Guest guest Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 Visit us at: www.iscowp.org > [Original Message] > Padmagarbha <padma (AT) udm (DOT) net> > ISCOWP (Balabhadra Dasa & Chaya Dasi - USA) <ISCOWP (AT) pamho (DOT) net> > 2/22/2004 12:50:02 AM > Cowprotection: a Russian version. > > Dear devotees, > > Recently I received this letter from a devotee in Russia. > I was trying to find out whether Siksastakam prabhu actually was > saying like this, but having no response after several > attempts and not really beleiving that these was his actual words > I'm sending this letter as an example of a Russian way of cow > protection:-). Don't knowing though how widely spread this idea > actually is, wanting by the > way to find out this, and aspiring to clear out this > question particularly for Russian devotees, I sending this letter to > the noble assembly of this conference, looking forward to answers, > which we are gonna put on our Russian cowprotection site: > http://gokula.gopal.ru/. > > So, here is a fragment of that letter: > > ....ëÏÇÄÁ Õ ÍÅÎÑ × ÇÏÓÔÑÈ ÔÒÉ ÄÎÑ ÂÙÌ ûÉËÛÁÛÔÁËÁ ðÒÁÂÈÕ, ÒÕËÏ×ÏÄÉÔÅÌØ > ÏÍÓËÏÇÏ ÈÒÁÍÁ, Á ÎÙÎÅ ËÕÒÁÔÏÒ ÉÓËÏÎÏ×ÓËÉÈ ÏÂÝÉÎ ÐÏ õÒÁÌØÓËÏÍÕ ÒÅÇÉÏÎÕ, > ÔÏ ÏÎ ÓËÁÚÁÌ, ÞÔÏ ÎÁÓÔÏÑÝÁÑ ÚÁÂÏÔÁ Ï ËÏÒÏ×ÁÈ - ÜÔÏ ÎÅ ÏÇÒÁÎÉÞÉ×ÁÔØ ÉÈ > ÐÒÉÒÏÓÔ. ÷ÓÅ ÖÅ ÆÅÒÍÙ ÚÁÎÉÍÁÀÔÓÑ ÏÇÒÁÎÉÞÅÎÉÅÍ ÐÒÏÉÚ×ÏÄÓÔ×Á, ÄÅÌÁÑ > ÂÅÓÐÌÏÄÎÙÍÉ ÂÙËÏ×. ÷ áÌÍÁÔÁÈ ÎÁ ÆÅÒÍÅ 10 ËÏÒÏ×, ÐÏÞÅÍÕ ÎÅ 100!... > > ......When Siksastaka Prabhu, tepmle president in Omsk (Russia), the > curator for ISKCON yatras in the Ural region, was staying in my house > for three days he said that genuine cowprotection is that when you > are not restricting breeding. But all farms are engaged in restricting > cows' population by making bulls sterile. In Almati they have 10 cows, > why not 100!... > > Ys Padmagarbha das > padma (AT) udm (DOT) net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 Interesting concept. However, it's been done. It's important to keep in mind that, "Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it." Although in the very, very distant past, in a vedic society where brahmanas had the spiritual rule of the land, and real Ksatrias (like M. Pariksit) had the physical rule and would and could swiftly act to protect the cow/bull, the idea of halting or controlling the breeding of cows was probably unheard of and would make no sense. HOWEVER, we should all know full well that these are very different times and devotees, brahmans and ksatrias do not have the rule fo the land (we can hardly construct a temple without trouble from the population). In this day and age, devotees are not able to protect a herd that is left to expand on its own -- even in India the cows are not able to find sufficient protection from the general population. In the recent past, in ISKCON communities, the overbreeding of cows lead only to unwanted, mistreated, neglected, suffering and dead bulls, cows, and calves. Those who were responsible have or will also suffer. Today, anywhere on this planet, to let cows and bulls breed without restraint is suicidal for any "cow protection" endeavor, and will result in much milk now and much suffering later for all who are involved (human and non-human). Ask anyone who is familiar with the history of New Vrindavan. Only if a program had unlimited land and unlimited (wo)man power, could one even find this idea amusing. Actually it is only reckless cow endangerment in selfish greed for milk and perhaps recognition (according to the ISKCON historic record). This should certainly be investigated and if found to be the actual mentality, corrected. "Genuine cow protection" means knowing what is best for the welfare of every cow and bull under your responsibility and seeing that the existing animals are engaged and treated in such a way that Krishna is thoroughly pleased -- Krishna cannot be bought with milk, He is bought with devotional service. It is a matter of quality -- not quantity. That's my two cents. -Gopal dasa In a message dated 2/22/2004 8:30:48 AM Central Standard Time, ISCOWP (AT) pamho (DOT) net writes: > ......When Siksastaka Prabhu, tepmle president in Omsk (Russia), the > curator for ISKCON yatras in the Ural region, was staying in my house > for three days he said that genuine cowprotection is that when you > are not restricting breeding. But all farms are engaged in restricting > cows' population by making bulls sterile. In Almati they have 10 cows, > why not 100!... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 22, 2004 Report Share Posted February 22, 2004 - Dasgopal (AT) aol (DOT) com Sunday, February 22, 2004 3:20 pm Re: FW: Cowprotection: a Russian version. > HOWEVER, we should all know full well that these are very > different times and > devotees, brahmans and ksatrias do not have the rule fo the land > (we can > hardly construct a temple without trouble from the population). > > In this day and age, devotees are not able to protect a herd that > is left to > expand on its own -- even in India the cows are not able to find > sufficient > protection from the general population. > > In the recent past, in ISKCON communities, the overbreeding of > cows lead only > to unwanted, mistreated, neglected, suffering and dead bulls, > cows, and > calves. Those who were responsible have or will also suffer. > > Today, anywhere on this planet, to let cows and bulls breed > without restraint > is suicidal for any "cow protection" endeavor, and will result in > much milk > now and much suffering later for all who are involved (human and > non-human). We have been through this so many times, it almost seems like devotees would know by now that unlimited cow breeding brings unlimited misery later on. But, I guess there are always new devotees coming on board, and thus the hard realities of experience have to be conveyed to them to keep them from making very tagic mistakes -- based on sentimental misunderstanding. It seems like Gopal prabhu does a very good job of summarizing the essence of the problem in his statements above. Hopefully, our Russian godbrothers and godsisters can benefit from his sober advice. your servant, Hare Krsna dasi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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