Man has passed through many animal lives before he has come to earth in human form. Strains of animal nature such as cruelty, anger, greed and hatred still persist in him. Man is many animals in one. He has the jackal, the buffalo, the tiger, the elephant, all in him. He must cast off these traits from his composition. When he indulges in useless controversy on matters beyond his understanding, he is behaving like a sheep; when he jumps from one ideal to another, from one project to another, without fully involving himself in any, he is exhibiting the nature of the monkey.
(Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume X, pg 134)
