ISKCON RAJAHMUNDRY COW PROTECTION

Protect the cow, save the world

Every living creature is the son of the supreme lord, and he doesn't tolerate even an ant being killed. One has to pay for it .A human being has no need to kill animals because god has supplied so many nice things. Of all kinds of animal killing, the killing of cows is most vicious because the cow gives us all kinds of pleasure by supplying milk. Cow slaughter is an act of the greatest type of ignorance. In the present age (kali Yuga) the milk man draws milk from the cow and when there is no milk the cow is sent to the slaughter house. These greatly sinful acts are responsible for all troubles in present day society. The influence of this age will keep them in the darkest of ignorance. Despite all Endeavours for peace and prosperity, they must try to see the cows and the bulls happy in all respects. The cow, for instance, gives milk but she doesn't drink that milk. She eats grass and grain and her milk is designated as food for human beings .Such is the arrangement of the supreme lord. The cow is the representative of the earth, and the bull is the emblem of moral principles. When the bull and cow are in a joyful mood, it is to be understood that the people of the world are also in a joyfully mood. The reason is that the bull helps production of grains in the agriculture fields and the cow delivers milk, the miracle of aggregate food values. You can help by joining the Rajahmundry goshala in the efforts to protect cows and bulls. We protect the cows throughout their lifetime whether they give milk or not , and the bulls even if no longer able to work .We retain them so they can grow old and die in a natural way in Rajahmundry . The supreme lord Sri Krishna is glorified as "Go brahmana hitayacha", which means the well wisher of cows and brahmanas. By his personal example he wanted to teach us the value of protecting cows. Protect the cows and bulls and save humanity and the earth .The goal of cow protection is the peace of all humanity. ISKCON Rajahmundry is taking a project exclusively for protecting cows by acquiring 22 acres of land in the vicinity of the temple. Whoever serves mother cow, they will obtain eternal happiness and good health .All his fear will be vanquished and their house will become the abode for peace.(mahabharat, Vishnu dharmottar khanda). The human society, therefore should maintain these two important animals very carefully so that they can wander everywhere in cheerfulness. Importance of cow and her protection Quotes from the scriptures Protection of Cows is the single-most important principle towards saving the whole world from both moral and spiritual degradation. Simply by protection of Cows all the wonderful benefits of religiosity and piety will be automatically achieved without any separate endeavor. This is because Cows are as beloved to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, as even saintly brahmanas. In scriptures it is said, namo brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca jagad-dhitaya krsnaya govindaya namo namah, "My Lord, You are the well-wisher of the Cows and the brahmanas, and You are the well-wisher of the entire human society and world." (Visnu Purana 1.19.65) Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the prime protector of brahminical culture and the Cow. Without knowing and respecting these pleasing personalities, one cannot realize the science of God, and without this knowledge, any welfare activities or humanitarian propaganda cannot be successful. SB 4.21.38 purport For the Cowherd men and the Cows, Krishna is the supreme friend. His pastimes in Gokula, His dhama, are always favorable to the brahmanas and the Cows. His first business is to give all comfort to the Cows and the brahmanas. In fact, comfort for the brahmanas is secondary, and comfort for the Cows is His first concern. Because of His presence, all people would overcome all difficulties and always be situated in transcendental bliss. SB10.8.16 Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavatam, "I can be worshiped within the Cows by offerings of grass and other suitable grains and paraphernalia for the pleasure and health of the Cows, and one may worship Me within the Vaishnavas by offering loving friendship to them and honoring them in all respects." SB11.11.43 Human society needs only sufficient grain and sufficient Cows to solve its economic problems. All other things but these two are artificial necessities created by man to kill his valuable life at the human level and waste his time in things which are not needed. Lord Krishna, as the teacher of human society, personally showed by His acts that the mercantile community, or the vaisyas or business or trading community, should herd Cows and Bulls and thus give protection to these valuable animals. According to smrti regulation, the Cow is the mother and the Bull the father of the human being. The Cow is the Mother because just as one sucks the breast of one's Mother, human society takes Cow's milk. Similarly, the Bull is the Father of human society because the Father earns for the children just as the Bull tills the ground to produce food grains. Human society will kill its spirit of life by killing the Father and the Mother. SB 3.2.29 purport

