An Easwaran Story: Dharmaputra and His Dog

Posted on June 15, 2011 by  | Add Comment

We all love sto­ries, and Easwaran was a great sto­ry­teller. We’re start­ing a series of sto­ries that are per­fect to share with chil­dren, but that are also delight­ful for us to read and re-read as adults – so sit back, relax, open your heart, and enjoy!

Dharma­pu­tra and His Dog

There once lived a king called Dharma­pu­tra, who was the soul of virtue and com­pas­sion. When the time came for him to shed his body, he ascended to heaven accom­pa­nied by a dog. When he reached heaven’s gate, the Indian equiv­a­lent of St. Peter looked up his name. “Let’s see… Dharma­pu­tra. Yes, we have orders to let you in. But we don’t have any list­ing for a dog.”

“Won’t you please look again?” asked Dharmaputra?

So St. Peter looked up all the rules and said, “I’m sorry, but there is no pro­vi­sion here for dogs.”

Dharma­pu­tra did not hes­i­tate. “That dog loves me,” he said. “Wher­ever I go, he goes too, so I have got to take him with me.”

St. Peter again con­sid­ered all the rel­e­vant records. “Rules are rules,” he said finally. “Either you come in alone, or you go back.”

Dharma­pu­tra didn’t budge. He said sim­ply, “No dog, no me.”

Then a mir­a­cle took place. Sud­denly, instead of a dog, it was Sri Krishna, the Lord of Love, stand­ing at Dharmaputra’s side. St. Peter opened the gates, and, in my ver­sion of the story, as Dharma­pu­tra entered heaven Sri Krishna leaned over and whis­pered, “That was a close shave, wasn’t it?”

Easwaran adds: “Lit­tle sto­ries like this can remind us to always be com­pas­sion­ate towards our fel­low crea­tures, rec­og­niz­ing that the same Self lives in them as in us. For a spir­i­tual ecol­o­gist, every crea­ture is sacred.”

- From Renewal, by Eknath Easwaran

Do you enjoy these sto­ries as much as we do? Have you got a favorite story from one of Easwaran’s books? Is there a par­tic­u­lar les­son that you’ve learned from one of these sto­ries? If so, do share a com­ment with us or email us at info@easwaran.org, with the title line “Time­less Wis­dom blog: Easwaran sto­ries.” We’d love to hear from you!


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