By Gai Lawson, Ontario, Canada
Whether or not your philosophy or religion accepts Souls in forms other than the human is unimportant. If you can accept reincarnation and the fact that Soul takes on many different bodies—and some of these Souls are better vehicles for love than some people—you will find much joy and happiness in your own life. You’ll also find a greater understanding of God’s creation.
As a teen and young adult, I had a favorite horse named Tubby. He was a lovely sorrel quarter horse with a big white blaze and four white socks. He had a mischievous personality and often made me laugh out loud at his antics. I learned from experience that Tubby chose to give me his unconditional love when I needed it most.
Years after Tubby left this world, my husband and I considered having a small dog join our household. I began to have dreams of what this Soul might look like. A slightly shaggy terrier kept appearing in my dreams. Eventually we decided to look for a Jack Russell terrier puppy.
I learned there were two litters of that breed in the area where we lived. They would be ready for viewing when closer to adoption age. As soon as possible, I visited one of the litters. One puppy caught my attention—a little white-and-brown female who sat on my feet and wouldn’t move away.
I asked for inner guidance to know if this was the puppy for us. I understood the answer I received to be a yes. We brought the puppy home and named her Cricket.
I expected Cricket to whimper and miss her dog pack, but even on the first night away she did not howl for them. She regularly made us laugh at her hilarious behavior. For a terrier, a breed known to be independent, she was quite agreeable and easy to train.
Cricket Reveals Herself
Long before I knew about Eckankar’s teachings on reincarnation, Spirit had a unique way of helping me recognize people I had known in past lives. A person’s face from another lifetime would seem to float over the top of the current face. When the past and present eyes synced and matched, it became my sign that this was the same Soul from a previous life returned in a different body.
One evening, near dusk, when she was a year old, I walked with Cricket in an oak forest where dogs could be off-leash. She had been exploring, so after calling her, I turned to watch her running toward me. I nearly fell over with surprise at what I saw. Spirit showed me the truth about Cricket.
I looked at Cricket and saw Tubby’s face slip over hers. Their eyes matched. This was Tubby, returned.
Suddenly, all sorts of puzzle pieces slipped into place.
Although the Soul who had been a horse was now a dog, Tubby’s sense of humor and wacky personality had carried over. I used to flap a jacket at Tubby on occasion to get him to run when he was lazing about. Big, baggy jackets inexplicably spooked Cricket. Tubby adored apples; so did Cricket. The horse and dog had similar coloring, although Cricket had more white fur than Tubby. Cricket had the same funny little roan marking on her hip that Tubby had on his hip, and so on.
The Love Returns
Like Tubby, Cricket innately knew how to give unconditional love. My husband had been diagnosed with a chronic illness which caused pain to move throughout his body. He would get home from work, feeling tired and sore, and lie on the sofa. Cricket would hop up and stretch out full-length on his torso, her head by his chin. After a short rest, he’d always feel so much better and often wondered how Cricket knew that he needed her love.
Cricket could sense when other animals or people were distressed or in pain. We had a lovely friend, Ruby (“Auntie Ruby” to Cricket), who lived in a high-rise. When we went to visit, Cricket knew who we were going to see and raced out of the elevator, down the hall, and around the corner to the correct apartment door. Ruby had arthritis and was often in pain. When Cricket visited, she showered her wiggly love and affection on Ruby, making her pain less noticeable.
Another time, we went to visit friends who had small children. Cricket loved little children and liked to play for hours with them. Although lots of people were at this gathering, as usual Cricket stayed with the little ones.
At one point, our hostess, Belle, answered a phone call and was gone for quite a while, having a conversation with the caller. When she returned, Belle was uncharacteristically quiet. Politely, no one questioned her, as the lively party flowed on.
After Belle sat on the living-room couch, Cricket quietly left her fun of playing with the children. She purposefully walked across the room, stationed herself at Belle’s feet, leaned into her leg, and let our friend casually stroke her head for the rest of the visit. I knew that Belle also loved Cricket, so I didn’t think much about our dog’s expression of affection.
Later, we learned that our hostess’s phone call was from someone whose husband had just been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. Belle had been very upset and near tears at the news. Somehow, Cricket sensed this and gave love and comfort in the best way she knew.
Over the years, not only my husband and I, but also our families and many friends called Cricket a love dog. I learned from her that the unconditional, healing love from animals also transcends the borders of time and death.
—Photo by Gai Lawson
Gai’s story about Tubby and Cricket is in two parts:
Part 1: “A Horse Hug” by Gai Lawson (posted August 21, 2018)
Part 2: “My Playful Horse Becomes a Love Dog” by Gai Lawson (posted November 20, 2018)
I love this story. It is so beautiful to have that knowingness of an animal returning to you.
