| “Therefore, since our real father gives us food grains and our mother gives us milk with which to live, the bull and cow are considered our father and mother.” |
FEEDACOW.COM
Dedicated to my Guru Mahārāja
His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
(ISKCON - The Hare Krishna Movement)
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“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 bull and cow are considered our father and mother.”
(http://causelessmercy.com/?P=Adi17.5#154)
Many people understand that protecting mother cow / father bull / father ox from the slaughterhouse is good karma, but how do we do it as a practical, everyday thing? In order for this idea to be maintainable and for it to grow and prosper, it has to be financially feasible. Governments may help out eventually, but first it has to be demonstrated that it can work on a practical, everyday basis, and that the benefits to humanity are real.
Please consider the following ten points:
1. “Save-a-cow” has a bad reputation because of all of the “Save a cow. Eat a vegetarian.” bumper stickers. (http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Bumper-Sticker-Vinyl-Decal/dp/B002YL1T4Y)
2. “Adopt-a-cow” (http://iscowp.org/adopt-a-cow.html) sounds like a burden.
3. But “Feed-a-cow” (http://feedacow.com/) sounds like fun, especially for children.
4. Previously, we thought of protecting cows in some remote area where land is cheap. The Feed-a-cow idea is for every major city in the world to have an area, such as a portion of Central Park in New York City, where people can come and see, pet, and feed mother cow and father ox that are protected for life. (Central Park already has a petting zoo where children are allowed to feed farm animals.)
5. Part of the expense could be covered by selling the feed to families who want to have fun, feeding the beautiful, gentle cows / oxen!
6. It could also be supported by the cows generating electricity which could then be fed directly into the power grid to make the “meter go backwards.” (http://pratyatosa.com/?P=m)
7. Income could be generated by selling the cow dung as fertilizer. Both cow dung and urine are purported to have antiseptic properties. Therefore, research could be done to find other commercial uses for these potentially valuable byproducts.
8. Another source of income could be karma/violence-free meat, leather, etc. from cows who died naturally of old age. Each cow / bull / ox could be fitted with a device containing a radio transmitter which monitored the body’s vital signs. The second that one of them showed signs that the material body was dying, urgent email messages could be automatically generated and sent out to a list of people in charge. Then action could be taken to preserve the meat / leather immediately upon the soul leaving the body! Mother cow / father bull are so merciful that even in dying they are still giving!
9. Once this was gotten off the ground, then a karma/violence-free dairy farm could be started. Instead of sending the male calves / old cows to the slaughterhouse, they could be purchased by the big city Feed-a-cow projects. The milk could be converted into non-perishable products such as powdered milk and powdered cheese. These items could be sold for a premium as karma/violence-free at health food stores nationwide.
10. Maybe the idea of feeding cows for fun and having available violence free meat / leather / dairy products will someday “catch on,” and therefore get some good publicity. Maybe large numbers of people will eventually want to “jump on the bandwagon.” Perhaps someday cow protection will become the “cool” thing to do, and it will be possible to market a full range of karma free / violence free dairy products. With Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa on our side anything is possible! Simply we have to be His instruments.
“As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.” - Leo Tolstoy
Australian devotee 5: Śrīla Prabhupāda, you were telling this government man the other day not to kill the cows but to wait till they die. But they have a law that if the cow dies naturally, then it cannot be eaten…
Prabhupāda: Yes, but the argument is die. As soon as you kill, it is died. As soon as you take the fish out of the water it dies. So how you can say that dead animal is not good? It is dead. For argument’s sake, “A dead animal is not good,” but you make him dead. Then you eat. Where is the argument that dead animal is bad? You are eating dead. That means they are not even common sense. That is the rascaldom. Rascal means one who has no common sense even. (http://causelessmercy.com/t/?P= 750523mw .mel&TP=3613)
Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome.
Pratyatoṣa Dāsa ()
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