He Prayeth Well Who Loveth Well Both Man And Bird And Beast
This feeling of pity for the dumb animals and the weak and defenceless human beings is at the root of all great religions of the world. It is, in fact, a measure of a religion’s greatness. This feeling of pity is at the root of Vaishnavism. Buddhism and Jainism reiterated it. Christianity lays great stress on it. Islam says ‘Love your neighbour as yourself. Mahatma Gandhi in our own times breathed a new life into this age-old religion. Commenting on this aspect of Mahatma Gandhi’s contribution, Romain Rolland says: Islam has said ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself, to which Gandhi added ‘And every living being is thy neighbour’. In fact, cruelty to creatures is cruelty to the Creator. How can we expect the creator to be merciful to us if we are merciless to his creatures? Saint Kabir has uttered some very pungent lines criticising those who butcher innocent birds and beasts in order to fill their own belly or to satisfy their tastes and tongues. Nowadays we hear a great deal about fellow feeling and brotherliness to all human beings irrespective of caste, race, colour and creed; but we forget that all creatures are our fellow beings. But a time may come when we may be more conscious of the cruelty to dumb creatures. There are signs of it already visible in the societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals. One who loves God’s creation loves Him.
