As the purpose of king or ruler is to safeguard his country and bring happiness, the purpose of all human beings is to safeguard this mother planet and all the living forms. In the hierarchy of living forms on earth, we are the king, the ruler and all the other living forms are like the citizens of the country whose happiness depends on the ruler. We are the only conscious beings to realize, analyze and actualize the pros and cons of every step we make in the journey of our life. With our good thoughts, we can become shelter to all the other living forms and protect them through selfless love and care.
Whatever humane way of rearing and farming we do on the domestic animals, seeing those conscious beings as our food is to misuse our power of being rulers for our own selfish behavior. It is the purpose of every individual to feel the pain first on oneself before inflicting harm onto the other, as every creature is found to fear death. Even the ant on his way has his own purpose of moving- to feed himself, to feed or get food for his young ones or to find a better house, which is no different from our own hopes and fears that we generate in mind before setting out for any purpose. It is our duty to show love, compassion, equality and respect to all. I have often come across animals crying in the process of slaughter, indicating the pain they are going through. Now we human have reached to the extent that we can’t survive without having part of animal in our diet and meals.
This is a bitter truth for those animals which trust man as their guardian because of the food, water and shelter they are provided on time, only till the day those animals become the special diet of that man. We should realize that except the coat color and few specific feature differing in animals, everything is the same, the organs, blood, bones, flesh, the digestive system and so on, suggesting that they are no different from ourselves, and thus whatever pain and pleasure we encounter is the same they encounter too.
If a butcher or a meat seller places a pound of human flesh in the market for sale and says that it is mutton or chicken, everyone one will be ready to buy it without hesitation. But at the same time, if he suddenly discloses the truth saying that it is the human flesh, then the reaction of that buyer would change to extreme, though initially the buyer himself was convinced to buy the meat. This proves how every external object are mind made, rather than seeing what they truly are. Like human, every animal shows the same love and care to their young ones until they reach the stage of self survival. In the conscience of these poor animals, we are their guardians, their gods and their parents, whose happiness is in our hand. As H.H. Dalai Lama said in one of his preaching “if we can’t do well to others, at least do not harm them”.
Not only the living forms, every components that exists as a part of our Eco system needs our genuine protection and care, be it soil, water or air, flora or fauna, which are our intimate friends and partners for survival by benefiting one another. It is also very evident that without greeneries, our survival isn’t possible because of the fact that they safeguard us from choking, with the life saving gases they produce. To fulfill my wants, if I cut a big tree from the forest either for shelter or food, I destroy the home of many birds, insects and even some other animals who survived on its fruits, leaves, bark and roots.
But we are left with no options as the means of survival, and even though not directly at the cost of other’s lives, it wouldn’t mean selfish just to fulfill one’s needs, if not pulled by mental poisons. Inevitably, even at the cost of other’s lives we have to survive at times if no alternatives are available, but not joyfully into our wants and demands. This constructive guilt could reshape our world tomorrow, a better place for our future generations to live and a better culture for them to uphold.
So to understand others’ pain and pleasure, to protect and uphold other’s happiness and cause of their happiness, and among all, to benefit others are our duties. The true happiness in oneself is derived on seeing others being happy because of oneself and one’s behavior, instead of misusing their existence or fighting with our own kin mates. If we consider our own feelings, we all would like to die a natural death, not inflicted by any kind of illnesses or injuries, which could be understood from other’s angle of perception too.
In short, it all means to respect the world and benefit oneself by benefiting others, so the earth’s process of ageing will not be enhanced by our presence, apart from natural process and this kind of our behavior would definitely help our earth to give us better livelihood for longer than expected period of time.
By Bal Bdr.
Email – drbalrldc@gmail.com