BTG: Who Can We Give the Bull To? - Vol 25, 1991

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"Who Can We Give the Bull To?"

by Hare Krsna Devi Dasi

 

Sometimes we ask the wrong question ...

 

Once Srila Prabhupada was explaining how we can use all our natural tendencies

in Krsna's service. A young devotee raised his hand and asked how a brahmacari

(unmarried celibate student) could use the sex impulse in Krsna's service.

Srila Prabhupada replied that one should get married and raise children in

Krsna consciousness.

 

Thinking that Prabhupada had misunderstood, the devotee asked the question

again. Srila Prabhupada repeated his answer.

 

The devotee was asking the wrong question because a brahmacari cannot use sex

in Krsna's service -- only a married devotee can.

 

I often think of this story when I hear a question that strikes me as similar

to the young brahmacari's: "We're inspired by Prabhupada's instructions about

cow protection and simple living, so we want to get a cow. But to get milk we

have to breed the cow. We were wondering what to do with the calf, especially

if it's a bull. Could we give it to an ISKCON farm?"

 

The question is asked in all innocence and with all good intentions. But it's

the wrong question, because just as the purpose of sex should be to raise Krsna

conscious children, the purpose of breeding a cow should be to raise a calf we

can engage in Krsna's service. It's not that if the calf is male he's a useless

burden to be gotten rid of. Producing a bull with no plans to train and use him

is not cow protection in the full sense.

 

Srila Prabhupada warned against neglecting to engage the bulls in Krsna's

service. In 1974, he cautioned the devotees at ISKCON's West Virginia farm,

"The cow is wonderful and valuable in society. But you should also use the

bulls by engaging them in tilling the ground. People may call this the

primitive way, but it is very practical for engaging the bulls -- have them

work in cart loading, transporting, and so on."

 

In his instructions to Tejiyas Dasa in Hyderabad, Prabhupada was even more

emphatic, "You will see. It is sure to come. If you do not use the bulls for

plowing, one day you will say, ¡Let us cut their throats.' "

 

Why does cow protection imply working the oxen (neutered bulls, sometimes

called "bullocks")? A key word Prabhupada used is "practical."

 

As I discussed in my last column, Krsna instructs in Bhagavad-gita that the

economic basis for a spiritual society should be krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam --

farming, cow protection, and trade. Appalled by modern Western dairy practices,

we might think that cow protection simply means milking cows without

slaughtering them. But this incomplete conception of cow protection is not

practical in the long run.

 

For example, each time a good cow has a calf, the cow might produce 15,000

pounds of milk (about 1830 gallons). In the United States, at $2 a gallon, that

would bring about $3,660. What does it cost to raise the calf? In 1987 at

ISKCON's Gita Nagari farm (located in a temperate region), we found that to

maintain each animal cost about $1 a day -- for tractor-produced food, shelter

maintenance, medical expenses, and so on. So raising the calf for its expected

life of twelve to fifteen years would cost at least $4380. Balance that against

the $3,660 worth of milk, and you've got a net loss of at least $720.

 

This is why commercial dairies kill their bull calves. They'd go out of

business if they had to maintain nonproductive animals.

 

Srila Prabhupada has given us the practical solution to this problem: work the

oxen. A person might spend $200 a month on car payments, but if that means he

or she can earn $1000 a month, then it's worthwhile. So keeping an ox might

cost $365 a year, but if he's productive enough, the cost is well worthwhile.

 

Equally important: if an ox produces his own feed, his maintenance cost shrinks

dramatically -- and we begin to see what self-sufficiency is all about.

 

When Krsna advises krsi-go-raksya, the terms krsi (agriculture) and go-raksya

(cow protection) are naturally interdependent. One result of cow protection is

that we get oxen to be trained for farming. And one result of Krsna conscious

agriculture is that we protect the working oxen because they produce food for.

Even vanijyam, or trade, in a localized, petroleum-free economy uses the oxen

-- to transport grain.

 

Earlier I compared raising Krsna conscious children to engaging the offspring

of the cows in Krsna's service. Let's continue this analogy.

 

If we raise children in Krsna consciousness, we learn valuable lessons that

help our spiritual advancement. When we see how much trouble children cause

themselves by resisting good instructions (for example, to take a bath or share

their toys), we realize that our own resistance to Krsna's plans brings us

similar suffering. And when the children are happy and enthusiastic and

creative in Krsna's service -- singing in kirtana or decorating their Deities

-- we become humbly inspired to become simple and enthusiastic like these young

devotees.

 

When a devotee works with cows and oxen, he or she gains similar insight.

Sometimes animals cause themselves needless suffering and anxiety when they

resist good instructions -- whether it's learning how to back up or how to step

over a gutter. Again, the obstinate bull reminds us of our own unreasonable

resistance to Krsna's plan. On the other hand, the determined hard work of the

bull -- plowing the field or pulling the Deity cart -- will naturally be a

source of humility and spiritual inspiration.

 

One devotee said, "When you work with the animals, you can see that they are

much happier with discipline and intelligent guidelines. It's the same with our

service to Krsna and our spiritual master. Also, you feel very proud and happy

once your team is trained to work. You can tell it really gives them something

meaningful to base their identity on. They're actually working for Krsna."

 

The bull is the emblem of moral principles. And the productive engagement of

the bull is part of Krsna's plan for our purification. If we neglect

Prabhupada's instruction on this point, we will ultimately be the losers. Of

course, cow protection in any form has some value, but unless we work the oxen,

we can't get the full benefit.

 

Cow protection that depends on charity can never become the economic basis of

society. Therefore, Prabhupada emphasized the importance of working the bulls.

By doing so we can fully realize the benefits of cow protection for sustaining

society and engaging both humans and animals in Krsna's transcendental loving

service.

 

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => "Who Can We Give the Bull To?" Hare Krsna devi dasi

Back to Godhead, Vol 25, Nov 1991