The Cow is the most important animal for developing the human body to perfection. The body can be maintained by any kind of foodstuff, but Cow's milk is particularly essential for developing the finer tissues of the human brain so that one can understand the intricacies of transcendental knowledge. A civilized man is expected to live on foodstuffs comprising fruits, vegetables, grains, sugar and milk. The Bull helps in the agricultural process of producing grain, etc., and thus in one sense the Bull is the father of humankind, whereas the Cow is the Mother, for she supplies milk to human society. A civilized man is therefore expected to give all protection to the Bulls and Cows. SB 3.5.7 purport

Lord Krishna's Example

To teach by example, the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna and Lord Balaram show us when They descend into this world, how important is to protect, love and serve Cows and Bulls. Krishna is known as Gopala (protector of the Cows) or Govinda (one who gives pleasure to the Cows). Lord Balaram represents plowing the land for agriculture and therefore always carries a plow in His hand, whereas Krishna tends Cows and therefore carries a flute in His hand. Thus the two brothers represent krisi-raksha (protecting Bulls by engaging them in farming) and go-raksha (protecting the Cows). 10.5.20 Purport

"Offering respect to the Cows will help the devotee to diminish the reactions to his past sinful activities" (Skanda Purana)

Vrindavan's Cows are constant remainders of Krishna's ecstatic Cow herding lilas (pastimes). By serving the Cows one receives tremendous spiritual benefit. Feeding grains to the Cows, offering puja, or simply a scratch under the neck will please these peaceful personalities and attracts the attention of Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Govinda. The Gautamiya Tantra says, "One should gently scratch the body of a Cow, offer her a mouthful of green grass and reverentially circumambulate her. If Cows are maintained nicely and comfortably, Lord Gopal will be pleased."

Thereafter, mother Yashoda and Rohini, along with the other elderly gopis, waved about the switch of a Cow to give full protection to the child Sri Krishna.

PURPORT: When Krishna was saved from such a great danger, mother Yashoda and Rohini were principally concerned, and the other elderly gopis, who were almost equally concerned, followed the activities of mother Yashoda and Rohini. Here we find that in household affairs, ladies could take charge of protecting a child simply by taking help from the Cow. As described here, they knew how to wave about the switch of a Cow so as to protect the child from all types of danger. There are so many facilities afforded by Cow protection, but people have forgotten these arts. The importance of protecting Cows is therefore stressed by Krishna in Bhagavad-gita (krisi-go-raksha-vanijyam vaisya-karma svabhavajam [Bg. 18.44]). Even now in the Indian villages surrounding Vrindavana, the villagers live happily simply by giving protection to the Cow. They keep Cow dung very carefully and dry it to use as fuel. They keep a sufficient stock of grains, and because of giving protection to the Cows, they have sufficient milk and milk products to solve all economic problems. Simply by giving protection to the Cow, the villagers live so peacefully. Even the urine and stool of Cows have medicinal value. SB 10.6.19

The child was thoroughly washed with Cow urine and then smeared with the dust raised by the movements of the Cows. Then different names of the Lord were applied with Cow dung on twelve different parts of His body, beginning with the forehead, as done in applying tilaka. In this way, the child was given protection. SB 10.6.20

Even in the houses of the cultivators, who were not very advanced in the modern ways of civilization, the ladies used to know how to chant mantras to give protection to children with the help of Cow dung and Cow urine. This was a simple and practical way to give the greatest protection from the greatest dangers. People should know how to do this, for this is a part of Vedic civilization. SB 10.6.22-23 purport

Srila Rupa Goswami cites one example to show the depth of Sri Radhika's mercy towards the Cows, "Seeing a calf with its mouth pierced by a sharp grass, Sri Radhika felt very unhappy. With tears in Her eyes Radhika immediately dressed the calf's wound with red kunkuma (a mixture of saffron and turmeric) (Ujjvala Nilamani)

The duty of every leader

Once when the great King, Maharaj Parikshit was traveling, he saw a cruel man hurting the legs of a cow and a bull. The King at once caught hold of him to punish him suitably, since in Vedic culture it was concidered a great offence to kill or even hurt a cow or bull. As the ideal head of the state, King Parikshit was aware of the importance of protecting cows.

