My Saturday errands and chores were completed and I had a free hour and a half to dedicate to the Guru. Work on the book? Not quite yet. I’ll wait until the Golden Temple comes on Z T.V.
I went to give my dog Cookie a freshly purchased chicken quarter and noticed the forlorn half-grown lilac bunny crouching in a corner of his porch cage. I had prepared a new flat for him next to his matching brother and sister out in the farmyard. He was not ready to join them. His matted winter coat had yet to be removed to keep him cool in summer heat. He would have to stay in a shaded cage until then. This bunny had run wild in the meadow and apple orchard since birth, making him hard to catch and left his beautiful angora coat in sorry shape.
Grabbing a wooden comb and a pair of scissors, I placed him on top of the washing machine and began piercing velveted chunks of wool, separating and pulling them out. A lot of cutting went on under his neck where he is very sensitive. Rabbits naturally tuck in their chins to protect the jugular vein. Rubbing creates mats that are hard to remove in this area.
The way it works, when an Angora bunny’s coat is pulled out, it grows in quickly and with beautiful, fine wool; if it is cut, less so. In the case of dense mats it can be difficult to simply pull it off—hairs that cover a wide area are bunched together.
It had taken too long to catch this bunny and harvest his coat and he had not given it proper care, even though rabbits habitually lick their wool to keep it clean. This rabbit held on to his freedom too long and was suffering for it. A few loud, high-pitched cries indicated that a bit of skin peeled away with the wool. I comforted him as best I could and cut around the sore areas. After completing Rehiras, the evening prayer, he was only halfway cleaned up.
I wondered, what I am doing with this precious time plucking a bunny, of all things? It is natural, chanting as I go, Guru plucking it with me—but why?
Guru spoke from my conscience, “This is what happens when a person does not tithe.”
Oh, they get reborn as a long-haired rabbit? It took a stretch of my imagination, but it makes perfect sense to me now. “God processes all that God gives me," is something I pray everyday as a part of the Morning Blessing.
The rabbit is a person who has held on to his income, explicitly avoiding tithing. Perhaps he thinks his wool will be needed to keep him warm in cold weather (electric bills) or, more likely, the extra cash has been used to gamble and play and imagine he is free, like this Angora bunny, his wool tangled around wild weed seeds. At least ten percent of the wool was bound down in felt-like mats, useless and unsightly. Once it is removed I throw it away.
If we do not tithe, that ten percent will be taken by the universe in its clung-onto state, painfully. a We feel like money is being thrown away, wasted.
The bunny tried to run away when the pulling became rough. I held onto him by a clump of matted wool, like a leash. If his coat had been slick and smooth that would not have been possible. His wool could have been put to good use—spun, dyed, and woven into wonderfully warm, soft, lightweight wool clothing, if it was not felted into mats.
Now he is in the farmyard in a spacious cage next to his brother and sister, with a white door for a roof across their complex, plenty of food and water and forever trapped. His father, Koppo, is the dominant buck, and helped me chase this guy down, at lightening speed, intent on destroying him. I saved his life. He is being kept solely as a source of Dasvandh in this new life. I mean, of really lovely gray angora wool that will blend nicely with the black wool of our graying Babydoll lamb!
Today’s Hukam from the Golden Temple, Siri Guru Granth Sahib, page 613:
Sorat'h, Fifth Guru:
We are filthy, and You are immaculate, O Creator Lord; we are worthless, and You are the Great Giver. We are fools, and You are wise and all-knowing. You are the knower of all things. ||1||
O Lord, this is what we are, and this is what You are. We are sinners, and You are the Destroyer of sins. Your abode is so beautiful, O Lord and Master. ||Pause||
You fashion all, and having fashioned them, You bless them. You bestow upon them soul, body and the breath of life. We are worthless - we have no virtue at all; please, bless us with Your gift, O Merciful Lordand Master. ||2||
You do good for us, but we do not see it as good; You are kind and compassionate, forever and ever. You are the Giver of peace, the Primal Lord, the Architect of Destiny; please, save us, Your children! ||3||
You are the treasure, eternal Lord King; all beings and creatures beg of You. Says Nanak, such is our condition; please, Lord, keep us on the Path of the Saints. ||4||6||17||
