Dog sitting in front of Pooja Room

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

I have a question My friend has a dog. When he is doing Pooja
sometimes the dog is sitting in front of Pooja room.
Is it allowed to do this? They say dogs are not allowed in Madi
matters. Can they hear Mantras?

I read somewhere if a cockroach, lizard or rat comes in Pooja room
there is no problem but dog should not come inside.
Dogs are not allowed. Why?

[Venkata sriram P]

In rg veda, there are a set of mantrAs which extol the dEvata shunaka called *saramA*.
 
This is indra-shUni ie., the uttama jAti shunaka (dog) which is the watch dog of
swarga lOka.  Quite often this shunaka's services were taken by Indra when divine
cows were hijacked by the asurAs. 
 
Interestingly, Lord Varuna has a pet dog which used to keep vigil at night.  When Sage
Vashishta arrived to meet Varuna, the dog barked at him.  Then, Vasishta composed
a hymn that describes the beautiful jaws, white shining teeth of that dEva shunaka. 
 
The indian dogs what we see are said to be the descendants of that dEva shunaka *saramA* which keeps vigil at night in the swarga lOka :))
 
When time permits, would post the sUkta dedicated to this indra dUti / indra-shUni which
is in rg veda. 
 
regs,
sriram

[vaidehi chaitanya]

The situation you have posed can be seen from two levels at your very pooja
room itself :

paramarthic level of reality : where all creatures in this univerase are
the equal. difference exists only in the matter vestures. Even for Adi
Shankaracharya, the question from Chandala was "you are saying GO AWAY GO
AWAY, from where to where? from the intert to inert or from chaitanya /
consciousness to chaitanya/consciousness?"

Lord dattatreya is associated with dog. 4 Dog sitting at the feet of
Dattatreya symbolises 4 vedas. In temples of Dattatreya, Dog is
worshiped.

At the vyavaharik level of reality i.e. the day to day world of living in
this world:
when our minds are yet to take off to the absolute/paramarthic/
transcendental reality, it is necessary to create that environment which is
contributes positively to our efforts. If the dog sitting near/ in front of
the pooja room does not come in the way of your devotion to the lord or
concentration to do the pooja, then why aviod?

ultimately it is in how we see it and take it. please see for your comfort
zone to quieten your mind. madi is also for this purpose and not for
anything else.


regards
vaidehi chaitanya

Post by Venkatesh Murthy
Namaste
I have a question My friend has a dog. When he is doing Pooja
sometimes the dog is sitting in front of Pooja room.
Is it allowed to do this? They say dogs are not allowed in Madi
matters. Can they hear Mantras?
I read somewhere if a cockroach, lizard or rat comes in Pooja room
there is no problem but dog should not come inside.
Dogs are not allowed. Why?
--
Regards
-Venkatesh
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