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I remember a scene from the Telugu movie Sri Ramadasu in which animals such as elephants, deer and peacocks are filled with ecstasy when Lord Vishnu descends to earth as Lord Rama, and welcomed Him. Now my questions are:

  1. Do animals really know God exists? Or was it just picturization in the film? (You can see that particular scene here).
  2. There is another story that Rama warmly stroked squirrel for the little help it could do while building Ramasethu. You can find the story from here. Does it mean that animals can recognize God (here Squirrel chants Rama-Nama and helps Him) in whatever form he exists? (Here Rama was human and some people who lived at that time saw him as human except Supraja and some other sages).
The Destroyer
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    Animals know God exists. Because animals are jivas just like humans and all other creatures. Animals can theoretically get moksha. Because all it takes for moksha is realizing who we really are (Advaita). Hindu scripture is full of references to animals who are closer to God than several human beings such as vahanas, vanaras, etc. :) However from a general point of view, animals have tamasic nature dominating them, demons have rajasic nature dominating them, while humans ideally have a mix of everything. What is the third question? – Sai Sep 08 '15 at 14:45
  • @Sai Demons are characterized by Tamas, not Rajas. – Keshav Srinivasan Sep 08 '15 at 20:04
  • @KeshavSrinivasan I guess it depends on what demons we refer to. By demons I actually meant the Asuras. – Sai Sep 08 '15 at 20:12
  • @Sai The Asuras are characterized by Tamas. – Keshav Srinivasan Sep 08 '15 at 22:41
  • @KeshavSrinivasan I disagree :) But we can start a chat about it if you want – Sai Sep 08 '15 at 22:42
  • @Sai It looks like we may both be right: "The deities have penances and Vedic rites. Darkness (or pride and cruelty), which is destructive of the former, has been adopted by the Asuras. This, viz., Brahma, which has been said to have Knowledge only for its attribute, is difficult of attainment by either the deities or the Asuras. It should be known that the qualities of Goodness, Passion and Darkness belong to the deities and the Asuras. Goodness is the attribute of the deities; while the two others belong to the Asuras." So it seems that both Rajas and Tamas are attributes of the Asuras. – Keshav Srinivasan Sep 08 '15 at 23:03
  • @Sai That's from this chapter of the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m12/m12b043.htm – Keshav Srinivasan Sep 08 '15 at 23:03
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    @KeshavSrinivasan well yeah I guess you could say that tamasic rajas is possible :). The reason I believe they are rajas is because of the strong activity that asuras have been doing in our Indian history. Asuras are known for doing thousands of years worth penance, as well as doing conquests and such. They are known for indulging in passionate activities to fulfill their desires. Such is the quality of rajas. Rajas is the guna which compels and agitates one to perform acts, motivated by desire. Anyhow this is totally unrelated to this discussion. Will be happy to chat about it if you require. – Sai Sep 09 '15 at 00:05
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    @Sai I think the issue is that the prominent Asuras that are featured in popular stories are highly atypical examples. Most Asuras don't do things like perform Yagnas, engage in Tapasya, etc. It's only the rare few who break away from their nature and do such things, but because those rare few are the ones who are most successful in defeating the gods and conquering the three worlds and the like, such that Vishnu, Shiva, etc. have to intervene, they're often highlighted in the Puranas. – Keshav Srinivasan Sep 09 '15 at 01:02
  • @Sai But if you look at the typical Asuras who didn't pose a major threat to the three worlds, the kind that Indra was able to defeat on his own without going to Vishnu for help, Asuras like Vyamsa, Vala, Timidhvaja, Namuchi, Viprachitti, etc., you'll find that they didn't do the lofty activities that Mahabali and Ravana (who was an Asura on his mother's side) did to achieve their goals. They would mainly go around harassing Rishis, disrupting Yagnas, causing havoc, kidnapping women, eating humans, etc. So Tamas is the dominant quality of most of them. – Keshav Srinivasan Sep 09 '15 at 01:09
  • @KeshavSrinivasan You're right. I did not know about those asuras. I was talking about the more prominent ones which you mentioned. Thanks for sharing that information buddy – Sai Sep 09 '15 at 20:44
  • @Sai You're welcome. By the way, I just posted an answer relating to the demon Vyamsa: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/8438/36 And here's one of my questions about Timidhwaja: http://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/3820/36 – Keshav Srinivasan Sep 09 '15 at 20:55
  • You can read an incident about Ramana Maharshi and a cow named Lakshmi whom, Ramana granted Mokhsha -Lakshmi a cow. – Nithin Sridhar Sep 08 '15 at 16:09

1 Answers1

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Gajendra elephant got Moksha by chanting name of Lord Vishnu. Once Gajendra elephant went to a lake to drink water. One crocodile came and barked at elephant's feet. Crocodile was very strong and it holds elephant in water only. Gajendra elephant continuosly chanted Lord Vishnu's name and Lord Vishnu came to rescue it. Thus an elephant got Moskha.

Nandhi is also devotee of Lord Shiva. Garuda is devotee of Vishnu and so on many deity has animals as their vehicle.

This describes that even animals know GOD exists and they can get moksha too.

Actually human is also one animal and Lord Shiva/Harihar is Pashupati.

Read More Here at Wikipedia

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