Carrying the stick given by Rama Sevaka Swami, Richard (now Radhanath Swami) hitchhiked and reached the outskirts of Kathmandu. A pack of snarling dogs charged towards Richard growling ferociously. Richard remembered the walking stick and wildly began to swing it back and forth. The wild dogs could smell Richard’s flesh and blood and escalated their attacks. He dove inside a house and slammed the door shut behind him. The owner of the house was alarmed at the sight of an intruder, but seeing Richard’s supplication, softened and gave him shelter for the night. Richard spent the rest of the night as his guest listening to the pack of hungry dogs barking outside the door until dawn.
Radhanath Swami recollects an analogy from the American Indians. Within every heart dwell two dogs, a bad dog and a good dog, both at battle with one another. The bad dog represents our debased tendencies of envy, anger, lust, greed, arrogance, and illusion. The good dog, our divine nature, is represented by forgiveness, compassion, self-control, generosity, humility, and wisdom. Whichever dog we feed the most through the choices we make and the utilization of our time will empower that dog to bark the loudest and conquer the other. Virtue is to starve the bad dog and feed the good dog. Richard (now Radhanath Swami) reflected on the pack of dogs that attacked him that night, foaming at the mouth with a lust to devour him. Radhanath Swami feels the incident was a graphic visualization of what he was up against in his internal journey.
Radhanath Swami explains that this internal struggle is an unavoidable reality in the life of a spiritual seeker. As we attempt to reconnect to God through spiritual practises, the mind throws up our past conditionings and sucks our enthusiasm through a barrage of negative thoughts. Therefore, Radhanath Swami says a seeker of God should learn to tap the power of the mind and not let it go astray.
While pondering over Radhanath Swami’s words of wisdom, I am reminded of a remark made by Willam Blake, “The mind is such a thing that it can make heaven out of hell and hell out of heaven.” Since we live with our minds lifelong, the state of our mind determines the state of our life.
To prevent feeding the bad dog within us, we need to use our intelligence. Radhanath Swami reveals in his talks that all sacred scriptures and cultures caution us to not succumb to the mind’s short-sighted urges for instant pleasure or relief. This demand for immediate pleasure is sought by giving in to negative forces within us, and is akin to feeding the bad dog. Quoting the Bhagavad Gita, the essence of Indian wisdom, Radhanath Swami explains that the best way to deal with the mind is to treat it as a person different from ourselves. We need to critically examine its ideas, which are often detrimental to our long-term self-interest, just as we would examine the ideas given by someone else. But the mind proposes its thoughts, desires and emotions so subtly and irresistibly that we un-thinkingly consider them to be our own and indiscriminately act on them. Therefore we have to constantly guard against feeding the bad dog- our lower natures.
I wonder how to feed the good dog within me always? And Radhanath Swami has the answer, “Selfishness is our enemy. Yet we are so inclined to fall into that state of mind. The cure for this is to serve.” By cultivating a service attitude, Radhanath Swami assures we will be feeding the good dog.
