I recently got inspired writing about Karma – and the reason is a cat. Yes, a cat. We met in Burma, out of all places.
Let me explain. You see, we were visiting this temple in Rangoon, gorgeous, by the way, and I am sitting there, all absorbed looking at the enormous Buddha statue with its several layers of gold leaf. I must have spent quite a while there, lost in thoughts. People around me were arriving, saying their prayers, some of them leaving, others staying, contemplating the mysteries of the universe.
And then she came. Of course I couldn’t be totally sure it was a she, but to my mind, cats are always female because they are in my native language. (My husband would always instinctively refer to a cat as ‘he’ because he’s French, and in French it’s le chat – don’t get me started. We had countless discussions about how a simple, tiny article can shape your perception of things).
Anyway, she came, she saw, and she chose. Now I’m sure there were many cat lovers all around me. No, I’m not one of them. I’m the dog, not the cat person, if you see what I mean. So out of the corner of my eyes I saw her pausing in the door frame, scanning the room. Then, with rapid strides and not an ounce of hesitation she walked over – to me. In a straight line, crossing what was a sizeable inner temple area, stopping right behind my back, bending the hind legs, and literally letting herself bounce against my back, slowly sliding down and stretching out. Aaah. Instantly asleep.
In fact it was so odd that the other people around started looking at us, smiling. I felt like saying: “Hey, I don’t know her!” but it all looked like some old buddies meeting up again, hey, so good to see you, mind if I take a nap right here?
When my husband came from his wander around he had just two words: “What happened?!”
“I’m not sure.”
“Did you bribe him?”
“Come on, please…”
Now the odd thing was – when we decided to leave, the cat got up the instant I got up and, without looking back, left the room with the same determination through the opposite door. I’m not sure there’s a link at all, but don’t they say cats have seven lives – and they also say that Karma works itself out over seven generations?
No, there’s no happy end here, we didn’t adopt her/him and never saw each other again. At least not in these bodies. 😉
~ Andrea
Photo credit: my husband
Categories: Eye Candy, Inspiration, Travel
Yoga & Joyful Living 
What a fantastic story? The cat must be your spirit animal. (you’re a really great writer by the way) cheers
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Andrea, thank you so much for following me on Twitter! I am just peeking at your website now and reading some of your posts — so fun! This story resonated quite strongly with me as well since I had a similar experience with a little female black dog in Bali at a temple. I’m not really a dog person, but this little black dog made a bee line for me and sat right in my lap! Amazing feeling to be sought out by a creature you will probably never meet again…at least in this form. 😉
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It felt really strange writing about this and putting this strange experience into words, but I’m thrilled to hear that others have had similar things happening to them! There’s just so much about this world we don’t manage to grasp with pure intellect 🙂
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts,
Namaste
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So true, Andrea! We never know how un-strange our experiences are until we hear that someone else has been in our shoes. Yes, so much more than we can ever explain with logic and reason. Looking forward to reading more! Namaste. 🙂
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Cats are odd creatures. With my cat I feel as if I know why she does what she does more often then not. Even though they do odd things, I feel that they are wise so there is always a reason . . . . we just don’t always know what it is. 🙂
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I love cat stories and yes simple instances like that make you peer into their eyes and check if you knew their soul before. Thanks so much for sharing what love!
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You’re welcome 🙂 The incident actually left me really puzzled, so much that I had to write about it… thanks for reading!
Andrea
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This is great! Thanks for sharing your experience. I have a cat, although I’m not strictly a “cat” or “dog” or animal person, really – I’m more a people-person, I guess. But I’ve noticed a lot by simply watching her. (She’s taught me a lot about just “being.”) Anyway, Lily comes and sits on different places on my body at different times. I began to notice energy move within me when she did this. As if she was giving me energy or supporting me energetically in the various energy center or part of my body that needed a boost from her. It’s like she just knows what I need. I’ve come to see her as very wise and I appreciate her so much that I don’t get cranky when she begins to sing “opera” at 4 AM because she’s hungry! Namaste, Laura
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Thanks for sharing your story and introducing us to your cat, that’s amazing! It proves again how intelligent cats are and that animals do have conscious awareness and “understand” us even though we don’t share a language. Never underestimate a cat! 🙂
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a little friend you once bumped into travelling, once upon a time.. how beautiful! 🙂
your feline friend reminds me of some of the special characters (cats and dogs) I would come across during late night walks in Thailand.. it was as if it was THEIR place once the humans retired for the day…wild and free…
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Cats really are special characters, aren’t they? There’s this saying that while dogs have masters, cats have servants. Bit of truth there, I think. 🙂
Thanks for reading!
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I love so much that you take the time to tell us this! It is so wonderful when you observe the beauty of one little moment! By the way, thank you for checking me out 🙂 When I looked at your page I felt so lucky that an interesting woman like you even took a moment to look at what I had to say! I’m touched!
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Hi, I love reading yoga blogs, there are so many amazing people out there! Thanks for your kind comment 🙂
Andrea
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I laughed at the part where your husband asks if you bribed her…hi! You’re sitting peacefully in a temple!
My husband runs from cats because he’s allergic…but cats chase him meowing because they want his love. I think it’s hilarious and wonder if cats are attracted to being snubbed.
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I’m not a cat person either… even though my husband insists I have so many cat-like qualities (including the independent surliness and tendency towards window sills). Your story is a reminder of how mysterious (and wonderful) life is. I hope you and your friend meet again soon.
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cause and effect can be seen for everything in this life and traced back to the moment of birth in which the senses tell us something became nothing. thus for many the chain of rationalisim ends at birth. there may be some irony in that many of these same people call themselves fans of logic and reason because while logic and reasoning may not go out of their way to say nothing did not become something, they at least do not attempt to justify whatsoever that it did.
more simply put; reasoning with cause and effect can describe everyting in this life back to the moment of birth at which point it is not reasoning that says that process was not also governed by cause and effect, it is the senses that say that process decided to quit/ begin at birth. and people call this rationional.
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Beautiful! I wonder if it was YOU in one life meeting YOU in this life. I connect with cats and really appreciate their mystery. Thank you for sharing this story!
Kara
http://www.thesouladvocate.wordpress.com
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Very nice post Andrea. Thanks for sharing. I just thought cats had 9 lives 😉 the photos are fantastic and very artistic.
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I like how unassuming and telling-it-like-it-is your narration style is. Thanks!
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I just LOVE this story! I got goosebumps and teary eyed all at once. Yes, I am a cat person, but , that aside, it just seems you were given a special little extra blessing while there. Love it!
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I am a cat person and this story made me smile. Who knows why she did what she did or why she came to visit you but I’m sure in the great scheme of things, there is a reason if nothing more than for you to tell this story and make me smile today. I loved it.
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This is so awesome. Thanks for sharing.
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Wow… what beautiful pictures. Those rugs are amazing! How nice to have such a lovely experience in a mesmerizing environment…
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That’s sweet!!!
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As a cat person and an old man who has discovered something in yoga that I’ve been looking for all my life, your story makes so much sense and gives me so much hope I don’t even know how to comment.
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I love this story & this comment. Thank you both for sharing!
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