So, are animals enlightened? No, they are not. Having never been saddled with a mind like ours, they cannot even have a clue what a bliss it is not to have one.

Addendum (January 27, 2020)

At the risk of spoiling this cheerful haiku, I feel compelled to challenge it. And head on. To start with, animals have minds. Although their minds are not as sophisticated as that of humans, which are primates and thus also animals, they are minds nonetheless. The key difference along the evolutionary tree is that of intelligence. And this is where the human species is the absolute winner of evolution, as it were. Unfortunately, intelligence of the human species comes with an alarming twist: it is high enough to fatally damage its natural habitat, but too low to repair the damage (“To Repair the Damage,” September 21, 2007). Given that evolution of species like primates takes millions of years, this is not likely to change in the foreseeable future. In this sense, it is indeed a bliss not to have a mind as sophisticated as that of the human species. Pure bliss, as a matter of fact.

Next, as well as crucial in this context, animals other than humans are not saddled with thought, and this is to their unquestionable advantage, at least prior to the point where our collective natural habitat is damaged by humans beyond repair. And thought is the greatest burden faced by humans (“The Greatest Burden,” February 7, 2017). The only way out of the conundrum is by abandoning thought at will and remaining free from it for as long as one wishes (“No-Bullshit Enlightenment,” January 18, 2016). In terms of yoga, this amounts to the stilling of the mind, which is yoga’s one and only goal (“Ten Principles of Bon Yoga,” November 13, 2012). And this is where all animals except humans are way ahead of the game. Thought is not their burden, let alone the greatest one among them.

To conclude, it is not true that animals other than humans are not enlightened. Free from thought, they go about their lives unencumbered by their minds. In fact, their minds are very well suited to their natural habitat. Having never been saddled with thought like humans, they cannot even have a clue what a bliss it is not to have such a burden. Even though they cannot free themselves from inborn fears and desires, they certainly do not have any goals in life, hopes for their own or any other species, or needs to still their own minds, which is the case with humans (“On Liberation,” October 4, 2017). In short, all animals except humans are enlightened. And this is why humans are best advised to follow the animals in them on their way to liberation (“The Animal in Us,” November 4, 1993; “The Animal in Us, Again,” December 31, 2014; and “The Animal in Us, Again and Again,” January 15, 2016). In this sense, thoughtless animals are the best teachers of humans overburdened by thoughts, which often lead to disarray and despair.