Dog is God
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
saumye asked:
This article is not for those who fight manic wars about God , in the real or in the virtual world . This is just a small incident that happened to me sometime back which didn’t cause a drastic change in me though , but did have an effect on me good enough on me change my perspective about this whole God issue.Some might find this article a bit childish , perhaps even a bit of escapist tendency might be visible in it but sorry folks , can’t help it . It goes like this:
Me and my 11 college friends had planned a small trip to a hill station called Manali in the Himachal Pradesh state in north India.It had taken a lot of planning and we wanted it to be a memorable trip.Well, we started out well having a lot of fun right in the beginning as we went for white water rafting .But it left us more tired than anything we had ever imagined after all who goes paddling in raging water for nearly 90 minutes everyday . Next day we were supposed to go to a place known as the solan valley .Some of my friends wanted to experience paragliding .But as soon as I looked at the prices I backed out. Come on man who will pay for something that unpredictable , I mean you could end up being in the air for 30 seconds or 15 minutes and yet you would have to pay the same amount .So me and my 3 friends Alex,Venu and Pido backed out .We thought that it would be better to go trekking,maybe follow an unknown trail and explore the mountains on our own.After bidding farewell with our other buddies,we set out for our little excursion .Alex suggested that we should go straight for the river and then might try crossing it .All of us agreed ,Venu a little reluctantly,to this plan.
And as Venu had predicted it was a lot further than we had thought .After walking for about 3 km in the hot sun ,we hit a dead end .As we peered over the edge,we found ourselves standing on the top of a cliff with a drop of about 50 feet straight into the river.All of us were exhausted not to forget Venu ,the eternal non athlete muttering something about “wastefull ventures” and “behaving like mountain goats not civilized humans”.However Alex was fascinated by the cliff and a naughty child like glint came into his eyes . Like a man possessed he told us “we shall not be deterred by this cliff in our path.We shall continue on or journey”.”Lord save the mountain goat Alex ,I quit”said Venu .”do you have any other choice,or perhaps you would like to walk back to the valley area alone.3 kms isn’t it?”barked alex in a business like tone.”i will get back to you some day for this,man” said Venu in a resigned tone.
Then we noticed a small one man bridge over the river.”well there must be some way to get down there because bridges just don’t grow out of thin air”said Alex.So we started inspecting random points of the cliff to find a way down.But all of us knew that even if we found a way it would be very difficult to climb down.Finally Pido found a way down.All of us,Venu withy great difficulty finally found ourselves on the banks of a huge mountain river . The water was gushing along at breath taking speed .It was like heaven tucked away in a solitary corner of the earth.A huge cliff along the other bank of the river stood over us like a wary parent keeping a close watch on its lads.And to top all of this not a single other creature was present there.Even Venu couldn’t help smiling.
The surroundings had a calming effect on everybody.For 10 minutes nobody either moved or said anything.Then we made ourselves comfortable on the big boulders resting on the bank. Alex collected some small colourfull rocks as souvenirs of this trek . Suddenly we spotted a wild dog standing right besides a huge boulder. There was something very different about that dog . It was a strange sight . The dog was standing absolutely still and wasn’t even blinking . Pido ,who is slightly afraid of dogs , tried to shoo away the dog but the dog didn’t flinch ,I don’t think it even noticed . It was giving all of us a strange look ,it sort of reminded me of my mother when she argues with me endlessly about the existence of god . Even alex was spooked out . ”lets get moving guys ,others might be looking for us”said Venu in a strange scared tone .”yeah,yeah lets go “murmured alex still looking at the dog.
Climbing back would not be easy,all of us knew, especially with the pebbles strewn over the trail which we had come from .Pido started,followed by venu .I knew Venu was pretty afraid because of his earlier reluctance and the look on his face . Suddenly Venu slipped a bit and held on to a protruding root .As if waiting for some kind of a cue ,the dog suddenly trotted towards Venu and stood with him,looking at him till he regained his foothold and balance .It remained with Venu till he climbed up the cliff and then came back to where me and alex were standing .Then it escorted us to the top were Venu was resting , trying to regain his breath . As we sat down to rest the dog sat down as well and started toying with a bone lying on the ground .
“co-incidence” whispered Alex to himself .”enough rest guys , and in case you didn’t notice we are still in the middle of the jungle “ Pido reminded us . “yeah , plus I don’t think anyone of us remembers the way back to the valley .” added Venu .And as if waiting for a hint , the dog suddenly got up and started walking towards a particular direction . It then suddenly stopped and looked back at us as if motioning us to follow it . “are you also thinking what I am thinking?”asked Alex,smiling . It was not even a question . “ok, lets go” Venu said . So we started following the dog as it happily trotted towards an unknown destination . The dog still amazed me as it did not stop in between to smell the grass and all ,like normal dogs do . After walking for nearly 15 minutes we came to a clearing where the dog slowed down and then suddenly stopped .
