story made more lovely by the way you wrote it. really they taste sugar....

i have my own kalma just like coco but black in colour. her dance around me would be seen to be believed. we understand each other's silent language, sometimes even better than human's spoken one.

some may find this post from a channel, master maitreya interesting.......

Message from Maitreya:Jan 25,2006

I have been intending to write on the subject of animals for some Earth time now, but other newsletters have taken precedence. However, I feel now is the time to write about the subject, and I know many of you have animals and do wonder at times why they are with you. I am referring here mainly to domestic animals, and I state that because occasionally wild animals may come and assist you, too.

My newsletter was prompted many Earth months ago when my channel and I visited a city in Washington. There in one of the hotels is a dog who is referred to as Stress Manager. This dog has his own business card and does just what it states - he de-stresses those who visit the hotel. Sitting in the foyer of the hotel most of the time, he allows all and sundry to pat him and talk to him. After being in this dog's energy, most people feel de-stressed, lighter, freer and more relaxed.

Animals are here on the Earth plane to do just that - to assist you in your daily lives, and they are a very intuitive species. They work on the intuitive level, and have the most wonderful healing powers. For those of you asking, yes, there is karma between humans and animals. There have been many recorded cases of animals who have saved lives, and of humans who have saved animals' lives. "What of birds?" I can hear you ask. They too, have a role in your life. Many souls have had past lives where they have been connected to birds, horses, sheep, goats and other animals. All animals can play a role in your life, not just cats and dogs. Most animals are highly intuitive, far more than you are. They live in the now, dealing with life moment to moment, they do not think of the future or the past, just the now. I am sure many of you have an animal who assists you at the end of the day of work, to relax and unwind. All animals help humanity if they are allowed to; in other words, if you let them do it.

If you have fear of an animal, then it will feel that fear. Even having fear in your auric field can create a block between you and the animal near you. My channel once met a child who had terrible fear in her aura. It was like a dark cloud, so deep and intense. Lifetime after lifetime of sadness, fear and lack of confidence was in the auric field. This child went to visit a friend who had a beautiful dog that had been living like a member of that family for many years. The child was with her identical twin sister who did not have the darkness in her auric field. The dog felt and saw the fear in the child with the dark auric field, and when it sensed the dark menace of energy so profoundly, it attacked and injured her severely. What it did was simply protecting itself from a threatening situation.

Animals will only attack if they sense fear. For those of you who have an animal, know that your animal is also a "stress manager" that is often a negative clearing house for you and those around you. They are on the Earth plane to play this role - to help humanity in the capacity of giving love and affection, as well as removing negative energy from around you. They play the most wonderful role, but are very often not thanked or respected for it. If you have an animal and you show love to it, that love will come back ten-fold. Learn to love your animals and not have any fears about them, they are there to help all of you in your daily life.

Maitreya.

sundar,

right from clay to minerals to plants to animals to apes all are there to assist us one way or the other, because they are our past incarnations just as we are their future incarnations. we all belong to one greater system of species.

it i just like saying that the stem cells to bone cells to blood cells to muscle cells of our bodies are there to assist the nerve cells of our bodies. for these all belong to the greater system of ourselves as a whole.

harb, the resident maitreya

Hi jasjit,

I too lost my fav dog last year...her name was sweety. I had composed a small poem for her...

> the road of time brings in stride
>
> many a stranger and queerer lot
>
> the laughter of loneliness to be replaced
>
> by the sad hypocrisy of relative thought.
>
> it is forever! the heart pleads,
>
> the mind, though , knows the play
>
> that nothing lasts forever indeed
>
> nothing ever for another day.
>
> when ur eyes were open to illusory me
>
> my heart leapt in subconcious delight
>
> now when ur eyes are closed to minute fantasy
>
> the mind rejoices in ur infinity.
>
> but the tears of thought in me
>
> betray an attachment to you
>
> the heart's twisted in helpless grief
>
> to see ur face , my sweety.
>
> goodbye my sweet, goodbye it is
>
> till one day the shadow of relative thought
>
> melts in this the world of hypocrisy
>
> and thence again in the promised land
>
> i will find all my loved ones
>
> beside me.
>
>
>
> : composed july 9th 2005
>

aah..aachi...

tx harb, the resident maitreya...tx rohit...

Aachi, welcome back. What a beautiful poem.

Good Morning Aachi

Good to have you back. Lovely words for the lovliest bond there is.

Here are some powerful words by Bulleh Shah on the greatness of dogs as teachers!

Kuutey Tantho Uttey (Dogs are Superior to You!)

Raateen Jagein, karein Ibadat
Rateen jagan kuttey, tantho uttey
(You stay awake all night, praying thinking that makes you superior but then dogs just naturally stay awake at night. Superior to you!)

Bhaunkan to band mool na hundey
Ja roodi tey suttey, tantho uttey
(They never stop barking(doing their duty!) through the night and sleep on a mound of stones, are they not superior!)

