Written by Sat Bir Kaur

He lived a simple life of devotion, service and Guru Angad  said of him:  He shall be the home of the homeless… the honor of the honorless, the strength of the weak… the shelter of the poor … the finder of the lost… the freer of the captured.

Guru Amar Das represents the 3rd body and equality…I want to share with you a story of equality that is unusual. We think of teachers in the human sense, but I want to share a story of my two dogs…and what one taught the other.

Jio was my first dog…a stray of about 80 lbs. He was loving and sweet and wanted to obey and express his devotion so much that he knew not to jump on me, so he jumped in the air beside me.  Then I got another dog from the Humane Society as a companion for him. I looked for a dog that wasn’t aggressive and wasn’t hanging back in fear. There were only 2 dogs that day that were like that. A small Doberman puppy so cute that she would have no problems with adoption and a huge husky/shepherd/and probably wolf mix with a sign that said “untrainable”.  I took him out with the flimsy leash they give you at the HS and within 3 passes he was heeling and looking at me, as if to say: Here, here, this is where you want me to walk, well, ok. He weighed about 90 lbs. and grew to weigh 120 as an adult. Sebastian Bach came home with me to meet Jio.

Jio could walk underneath him, by the way. They got along very well, although Sebastian was more interested in domination than Jio ever was. So here is the teaching. They had chew bones…Jio was really enjoying his, but Sebastian didn’t quite get it. He kept looking at Jio, and looking at the one between his paws and well, he just wasn’t having any fun, cuz’ it was just sitting there. So he went over and took Jio’s. Jio didn’t even react, he just went over to the abandoned one, and grabbed it up and started the chewing, having fun with it.  Sebastian looked at the one between his paws, just sitting there doing nothing, and looked over at Jio and the one he had looking really yummy, so went over and took it. Jio, again, no reaction, just went over and took the abandoned one and went to chewing it…having the fun.  Jio and Sebastian went through this process about a dozen times, and finally, Sebastian tried chewing the bone himself…Wha Guru….The joy is within….  This reminded me of a lesson the Siri Singh Sahib taught to a father and son in Toronto after talking with them, he handed them each a cookie and told them they had to digest their own food and their own lessons.

I did take Jio to Summer Solstice the year before he died…totally breaking all the rules, but I just knew he had to have a few seconds with the Siri Singh Sahibji. The Siri Singh Sahib loves dogs and they played a bit, a final blessing for Jio.

Guru Amar Dasji inspires me to care for those without homes, including dogs and cats. I work with my neighbors and we make sure the feral cats are spayed and neutered, fed and watered.  How does Guru Amar Dasji inspire you?