TO KILL COW: MEANS TO END HUMAN CIVILIZATION
5.
Cow - A Symbol Of Innocence, Purity And Magnanimity
A Gentle And Tender Creature
Cows are guileless in their behaviour and peaceful in their demeanour. Any other species including humans fight when flocked together but cows never fight. Cows and bulls sitting peacefully in pastures and chewing cud reflect a peaceful and happy society. No wonder, the magnanimous cow acts as a surrogate mother by providing milk to human beings for the whole life.
Vedic culture requires us to take bath every time we touch any excrement, including our own. But cow dung is used right in the sanctum sanctorum of temples and indeed in worshiping deities, cow’s urine and stool are essential ingredients.
That is the reason cow has been assigned such an elevated status in vedic culture.
In this material world, there are three modes of nature known as goodness, passion and ignorance. Everything and every being exists in one of these three modes. Goodness is first class, passion is second and ignorance is third class. Living beings in mode of goodness are considered pious and living beings in mode of ignorance are considered impious.
Cow - A Symbol Of Innocence, Purity And Magnanimity
A Gentle And Tender Creature
Cows are guileless in their behaviour and peaceful in their demeanour. Any other species including humans fight when flocked together but cows never fight. Cows and bulls sitting peacefully in pastures and chewing cud reflect a peaceful and happy society. No wonder, the magnanimous cow acts as a surrogate mother by providing milk to human beings for the whole life.
Vedic culture requires us to take bath every time we touch any excrement, including our own. But cow dung is used right in the sanctum sanctorum of temples and indeed in worshiping deities, cow’s urine and stool are essential ingredients.
That is the reason cow has been assigned such an elevated status in vedic culture.
In this material world, there are three modes of nature known as goodness, passion and ignorance. Everything and every being exists in one of these three modes. Goodness is first class, passion is second and ignorance is third class. Living beings in mode of goodness are considered pious and living beings in mode of ignorance are considered impious.
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Cows are amongst the gentlest of breathing creatures; none show more passionate tenderness to their young when deprived of them; and, in short, I am not ashamed to profess a deep love for these quiet creatures. |
For example, there are trees which are third class, good for only fuel. Then there are trees which are first class, giving nice fruits and flowers. Then there are pious birds like ducks, swans, peacocks and impious birds like crows and vultures. Amongst animals also, dogs, jackals, hyenas are considered impious and animals like cows and deers are considered pious. Cow is in fact the most pious of all the creatures.
Cow Who Taught What It Means To Care
An Excerpt from ‘Critical Problems and their Compassionate Solutions’ by Ajahn Brahm
“I arrived early to my meditation class in a low-security prison. A criminal whom I had never seen before was waiting to speak with me. He was a giant of a man with bushy hair, beard and tattooed arms. The scars on his face told me she had been in many a violent fight. He looked so fearsome that I wondered why he was coming to learn meditation. He wasn’t the type. I was wrong of course. He told me that something had happened a few days before that spooked the hell out of him.
Cow Who Taught What It Means To Care
An Excerpt from ‘Critical Problems and their Compassionate Solutions’ by Ajahn Brahm
“I arrived early to my meditation class in a low-security prison. A criminal whom I had never seen before was waiting to speak with me. He was a giant of a man with bushy hair, beard and tattooed arms. The scars on his face told me she had been in many a violent fight. He looked so fearsome that I wondered why he was coming to learn meditation. He wasn’t the type. I was wrong of course. He told me that something had happened a few days before that spooked the hell out of him.
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So from the cows, the milk. And from the milk we can make hundreds of vitaminous foodstuff, hundreds. They’re all palatable. So such a nice animal, faithful, peaceful, and beneficial. After taking milk from it, if we kill, does it look very well? Even after the death, the cows supply the skin for your shoes. It is so beneficial. You see. Even after death. While living, he gives you nice milk. You cannot reject milk from the human society. As soon as there is a child born, milk immediately required. Old man, milk is life. Diseased person, milk is life. Invalid, milk is life. So therefore Krsna is teaching by His practical demonstration how He loves this innocent animal, cow. |
As he started speaking, I picked up his thick Ulster accent. To give me some background, he told me that he had grown up in the violent streets of Belfast. His first stabbing was when he was seven years old. The school bully had demanded the money he had for his lunch. He said no. The bully took out a long knife and asked for the money a second time. He thought the bully was bluffing and refused to give it again. The bully never asked a third time, he just plunged the knife into the seven year old boy’s arm, drew it out and walked away. He told me that he ran to his father’s nearby house in shock with blood streaming down his arm. His unemployed father took one look at the wound and led his son into the kitchen, but not to dress the wound. The father opened a drawer, took out a big kitchen knife, gave it to his son, and ordered him to go back to school and stab the bully back. That was how he had been brought up. If he hadn’t grown up to be so big and strong, he would have long been dead.
