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Thread: Blessings for animals?

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    Blessings for animals?

    Namaste everyone,

    I have reasons* to think that somewhere in the śruti ("heard," primary scriptures) or the smṛti ("remembered," secondary scriptures), or perhaps in later writings by the great ācāryas (teachers) there are Sanskrit blessings that can be used to bless animals, but I'm having difficulty locating any such blessings. Has anyone in this forum come across something like this? It doesn't have to be a blessing or blessings that are exclusively for animals. Any Sanskrit blessing that can be applied to an animal, accompanied by any restrictions that may be involved, would be helpful.

    Thank you.

    praṇām



    *I know of a religious tradition with connections and resemblances to sanātana dharma in which there are blessings for animals. I know that there is evidence in Hindu writings that animals can benefit from exposure to holy things, for example animals benefitting from being granted the ability to recite names of God in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 17:1. I know that many teachers of sanātana dharma have taught compassion for all creatures. Surely at some point in Hindu history there is a record of a blessing for an animal.
    śrīmate nārāyaṇāya namaḥ

  2. #2

    Re: Blessings for animals?

    Namaste

    The best blessings for jIvas in animal body are BhagavAn's Holy Names. HarinAm. Chanting the mahAmantra to my parent's old dog brought out such liveliness in his eyes, and also showed some gratitude and rapt attention.

    The trapped jivAtmA needs nourishment.

    Hare KRshNa hare kRshNa kRshNa kRshNa hare hare
    hare rAm hare rAm rAm rAm hare hare

    Have you heard about the tiger that chanted "shripada rAjam sharaNam prapadye" for ShripAd Shrivallabh (dattatreya in kali yug) and the dog who chanted rAm rAm, and the dog who went to vaikunTha because he ate lots of Prasad-leftovers outside a temple and made pradakshiNA (circumblated) around the temple of Lord VishNu...

    Hare KRshNa hare kRshNa kRshNa kRshNa hare hare
    hare rAm hare rAm rAm rAm hare hare
    || Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

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    Re: Blessings for animals?

    Namaste smaranam ji,

    Thank you for your reply. I've decided to take your advice and use the mahāmantra to bless animals.

    I hadn't heard the stories about the dogs and the tiger. Thank you for sharing them with me.

    praṇām
    śrīmate nārāyaṇāya namaḥ

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    Re: Blessings for animals?

    Namaste
    Quote Originally Posted by anucarh View Post
    ... ...
    I know that there is evidence in Hindu writings that animals can benefit from exposure to holy things, for example animals benefitting from being granted the ability to recite names of God
    It seems to me that you have not understood something very well.
    Smaranam has already given an answer, and I'd just like to add something.

    It is not that animals can benefit from exposure to holy things in such a way that an animal does something for their own benefit, to recite or something else, but animals are benefiting by being exposed to holy name of the Lord when some devotee is chanting the holy name! That's the point.
    So, not that an animal should do something, but an animal should just listening to. Just by listening an animal is participating in the vedic sacrifice of chanting the holy names. This is so because a vedic sacrifice has two factors, namely, one who is doing the sacrifice (an active performer of the sacrifice), and one who is passively participating in the performance of the sacrifice. Both of them, an active and a passive participants, are benefiting.
    When a devotee is chanting the holy name he is an active performer of the sacrifice, and people, animals and plants near him are passive participants because they listening to. Even if a person is deaf and can not hear is considered to be exposed to the sound vibration of the holy name, and even so has the benefit!

    Chanting of the holy names of the Lord is especially beneficial in the present age of Kali (Kali yuga), and is recommended as the process of self-realization just for the age of Kali. There are numerous statements in the scriptures about that. And chanting of the holy names is considered to be a Vedic sacrifice. As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad gita 10.25: yajñānāḿ japa-yajño 'smi "Of sacrifices I am the chanting of the holy names [japa]".

    Another example is eating of prasadam (food offered to the Lord). When vegetarian food is offered to the Lord it's considered to be sacred or spiritualized. Not only the one who offered the food to the Lord is benefiting, but also the people and animals who eat prasadam.


    regards

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    Re: Blessings for animals?

    Quote Originally Posted by brahma jijnasa View Post
    Namaste


    It seems to me that you have not understood something very well.
    Smaranam has already given an answer, and I'd just like to add something.

