On October 4, for World Animal Day, in Chennai, India, there were special prayers and blessings for animals throughout the city—not only for Hindus, but also for people who embrace other faiths: Christians, Jains, and Moslems.

There is a tradition in India, thousands of years old, of respect for animals—and the various aspects of God are seen to appear as animals.  Ganesha, the elephant deity, is revered throughout India.  He is a beneficent figure who bestows good fortune; his many kindly-looking statues are reminders of this.

Dr. Chinny Krishna, the Chairman of Blue Cross of India writes, “This morning at 8 am, we had twelve dogs along with their guardians seated around the Ganesha at the Grove.”  Among them, of course, were Dr. Moosa, Dr. Jumble, and Bhairava (three of the dogs of Dr. Nanditha and Dr. Chinny Krishna).

Dr. Chinny describes the event, “The priest quoted from the sacred scriptures, the vedas, and spoke on the oneness of all life in Sanskrit and Tamil.”

A message still relevant today

“Nanditha then recited in Sanskrit the three stanzas from the Bhagavad Gita (Gita) where Lord Krishna advises the hero and warrior, Arjuna –with words that speak volumes to us as thinking beings:

 
‘The Supreme Lord said: Non-violence,... tranquility..., compassion for all living beings. These transcendental qualities, O Son of Bharata, belong to godly men endowed with divine nature.’ 
                                                                                                                                                                                                Gita 16.1
 
and: ‘The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahman, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater (an outcaste)’                                                                                  Gita 5.18
 

and finally: ‘If one offers to Me, with love and devotion, a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water, I will accept it.’                                                                                                                                                                                          Gita 9.26
 

The meaning of the last sentence, explains Dr. Chinny, is to deny the validity of animal sacrifice; instead, one can offer a leaf or a flower.

The Blue Cross of India, when it began in 1964, was the earliest of the modern-day animal shelters in India.  Now with several active centers, they are still leading the way in animal welfare—and encouraging people of all backgrounds to give expression to their love for animals.

Dr Chinny writes, “The prayers at the Guindy Ganesha, at the Blue Cross Center, at 11 am were given in Hindi by Bhogilal of the Sri Ganesh Mandal. (Bhogilal volunteers at our shelter.  He physically takes care of the entire feeding of all the animals every Sunday).

“After the arathi  [benediction], Daniel spoke in Tamil, and Prashanth spoke in English. The entire pooja [devotional service] was for just about 15 minutes.”

Among the guests at Santhome Cathedral

The Santhome Cathedral was first constructed in Chennai in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, and was rebuilt later.  “Santhome” refers to the apostle St. Thomas, who is said to have traveled to, and spent thirty years of his life in, southern India preaching the gospel.  There has been a Christian tradition in India, among a small percentage of the people, for nearly two thousand years, as well as more recent converts from the past 400 or so years.

Dr. Chinny explains, “The special mass at 12 noon at the Santhome Cathedral was most moving. Completely organized by Mark Rozario, the 50 minute mass was a beautiful mix of stories of St. Francis punctuated with special prayers for "all living beings and every atom of creation" and some heavenly music. About 25 dogs and one parrot (perched on his guardian's shoulder much of the time, but flying around sometimes!) sat through the mass after which a special blessing was given to the animals present. About five hundred people were present, and the huge cathedral was full. Many of those with animals had adopted them from the Blue Cross.

The way forward 

“Except for the above three gatherings, all the other temples which had special prayers, unfortunately, had no animals present. Yet, we are delighted that so many of them agreed to have these prayers and, hopefully, this will lead to many more animal events in the years to come.

“My only regret is that it has taken us this long to have such celebrations in Chennai.”

During one of their general meetings, also taking place on October 4, some of the leaders of the Jain community observed World Animal Day by standing in prayer for a few moments, for the welfare of all living beings, and there is a good possibility, that next year, animals may be invited into Jain temples as well.

Dr. Chinny expressed his thanks to Mark Rozario and to Dr. Nanditha for making this happen, to Narayanan Hariharan for the photos, to Priya Menon for her story in the Times of India, and to NDTV-Hindu for covering the event.

What you can do

To learn more about Blue Cross of India, please click here.

 
To read more about the work of animal organizations in India, please click here.

Photos: Narayanan Hariharan / Blue Cross of India  /   http://blog.bluecrossofindia.org/

To see the complete slide show for World Animal Day, please click on the blog link.