The Daring Dog
Saranagati, BC
Hadai, his wife Mahatma and I spotted a smoke in the distance amongst the trees across the Thompson River as we approached the village of Saranagati. The drive from Vancouver to here is panoramic and you adore the majesty of the elements. But fire? Experts say that forest fires play an important role in the cyclic need. Nature seems to impose it and here in the mountains forest there is no exception to this policy.
Set in Venables Valley is the modest village of Saranagati. We knocked on several doors to meet and chat with residents, all devotees of Krishna. We parked the vehicle and walked, even though there are metres of distance between homes. In the course of it all, a dog from the valley followed us. We learned a number of things from him.
I first tested his playfulness by grabbing and tossing the short stub of a branch, a stick, actually. Hadai also joined in with the frivolity by tossing a stick which the dog would run after and return, gripping it between his teeth. One of my tosses sent the stick into a pile of sticks. Miraculously, the dog found the one amidst the pile and eagerly returned. I used various sticks. I came up with new ones which are strewn throughout the forest floor. Each successive stick I deliberately chose to be larger than the previous one. We kept going on like this and our dear dog friend did not falter in the follow up. He brought back every piece of wood that we had tossed.
Finally (and this is where Hadai and Mahatama chuckled), I found and lifted a branch hefty enough to be practically a log. I thrust it forward as the weight and size wouldn’t allow a fling. The dog ran to it and grasped the fine end of it, ready for heaving it. He tried, but couldn’t budge it. He came back to us ready for any new task and challenge.
What we learn from this stranger that followed us was to be energetic, loyal, persistent, frivolous, courageous, cooperative, reciprocal, obedient. To us, he was our guru for the day.
7 KM
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