Today we are going to talk about animal rights and their right to coexist along with humans. The fact of the matter is that in the current times, cruelty against animals is all time high and this needs to stop. Their rights are as important as human rights and the passages below give a comparison between the condition and stature of animals in the past and the current era

The Ancient Traditions

The oriental philosophy has laid stress on the importance of all forms of life including animals since times immemorial. The scriptures in countries such as India have a deep relationship with animals and most of the deities are associated with some form of animal with a few examples as follows

1. Lord Ganesha with mouse or mooshakraaj
2. Lord Shiva with Nandi the bull
3. Maa Durga with lion
4. Lord Shani with crow
5. Lord Indra with Eravat the elephant
6. Lord Vishnu with a megasnake or Sheshnag and Garuda or giant eagle
7. Maa Saraswati with Peacock

Image Courtesy Tumblr.com

These are just a few examples and apart from that many avatars of Gods are in the form of animals or semi-animals such as

1. Matasyavatar or fish avatar
2. Narsimha or half lion and half man
3. Vrahavatar or Boer

Lord Hanuman, one of the most popular and powerful deity is portrayed in the form of a vanar and not to mention the cow which is considered to be next to a mother specially in the Hindu religion.

Apart from that, compassion or daya for everyone is at the core of most religions. Daya might be closely related to mercy but it is a higher concept which stems out of the realization of one-ness with everyone and all forms of life and not simply a feeling of mercy.

Current state of affairs

Given this grand history, the fact of the matter is that in the current era, animals are not in a good condition. Lots of cows and such animals are roaming on the streets with so much pain and suffering. There are many organizations which are doing their best to take care of such animals. It is good to see that this type of organizations take the level of animal rights at par with human rights.

Obviously such animal charity organizations need our help and support and our donations.

Given below is an organization which is located in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India

Animal Aid Unlimited

What can we do?

Apart from helping such organizations we can also do our bit and few steps are listed as follows

1. Try to keep a small bow filled with water at a place in your house which is safe. Means if you keep it in an obscure or unsafe place it can harm the birds as cats could use it as their eating point
2. Try to feed any stray animals but it should be good food, not stinking waste which is of no use
3. Try not to throw sharp objects in your garbage as usually animals feed from that
4. If you offer any food to animals on street do it at a safe inside location, not along the highway as it leads to accidents and dangerous for animals as well as traffic
5. If you pass by mountain roads there are lots of vanarrajs and bajrangis. Do not feed them by side of road and if you must, offer them fruits etc not things which are bad for their health

Remember that life is equally important and valuable for all. You cannot say that humans are superior. Here is a short poem on best friend of man in this context.

So friends hope you got an idea about the importance of compassion to animals so just look around and see what you can do. Till next time…cheers…