Thank you for sharing your heartwarming experience! I felt my pet’s unconditional love when I lost him. The backyard door was open and with his curious nature, he just had to explore! I was worried sick that he would get hurt and lost and hungry. Also, I didn’t know how to tell his brother. As much as I tried to be detached, my mind made so many reasons why I needed to find him. I searched the neighbourhood for hours and put up signs, called the vet and put out canned food, but there was no cat. I felt so ashamed of myself that I was such a bad cat parent and had let this happen. I desperately wished I could go back in time to change what happened. That night, as I went to bed, I invited the Mahanta to join me and my kitty as we sang HU and help us send love to Panther. I asked WahZ and the ECK masters to protect Panther, wherever he was and I surrendered this wonderful soul to the ECK. The next morning, I woke up and saw that one of the cans of food outside was eaten and that there was fresh pee in the litter we left out. Thank you WahZ for this sign of hope! I searched the neighbourhood again and was fortunate to talk to many neighbours and friends who kindly shared their experiences and guided me in finding Panther. The kind reassuring words of friends were so uplifting and kept me hopeful that Panther may return home. When I got home after work that night, I went to the back yard to put out some chicken. As I meowed, I heard a soft sweet response. I followed the sound in the dark, trying to contain my excitement. I got closer to the source of sound as I approached the ally in between our house and our neighbours. I gently put down the chicken and wet food so I wouldn’t startle him. As he came out of hiding I slowly crawled around the bin in between us and gently stroked his head. As he gained trust I quickly scooped him up and showered him in kisses. I inwardly thanked the Mahanta for the infinite love and guidance he gave me throughout this difficult experience. I learned so many of the ECK virtues from this lesson: detachment and surrender , humility and gratitude, unconditional love. The Golden Tongue Wisdom I received from the quote calendar truly captures the essence of my experience:
“The first point to mastering your spiritual destiny is to forget the past, let it go, and learn the spiritual lessons of today” -Our Spiritual Wake-up Calls, Mahanta Transcipts, Book 15
Thank HU
I once had a little grey poodle called “Trixie”. She went everywhere with me in the car. Everytime I would visit my Mother and Father, she would get so excited knowing where my car was going as I usually took the same route each time we visited. She would greet them with much love and they adored her too. When my family would go away on trips, Mom and Dad would look after Trixie and she loved every moment with them. When My Dad translated and we would go to visit Mom, Trixie would run into the bedroom where my Dad used to lay. Then she would come out and sit in the doorway and look at us as if as much to say “Where is he?” She did this for quite a few times. She really loved and missed him.
I have a similar story
Thank you for this nice story about animal love.Last summer I went on a tour through Germany with my hus band and dog. It was a nice and difficult trip at the same time. We are both around 70 years old and now I could not ignore the fact anymore that my husband had changed over the last years.He withdrew often and couldn’t handle ‘stressy’ situations anymore.I thought of beginning dementia. Therefore I felt sad and left alone. In this mood we came back to Munich from our trip and took a short walk in a park with our dog. My husband went in front on his own. I was with our dog. Suddenly a strange dog ran towards us. I thought it was interested in our dog, but it approached me directly and cuddled up to my legs. It looked up to me as if it was saying: “Don’t be sad. Love is always there. We as souls are all connected. Then it disappeared back to its owner. I was in tears, because I realized that under whatsoever circumstances I am, I am not alone!
Recently, I was shown the truth about a lively little yellow cat I met on a home companion visit. The little tabby cat, named Dallas, greeted me at the door and was friendly with me all three visits I made with his family. He let me carry him around, and watched with full attention as I ate my tuna sandwich lunch one day. It seems he had once been a small Siamese cat who hung around my step grandfather’s small backyard pond that had a few large koi or goldfish. Around nine at the time, I fell in love with the cat and called it Blue Eyes. It seemed to have no home, so we eventually took it to ours. It was very high strung, and my parents didn’t feel it was a good fit. We had to find another home for it with one of my step dad’s office staff. I’d loved Blue Eyes so dearly. I live in the Dallas area now, and the family where Dallas lives has a name that includes “fish” within it. Along with the tuna sandwich, it all began to fit together! I’m grateful for this story, at this time. It is wonderful to be with an old friend once more, animal or human.
After reading this story,I find myself craving for such an unconditional love from animals. From my childhood,I adored pets more than anything in this world. I would always wonder why I was being so much attracted to pets. After coming to Eck,I was sure the reason was a past life with pets. I would really love to have a dog like Cricket in my life who would give me the unconditional love when I most need it. I have asked divine spirit to help me get one and I trust in God’s time I would definitely meet a pet meant for me with the blessings of Mahanta.