    It is not that animals can benefit from exposure to holy things in such a way that an animal does something for their own benefit, to recite or something else, but animals are benefiting by being exposed to holy name of the Lord when some devotee is chanting the holy name! That's the point.
    So, not that an animal should do something, but an animal should just listening to. Just by listening an animal is participating in the vedic sacrifice of chanting the holy names. This is so because a vedic sacrifice has two factors, namely, one who is doing the sacrifice (an active performer of the sacrifice), and one who is passively participating in the performance of the sacrifice. Both of them, an active and a passive participants, are benefiting.
    When a devotee is chanting the holy name he is an active performer of the sacrifice, and people, animals and plants near him are passive participants because they listening to. Even if a person is deaf and can not hear is considered to be exposed to the sound vibration of the holy name, and even so has the benefit!

    Chanting of the holy names of the Lord is especially beneficial in the present age of Kali (Kali yuga), and is recommended as the process of self-realization just for the age of Kali. There are numerous statements in the scriptures about that. And chanting of the holy names is considered to be a Vedic sacrifice. As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad gita 10.25: yajñānāḿ japa-yajño 'smi "Of sacrifices I am the chanting of the holy names [japa]".

    Another example is eating of prasadam (food offered to the Lord). When vegetarian food is offered to the Lord it's considered to be sacred or spiritualized. Not only the one who offered the food to the Lord is benefiting, but also the people and animals who eat prasadam.


    regards
    Namaste brahma jijnasa ji,

    There seems to be a miscommunication here. That isn't what I was trying to say at all. I was referring specifically to this passage:

    "On His way to Vṛndāvana, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu passed through the forest of Jhārikhaṇḍa and made all the tigers, elephants, deer and birds chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and dance. Thus all these animals were overwhelmed by ecstatic love." Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 17:1

    In this particular example the animals were enabled to chant the mahā-mantra and were filled with love for God, according to the text. That's all that I was referring to. My point was not that animals need to do something for themselves or anything like that. I was looking for a blessing that I could use to bless animals with and that is the first example of animals being blessed by something holy that I could think of. In this particular example, the animals happened to be speaking the holy names themselves through the miraculous, divine power of Śrī Caitanya, as it says, but I didn't choose it because I think animals need to learn mantras. I didn't mean to suggest that. I was looking for something that I could use.

    > animals are benefiting by being exposed to holy name of the Lord when some devotee is
    > chanting the holy name! That's the point.

    In this particular quote the animals were also the devotees and the animals were doing the chanting, it says. This is not the only example of it either. But my point wasn't that animals need to be devotees or need to chant. I was looking for a blessing that I could use to bless animals.

    > So, not that an animal should do something,

    I didn't mean to suggest that an animal needed to do something. I was looking for something that I could do. I was looking for "Sanskrit blessings that could be used to bless animals."

    I'm sorry if I was unclear. I hope everything is clearer now.

    praṇām
    Last edited by anucarh; 21 October 2014 at 02:04 AM.
    śrīmate nārāyaṇāya namaḥ

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    Re: Blessings for animals?

    Namaste
    Quote Originally Posted by anucarh View Post
    I was looking for a blessing that I could use to bless animals with and that is the first example of animals being blessed by something holy that I could think of. In this particular example, the animals happened to be speaking the holy names themselves through the miraculous, divine power of Śrī Caitanya, as it says, but I didn't choose it because I think animals need to learn mantras. I didn't mean to suggest that. I was looking for something that I could use.
    Yes, I see, you can bless animals as suggested by Smaranam and me, but this will work only if you yourself have been blessed. What I mean by that? Suppose that you want to help someone heal, a sick person. The question is whether you can help this person, do you know how to help him, are you able to heal him or not. The mere desire "I want to help, I want ..." will not be enough. The same goes for mantra and holy name. Anyone can repeat the mantra aloud or the holy name "Vishnu, Vishnu, ... , Narayana, Narayana, ... Hare Krishna, ... ", even a parrot can do it, but is a parrot a saintly person, a person dedicated to God, a spiritualized person? That is the question. If he is not, then what effect of his repetition of the holy name can do good to those who will listen to? What a blessing an ignorant parrot can give to others? If you find yourself to be not a spiritualized person then better do something for your own spiritual upliftment and desire to help others leave for some time in the future.


    regards

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