Oh men of wisdom --let not KILL her, the sinless inviolate cow.

[brahman]

She is like the mother of the cosmic Forces, the daughter of the cosmic Matter, the sister of cosmic Energy, the centre of the ambrosia. I address to men of wisdom --kill not her, the sinless inviolate cow.

The divine cow, herself is skilled in eloquence, gives speech to others, who comes surrounded by every kind of utterance, who helps me for my worship of the divine forces, it is only the fool that abandons her.

May cows come and bring us good fortune; let them stay in our cowsheds and be content in our company. May many colored cows bring here prolific milk for offerings to the resplendent Lord at many dawns.

The resplendent Lord bestows affluence on the devotee who offers worship and oblations. He takes not what belongs to the worshiper and gives him more; thereby increasing his wealth more and ever-more, he places the devotee in fortified positions, free from danger.

Let not the cows run away from us, let no thief carry them away; let no hostile weapon fall upon them. May the master of the cattle be long possessed of them, with the milk products of which he makes offerings and with which he serves the godly men.

Let not the cows fall a victim to the arrogant, dustspurning war-horse. Let them not fall into the hands of a butcher or his shop. Let the cattle of the man, the householder, move about freely and graze without fear.

May the cows be our affluence; may the resplendent Lord grant us cattle; may the cows yield food (milk and butter) of the first libation. These cows, O men, are sacred as the Lord resplendent Himself --the Lord whose blessings we crave for, with head and heart.

O cows, you strengthen even the worn-out and fatigued and make the unlovely beautiful to look on. Your lowing is auspicious, and makes my dwelling prosperous. Great is the abundance that is attributed to you in our religious ceremony.

May you, O cows, have many calves grazing upon good pastures and drinking pure water at accessible ponds. May no thief be your master. May no beast of prey assail you and may the dart of vital Lord never fall on you.

O resplendent Lord, a showerer of virility as you are, may we have by your blessings the sturdy bulls for insemination and let us have plenty of nourishment for the cows.

Rig veda viii , 102, 15-16; vi , 28, 1-8 Translation by Swami Satya Prakash sarasvati and Satyakam Vidyalanka




.

[brahman]

Cow protection is the gift of Sanadhana Dharma to mankind: Mahatma Gandhi

"The central fact of Hinduism is cow protection. Cow protection to me is one of the most wonderful phenomena in human evolution. It takes the human being beyond this species. The cow means the entire sub-human world. Man through the cow is enjoined to realize his identity with all that lives. Why the cow was selected for apotheosis is obvious to me. The cow was in India the best companion. She was the giver of plenty. Not only did she give milk, but she also made agriculture possible

"Cow protection is the gift of Hinduism to the world. And Hinduism will live so long as there are Hindus to protect the cow. Hindus will be judged not by their tilaks, not by the correct chanting of mantras, not by their pilgrimages, not by their most punctilious observances of caste rules, but their ability to protect the cow.

"I would not kill a human being to protect a cow, as I will not kill a cow to save a human life, be it ever so precious. My religion teaches me that I should by personal conduct instill into the minds of those who might hold different views the conviction that cow-killing is a sin and that, therefore, it ought to be abandoned. My ambition is no less than to see the principle of cow protection established throughout the world. But that requires that I should set my own house thoroughly in order first.

"Cow protection to me is not mere protection of the cow. It means protection of all that lives and is helpless and weak in the world.

"The cow is a poem of pity. One reads pity in the gentle animal. She is the mother to millions of Indian mankind. Protection of the cow means protection of the whole dumb creation of God. The ancient seer, whoever he was, began with the cow. The appeal of the lower order of creation is all the more forcible because it is speechless. The cow is the purest type of sub-human life. She pleads on behalf of the whole of the sub-human species for justice to it at the hands of man, the first among all that lives. She seems to speak to us through her eyes: 'You are not appointed over us to kill us and eat our flesh or otherwise ill-treat us, but to be our friend and guardian.' I worship it and I shall defend its worship against the whole world.

"Mother cow is in many ways better than the mother who gave us birth. Our mother gives us milk for a couple of years and then expects us to serve her when we grow up. Mother cow expects from us nothing but grass and grain. Our mother often falls ill and expects service from us. Mother cow rarely falls ill.

"The reader will observe that behind the foregoing requirements lies one thing, and that is ahimsa (noninjury), otherwise known as universal compassion. If that supreme thing is realized, everything else becomes easy. Where there is ahimsa, there is infinite patience, inner calm, discrimination, self-sacrifice and true knowledge."

