Luke had come home just before the Navratri season in 2015. We usually play a recorded version of Lalitha Sahasranamam during Navratri evening prayers. The prayer starts with the sound of the conch and the ‘Om’ mantra. When I played it on the first day, Luke tiptoed into the room and softly howled with the Om mantra. Just that, and then he was quiet. I thought I was hearing things, so the next day, I asked my daughter to check and sure enough, he was howling ever so softly with Om! On every subsequent evening, for all nine days, Luke would religiously sit with me near the Puja Sthan and softly howl with the Om sound. The family said he was a smart cookie to guess that this trait would make me his fan. Of course, I was super proud and didn’t tire glorying to the awestruck and unbelieving audience about Luke’s participation in his first Navaratri.
During subsequent Navratris too he would patiently sit with me while I completed all the rituals but, his Om recitals had stopped. He had made his Mumma proud enough.
We have a Krishna Tulsi ( holy basil) plant at the porch which has grown to resemble a small bush. One day, I found Luke digging his nose into the bush and coming out holding one tulsi leaf daintily in his mouth, and then chewed it up. He dug in again to get another one. A dog who loved tulsi leaves! He was however careful not to chew off more than one leaf at a time. He was too kind to hurt the plant.
He never hurt another living being. He was kindness incarnate. Even when he would be relaxing with his bushy, beautiful tail spread out like a fan and we happened to accidentally step on it, he would just move it out of harm’s way- no snapping or barking or even yelping. So, it was not surprising how he handled the tulsi plant. We loved to call him Saint Luke.
His energy was pure and divine. That made him the most spiritual one in the family. He unconsciously healed each of us whenever we were sad, depressed or angry. One look at him, his calm eyes and the tenderness on his face and only the emotion of love would prevail.
The Navaratri of 2021 saw our Luke bedridden with kidney failure. His ears would still perk up to the Puja sounds but, he was tired. He would shut his eyes and lie. I honestly didn’t think I would be able to concentrate and complete the nine-day fasting and prayers but, he held on bravely and remained calm because he knew that Mumma had to complete the Navratri puja. He took the karpoora arati every day, drank the teertham, wore bhasmam and remained peaceful.
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