I prayed
piteously to God to spare its life. Hours later, the small creature
opened its eyes, stood up, and walked feebly. The whole school
shouted for joy.
But a deep lesson came to me that night, one I can never forget.
I stayed up with the fawn until two o'clock, when I fell asleep.
The deer appeared in a dream, and spoke to me:
"You are holding me back. Please let me go; let me go!"
"All right," I answered in the dream.
I awoke immediately, and cried out, "Boys, the deer is dying!" The
children rushed to my side.
I ran to the corner of the room where I had placed the pet. It
made a last effort to rise, stumbled toward me, then dropped at my
feet, dead.
According to the mass karma which guides and regulates the destinies
of animals, the deer's life was over, and it was ready to progress
to a higher form. But by my deep attachment, which I later realized
was selfish, and by my fervent prayers, I had been able to hold
it in the limitations of the animal form from which the soul was
struggling for release. The soul of the deer made its plea in a
dream because, without my loving permission, it either would not
or could not go. As soon as I agreed, it departed.
All sorrow left me; I realized anew that God wants His children to
love everything as a part of Him, and not to feel delusively that
death ends all. The ignorant man sees only the unsurmountable wall
of death, hiding, seemingly forever, his cherished friends.
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