PROPOSAL

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ISKCON Ministry of Cow Protection and Agriculture

 

Proposal to Stop Breeding at Vrndavana & Mayapur Goshallas

 

Name of Proposal Proposal to Stop Breeding at Vrndavana & Mayapur Goshallas

 

Date of Submission: 30 January 2001

 

Name of Proposer: Balabhadra dasa on behalf of the ISKCON Ministry for Cow

Protection and Agriculture

 

e-mail: iscowp (AT) earthlink (DOT) net,ISCOWP (AT) pamho (DOT) net www.iscowp.com

 

RD1 NBU #28, Moundsville, WV, 26041, USA

 

TEL# 304-543-1658

 

Presentation of Proposal:

 

Whereas: It is alleged that ISKCON’s Vrndavana Goshalla is breeding 25-36 cows

per year, primarily for the production of milk and it is also alleged that

ISKCON’s Mayapura Goshalla is also breeding between 30 - 40 cows per year

primarily for the production of milk, and it is further alleged that the cow to

bull ratio on these projects is greater than 2 to 1, although according to

nature it should be 1 to 1, raising the question of what has happened to the

mathematically missing dozens of bull calves, even though ISKCON Law 507,

Section 2, Standard 9 designates as "not allowed": Procuring or breeding of a

cow for the purpose of supplying milk without any plan for the care, training

and engagement of offspring.

Whereas: It is alleged that the Vrndavana Goshalla maintains 217 - 220 cows on

7 acres of land and is so crowded that most of the cows cannot even lie down

when they return to the Goshalla at night, and it is also alleged that the

Mayapura Goshalla maintains over 100 animals on fewer than ten acres of land

even though ISKCON Law 507, Section 2, Standard 9 designates as "not allowed":

Failure to provide sufficient land, cowherds, and funds to support the cows

and/or offspring;

 

Whereas: It is alleged that neither the Vrndavana Goshalla nor the Mayapura

Goshalla have secured land for the cows against any other type of development

or use even though ISKCON Law 507, Section 2, Standard 9 designates: Care

includes having sufficient productive land to support the offspring. This land

should be held in a Cow/Land Trust and maintained by self-reliant, low-impact

methods.

 

 

Whereas: It is alleged that cows from the Vrndavana and Mayapura Goshallas have

been given or sold to other parties, leaving no substantial record of who the

cows were transferred to or where they are now, and whereas there are even

allegations that several dozen ISKCON cows from Vrndavana have been ultimately

sold to slaughter, even though ISKCON Law 507, Section 2, Standard 9 designates

as "not allowed": Leasing cows without the legally binding and well monitored

contracts as

described in # 4 of permitted.( #4 = Arrangements for leasing cows to others is

permitted if it can contribute to the overall goal of cow protection, and if

the leasor is legally bound to abide by all Cow Protection Standards,

including, but not limited to, arrangements made for lifetime protection of

both cow and calf.)

 

Whereas: It is alleged that the Vrndavana Goshalla does not have sufficient

funds to support itself without resorting to means which are against ISKCON

law, i.e., breeding cows to produce milk without plans for life-time production

for the resulting offspring even though ISKCON Law 507, Section 2, Standard 1

designates as "not allowed": Maintaining a centralized goshalla without

appropriate manpower, training, congregational support, and Cow/Land Trust.

 

Whereas: It is alleged that funds ostensibly collected to support Vrndavana’s

Goshalla were actually diverted to temple use, thus defrauding contributors,

and there has been no clear accounting of Goshalla financing even though such

reports of goshalla financing are required on the quarterly cow protection

reports;

 

Whereas: It is a fact that the GBC for ISKCON’s Vrndavana Goshalla have

submitted zero of 8 required quarterly cow protection reports to the Ministry

of Cow Protection and Agriculture, and the ISKCON’s Mayapura Goshalla have

submitted only 1 of 8 required quarterly reports, not verified by the GBC, to

the Ministry of Cow Protection in spite of repeated requests to the GBC, temple

presidents and head cowherds over a 2 year period even though ISKCON 507,

Section 3, Standard 14 requires that the GBC meet quarterly (or designate a

monitor to meet for up to 3 of 4 quarters) with the project’s cowherd and

submit a cow protection report to the Ministry of Cow Protection and

Agriculture.