The Tragedy of the Modern Age

The cruel man above is representative of the mentality of the people of the current age, i.e. Kali Yuga, where cow-slaughter has become common, even in India, where the cow was revered as "MOTHER" till some time ago.

The above story of Maharaja Parikshit was being narrated by the great devotee, Suta Goswami, to many sages assembled at a holy place called Naimisaranya over 5000 years ago. This was a little before this age of Kali began. These sages could not believe that in the coming days of Kali Yuga people would kill cows. The idea was so shocking to them. What would these great sages say today if they saw that the very leaders who are supposed to protect cows, like Maharaja Parikshit did, are instead opening organized slaughter houses for killing cows?

Our Responsibility

Human society must, therefore, maintain these two animals cow and bull carefully. But, unfortunately, both are being slaughtered in large numbers, in India itself it is 60,000 per day and in U.S. on weekends it is 1, 59,500 according to recent statistics. These greatly sinful acts are responsible for so many troubles in present society. To kill cows means to end human civilization. People do not know what harm they are doing in the name of economic development. They do not realize that only by seeing that bulls and cows are happy in all respects, human society can be happy. This is a FACT by the LAWS OF NATURE.

ISKCON's Role In Cow Protection

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and one of the greatest spiritual ambassadors of India in recent times, spoke often with great force and feeling on the need to protect cows. Guided by his teachings and inspired by the strength of his personal conviction, ISKCON has played a pioneering role in advocating and practicing cow protection by establishing farm communities, Goshalas, etc., all over the world.

We Need Your Support

Protection of cows and bulls is possible only when cultured and pious minded citizens come forward to actively support the cause by their words, actions and wealth. It is the responsibility of every one of us

A real life story

After a five-hour surgery, veterinary doctors removed 30 kgs of plastic from a cow's stomach on Wednesday.A week ago, animal lovers from IIT Powai called the Bombay Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to tell them about a cow who was unable to walk due to a wound on her tail. A team of doctors visited the area and saw that the problem was much worse. They suggested she be brought to Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital in Parel for observation.

They found that her stomach was bloated and the food she ate would come out of her nose. She also had a deep wound in her pelvic region and showed loss of appetite. These were all indications that she had eaten too much plastic.

"First we cured the tail wound," says Dr Ashish Sutar, manager of hospital, "then we planned the surgery with the help of Bombay Veterinary college." The doctors were surprised to see the quantity of plastic that came out of the cow's stomach during a rumenotomy. During the first hour, they could remove only shreds of plastic.

It took four more hours to remove all of it. "Out of curiosity," says one doctor, "we measured the plastic and it weighed 30 kgs. This is the first time so much has been found in a cow's stomach."

"Most cow-owners leave their animals out to graze after milking them," explains Dr J C Khanna, chief functionary of the hospital, "These cows eat out of garbage bins - as they are rarely fed by their owners - where food stuff is often wrapped in plastic."

"It's sad that owners look after their animals only as long as they are capable of giving milk," says Khanna, "Then they are abandoned." Sutar says,"The cow is now out of danger and in post-operative care."

What we wish to do: Seeing this condition we at ISKCON goshala have designed this program of cow adoption with a desire to set-up an ideal standard of cow care in the long run. By letting people donate a cow(go-daan) to us we'll also be a culprit of the same cruelty that we are protesting against. First of all we need to be honest in taking up the responsibility of those who are born in our goshala-they are our own children. The above treatment met to the cows is due to the dirt of enough grazing land. All land is speedily getting used-up by construction companies or factories. By your kind help it will be possible for us to purchase more land for the cows to graze on and to make sheds. Thus setup an example for the whole community. Thanking you for your kind consideration.