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Compassion

The Ugly Cat

His countenance showed concern. Yet he strained a smile and requested me to accompany him. As I followed Radhanath Swami, I wondered where he was  taking me.

It was a hot summer day and as we walked through the corridors of the monastery, a pleasant breeze flowed in from the nearby sea. Our march ended at the parapet of the first floor. Radhanath Swami peered down into the adjacent Laxmi Narayan Garden . “Do you know that cat?” Looking in the same direction I found an ugly cat bleeding profusely in the leg. Many stray cats loitered in that area. At night they moaned and shrieked, as they fought for a mate. The monks often lost sleep because of these creatures. Looked like this cat too was injured in one of those night brawls. “Served it right!” I thought.

Radhanath Swami interrupted my thoughts.”This cat is staying with us for a few years now; must be a spiritualist from a past birth. He’s also one amongst the residents of our monastery.” A chill tingled up my spine. Gripped by shame, I cast another glance at the cat. How lowly of me to have despised that soul!

“It’s our sacred responsibility to take care of him. Will you please take responsibility of getting him cured?” Radhanath Swami disclosed why he had brought me there. I consented and rushed the cat to the vet clinic. The injury would have been fatal if the treatment had been delayed, as the vet later conveyed.

One week later as I watched the cat spring out of the sack that brought him from the vet, I looked on him in a different perspective–as another member of our monastery.

-Punnet (Monk at Radhagopinath Monastery).

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33 replies on “The Ugly Cat”

wonderful insight thank you very much for sharing this experience with all of us, bhakti karia

Maharaj is self personified and only such a pure soul of the Lord can see things way beyond an ordinary human being, fantastic learning, thank you for sharing, rajesh

The compassion of a true spiritualist knows no bound of species. Just like that of God, it flows to one and all species of life. Radhanath Swami exemplifies this understanding.

A real saint like Radhanath Swami sees every living being as the child of God. Thank you very much Radhanath Swami for this great message.

Thank you for sharing this. Radhanath Swami is displaying true symptoms of a Sadhu .. the one who sees all iiving entities with equal vision !

That is an amazing vision of Radhanath Swami to see the cat as one of the members. Only a genuine saint can look at all living beings equally as told in the sacred Bhagvad-Gita.

A learned man sees all creatures with the same vision, proved perfectly by Radhanath Swami

Thank you so much for sharing this incident with us. All glories to Radhanath swami, this incident is indeed very heart touching, in today’s world people don’t even care for humans what to speak of animals.

For a true spiritualist , he sees every living being as child of God , more so with the beings who are by destiny of previous spiritual activities , land into association of devotees.

it brings tears of joy hearing such incidents about Radhanath swami. He is such a pure soul, sees everyone as soul rather than body.

Thank you so much for sharing.

Maharaja’s compassion extends even to animals. So touching. Thank you for sharing..

In today’s society the world needs souls like H H RAdhanath Swami. Nowadays we have become so desensitized that they cannot even empathize with the problems faced by our family & friends. Yet this incident shows that H H Radhanath Swami had such deep concern for an animal’s pan..Beautiful !

Thank you for sharing this wonderful story. Just goes to show the compassion towards all living entities of great souls like Radhanath Swami

The more i hear- quality of Radhanath Swami maharaj the more i get the determination to realize the purpose of life and spread the message of love of Godhead to everyone. What we read in the bhagavad Gita about the quality of pure devotee- each and every quality is there in ambudance in maharaj- shows fact the truth of BG…Thanks for sharing..

vidya vinaye sampannne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva pake cha
panditah sama dasrsinah

Story Really fullfilling the meaningof this sloka.

This is a very instructive story….Swamiji has a spiritual vision to see all beings equal…..

Saintly persons bothered for the soul but not for the material body. All glories to HH radhanatha Svami Maharaja.

Pure devotees of the Supreme Lord develop mercy and compassion for all living beings. All gloroes to Radhanath Swami

Swamiji’s heart is so soft & filled with love which he distributes upon everyone who comes in contact with him……

this story has touched my soul and I am in tears. I earnestly pray that I can follow such standards

This is how we learn from Radhanath Swami that every living entity is a son of God and we should ready to serve any one,who is in need ,human or animal.This will prove our enlightenment through spiritual knowledge and practice.

Radhanath Swami is personification of the verse “Vidyavinaya sampanne Brahmanne gavi hastini, suni chiva swapakech Pandita samadarshina:”
Thank you for sharing such a instructive story.

All great saints and spiritual masters are most compassionate even to animals.

Radhanath Swami is compassionate even to animals. That’s a true sadhu. A saintly person sees at soul level, not on physical level.

Thank you very much for sharing this wonderful pastime.
As the Lord’s glories are unlimited, similar is that of the pure devotees’.

But cats need nonvegetarian food..they will die on milk alone… they need taurine and that is found only in meats… could you throw light on this contradiction where one side we have to take care of strays but another level we have to kill another animal to feed the cat…. because I have adlpted a cat i find this difficult

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