“Everyone can understand that we drink the milk of cows and take the help of bulls in producing agricultural products. Therefore, since our real father gives us food grains and our mother gives us milk with which to live, the cow and bull are considered our father and mother. According to Vedic civilization, there are seven mothers, of which the cow is one.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi 17.154, Purport)

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Even if the question is simple. Even if you have no intention of raising hostilities. Even if you are not looking for an argument. Any time your inquiries and presentations highlighting logical fallacies happen to go against the prevailing practices of the area, the people on the other side view it as a challenge. They see you as a threat. You are trying to spoil their fun, obviously. You are trying to impose your way of life on them. Why don’t you just go back to where you came from? No one wants you here, anyway, with your silly ideas of protecting animals and all. Dogs and cats? No problem. Anything else and you have lost your mind.

Taking a step back from the reality at hand, we present the following hypothetical account. The purpose is to ultimately reveal the basis for a key teaching from the science of self-realization. The outsider might refer to it as part of the orthodoxy of the Hindus, but in truth the inclination happens to align with the general tendency of the individual, at their core. In other words, to follow this particular behavior is to move closer to the original way of living, which is sanatana-dharma.

In our story, you are out in the wilderness somewhere. You happened to find that place accidentally, after getting lost. Yes, you and a group of friends went on a weekend camping trip. You decided to rough it, to step back in time and get a taste of life in the past. Rugged individualism at its finest, you intentionally left all electronic devices and gadgets back home. The only problem is that on this particular day, you lost your way. You cannot find the way back to the campsite. There is no one to call. There is no way to signal for help. For the time being, you have to manage.

Beginning to face hunger, you happen to come upon an animal. You cannot identify it, but it is harmless in appearance. The behavior matches the appearance. The animal has four legs. After a while, you notice that it tends to follow commands. It comes closer when you call it. It goes away when you need your space. Soon thereafter, another animal approaches. It is similar in appearance to the first animal, but smaller. Almost like a parent-child dynamic. Yes, that is exactly what it is. You later confirm that the first animal is actually the mother. When it sees her child, she produces a liquid substance, stored in a pouch attached to the body. Faced with desperation, with hunger taking over, you attempt to extract some of that substance yourself. After the child animal has consumed their share, you take your turn.

Ahh, the taste is amazing. Perhaps it is the hunger talking, but never mind. You enjoy as much as you possibly can. Still lost in the wilderness, these animals become your constant companions. You repeat the same behavior of consumption for a few days. It appears that the liquid substance is making you stronger. On an additional note, you happen to discover that the excrement left behind by the large female animal can be used for fuel. No need to chop down wood for a fire. What a find! You can’t wait to tell your friends about your discovery. This animal doesn’t ask much of you, either. It spends the day out in the fields, consuming grass.

Now, stopping at this point of the story we have an individual human being in a direct relationship with an animal. There is give-and-take. Offering a little protection and kindness, the human being is free to take and use the substances produced by the animal. With that scene in mind, we proceed with the following, which is sort of like choosing a particular path in an adventure story. Still out in the forest, you one day decide that this animal might be perfect for consuming. Rather than wait for it to die naturally, you kill it. You also kill its child. You do so in an underhanded way. You call the animal over, pretending to be friendly, when the purpose the entire time is to end its life. With the mission accomplished, you chop off the resulting flesh and cook it over a fire. The taste is amazing. This might be the best food you have ever eaten.

Imagine, then, that you repeat the same. Day after day. You first lure the animal in and make sure it meets with the child. That is the magic combination for producing the liquid substance. You extract as much of that liquid as you can and store it in glass bottles. Then, you lure the unsuspecting animals in and kill them. You do this for day after day. Upon return to regular society, you tell others about your experience. You teach them the same tactics. You might even make an industry out of it.

Under any sane analysis, would you be considered praiseworthy? Or would the honest person think that you are the worst human being imaginable? You have taken from something so innocent and kind, all for your own satisfaction. You then reward that kindness with brutal murder. It is not like you were desperate. The scheme was created simply to satisfy your taste buds. You could easily manage without the violence.

This story is one way to understand the justification for cow protection described within Vedic literature. Appreciation is at the foundation. Indeed, that is at the foundation of the entire culture. Appreciate from start to finish. From the time of birth to the time of death. From your parents to your spiritual guide. From the leaders of society to the leaders of the universe, who manage the various elements like the sunlight, the rain, and the wind.

“There are seven kinds of mothers according to Vedic injunction: the real mother, the wife of a teacher or spiritual master, the wife of a king, the wife of a brahmana, the cow, the nurse, and the mother earth. Because Putana came to take Krishna on her lap and offer her breast’s milk to be sucked by Him, she was accepted by Krishna as one of His mothers.” (Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Volume 1, Chapter 6)

As His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada explains, there are seven mothers identified within the Vedic tradition. The cow is one of them. The place of the mother is so exalted that even when a female witch feeds a baby named Krishna with poison, she receives the reward of liberation. This is because she behaved like a mother. She was killed in the traditional sense, of a conflict between a bad character and an avatara of the Supreme Lord, but she ultimately achieved elevation.

In Closing:

Mother so exalted to be,
That liberated was she.

The witch who came to feed,
Though with poison indeed.

The cow occupying similar place,
Offering milk in kindness and grace.

Appreciation the least we can do,
Most beloved of Shri Krishna too.

Categories: stories

Tags: ahimsa, cows, dailyprompt, feature, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry