Friends, am back!
Very happy to touch
base at the dawn of the New Year - hoping and praying that 2015 would
bring in lots of luck and good fortune to all of us.
As for me,
am happy to continue my spiritual journey holding on tightly to the
lotus feet of His Holiness Sri Kanchi Maha Periva. I pray to HIM to give me the strength to continue
spreading HIS light far and wide through the Forums/ Groups I manage
along with some like minded friends and devotees.
All of us are
aware that Sri Maha Periva's discourses captured in the seven volumes of
Deivathin Kural/ Voice of God is also known as the common man’s Veda.
Our Mahaswami has given us a wealth of information through these books,
and every single page is a pokisham (treasure) for us to cherish and
relish. In Volume Seven of Deivathin Kural, an entire chapter is devoted
to Gho Samrakshanam (Protection of Cows).
Periva has addressed
every argument that one can think of on why the holy animal must be
protected and why cruelty to the cow is a great sin. Here is an
extract/ some key points from Periva's extensive narration.
The
cow is God. Although she is an animal, she is Gomatha who gives milk
like a mother and is the form of Srimatha. As Kamadenu, she is the
divine mother who gives all that is desired. Kamadenu manifested from
the Ocean of Milk (Kshirabdhi). If we enjoy the milk from the cow as
long as it gives milk and then send it away for slaughter once it stops
yielding milk, it is like killing the mother who has become old and
cannot do any work. The meat of a cow is the same as the meat of a
mother.
Only some people can do puja to the cow treating it as
divine. But there is a duty that is to be performed by everyone – giving
fodder to the cow. Every day we have to give atleast a handful of grass
to the cow. Sasthras refer to this as ‘gograsam’. ‘Grasam’ means a
mouthful of food. It is from ‘gograsam’ that the English word ‘grass’
has been derived. In his Thirumandhiram, Thirumular has mentioned the
duty of giving ‘gograsam’ in between the duty of offering a leaf (bilva)
to Iswara and giving alms.
On the one hand, we worship the cow as a deity. On the other hand, we are making
available for slaughter cows which have stopped yielding milk or we
starve them. This hypocrisy is a great blemish on us. Till such time we
do not protect the cows well until its natural death, we are unfit to
call ourselves Hindus.
My wish is that in addition to we Hindus
coming together as a family in the service of the cow, we have to carry
this message with love to people of other religions also, involve them
so that the entire society comes together as a family for doing the
service. Religious affinity may take different forms for different
people but since compassion to animals is common to all, all
religions in our country should come together on this basis. That is
my wish.
To nurture the cow and protect it is punya which will
give all benefits. To neglect it is a great sin which will invite curse
and there is proof for this. The welfare of the cow will ensure the
welfare of the country. If it is protected, sins will come down on their
own. If it is subjected to cruelties, there will be trouble for the
whole world. According to Sasthras, Dharma Devatha is of the form of a
bull (Rishabham) with four legs namely, thapas, purity, compassion and
sathyam. In Bhagavatham (1.17) it is said ‘Gomatha’ is in association
with that bull, that mother cow yields dharma as milk and because the
Kali Purusha subjected the pair to cruelty, this age of Kali (Kaliyugam)
is in a state of such deterioration. Therefore, for remedying the Kali
dosham and dharma to come up, cow protection is an important measure.
There is no great punya that the
gift of a cow. It is the greatest remedy for sins. The gift (dhanam)
has to be made after making sure that the person who receives it is
capable of protecting it. That country where cows have no fear of any
cruelty being inflicted on them and live peacefully in gokula, all sins
will go and will shine. May Lord Krishna bestow His grace so that our
Bharath becomes such a country and all of us develop the attitude and
ability to make it such."
No doubt that there are several noble
people protecting cows in Ghosalas. It is also enlightening to know that
several youngsters are coming forward to support this cause.
I am happy to endorse one such organization called www.myorganicbazaar.com
in Chennai, focused on supplying farm fresh Organic Milk, Organic
fruits, vegetables, greens and
pure organic pulses.
My interest in this organization is two fold - one is that their
products are directly sourced from organic farmers, which will help the
farmers get better margin for their products and thus encourage them to
continue agriculture which is currently dwindling And second, and most
important outcome of this initiative is the protection of cows and
cattle, including dry cows which are invaluable to the organic farming
practices.
Those of you who are interested in supporting this noble cause can visit their
website www.myorganicbazaar.com to buy their products online, and have
them delivered at your home in Chennai. They can be reached via email on
myorganicbazaar@gmail.com or phone @ +91-99529-22522
As someone who has grown amongst cows since my childhood, protection
of cows is something very close to my heart. Sometime down the years, I
want to take up this initiative in a big way, and am waiting for HIS call. In the meantime, am supporting a couple of Gho Salas in and around
Chennai which are in dire need of financial assistance - the least I can
do at the moment to prevent these animals from going to the slaughter
house.
If anyone is interested in "Gho Samrakshanam", please write to
me. There is so much we can do to give back to the society through Cow
Protection.
This New Year, let each one of us pledge to do whatever we can to
protect the divine animal, and also help the farmer who is dependent on
the Cows for organic farming.
Wish you all a Very Happy, Prosperous and Blessed New Year 2015!!
Cheers!