Text Source

[brahman]

[brahman]

[brahman]

Its infinite glory, its never ending joy and its ultimate bliss to serve a cow...do it

.

[kd gupta]

Pranam Brahman....goswamiji writesBadahin asur [ NO WISDOM ] adham abhimani Karahin aniti jai nahi barniTab tab dhari Prabhu manuj sarira .Dont worry , time has come to get an end .

[smaranam]

Its infinite glory, its never ending joy and its ultimate bliss to serve a cow...do it

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Dear Dear GoMAtA

I feel sorry that I am not able to serve you enough in this life. What can I do ?
I am also not able to effectively spread the message of vegetarianism while surrounded by violence to you, and still silent about it !

What I can do is being Vegan, because some parts of the world cannot protect you and give you and your calves the right Gokul environment
that you fortunately enjoy in parts of Bharat Varsh , and other blessed regions of the world with special farms that protect your families for Krshna.

I am also ignorant about how feasible ox-power is today.

I know the other day you came by with your sisters to request that we need not be vegan. What a sacrifice, dear Mother ! I shall accept your milk from time to time, but would like to remain vegan as long as possible. That sacrifice you may make for the growing children.

What can we do about cow protection while living in busy modern cities ?

- help the farms
- buy produce , milk products , groceries from them
- offsetting is one idea , not sure how attractive or practical it is.

- BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, spreading the message of vegetarianism for environmental, earth-health, animall-welfare , human-health, spiritual reasons. of which i am not doing enough.

[Ganeshprasad]

Pranam all
Thanks Brahman for bringing this topic.
We owe a lot to mother cow.

This gentlest of all the creatures deserves our utmost care and protection. All of us Hindus must do all we can to protect her dignity and respect after all we don’t call her mother for nothing, everything about her is beautiful.

Sad part is, although highly revered, her plight is still lamentable even in India. They are roaming the streets scavenging , the culprits who owns them let them loose just because they out lived their usefulness. Off course they should be free to roam but in green pastures.

In the west we know they are cruelly treated what else can we do?
The least I think we all should do, if not become a vegan, then only buy organic milk and by-products.

Jai Gopal

[smaranam]

In the west we know they are cruelly treated what else can we do?
The least I think we all should do, if not become a vegan, then only buy organic milk and by-products.

Jai Gopal

praNAm GaneshPrasadji

What we can all do , is spread the message of vegetarianism to the ones who need it the most, including Hindus.

VEGETARIANISM IS A WIN-WIN SITUATION FOR ALL

Some can't turn vegetarian overnight. So we ask them to start slow

- By narrating the glories of GomAtA , health hazards, cruelty on platter, etc. - Give up that steak, burger, pepperoni pizza. You will not die, on the contrary, live healthier. If you continue with these habits , there is a high chance you WILL die.

Then as a next step , give up poultry, fish. Replace with lentils , legumes and whole grains.

Finally give up eggs. There are a lot of things one can do with vegetables.
Use Veg starter kits.
Add nuts to salads.

At this stage, learn to read labels for gelatin, enzymes,

Now you are eating food that is [close to] spiritual !


*** For Christians , there is Christian Vegetarian Association

Are we being good stewards of God ?



For everyone worldwide
Next to argument on cruelty, emphasis can be on environmental consciousness, global warming, glories of vegetarianism for health , a list of various Vegetarian Advocacies, authorities on the web.

For Hindus and Buddhists, ahimsa is the best argument. As much as you practically can, no one is asking anyone to go overboard.
The Bhagavad Gita verses : Krshna says - Chap 2 : "You can be your own friend or your own foe" - implying that the choice is yours.

Laws of Karma.

Harming other helpless beings is harming oneself in the ultimate Cosmic equation.


PETA is the best.

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How many of us have the courage to knock on a neighbour's door and hand over a one-page pamphlet of vegetarianism ? (listing hyperlinks to more info)

If we keep thinking it will make volcanoes errupt, how about this .....
Stick an anonymous one-page msg to everyone's door and run away.
Believe it or not, this has actually crossed my mind

* Write an article in the community newsletter. This has to be "religion-free".

* Put a heap of 100 - 300 pamphlets at the entrance to your public library - better, by the librarian's check-out counter with a "PLEASE PICK ONE" sign.

Ideas we need to work on......

Thank You everyone, for listening.

namaste


Jai Shri KRshna

[Jivattatva]

Brahmanji

Great thread. Thanks. Love the pics.


Jai Go mata! Jai Go seva!