It took us a moment to register where we were . We were standing in the backyard of a small temple , beyond which there was the road which led to the main valley .It was a Shiva temple . Shiva is one of the three lords of the universe ,according to hindu mythology . They are Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer . On one corner was a small wooden shrine which had snake carvings on its outside and snakes are the symbol of Lord Shiva .Strangely no priest was present in the temple .Then on one corner was the shivlinga , the symbol of Lord Shiva sculpted in black stone .On its corner sat a steel vessel which contained fresh milk . The dog climbed onto the shivlinga and started slurping from the vessel . Normally nobody is allowed to even touch a shivlinga ,let alone climb onto one . All of us decided that we must visit the shrine . Now according to hindu culture ,one is supposed to wash their hands and feet before entering a shrine .
Suddenly Alex reminded us that we had already washed them in the river . “too many co-incidences,eh?”smiled Alex .Everything seemed to fit perfectly into the puzzle but the whole thing didn’t make any sense. The river,the dog , the climb up the cliff ,then the dog leading us to the temple,ours accidentially washing hands and feet……………everything seemed to be fitting pretty well with each other under only one single logic ,the one which a staunch non-believer of god can never accept . But there is more to the story . As we came to the road ,we couldn’t figure out which way to go as the road seemed to slope downwards in both the directions and there was not a soul in sight . Suddenly the dog,which had disappeared into the forest for sometime came towards us,stopped and then again moved again motioning us to follow it . “it worked once didn’t it?” asked Alex .”Ok lets go”I gave in .
I was waiting for the dog to do something ‘normal’ trying desperately to prove that all this was just a co-incidence , but the dog didn’t give me a chance . It went straight into the jungle and we started following it . After walking for 15 minutes on what seemed to be a non-existent trail , we came into a clearing and what we saw left us speech-less . The dog had brought us back to the Valley by the shortest route possible considering that the same journey had taken us an hour when we started . Suddenly the dog turned and just ran into the forest as fast as it could .
For a minute we were trying to come to terms to what had just happened with us . It was too perfect , too good , too spooky to be true .Suddenly our other buddies came running to us .”man what a time we had paragliding you certainly missed something God level!” they screamed.And Alex smiled and said”we did?”God doesn’t need flashing lights , booms and bangs to prove he is there . No he doesn’t .
Sometimes a dog is good enough .
Pamela
This article is not for those who fight manic wars about God , in the real or in the virtual world . This is just a small incident that happened to me sometime back which didn’t cause a drastic change in me though , but did have an effect on me good enough on me change my perspective about this whole God issue.Some might find this article a bit childish , perhaps even a bit of escapist tendency might be visible in it but sorry folks , can’t help it . It goes like this:
Me and my 11 college friends had planned a small trip to a hill station called Manali in the Himachal Pradesh state in north India.It had taken a lot of planning and we wanted it to be a memorable trip.Well, we started out well having a lot of fun right in the beginning as we went for white water rafting .But it left us more tired than anything we had ever imagined after all who goes paddling in raging water for nearly 90 minutes everyday . Next day we were supposed to go to a place known as the solan valley .Some of my friends wanted to experience paragliding .But as soon as I looked at the prices I backed out. Come on man who will pay for something that unpredictable , I mean you could end up being in the air for 30 seconds or 15 minutes and yet you would have to pay the same amount .So me and my 3 friends Alex,Venu and Pido backed out .We thought that it would be better to go trekking,maybe follow an unknown trail and explore the mountains on our own.After bidding farewell with our other buddies,we set out for our little excursion .Alex suggested that we should go straight for the river and then might try crossing it .All of us agreed ,Venu a little reluctantly,to this plan.
And as Venu had predicted it was a lot further than we had thought .After walking for about 3 km in the hot sun ,we hit a dead end .As we peered over the edge,we found ourselves standing on the top of a cliff with a drop of about 50 feet straight into the river.All of us were exhausted not to forget Venu ,the eternal non athlete muttering something about “wastefull ventures” and “behaving like mountain goats not civilized humans”.However Alex was fascinated by the cliff and a naughty child like glint came into his eyes . Like a man possessed he told us “we shall not be deterred by this cliff in our path.We shall continue on or journey”.”Lord save the mountain goat Alex ,I quit”said Venu .”do you have any other choice,or perhaps you would like to walk back to the valley area alone.3 kms isn’t it?”barked alex in a business like tone.”i will get back to you some day for this,man” said Venu in a resigned tone.
