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BOMBAY ZOO
As Guruji implies in this story, the greatest difference between animals and humans is that while animals can feel a oneness, an affection and love toward all living beings, humans can know that oneness and learn to control it against contrary tendencies. Such knowledge is the basis for ethics. The setting for this story is a private zoo near Bombay.
ne time I set a goal for myself to achieve a
oneness with all the animals of the Earth; and I achieved my goal in about 18 months.
I had been staying with a Jain family, near Bombay, India, and one of the sons of the family told me about a royal family who kept animals of all kinds on their land. In fact, most of them roamed freely in and out of their house. I decided that I had to go see this highly unusual zoo since the experience would be good for my practices.
When we arrived, we were greeted by the owner of the zoo and I was given a special tour of the zoo. In the main house, I was astonished to find snakes, monkeys, tigers, and small elephants wandering around and coexisting with their human keepers. Everyone was amazingly peaceful and there was no fighting or tension between the animals and the people or between the animals
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