Khasam apney da dar na chaddey
Bhavein vajan juttey, tantho uttey
(They never forsake the door of their Master even when they are beaten, aren't they superior to you?)

Bulleh Shah koi rakhth vihaj le
Nahi te baazi lai gaye kuttey, tantho uttey.

Bulleh Shah wake up and find your Way, or the dogs will win this round. They are superior!)

Jasjit I too have a dog. He is a black lab. His name is Badshah though he has a host of other names and all starting with B.

I always tell people that we have so much to learn from them. Badshah has got his daily routine: wakes up in the morning (not that he sleeps the whole night, keeps hopping from one room to the other), goes out for his walk, eats his 3 bsicuits, waits for my dad to have his brkfast so that he can have his second brkfast with dad, then till lunch time he lazes around and so on and agin in the evening when he has to go out he jumps all around me with such excitement.
Daily routine but he does all these things everyday with the same enthusiasm. Everyday is like the first time.. First time to go out for a walk, first time to eat biscuits... And like annie said they greet you everytime with the same enthu.

I can't imagine a day without Badshah but I know the day will come.

Jasjit please tell your cousin that all dogs go to heaven and I'm sure Coco is also up there.

Hi everybody,

Indeed a very sad news of coco. Dogs can teach such a lot without apparently teaching. no wonder they our best friends.

In their small 'life' of 15 yrs they give a lot more than we as humans can give to the people around us in our 70-80 yrs of 'existence'.

I say existence, cause most of us are really existing, and endlessly pondering, "what's worng with my life, his life, her life etc. etc. etc."

No hard feelings here, but most of the time when we are splitting each hair strand to analyse LIFE we tend to forget or ignore or simply have got immune to the simple pleasures. For eg. each of us are such work fanatics we can't even enjoy our simple pleasure of sleep. So we have the alarm clock. For some people Sleep is assigned to sundays. Some others aren't even that lucky.

I had a school friend, who used to take a lot of time to eat her lunch. The rest of course were in a hurry to gobble our food. Either due to prolonged hunger or simply to catch up on some play as well. Because games period never seemed adequate enough.

We used to call her a "slow eater". Where as Monideepa was least bothered with the adjective. She said, "I like to RELISH my lunch." Would simply sloooowwwwly finish her lunch in leisure time. Often chewing on to the "aam ka achar ka gutli" for over 20 minutes till it was absolutely threadbare. I myself was a slow eater and often was rebuked in the family.

She was enjoying that little time to the fullest.

I think since dogs know that the life span is small they enjoy each day as if it's the first. We human beings are so bored with routine. ;-))
Isn't it

One small story of an experience with Badshah, Chaitali's Dog.

About 6-7 years back I had gone to spend some time at their place. In the evening suddenly there was a powercut. So everybody went up to the terrace. I didn't go. I was feeling a bit blue and was sitting alone in the balcony, looking out into the dark night outside. Suddenly I felt someone behind me. Badshah being absolutely black merged quiet well in the darkness. He was sitting quietly behind me, just a few inches away.

I was surprised. Usually he is the first one to run to the terrace if the doors are left open.

I turned around and asked him, "why haven't you gone up, when you are so crazy about the terrace." He came cloer to me without a word and simply sat behind me and placed his chin on my shoulder. I cried a little and he kept his jaw on my shoulder as a support.

I still remember that evening. I talked to him and he seemed to understand everything and was silently giving me that support of a friend. He never gave me a solution or asked why I felt bad. But his unconditional love was enough to comfort my sorrow.

After a few more tears and talking my heart out, which he patiently bore, we walked together to the terrace, with a little secret between us which nobody knew.

Sangeeta

What a lovely story about Badshah and your bonding. It's true they can understand you in ways people cannot even begin to imagine. A recent study on dogs was being aired on Discovery Channel where the researcher claimed that humans (because of their self-obsession) had not even tapped 50 percent of the potential that dogs have to communicate with human beings.

Lovely story. God Bless Coco and her wisdom.

It has been twenty one days since we said goodbye to Coco. I will never forget her. I was four years old when she came into our lives. Her absence today is unreal. I look for traces of Coco everywhere. I run my hands along her blanket, I search the carpets for stains, and I eat only half of her favorite chocolates. I miss her terribly. I miss her voice. I miss her eyes. I miss her warmth. Most of all, I miss her company. Coco will always be with us. We carry her in our hearts and in our memories. Thank you all for celebrating Coco with my family. I will always love you Coco- you were a good little dog who always made us happy.

life breathes too death too....tx coco for having enriched so many and continuing to entich....

Dogs are real special. Heena I'm sure Coco is closeby feeling your love and looking out for you. We too had a little Apso called Muffin who lived to be 15. Losing him was the toughest thing ever. My mom feeds stray dogs on his death anniversary even today. She used to call him her special son.
I'm sure dogs go to some special place where they can look out for us. Take Care Heena .

Dear Heena,

Remeber all the good times that you had with Coco, all the funny things that Coco used to do. Keep the happy memories alive and Coco will be always around you.