Then we noticed a small one man bridge over the river.”well there must be some way to get down there because bridges just don’t grow out of thin air”said Alex.So we started inspecting random points of the cliff to find a way down.But all of us knew that even if we found a way it would be very difficult to climb down.Finally Pido found a way down.All of us,Venu withy great difficulty finally found ourselves on the banks of a huge mountain river . The water was gushing along at breath taking speed .It was like heaven tucked away in a solitary corner of the earth.A huge cliff along the other bank of the river stood over us like a wary parent keeping a close watch on its lads.And to top all of this not a single other creature was present there.Even Venu couldn’t help smiling.
The surroundings had a calming effect on everybody.For 10 minutes nobody either moved or said anything.Then we made ourselves comfortable on the big boulders resting on the bank. Alex collected some small colourfull rocks as souvenirs of this trek . Suddenly we spotted a wild dog standing right besides a huge boulder. There was something very different about that dog . It was a strange sight . The dog was standing absolutely still and wasn’t even blinking . Pido ,who is slightly afraid of dogs , tried to shoo away the dog but the dog didn’t flinch ,I don’t think it even noticed . It was giving all of us a strange look ,it sort of reminded me of my mother when she argues with me endlessly about the existence of god . Even alex was spooked out . ”lets get moving guys ,others might be looking for us”said Venu in a strange scared tone .”yeah,yeah lets go “murmured alex still looking at the dog.
Climbing back would not be easy,all of us knew, especially with the pebbles strewn over the trail which we had come from .Pido started,followed by venu .I knew Venu was pretty afraid because of his earlier reluctance and the look on his face . Suddenly Venu slipped a bit and held on to a protruding root .As if waiting for some kind of a cue ,the dog suddenly trotted towards Venu and stood with him,looking at him till he regained his foothold and balance .It remained with Venu till he climbed up the cliff and then came back to where me and alex were standing .Then it escorted us to the top were Venu was resting , trying to regain his breath . As we sat down to rest the dog sat down as well and started toying with a bone lying on the ground .
“co-incidence” whispered Alex to himself .”enough rest guys , and in case you didn’t notice we are still in the middle of the jungle “ Pido reminded us . “yeah , plus I don’t think anyone of us remembers the way back to the valley .” added Venu .And as if waiting for a hint , the dog suddenly got up and started walking towards a particular direction . It then suddenly stopped and looked back at us as if motioning us to follow it . “are you also thinking what I am thinking?”asked Alex,smiling . It was not even a question . “ok, lets go” Venu said . So we started following the dog as it happily trotted towards an unknown destination . The dog still amazed me as it did not stop in between to smell the grass and all ,like normal dogs do . After walking for nearly 15 minutes we came to a clearing where the dog slowed down and then suddenly stopped .
It took us a moment to register where we were . We were standing in the backyard of a small temple , beyond which there was the road which led to the main valley .It was a Shiva temple . Shiva is one of the three lords of the universe ,according to hindu mythology . They are Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer . On one corner was a small wooden shrine which had snake carvings on its outside and snakes are the symbol of Lord Shiva .Strangely no priest was present in the temple .Then on one corner was the shivlinga , the symbol of Lord Shiva sculpted in black stone .On its corner sat a steel vessel which contained fresh milk . The dog climbed onto the shivlinga and started slurping from the vessel . Normally nobody is allowed to even touch a shivlinga ,let alone climb onto one . All of us decided that we must visit the shrine . Now according to hindu culture ,one is supposed to wash their hands and feet before entering a shrine .
Suddenly Alex reminded us that we had already washed them in the river . “too many co-incidences,eh?”smiled Alex .Everything seemed to fit perfectly into the puzzle but the whole thing didn’t make any sense. The river,the dog , the climb up the cliff ,then the dog leading us to the temple,ours accidentially washing hands and feet……………everything seemed to be fitting pretty well with each other under only one single logic ,the one which a staunch non-believer of god can never accept . But there is more to the story . As we came to the road ,we couldn’t figure out which way to go as the road seemed to slope downwards in both the directions and there was not a soul in sight . Suddenly the dog,which had disappeared into the forest for sometime came towards us,stopped and then again moved again motioning us to follow it . “it worked once didn’t it?” asked Alex .”Ok lets go”I gave in .
I was waiting for the dog to do something ‘normal’ trying desperately to prove that all this was just a co-incidence , but the dog didn’t give me a chance . It went straight into the jungle and we started following it . After walking for 15 minutes on what seemed to be a non-existent trail , we came into a clearing and what we saw left us speech-less . The dog had brought us back to the Valley by the shortest route possible considering that the same journey had taken us an hour when we started . Suddenly the dog turned and just ran into the forest as fast as it could .
For a minute we were trying to come to terms to what had just happened with us . It was too perfect , too good , too spooky to be true .Suddenly our other buddies came running to us .”man what a time we had paragliding you certainly missed something God level!” they screamed.And Alex smiled and said”we did?”God doesn’t need flashing lights , booms and bangs to prove he is there . No he doesn’t .
Sometimes a dog is good enough .
Pamela