Post No. 11,794
Date uploaded in London – – 11 MARCH 2023
Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com
Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.
this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.
tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com
https://www.pustaka.co.in/home/author/london-swaminathan
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If you appoint people with inherent bad qualities in higher posts, that will harm you. People with bad qualities seldom change. There may be a few exceptions. There is a proverb in Tamil that says You can never straighten the tail of a dog. There is also another Tamil proverb that says Even if you bathe a dog and place it in the hall of your house, that will run away to eat the XYZ. There is another beautiful Tamil proverb which says If you give authority to a scorpion that will always sting you.
Nature or Nurture what decides one’s fate is answered in the following story. Narrating this story Sri Kripananda Varaiar, a famous Tamil religious speaker, advised his audience not to elevate people with low virtues to higher positions.
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Story of a Mangy Dog
There was a mangy dog living outside the Ashram of a saint. An ashram is a simple hut where a saint lives. This saint was full of compassion. And this Ashram was just outside the town where the forest begins.
The mangy dog was skinny and looked like a skeleton.
One day a wolf appeared suddenly from the forest and tried to eat the dog. The saint who watched it through his window immediately changed the dog into a big wolf by his power. And the dog that became a wolf chased the forest wolf.
Months rolled by. A tiger came to the Ashram and tried to devour the big wolf. The saint who watched it made the wolf into a large tiger by his magical power. And the larger tiger chased the forest tiger back into the forest.
Now years rolled by. There came a mad elephant blaring towards the Ashram. And the large tiger was ready to attack the elephant to save itself and the Ashram.
The saint thought of an idiom which says it is like a lion in the dream of an elephant. The meaning is that elephants fear lions even in a dream. So the saint changed the tiger into a lion and the blaring elephant ran back into the forest.
Now the dog-wolf-tiger- changed lion was the king of the forest. As Bacon says ‘Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely’, the lion became arrogant and vicious. It thought Oh My God. Our saint has a lot of power through his penance. If I eat him, I will get all his powers. Thinking this way, the lion peeped through the window of the ashram. The saint was a Tri Kaala Jnaani that means One Who can see the Past, Present and Future. When the lion entered the Ashram with very bad thoughts, the saint called it
Oh Ye Dog, Oh Ugly Dog, Go back Dog
Immediately,it changed back to its original form. The mangy dog was chased away.
This is how the low lives behave. We see bad people in power lose all morals and harm only good people. They are always anti religion.
Never give them higher positions.
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In Hindu religion, dog is praised as a grateful animal. At the same time, it is seen as a dirty animal. Even in Bhagavad Gita it is portrayed as a low life. Krishna says Panditaah Sama darsinah 5-18
विद्याविनयसम्पन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि |
शुनि चैव श्वपाके च पण्डिता: समदर्शिन: || 18||
vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini
śhuni chaiva śhva-pāke cha paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśhinaḥ
BG 5.18: The truly learned, with the eyes of divine knowledge, see with equal vision a Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater.
The Vedas do not support the view that the Brahmins (priestly class) are of higher caste, while the Shudras (labor class) are of lower caste. The perspective of knowledge is that even though the Brahmins conduct worship ceremonies, the Kṣhatriyas administer society, the Vaiśhyas conduct business, and the Shudras engage in labor, yet they are all eternal souls, who are tiny parts of God, and hence alike.
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Manikkavasagar (maanikkavaasagar) was a great Saivite saint. He called himself A DOG in over hundred places in his famous Hymn Tiruvasagam.
Though he was a great person he used the word DOG to represent the common man. In one of the hymns, he says You elevated me to such a higher place that looks like Enthroning a dog as a king. We are reminded of those lines when we read the story above.
TIRU SATAKAM- Section 5 of TIRU VASAGAM
28. No one has heard of him. No one knows him. He is faultless. He has no relatives. He knows everything and hears everything. Your devotees wait for you sleeplessly. I am like a dog yet you put me up on a seat, made me your devotee and showed me things that you have never shown to anyone. You made me hear things that no one has ever heard. You removed my future births and made me yours. What a wonder you do for me! [32]
(Translation is from Project Madurai Website).
—subham—
Mangy dog, Low life, Sanit, Ashram,
Tamil and Vedas 