Happy cows... a response from a Sannyasi...

[Guest guest]

hare krishna. please accept my humble obeisances.

nice to know that maharaj is involved in building up a farm community and agree

with most of the views. i too think lack of practical success does not

tantamount to lack of concern. the main problem in cow protection is that there

is a massive economic force behind mechanistic cows and a whole culture of meat

eating, it is difficult to fight it. i joined this group months ago hoping to

find a viable cow protection model. i do not see some one presenting a clear,

viable model. it is nobody's fault - the land prices are high and there are

technological advances in dairy farming that we find hard to compete with. if

we cannot make our living, we cannot protect other living entities.

one thing our sannyasis could try to do is to cut wasteful expenditure and ask

their followers to donate money for cow protection instead of their own

international travels.

yours humbly

rajaram v.

Bhakti Raghava Swami <Bhakti.Raghava.Swami (AT) pamho (DOT) net> wrote:Dear Hare Krishna

mataji,

Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I may be the only Sannyasi on the Cow Protection Conference and I have

therefore taken the liberty to forward your message (and the response from

Amala Bhakti d.d.) to the Sannyasa Conference requesting one of the Sannyasis

who is a GBC member to forward it to the GBC Conference. I have also added the

ICC (India Continental Committee) Conference as receivers. I believe the matter

very much warrants responses from some of our leaders, in particular Sannyasis

and GBCs.

My brief observations are as follows. I doubt we can find any Sannyasi or

any devotee for that matter (within or outside of ISKCON) as concerned and as

dedicated as Srila Prabhupada not only in the area of cow protection but in all

other areas connected with Varnasrama Development. Having said that, I do not

think it will help matters to make blanket statements to the effect that not

one single of our Sannyasis or Leaders cares for such and/or that no one is

doing anything to help protect our cows or promote Varnasrama Development

(building up a social structure).

I fully agree with you that as a society we are not doing what we should in

the area of cow protection. To put it more strongly, we are failures in the

area of cow protection. I also fully agree that we are not sufficiently

promoting and supporting the development of urgently needed social structures,

rural varnasrama development (with the cows, like the Deities, in the center).

Again I would not hesitate to state that we have failed in this area as well.

That we are failing as a society does not mean however that some are not

trying, that some are not concerned and that some are not successful in doing

"something".

I also understand and sympathize (I am sure not at all sufficiently) that

it can be (and is) extremely demoralizing for devotees to witness our apathy in

these two inseparable and intimately connected areas of cow protection and

development of varnasrama or social structures. For your information, for what

it's worth, we have been developing a small village community in Indonesia

since the last three years now and some tangible progress is being made. We

have a few cows, we have our own temple structure and we have over 20 families

settled on our 150 acres of land working towards self-sufficiency. We are far

from having achieved our goal but our 60 or so devotees (and steadily

increasing) are committed and working hard at it. We have four other small

rural communities in their early formation in other parts of Indonesia where

they are also protecting cows. I am personally committed to these rural

community projects. And to lend support to such programs I am also fully

involved in some preliminary foundational work in the area of Varnasrama

College where we will be able to systematically train and educate our devotees

and eventually the general public not only about the importance of both cow

protection and rural community development but "how to do it in a practical

way". It is clear to me from Srila Prabhupada's instructions on Varnasrama,

that we can and must strive to establish small "village communities" centered

on principles of self-sufficiency with Krishna and His cows and bulls at the

center. This is crystal clear.

And I know there are other similar communities striving for the same in

other parts of the world, some of whom also have some support and back up from

Sannyasis and/or other leaders. The list of names you request may be short but

there are individuals concerned and doing something out there.(Saranagati has a

resident Sannyasi, Dhyutidhara Maharaja, since many years; Gita Nagari has the

support of Bhakti-Tirtha Maharaja, Vrajamandala Farm Project in Spain headed by

Samba prabhu has the support from Kadamba Kanana Maharaja, ... to name but a

few). I leave it to others to provide names of additional Sannyasis and

Leaders. The perceived degree of concern these Leaders have will of course vary

from the "eyes of the beholder". But I am convinced we do have some very

seriously concerned individuals out there.

I do not know what it will take to make us more concerned and more

committed to cow protection and Varnasrama Development. Although your

statements are provocative and possibly shocking to some, may be even too blunt

for many of our leaders, I do appreciate your straightforwardness and courage

in making such statements. Maybe that is what we need, to be shaken up a little

from the general lethargy that seems to exist on the part of many if not most

of our leaders in these specific areas of lack of cow protection and lack of

serious support for Rural Varnasrama Development.

Thank you for expressing and communicating your concern. Hopefully it will

generate such responses which can help all of us become more serious and

committed to both cow protection and practical development of varnasrama

communities.

Trusting this finds you well.

Your

servant,

 

Bhakti

Raghava Swami

-

Noma T. Petroff

Cc: Cow (Protection and related issues)

Wednesday, November 13, 2002 22:01

Re: happy cows

 

 

Do I dare to say this? I am gradually becoming very disappointed with all

the

Vaisnava swami's because it seems like there is not one single one of them --

inside ISKCON or out -- who is truly committed to cow protection, who truly

believes that without cow protection, spiritual progress is not possible.

 

Srila Prabhupada was a sannyasi, and at they same time he did so much work

all

over the world to encourage devotees to establish cow protection -- including

its vital component of working the oxen.

 

Can anyone name a swami anywhere in the world who is a strong advocate for

cow

protection like Srila Prabhupada was?

 

To me the ideal test would be this: When he initiates a disciple, he uses

only ghee produced by protected cows who are the mothers of working oxen.

And

the grains which are thrown in the fire have been planted by oxen. That

would

be the ideal test.

 

And failing that, at least he would be working to build the social structure

where that could happen. That's what Srila Prabhupada was doing, he was

building a social structure in which cows could be protected.

 

But to initiate a disciple while pouring ghee from slaughtered cows onto the

fire, while pretending to be in favor of cow protection, would be failing the

test of commitment to cow protection.

 

The thing is this: when you build a social structure which is ideal for the

protection of cows (small-scale devotee family farms) that turns out to be

also the kind of social structure which is best to provide for the social and

spiritual needs of human beings as well.

 

Is there any swami or guru in the world who is strongly standing for this?

If

not, it just seems like a depressing and demoralizing thing for us to pretend

that our movement is protecting cows -- when in fact our leaders are

fundamentally indifferent to the idea, and cannot see how it practically

relates to spiritual progress. It just feels like hypocrisy to say that our

movement stands for cow protection, when the practical fact is that so many

of

our leaders appear to consider it either a sentiment or an outright

botheration. Are there really any leaders in our movement who are actively

working toward building a social structure where cows are protected, where

oxen are engaged in service to Krsna?

 

Names, anyone?

 

your servant,

 

Hare Krsna dasi

 

"Hrimati (dd) ACBSP (Mayapur - IN)" wrote:

 

> Our cows are happy, therefore they give plenty of milk. Vedic civilization

> gives protection to all the living creatures, especially the cows, because

> they render such valuable service to the human society in the shape of

> milk, without which no one can become healthy and strong. In your country

> the dog is protected, and the cow is killed. The dog is passing stool and

> urine in the street, he is considered the best friend of man, and the cow

> is all pure, stool, urine, and milk, but they are taken to the slaughter

> house and killed for food. What kind of civilization is this. Therefore we

> have to preach against all this nonsense.

>

> ============ REF. Letter to: Rupanuga -- Vrindaban 7 December, 1975

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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