This Dog

14
Devoted to the dog every morning

Stunned and sits near the seat

As long as I don’t associate with him, I admit

By touching

I get this recognition

Waves of joy all over the place.

Wordless animals-between

This creature is just

I distinguish between good and bad

Seen the whole man;

Seen in joy to whom life can be given

On whom to pour unrequited love,

Asim Chaitanyaloka

It is consciousness that shows the way.

Look at the dumb heart

Lively self-sacrifice

Your humility says,

I can’t imagine the value of the discovery

As human beings in their simple sense;

The pitiful perplexity of speechless sight

understand what cannot be understood,

Explains to me the true identity of man in creation.

English Transcreation

Every morning this dog, very attached to me,
Quietly keeps sitting near my seat
Till touching its head
I recognize its company.
This recognition gives it so much joy
Pure delight ripples through its entire body.
Among all dumb creatures
It is the only living being
That has seen the whole man
Beyond what is good or bad in him
It has seen
For his love he can sacrifice his life
It can love him too for the sake of love alone
For it is he who shows the way
To the vast world pulsating with life.
When I see its deep devotion
The offer of its whole being
I fail to understand
By its sheer instinct
What truth it has discovered in man.
By its silent anxious piteous looks
It cannot communicate what it understands
But it has succeeded in conveying to me
Among the whole creation
What is the true status of man.