24/05/2023
In classical yoga psychology nirdoya bhava, material sentimentalism disguised as a compassion is one the main forms of uncompassion. It is considered as an emotional disease (bhava roga) and one of the obstacles for spiritual development (klesha).
One example of this nirdoya bhava is speciesism where we favor one animal species over another.
Example feral cats are the number one invasive killer caused at least 63 modern day extinctions. Dogs have caused at least 12 species to go extinct and are threatening at least 200 species.
There are at least 900 million domesticated dogs in world and 600 million cats. These cats and dogs kill billions of birds, reptiles and small mammals each year.
Cats and dogs form 25-30 % of the environmental impacts caused by meat consumption. And it is highly debatable do we have right to make naturally carnivorous or omnivorous animal as a vegan or is that also considered as an animal abuse?
In order to feed average cat for one year, approximately 700 animals have to give their lives. For dogs it takes approx. 400-500 lives. Are we the one’s who have the right to decide who lives and who dies? All lives matter in this case.
Of course you can’t blame cats and dogs for this. They act through their instinct. Animal is karmicly innocent. This slaughter is ultimately caused by human beings through our continuous habit to favor some species over the another.
If we take part in animal killing somehow personally or through providing to our families or pets, we lose our ability to deeply understand spiritual topics (varna). This is how law of karma works.
If we understand these facts and use a bit of our common sense, we can also see how our favoritism towards cats and dogs is one of the most uncompassionate acts towards animals in general in recent human history.
Real compassion to animals extends beyond our selfish scope of enjoyment and sentimentalism. If some species cause us happiness that should not be the reason to sacrifice others.
We can see how even material love and compassion should be subjected to the spiritually directed discrimination (viveka).
Shree Radhe-Shyam ji 🙏🏼🖤