 

Whereas: Owing to widespread serious allegations of practices contrary to

ISKCON law combined with a complete failure of the GBC’s in charge of the

Vrndavana and Mayapur Goshallas to fulfill their duty by providing the standard

cow protection reporting required by ISKCON law, and as a result the Ministry

of Cow Protection and Agriculture is greatly concerned that the cows and bulls

on these projects are being neglected and seriously abused;

 

And whereas: Recent tragic events in other spheres within our ISKCON community

have demonstrated the necessity of acting strongly and decisively to stop or

prevent abuse of dependent classes within our society when compelling evidence

of wrong doing is manifest.,

 

Therefore it is Resolved that: All breeding of cows, all purchasing of cows,

and the acceptance of donations of cows at the ISKCON Vrndavana and Mayapura

Goshallas shall be stopped until the following are received by ISKCON’s

Ministry of Cow Protection and Agriculture:

 

1.. A sequence of at least 4 quarterly cow protection reports, submitted by

their respective due dates and endorsed by the local GBC. Such forms must be

properly completed including Section B which provides a cow/bull census listing

the names and ages of all cows and bulls, and Section E which provides a report

of quarterly finances for the goshalla;

2.. Evidence of separate bank accounts for the maintenance and acquisition of

additional land for the cows;

3.. Satisfactory evidence that sufficient additional land has been acquired

for the cows at these projects ;

4.. Evidence that land currently used by the cows and land newly acquired for

the cows has been placed under the protection of a Cow/Land Trust as required

by ISKCON law; and

5.. Evidence that the GBC or Monitors are making quarterly visits to inspect

the goshalla and meet privately with the cowherds, to discuss the needs of the

cows and the cow program and how best to provide for them within the parameters

of ISKCON law. (This can be part of a properly completed cow protection

report.) It should be noted that if the GBC officer appoints a monitor, the GBC

officer is still required to personally visit the goshalla and meet privately

with the cowherds at least once a year.

6.. An explanation for the great disparity between numbers of cows and bulls

at these projects, and evidence that the GBC and cowherds understand that no

matter what arrangements are made, that every animal must be named, and that

the Goshalla must present records verifying the continued welfare of these

animals throughout the rest of their lives, even if they are contracted (within

the parameters defined by ISKCON law) to parties outside the immediate

Goshalla. Furthermore, if there proves to be evidence of substantial harm to

the cows during the time period from 1990 onwards, the GBC must present a

public accounting and apology for such negligence and misconduct.

The GBC are strongly encouraged to work with cowherds and congregational

members to find a means of support for the Goshallas which does not depend

principally on sales of milk products.

 

Reasons Why This Proposal Should be Accepted; In light of the high profile PETA

exposure of cow abuse in India

(http://www.peta-online.org/news/800/800jackch.html) and to protect ISKCON from

possible negative publicity due to cow abuse on ISKCON farms, it is necessary

to uphold the Minimum Cow Protection Standards, ISKCON Law 507. Major projects

such as Vrndavana and Mayapur must not be allowed to continue to breed cows

until they can substantially demonstrate that they are supervised by GBC who

are committed to insuring that proper ISKCON standards with regards to cow

protection are being systematically maintained.

 

While in the short run, monetary intake by selling milk products may appear to

be the answer to the problem of funding a goshalla, it has been repeatedly

demonstrated in ISKCON that to rely principally on such a funding source is

merely an illusory solution. In the long run, the expense of properly

maintaining the resulting offspring throughout their life exceeds the income

from the sale of milk produced by the mother cow, at least in instances where

lack of adequate pasturage and cropland necessitates the purchase of feed from

outside sources. Srila Prabhupada himself specifically advised against

developing a cow program which requires purchase of feed from outside. Thus

dependence on outside feed purchases must be reduced by 1) limiting breeding,

and 2) purchase of additional land for use by the cows:

 

If the GBC has no objection to your going to India to help with the cow

program, then I encourage you to go there. This program is very very important.

If you can help to organize our cow program in Mayapur, it will be a great

credit for you. We must be able to grow our own fodder for the cows. We don't

want to have to purchase food for the cows outside from some other party. That

will run into a great expense.

