Krishna tells in the Bhagavad Gita that there is a divine and a demonic nature in all of us. We have often given the example of the good dog and the bad dog. The good dog is humility, charity, knowledge of the self, compassion, morality and generosity; and the bad dog is greed, lust, envy, anger, arrogance and selfishness. We have both these dogs within us and they are both howling for food. What is the food? The decision we make of which dog we are going to feed? Which voice within the mind we are going to accommodate? And every choice we make is making one stronger and the other weaker. The dog we feed the most will howl the most. Every time we make an immoral choice we become more addicted to immorality because the bad dog becomes stronger and the good dog becomes weaker. Every time we make a right choice, we feed the good dog, and thus we become liberated.
-Radhanath Swami
18 Comments
Very Practical. Great explanation with simple analogy. Exactly what I needed to hear in the situation I am in. Thank you Radhanath Swami.
You understand that if you decdie to get rid of your dog that no one else is going to take him, right? If he goes to a shelter with that kind of behavior background odds are that they are going to put him down, no question. His behavior with children will be considered unacceptable and he will be euthanized. Please think long and hard before you do that.
Very informative and interesting. We should learn to feed the good dog and practically starve the bad dog.
Very nice analogy about good and bad dog. It’s very true that Lord always gives chance to every living entity about good and bad and it’s upto us how we react to that. Thank you very much Radhanath Swami for this great analogy.
Very nice analogy by HH Radhanath Swami and we can only hope to feed the good dog if we are in the association of faithful devotees of Lord.
These wonderful & highly insightful articles by Radhanath Swami is one poweful way of feeding the good dog within us!
Wonderful short article…..
Thank you Radhanath Swami for sharing this beautifully explained analogy with us. It really makes us think about how the choices we make affect our consciousness and life.
Such a simple but striking analogy. Now on when I make some choice I’ll for sure check which dog I am feeding to… thanks a lot to Radhanath Swami for sharing.
Thank you Radhanath Swami Maharaj for the wonderful anal ogy and the insight. The tendency in the association of devotees is more towards feeding the good dog – acting on the divine nature however, we are not in the association – the demoniac comes out. Such is the glory & safety of association of devotees.
Many Thanks to HH Radhanath Swami for this simple but powerful wisdom.
“And every choice we make is making one stronger and the other weaker. The dog we feed the most will howl the most.” So nicely connected to the divine and demoniac nature as explained in Ch.16 of BG. It would be nice to be conscious of these lines every time a choice is made in our lives. Thank you Radhanath Swami Maharaj.
Beautiful analogy. It really makes us think about how the choices we make affect our consciousness and life.It’s very true that Lord always gives chance to every living entity about good and bad and it’s upto us how we react to that.
Good analogy. We have two natures. Recognize good dog and feem him is the best . All glories to HH Radhanatha Svami Maharaja.
Very informative!
Yes..our choices will decide our future. if we chose to feed good dog than we can control bad dog behaviour.
Great example here.
Wonderful article! We have been given the power of discrimination. So it is upto us to make the right choice.