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From the Kurukshetra war to Ramayana, Gods have always to come to play their role among humans only and do not interact with animals.

Why do the Gods only perform deeds with humans? like Indra seducing someone's wife etc. Do gods favor humans or did they interact with animals too?

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  • Humans learn more than an animal would, and are appreciative of knowledge. – Marc Tacy Mar 1 '18 at 4:39
  • Originally I asked this question as a guest but I forgot to edit it and couldn't edit it afterwards so I made this account here......What I am asking is why gods favour and spend most time in their company only .Most of the hindu myths revolve around them only and sometimes animals are seen as inferior like Rama willing to kill a deer just because his wife wanted too – Scáthach Mar 1 '18 at 4:45
  • @MarcTacy I am not quite convinced with that.....I thought God existed for all living beings irrespective of their abilities and from your answer it looks like God is promoting himself just like advertisements.If human can make mistakes then i am sure there would have been animals too who would have done that but god ignoring them is what i wanna know – Scáthach Mar 1 '18 at 4:59
  • Even in mahabharata god established dharma by bringing destruction to evil men but where did the killed animals stand between this? – Scáthach Mar 1 '18 at 5:09
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    @harambe you can ask for your account to be merged. – Bhargav Rao Mar 1 '18 at 7:04
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Humans are considered by the deities in the same light as animals are considered by humans.

"This (self) was verily Brahman at first. It knew only itself as,'I am Brahman'. Because of that it became all (the universe). And whosoever among the deities realised It became Brahman. Similarly among the sages, and among men. The sage Vamadeva, realizing his own self as That (Brahman), knew,'I was Manu and the sun'. And even now whoever knows That in a similar way, viz., as 'I am Brahman', becomes this universe. Even the deities are powerless to prevent his becoming the universe, for he becomes their self. On the other hand, he adores another god thinking,'He is different from me and I am different from him', does not know. As is an animal (to man), so is he to the deities. As many animals serve a man, so does each man serve the deities. If even one animal is taken away, it causes unpleasantness, what should one say of many animals? Therefore it is not pleasant to the deities that men should realize this Self."

(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad I.4.10)

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  • They are not saying this as a general comment on how deities see humans. It's how deities see humans who worship them without knowing he is one with the universe. It is used more as an insult than a gem of truth. Now, if a man worships another deity, thinking: "He is one and I am another," he does not know. He is like an animal to the gods – Cyriac Antony Mar 14 '18 at 10:29
  • Also, the word animal used there is not in the general sense. I think it refers to domestic animals. – Cyriac Antony Mar 14 '18 at 11:11
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It is not accurate to say that Gods/Avatars do not interact with animals. The very same Atman is present in animals but it has limited conscience and physical capacity (Intelligence). If we cannot teach divinity to humans how would we be able to teach divinity to animals. But if God likes, anything can happen. Animals tend to prostrate for God's blessing. I cannot go into details about my experience which gave me this understanding. But it is accurate that God interacts with the whole universe.

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  • I just recalled a ramayana movie where lord ram was willing to use bramhastra in the water body which would have killed so many animals and also he was ready to capture a deer just because lady Sita wanted to play....what I am interested is that why god has become more human like while interacting with animals some times.....shouldn't he have treated them like a god is supposed to – Scáthach Mar 1 '18 at 8:41
  • In order to understand 0.000001% of God, we will need to explore all the Avatars and their stories, and interpret the source based on what our conscience considers as true/false. Our human brain cannot understand God until we reach that level. When we reach that level, we will automatically understand everything. To my perception, to your example, I just see it as the father playing hide-and-seek with his son. Doesn't make a difference if the son can give back happiness or not, in the near future. All of us will realize some point of time as we are all immortals. – user13604 Mar 1 '18 at 11:42
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The legends written down are not chronicles of the Devas. They are written to teach people how to live. Bhagavata narrates God as the one who is in every bhuta -- they don't avoid animals at all. Brahman is within everything, even inanimate objects, in all his glory. Only thing is, we can feel his presence in some places more easier than others. Also when you tell stories to people, it is natural to tell stories of people because humans will be after all more interested in humans.

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This is not correct, there are many stories where God perform deeds with/for animals too. For example,

  • Lord Vishnu is accompanied by the Shesha most of the time. If God is Rama then, Shesha is Lakhamana. If God is Krishna then, Shesha is Balrama and so on.

  • Most of the Gods' Vahana are Animals.

  • Lord Rama took help of Vanaras (monkey like) in Ramayana.

  • The Elephant Gajendra’s Crisis as described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) 8.2:

SB 8.2.26 — Like a human being who lacks spiritual knowledge and is too attached to the members of his family, the elephant, being illusioned by the external energy of Kṛṣṇa, had his wives and children bathe and drink the water. Indeed, he raised water from the lake with his trunk and sprayed it over them. He did not mind the hard labor involved in this endeavor.

SB 8.2.27 — By the arrangement of providence, O King, a strong crocodile was angry at the elephant and attacked the elephant’s leg in the water. The elephant was certainly strong, and he tried his best to get free from this danger sent by providence.

SB 8.2.28 — Thereafter, seeing Gajendra in that grave condition, his wives felt very, very sorry and began to cry. The other elephants wanted to help Gajendra, but because of the crocodile’s great strength, they could not rescue him by grasping him from behind.

SB 8.2.29 — O King, the elephant and the crocodile fought in this way, pulling one another in and out of the water, for one thousand years. Upon seeing the fight, the demigods were very surprised.

SB 8.2.30 — Thereafter, because of being pulled into the water and fighting for many long years, the elephant became diminished in his mental, physical and sensual strength. The crocodile, on the contrary, being an animal of the water, increased in enthusiasm, physical strength and sensual power.

SB 8.2.31 — When the King of the elephants saw that he was under the clutches of the crocodile by the will of providence and, being embodied and circumstantially helpless, could not save himself from danger, he was extremely afraid of being killed. He consequently thought for a long time and finally reached the following decision.

SB 8.2.32 — The other elephants, who are my friends and relatives, could not rescue me from this danger. What then to speak of my wives? They cannot do anything. It is by the will of providence that I have been attacked by this crocodile, and therefore I shall seek shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is always the shelter of everyone, even of great personalities.

Then Ganjendra offered prayers to God and as per following chapters,

SB 8.3.31 — After understanding the awkward condition of Gajendra, who had offered his prayers, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, who lives everywhere, appeared with the demigods, who were offering prayers to Him. Carrying His disc and other weapons, He appeared there on the back of His carrier, Garuḍa, with great speed, according to His desire. Thus He appeared before Gajendra.

SB 8.3.32 — Gajendra had been forcefully captured by the crocodile in the water and was feeling acute pain, but when he saw that Nārāyaṇa, wielding His disc, was coming in the sky on the back of Garuḍa, he immediately took a lotus flower in his trunk, and with great difficulty due to his painful condition, he uttered the following words: “O my Lord, Nārāyaṇa, master of the universe, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.”

SB 8.3.33 — Thereafter, seeing Gajendra in such an aggrieved position, the unborn Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, immediately got down from the back of Garuḍa by His causeless mercy and pulled the King of the elephants, along with the crocodile, out of the water. Then, in the presence of all the demigods, who were looking on, the Lord severed the crocodile’s mouth from its body with His disc. In this way He saved Gajendra, the King of the elephants.

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