 

Letter to: Hasyakari -- Honolulu 26 May, 1975

 

 

 

According to Srila Prabhupada’s vision, our ISKCON Society is supposed to

present the world-wide example of cow protection:

 

Our cow-protection program in India should be the exemplary standard for the

whole world.

 

Letter to: Devakinandana -- Mayapur 8 April, 1975

 

Sadly, instead of being exemplary, in our most important and holy centers, we

are operating our goshallas as primarily for milk production without regard for

the decent care of the cows and their progeny. This is the mentality of the

non-devotee dairy farmer -- which all the animal rights groups vigorously

oppose. The GBC body took a major, positive step in 1999 by voting the Minimum

Cow Protection Standards into ISKCON law. But enforcing these Standards has

been difficult without their continued cooperation. We have learned from past

history in ISKCON that when reports of abuse to the dependent classes within

our society arise, it is to ISKCON’s benefit to deal with them swiftly and

forcefully. On the other hand, failure to take steps to protect the innocent

classes inevitably results in loss of both material and spiritual standing:

 

The brahmanas, the cows and the defenseless creatures are My own body. Those

whose faculty of judgment has been impaired by their own sin look upon these as

distinct from Me. They are just like furious serpents, and they are angrily

torn apart by the bills of the vulturelike messengers of Yamaraja, the

superintendent of sinful persons.

 

PURPORT

 

The defenseless creatures, according to Brahma-samhita, are the cows,

brahmanas, women, children and old men. Of these five, the brahmanas and cows

are especially mentioned in this verse because the Lord is always anxious about

the benefit of the brahmanas and the cows and is prayed to in this way. The

Lord especially instructs, therefore, that no one should be envious of these

five, especially the cows and brahmanas….Those who are helpless must be taken

care of by their respective guardians, otherwise the guardians will be

subjected to the punishment of Yamaraja, who is appointed by the Lord to

supervise the activities of sinful living creatures. The assistants, or

messengers, of Yamaraja are likened here to vultures, and those who do not

execute their respective duties in protecting their wards are compared to

serpents. Vultures deal very seriously with serpents, and similarly the

messengers will deal very seriously with neglectful guardians.

 

SB 3.16.11

 

Although due to the overwhelming influence of western culture, both in the

West, and even in recent years in India itself, the idea of cow protection may

seem to some a quaint anachronism with no practical value in life, still we

follow the best path when we take to heart Srila Prabhupada’s conviction of the

importance of protecting the cows just as faithfully as we would protect human

beings. Even some non-devotees maintain that the quality of how human beings

relate to each other in society is indicated by how well they treat their

animals. And we know, that beyond that, the quality of our relationship with

the Supreme Lord Krsna is influenced by how well we maintain His cows:

 

THE COWS ARE AS IMPORTANT AS THE CITIZENS

 

Krsna Book, Volume 1, Chapter 5

 

"It is also significant that Vasudeva inquired about the welfare of Nanda

Maharaja's animals. The animals, and especially the cows, were protected

exactly in the manner of one's children. Vasudeva was a ksatriya, and Nanda

Maharaja was a vaisya. It is the duty of the ksatriya to give protection to the

citizens of mankind, and it is the duty of the vaisya to give protection to the

cows. The cows are as important as the citizens. Just as the human citizens

should be given all kinds of protection, so the cows also should be given full

protection."

 

And finally, we must understand that all our claims of spiritual advancement

and highly developed brahminical culture are only pretense if we will not make

the effort to protect the cows, because Srila Prabhupada has explicitly stated

that brahminical culture cannot be maintained without cow protection.

 

BRAHMINICAL CULTURE CANNOT BE MAINTAINED WITHOUT COW

 

PROTECTION

 

Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto 8: Chapter 24, Text 5 Purport

 

"Without protection of cows, brahminical culture cannot be maintained; and

without brahminical culture, the aim of life cannot be fulfilled."

 

Reasons Why This Proposal Should Not Be Accepted:

Honestly, can not think of any.

 

Your servant,

Balabhadra das

ISKCON Minister for Cow Protection and Agriculture