Lucky Dogs

One of the great disciples of Sri Ramakrishna was named Swami Shivananda. He became the second President of the order of monks which Swami Vivekananda had founded in 1897, and one of Swamiji's best friends. Both of them had a fondness for pets. At the monastery where he presided, Belur Math near Kolkata in India, Swami Shivananda had two pet dogs, whose names were Kelo and Bhulo. One day one of them was lying sleepily at his feet when a visitor arrived. The Swami, in the course of conversation, said "Do you see this dog lying here? He is my dog. Just like that, I am Ramakrishna's dog; I am lying at His feet!"

After he established Belur Math Swami Vivekananda was able to live there for only a few years, but there were pets because he loved them: two goats, an antelope, a stork, some ducks and geese were his pets - and the dog Bagha. who had arrived as a stray. (The monastery cook had had pity on him, gave him some food, and of course then he was "in.") Everyone grew fond of him, but one day Bagha committed the unforgivable, and made a mess in front of the shrine. Some of the monks were shocked and dismayed and tried to deport him to the jungle on the other side of the river Ganges. When they released him on land, Bagha jumped right back into the boat and refused to be pushed out. So they brought him back to the monastery grounds, and he hid himself for the rest of the day.
The next morning before daylight he stationed himself at the door of Swami Vivekananda's bathroom, and when Swamiji nearly stepped on him in the dark, he whimpered and rubbed his head on his master's feet. Swamiji understood, and he told the monks to leave Bagha alone. "He thinks I am the boss here," he laughed. There were no electric lights in those days, and the monks used to carry dim lanterns with them to the lavatory at night. Bagha would go along with them at night and bark if he sensed a snake nearby.

When Swamiji passed away, Bagha sat by the cremation site for a long time afterward and refused food or water that day.
Strange to say, when the dog died and they lowered his body into the water of the Ganges, though it went out with the tide, it was found on the incoming tide near to the monastery. So the monks decided to bury Bagha's corpse on the monastery grounds.
Swami Shivananda's dogs, Kelo and Bhulo, like all dogs, were not allowed to enter the monastery rooms. They could stay on the verandas. But Swami Shivananda saw to it that they were regularly fed with the right food. He lived on the second floor with a balcony and sometimes these two would come into the courtyard below, and he would throw pieces of bread down to them. Kelo and Bhulo would catch these with their mouths, in mid-air. (I'm sure you know dogs who can do that.)
The Swami, getting older, asked a young novice to take care of them for him. This young man would take them to the Ganges, go in swimming and urge them to swim far out. It is the custom there in the evening for all the monks to come to their President to pay their respects, and when the novice came, Swami Shivananda would ask him how far the dogs had swum that day.

In later days quite a pack of dogs hounded the Math premises. Even then there were no refrigerators, and all the scraps were given to this group of canine friends. What do you think the monks observed?
There was a "pecking order" even among the stray dogs!