The jail was a prison farm where short-term prisoners, and long-term prisoners close to release, could be prepared for life outside by learning a trade in the farming industry. Furthermore, the produce from the prison farm would supply all the prisons around Perth with inexpensive food, thus keeping down costs.
Australian farms grow cows, sheep and pigs, not just wheat and vegetables; so did the prison farm. But unlike other farms, the prison farm had its own on-site slaughterhouse. Every prisoner had to have a job on the prison farm. I was informed by many of the inmates that the most sought-after jobs were in the slaughterhouse. These jobs were especially popular with violent offenders. And the most sought-after job of all, which one had to fight for, was the job of the slaughterer himself. That giant and fearsome Irishman was the slaughterer.
The jail was a prison farm where short-term prisoners, and long-term prisoners close to release, could be prepared for life outside by learning a trade in the farming industry. Furthermore, the produce from the prison farm would supply all the prisons around Perth with inexpensive food, thus keeping down costs.
Australian farms grow cows, sheep and pigs, not just wheat and vegetables; so did the prison farm. But unlike other farms, the prison farm had its own on-site slaughterhouse. Every prisoner had to have a job on the prison farm. I was informed by many of the inmates that the most sought-after jobs were in the slaughterhouse. These jobs were especially popular with violent offenders. And the most sought-after job of all, which one had to fight for, was the job of the slaughterer himself. That giant and fearsome Irishman was the slaughterer.
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The bull and the cow are the symbols of the most offenseless living beings because even the stool and urine of these animals are utilized to benefit human society. |
He described the slaughterhouse to me; super-strong stainless steel railings, wide at the opening but narrowing down to a single channel inside the building, just wide enough for one animal to pass through at a time. Next to the narrow channel, raised on a platform, he would stand with the electric gun. Cows, sheep and pigs would be forced into the stainless steel funnel using dogs and cattle prods. He said they would always scream, each in their own way, and try to escape. They could smell death, hear death and feel death. When an animal was alongside his platform it would be writhing, wriggling and moaning in full voice. Even though his gun could kill a large bull with a single high-voltage charge, the animal would never stand still long enough for him to aim properly. So it was one shot to stun, next shot to kill. One shot to stun, next shot to kill. Animal after animal. Day after day.
The Irishman started to become excited as he moved to the occurrence, only a few days before, that had unsettled him so much. He started to swear. In what followed he kept repeating, ‘This is the God f___ing truth!’ as if afraid I would not believe him.
That day they needed beef for the prisons around Perth so they were slaughtering cows. One shot to stun, next shot to kill. He was well into a normal day of killing when a cow came up he had never seen before. This cow was silent. There wasn’t even a whimper. Its head was down as it walked purposely, voluntarily, slowly into position next to the platform. It did not writhe, wriggle or try to escape. Once in position the cow lifted her head and stared at her executioner, absolutely still.
The Irishman started to become excited as he moved to the occurrence, only a few days before, that had unsettled him so much. He started to swear. In what followed he kept repeating, ‘This is the God f___ing truth!’ as if afraid I would not believe him.
That day they needed beef for the prisons around Perth so they were slaughtering cows. One shot to stun, next shot to kill. He was well into a normal day of killing when a cow came up he had never seen before. This cow was silent. There wasn’t even a whimper. Its head was down as it walked purposely, voluntarily, slowly into position next to the platform. It did not writhe, wriggle or try to escape. Once in position the cow lifted her head and stared at her executioner, absolutely still.
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The cow to me is a sermon on pity. |
The Irishman hadn’t seen anything even close to this before. His mind went numb with confusion. He couldn’t lift his gun; nor could he take his eyes away from the eyes of the cow. The cow was looking right inside him. He slipped into timeless spaces. He couldn’t tell me how long it took, but as the cow held him in eye contact, he noticed something that shook him even more. Cows have very big eyes. He saw in the left eye of the cow, above the lower eye lid, water began to gather. The water grew and grew until it was too much for the eyelid to hold. It began to trickle slowly all the way down her cheek forming a glistening line of tears.
Long closed doors were opening slowly to his heart. As he looked in disbelief, he saw in the right eye of the cow, above the lower eyelid, more water gathering, growing by the moment, until it too was more than the eyelid could contain. A second stream of water trickled down her face. And the man broke down. The cow was crying.
He told me that he threw down his gun, swore to the fullest extent of his considerable capacity to the prison officers that they could do whatever they liked to him, but “THAT COW AIN’T DYING!”
He ended by telling me that he was vegetarian now. That story was true. Other inmates of the prison farm confirmed it for me. The cow that cried taught one of the most violent of men what it means to care.”
