Yesterday morning, during Mangala arotika, the devotees in ISKCON Alachua were surprised to see an unexpected guest: a dog!
They thought of the story of Sivananda Sena:
Lord Caitanya spent most of His life in the pilgrimage place of Jagannatha Puri, in Orissa. Every year His devotees in Bengal would make the long journey on foot to visit Him. The devotee in charge of caring for the needs of the pilgrims was always Sivananda Sena.
One year, as Sivananda Sena led the pilgrims out of Bengal, a dog followed along. Sivananda was very kindhearted, and he thought, “Here is a living entity who wants to go with us to see Lord Caitanya. All right.” He took care of the dog throughout the journey, and each night he would give him some of his rice. When a greedy boatman told Sivananda that if he wanted to bring the dog on board he would have to pay the dog’s fare, Sivananda agreed.
One day, Sivananda became involved in a lengthy discussion with an official who wanted to see his papers and ask a lot of questions. Sivananda spent so many hours presenting documents that he didn’t eat that day. On returning to the camp that evening, he asked about the dog: “Did you give him his rice?”
“Oh,” the servant said, “I forgot.”
“Where is the dog?” Sivananda asked. But the dog had already run away.
Sivananda sent ten men out to look for the dog. Feeling responsible for the dog’s safety, he fasted out of sympathy. In the morning the dog still had not returned, but the party proceeded toward Jagannatha Puri. Everyone on the pilgrimage was astonished that Sivananda Sena had become so fond of the animal.
When the pilgrims finally reached Jagannatha Puri, they immediately went to see Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya took them to see Lord Jagannatha, and then He sat with them and shared the Lord’s prasadam. Much to the surprise of Sivananda and the other pilgrims, there among the assembly of devotees was Sivananda’s dog. With His own hand Lord Caitanya was feeding the dog green coconut pulp. As Lord Caitanya fed the dog He would say, “Chant the name of Krsna!” In response the dog would say, “Krsna! Krsna!” and then eat. Sivananda Sena thought, “This is very wonderful.”
The next day the dog could not be found. But this time all the pilgrims knew the dog had not just run away. They could understand that, by accepting Lord Caitanya’s prasadam, the dog had received a spiritual body and had been transferred to the spiritual world. The compassion of Sivananda Sena and the mercy of Lord Caitanya had brought a dog to perfection.
If even a dog can chant “Krsna” and receive a spiritual body by eating krsna-prasadam, then certainly our lives also can be transformed.
In the Krsna consciousness philosophy, we advise everyone to offer their food to God. For example, you can prepare a small altar in your home with a picture of Srila Prabhupada and a picture of Lord Caitanya or Lord Krsna. Before that little altar, place the cooked vegetarian food and say a prayer. You can simply say, “Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”