The Sacred Duty of Every Man : 2.

But, unfortunately we find that though countless souls have arisen to the status of the human being in point of outward physical form, yet their evolution has been confined more or less only to this outward semblance; and the corresponding inward evolution in their nature and their subtle selves, is yet to be. Therefore, most of the elements of the lower sub-human planes from which they have just evolved still persist in all their crudeness and intensity and manifest themselves through the outward human form and name. Therefore we find quite a large section of human beings to be quite heartless, ruthless and cruel, and as beastly as some of the worst type of sub-human creatures.


It is in order that this anomaly may be removed and that, as far as possible, the evolved section of humanity may try to hasten the inward culture and refinement, that institutions to inculcate mercy, compassion and brotherhood have been brought into being by the Lord’s Will.


Institutions in the West like the S.P.C.A. have been doing vigorous work in this direction and trying to evolve practical ways and means of making man minimise his cruelty to animals, with whom we have to deal constantly and whose lives are inextricably inter-twined with our own. We have various movements which have sprung up in order to counteract certain specific forms of cruelty perpetrated by man upon these dumb creatures: one of them is the Anti-Vivisection League. We know that the practice of making animals the target of scientific experimentation and research in laboratories, etc., has been in vogue ever since the age of science dawned upon earth. Guinea-pigs, rats, rabbits and almost all domestic creatures are sacrificed at the altar of scientific research and progress.

Sri Swami Chidananda

To be continued  ...