Cows Need Tender Loving Care
Dairy industry is increasingly becoming profit oriented and cows are increasingly being treated as milk or meat machines. There is growing desensitization to animal suffering.
Globally, year 2007 saw a higher percentage of dairy cows dying due to neglect than any other previous times. The Dairy 2007 USDA survey reported that 5.7 percent of cows died on-farm across the US in 2006. That’s an increase from 4.8 percent in the 2002 survey and 3.8 percent in the 1996 survey. Besides being an economic issue (replacing dead cows costs money), this also indicates an animal welfare problem.
More dairy cows are dying, but treating them as individuals instead of groups could help because each cow has an individual personality.
The same survey indicates that the single largest cause of cow death as reported by producers was lameness or injury (20 percent), followed by mastitis (16.5 percent), calving problems (15.2 percent), and unknown reasons (15 percent).
These surveys emphasize treating cow as a sentient being with unique personality traits. If treated well, cows can deliver a lot. There are many dairy operations where loving care has made all the difference.
At ISKCON center in Mayapur India, they treat cows kindly. It’s true for many places in India but the Krishna devotees have created an old age home for cows that really does it right. In West Bengal, as else where in India now, older dry cows are neglected and let off in streets or sold off to butchers. The Krishna center in Mayapur invites the farmers to donate their dry cows to them. On arrival, the devotees give each cow a name, her own stall (with name painted overhead) and play melodious prayer songs through overhead speakers all day long. Guess what happens? The cows start giving milk again. So much milk that it provides for all the yoghurt, butter and milk needs of the entire community, with surplus to sell.
Long closed doors were opening slowly to his heart. As he looked in disbelief, he saw in the right eye of the cow, above the lower eyelid, more water gathering, growing by the moment, until it too was more than the eyelid could contain. A second stream of water trickled down her face. And the man broke down. The cow was crying.
He told me that he threw down his gun, swore to the fullest extent of his considerable capacity to the prison officers that they could do whatever they liked to him, but “THAT COW AIN’T DYING!”
He ended by telling me that he was vegetarian now. That story was true. Other inmates of the prison farm confirmed it for me. The cow that cried taught one of the most violent of men what it means to care.”
Cows Need Tender Loving Care
Dairy industry is increasingly becoming profit oriented and cows are increasingly being treated as milk or meat machines. There is growing desensitization to animal suffering.
Globally, year 2007 saw a higher percentage of dairy cows dying due to neglect than any other previous times. The Dairy 2007 USDA survey reported that 5.7 percent of cows died on-farm across the US in 2006. That’s an increase from 4.8 percent in the 2002 survey and 3.8 percent in the 1996 survey. Besides being an economic issue (replacing dead cows costs money), this also indicates an animal welfare problem.
More dairy cows are dying, but treating them as individuals instead of groups could help because each cow has an individual personality.
The same survey indicates that the single largest cause of cow death as reported by producers was lameness or injury (20 percent), followed by mastitis (16.5 percent), calving problems (15.2 percent), and unknown reasons (15 percent).
These surveys emphasize treating cow as a sentient being with unique personality traits. If treated well, cows can deliver a lot. There are many dairy operations where loving care has made all the difference.
At ISKCON center in Mayapur India, they treat cows kindly. It’s true for many places in India but the Krishna devotees have created an old age home for cows that really does it right. In West Bengal, as else where in India now, older dry cows are neglected and let off in streets or sold off to butchers. The Krishna center in Mayapur invites the farmers to donate their dry cows to them. On arrival, the devotees give each cow a name, her own stall (with name painted overhead) and play melodious prayer songs through overhead speakers all day long. Guess what happens? The cows start giving milk again. So much milk that it provides for all the yoghurt, butter and milk needs of the entire community, with surplus to sell.
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Krsna's laws or nature's law is so nice that a cow is eating grass and producing milk. Now, if you think that grass is the cause of milk, then you are mistaken. It is the laws of Krsna that transforms grass into milk. If you eat..., you eat grass, then you'll die. But the cow, she is eating grass... That also not supplied by your factory. The grass is produced by nature's way. And she is eating that grass and supplying the most nutritious food -- milk -- and in exchange you are cutting throat. How you can be happy? Such an innocent animal. |
In another instance, Baba Sri Bhadariya Maharaj is doing a commendable work in the desert area of Pokhran, India. His ashram provides shelter to nearly 20,000 stray cows. Sick, old and injured cows are brought from far off places but loving and tender care turns them into healthy, milching cows again. Baba is providing free milk and butter milk to the travelers in the desert.
After all, milk is produced out of affection and giving milk is a motherly function performed out of love for the offspring.
After all, milk is produced out of affection and giving milk is a motherly function performed out of love for the offspring.
