The article on ‘Grieving pet owners turn to religious groups’ by reporter Michelle Boorstein was very thought-provoking and made interesting reading. In fact, I was completely unaware that a discipline called ‘Animal Theology’ even existed. However, I am taking the liberty to give your readers the viewpoint of my religion. Before the question can be answered, I have given a short synopsis on the religion itself.
Do animals have souls?
Whether animals have souls is an age-old dilemma amongst certain religions, and the consensus, especially amongst Western religions, is that animals do not have souls.
However, there are certain Eastern religions which hold a contrary viewpoint. One such religion is a little-known religion outside of India which is called Saivism and which happens to be the oldest religion, having its origin in prehistoric times. Before one begins to discuss the question of whether animals have souls, one needs to understand the basic principles on which this ancient religion is based.
Saivism is based on three basic principles: God, souls and bondage. Saivism believes in the existence of one God and countless souls which, like God, are intelligent and are bound by Anavam, Karma and Maya. All three (Anavam, Karma and Maya) are unintelligent and inert. Anavam is a dark matter which has numerous powers or ‘sakthies’. This evil principle can never be known, but we know of its existence through the effects that it has on the souls – it completely shrouds the souls, preventing their innate intelligence from functioning; thus, the souls remain in a pathetic state of ignorance in their unembodied state.
Karma are deeds, good and bad, and Maya is the material cause of the universe. Please note that Maya is real and not an illusion. As long as the souls are unembodied, karma and maya remain in a seminal state and are not operational.
God, souls and the three fetters are eternal, real and cannot be destroyed. We call Anavam, Karma and Maya 'fetters' because these three prevent the souls from progressing towards God in their human journey.
All of us know something about creation; some people believe in the biblical version, and some believe in the scientific version of the ‘Big Bang theory’. Creation did take place. Therefore, it is logical to infer that the creator existed before the first creation. Why would God create an entire universe, place life on earth, and make people suffer if everything was good before the first creation? The only logical explanation is that God created the universe to rectify a pre-existent defect. What was this pre-existent defect? We call this primordial defect “Anavam”. Souls, beings with innate knowledge, were unable to enjoy eternal bliss because they were enshrouded by the evil matter we call “Anavam”. This primordial defect prevented the souls from exercising their innate intelligence that would have made them realise their true divine nature and enjoy eternal bliss.
In order to help the souls to extricate themselves from the vice-like grip of this dark evil matter called Anavam, God created the universe, gave all the souls bodies and placed them in the universe.
Why? Souls are spirit beings and as such are incapable of experiencing the world, and only through their physical bodies would they be able to experience the world and gain knowledge that would weaken the powers of Anavam, eventually ridding themselves of this evil after centuries of rebirths. God did not only create human bodies. No! He created seven categories of births from (1) unicellular fishes and other beings that live in water; (2) creepers other than vegetation; (3) trees and plants; (4) birds; (5) four-legged animals; (6) human beings; and (7) celestial beings. All of them have bodies different from humans – dogs, cats, trees, etc.
In its spiritual evolution, the soul progresses up the ladder. Saivism believes human birth to be the highest birth because it gives the soul the best opportunity for liberation (‘Mukthi’) from the cycle of births.
If you have doubts as to whether a dog or a worm or a tree has a soul, contemplate the reason why God went to the trouble of creating the universe. Saivism, like many religions of the East, accepts it as a matter of fact. All beings, whether human, dog or plant, are beings because they have a life force within them, which one refers to as the soul. | George Maduray, President (World Saiva Council, South Africa Branch)