Namo brahmanya devaya go brahmana hitaya caSrila Prabhupada explained go brahmana, first the cows and then the brahmanas - so much importance is given to the cows by Krishna that even before worshipping the brahmanas we are worshipping the cows.
Yatra ksirabdhi surabhibayam ca sa sumahan nimesardhakyo na vrajati na hi yatrapi samayah bhaja svetadvipam
tam aham iha golokam iti yam
In the Brahma Samhita, it is mentioned that in the spiritual world the cows are wish-fulfilling, they are known as Surabhi cows. They are producing oceans of milk, ksirabdhi. Krishna is residing in His transcendental abode, there are unlimited cows and it is described that when Krishna was here in Vrndavana that Krishna would have unlimited cowherd boy associates and each of these associates would have a huge number of cows and calves. If we think about the numbers of cows in these pastimes we sometimes may think how did they all fit on the narrow path ways of Vrndavana – there must have been enormous traffic jams!!!
But somehow or other by Krishna’s arrangement everything is going on very smoothly: the world where cows are protected is indeed Krishna’s arrangement, it is the natural way to exist...
We are now living so far from that - we are here for a day to worship the cows ., we are naturally having very warm feelings for the cows but our everyday way of life is a life with machines – and the results is that our lives are painful. It is difficult and in our lives it is a struggle, a struggle just to do about anything.I was here in Vrndavana and see how India is playing with modern technology, they don’t always understand it. Today we saw some flames coming out of an electric box and it didn’t look good. Everyone though was like: “It is ok, It is ok!”
Well it didn’t look ok! It is like that.
I remember the traffic and I remember how in India you learn to pray in traffic. Two vehicles were approaching each other in the darkness of night and one of the drivers was nodding, was he asleep, - it looked serious. The vehicles were coming closer and closer and a head on collision seemed unavoidable …if it would have been machines, but because they were bullock carts, nothing happened!Even when the driver sleeps the bullocks stay awake! In this way the bullocks move around and I saw many times here in Vrndavana in the night the bullocks are walking to the market and the owner sleeps in the back and when they get to the market the bullocks sleep and the owner works!... so they work in shifts! In another words a very practical culture, A culture that is not inimical to being natural. With machines everything is inimical to being natural -in a car one fraction of a second is enough…Finished!
So the cow and the bull are described by Srila Prabhupada as totally harmless creatures. Everything about them is auspisicious, supportive for the environment and in this way with cow protection we find all the good that is required. The cows provide milk, she is one of the seven mothers along with the mother by birth, the wife of the brahmanas, the wife of the king, the wife of the guru, the nurse, the earth… – the cow is one of our mothers, and as such we depend for our existence on the cows and the cows depend on our protection. Cows are not doing well maintaining themselves independently. They are domestic animals, they are meant to be protected by human beings - There is a natural relationship between the two. That relationship is there in the spiritual world and the entire culture in Goloka Vrndavana is built on that culture.
Krishna was protecting the cows, calling the cows and there are so many pastimes concerning the cows. Krishna’s name is Govinda. Yesterday we were hearing from Gopiparanadhana who was explaining that in the Govardhana pastime , at one point Indra came at the end of the Govardhana Lila before Krishna to beg pardon and at that time he was afraid so he did not come alone, but brought Surabhi, the wish fulfilling cow.. Surabhi prayed to Krishna and said that she desired that Krishna would become their Indra, not the Demigod Indra – after all the name Indra is a post other than a personal name and Surabhi wanted Krishna to become the Indra because He is the real maintainer – and therefore she wanted to crown Krishna as the Indra or king of the universe and therefore she started bathing Him with milk and Indra was forced to go along with it, -although it hurt him to crown Krishna as the Indra of the universe- “ and he ordered His elephant Airavata to also start bathing Krsna with water from the heavenly Ganges, named Alakananda.
Within the Sanskrit verse it says:‘Indra gava’ so Gopiparanadhana Prabhu, he explained that Indra gava is the origin of the word Govinda. He said gava and Indra becomes gavindra, which becomes Govinda. So Govinda is the maintainer of the cows, the Lord of the cows, the caretaker of the cows - that is Krishna’s nature, that is Krishna’s desire to care for the cows and all these pastimes are connected to the cows.
Krishna appeared in a vaishya family, in the Govinda Lilamrita there is a story that Mother Yashoda wanted Krishna to wear shoes, something Krishna certainly didn’t want. So Krishna refused but his mother was extremely insisting - finally Krishna being very intelligent came up with the following question:
‘Is it true that we are vaishyas’
‘Yes yes’
‘Well what is the first duty of the vaishyas? Isn’t it the first duty of the vaishyas to protect the cows?”
“yes”
“so isn’t it that we should first offer the shoes to all the cows before we can take ourselves?!”
And Mother Yashoda said ‘ yes” - and that she couldn’t do, so in that way Krishna got out of it!
All the cowherd boys said: “Very smart very smart!”
In this way Krishna’s entire life is mixed with the cows and when our lives also become more centred around the cows then we will become peaceful - and till then there will be all kinds of strains , anxieties and unnecessary tension. The material world certainly is a place full of misery and it is temporary and birth old age disease are fundamental problems of this existence, but we have also added so many problems and most of the time we are dealing with all the added problems in our life. So if we simply return to our culture one day where the cows are protected, then we would be more peaceful - so in conclusion we can not do that now, we can at least care for some cows and with that make a humble beginning, a humble beginning towards a change in the world. So our goshallas are very important and today is a wonderful festival.
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As Pancagauda said, I used to also be in charge here, I used to live here next door and look at the goshala, and I also lived in the goshala. If I look at it now, I see many things that are old, broken walls and things and I think of what we can do to help?
Getting land for the cows would be nice, it is not just a nice idea, it is an absolute necessity, we need to, to give them the natural comfort they require. We’ve been talking and we would like to do something to get this land for the cows in Vrndavana. If you wish you may help. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna.
(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Govardhana Pooja,7th November 2010)
