Welcome to my DOGtrine of Peace…

At the outset, let me tell you that this is not an information book about dogs and their breeds. Nor does it teach you how to train your dog. In fact, this book isn’t only about dogs. It is predominantly about us human beings and our welfare.

At its core, primarily and irrefutably, it is a book about love, compassion, harmony, the well-being of humans and the planet and its inhabitants, about being in alignment with nature, the spiritual paths and life. 

I began to see life differently from the moment my first pet Sheena entered my life. This was in my college days. Since then, over more than 30 years, I have enjoyed and learned from the company of countless street dogs. Having experienced the beautiful and satisfying love of my canine friends, I knew that I had to transform this love to a universal learning, to a larger and global canvas. We are all dots in a grid and in a huge matrix and I could see, with startling clarity, what could connect these dots to make the grid a whole. Love, of course, but mostly the love of dogs.

And slowly and very gradually, a theory formed in my head, which on the face of it, appears simplistic but is deeply profound. The DOGtrine of Peace. Simply put, I believe that the selfless service of street dogs can lead us to spiritual awakening and enlightenment. This is a book about the importance of dogs in our lives and how dogs can not only be our triggers for spiritualty and peace but also our path.

In a world filled with hate, violence and selfish people, achieving peace is a global dream. Spiritual gurus each have their own path, thinkers and philosophers their own solutions and common people their own survival techniques. There are many paths to living a spiritual life and all paths aim at being at peace with oneself and in tune with his/her higher consciousness. This is an internal and inward personal journey of introspection, passion and action. The DOGtrine of Peace is an attempt to serve this internal journey With a doable, practical path of life.

Through this book, I am trying to spread the message of Love, Peace, Harmony, Co-existence and Compassion, keeping in mind the dog, man’s oldest and best friend as the source. This is an ambitious idea, of course, but it needs to begin consciously at some point. Hence this book.

The gravity of this philosophy and my strong belief in it, is evident from the linguistic liberty I have taken with the title. Introducing a hitherto unexplored school of thought and thus a brand-new concept, deserved the introduction of new terminology too. Thus, the birthing of the new word ‘DOGtrine’ was spontaneous, apt and destined. The theory simply couldn’t be addressed by any other title. 

The book is my personal journey and certainly borders on being autobiographical but it is not merely that. There are ‘experience pieces’, sprinkled across chapters, from many animal lovers as they share their journeys of love, loss and living with their canine companions. What makes these ‘experience pieces’ special is that they are written in their own honest voices. The book also contains interviews of esteemed personalities from different parts of the world and varied fields. The interviews appear in structured Q&A format, as separate chapters and their conversational style has been retained to maintain authenticity. Scientists, Animal Communicators, Political Activists, Spiritual Thinkers, Teachers and Gurus, Therapists, Creative Personalities and others have touched, among others, issues of environment, scientific research, work space, spirituality, enlightenment and of course dogs and the DOGtrine of Peace. What is interesting is how their own stories and experiences intertwine and reflect through their responses.

The book is divided into two parts.

Part 1 – Dog as a Loyal Friend, takes you on a light journey through the various layers of the human-dog bond.

Part II – Dog as a Spiritual Catalyst wades deeper into the philosophy.

A catalyst is the one who speeds up a process without actually changing its inherent form. A dog with its natural ability to love unconditionally is a pure heart and transfers its purity into the human heart, to transcend into the next phase. This part ultimately ends with the nine sutras of peace—the DOGtrine.

Since the book introduces a new philosophy, it will open on familiar terrain and lead the reader through the different phases of gradual unravelling, from lighter topics to deeper ones. Peppered with different voices of innocence as well as experience and lots of examples, the book discusses core issues including creativity, death, post-death incidents and spirituality with context to the dog. After all, ultimately, that is my aim. To show you what is, what connects us all, and the immense possibilities through the channel of dog service and love.

Although science offers explanations to a lot of secrets of the Universe, there are some puzzles which have always remained unexplained. These fall in the realm of metaphysics and deal with existence, reality and the connection of mind to matter. These are opaque areas, often personal experiences which have occurred in reality but seem to have no scientific explanations. This book details some such strange dog-human bond incidents. They are fascinating, true and inspire shoots of thoughts.

This book is an answer, a path, a hope, an insight, a challenge and more for all those who wish to bring about a change in the world. For all those who believe in compassion, all those who don’t and anyone in between… However, I have one earnest request to make. Keep an open mind when you read the book. The mysteries of our existence can be revealed to us in enigmatic ways. Sometimes the answers are right in front of us, but we are too rigid to see them. Sometimes they are revealed to us in uncomfortable ways. I would like you to experience this book in its entirety with the all-compulsive and pervading DOGtrine, the candid tales of the animal lovers, the no-holds-barred interviews and the conclusions drawn towards the end. Read the book slowly, savour its ethos and absorb it.

The fact that you have picked up The DOGtrine of Peace and are reading these words right now, is a beginning and gives me great hope. It is truly the first definitive step towards attaining spiritual bliss. I hope that by the time you read through to the last page, you will have a better understanding of a higher level of existence.

The aim of this book is clear—to help us understand how important dogs are to our well-being and our spiritual journey, to instigate a movement for the DOGtrine and establish the DOGtrine culture of compassion, service and spirituality. We owe it to all of us. We owe it to the planet.