Cow Protection ( krsi-go-raksya Bhagavad-Gita 18.44)

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Cow Protection ( krsi-go-raksya Bhagavad-Gita 18.44)

Books References from A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Founder-Acarya International Society For Krishna Conciousness.

 

Bg 14.16 P The Three Modes Of Material Nature As far as the mode of

ignorance is concerned, the performer is without knowledge, and therefore all

his activities result in present misery, and afterwards he will go on toward

animal life. Animal life is always miserable, although, under the spell of the

illusory energy, maya, the animals do not understand this. Slaughtering poor

animals is also due to the mode of ignorance. The animal killers do not know

that in the future the animal will have a body suitable to kill them. That is

the law of nature. In human society, if one kills a man he has to be hanged.

That is the law of the state. Because of ignorance, people do not perceive that

there is a complete state controlled by the Supreme Lord. Every living creature

is a son of the Supreme Lord, and He does not tolerate even an ant's being

killed. One has to pay for it. So, indulgence in animal killing for the taste

of the tongue is the grossest kind of ignorance. A human being has no need to

kill animals because God has supplied so many nice things. If one indulges in

meat-eating anyway, it is to be understood that he is acting in ignorance and

is making his future very dark. Of all kinds of animal killing, the killing of

cows is most vicious because the cow gives us all kinds of pleasure by

supplying milk. Cow slaughter is an act of the grossest type of ignorance. In

the Vedic literature the words gobhih prinita-matsaram indicate that one who,

being fully satisfied by milk, is desirous of killing the cow, is in the

grossest ignorance. There is also a prayer in the Vedic literature that states:

 

Bhagavad gita As It Is 14.16 P The Three Modes Of Material Nature

namo brahmanya-devaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca jagad-dhitaya krsnaya govindaya

namo namah

 

"My Lord, You are the well-wisher of the cows and the brahmanas, and You are

the well-wisher of the entire human society and world." The purport is that

special mention is given in that prayer for the protection of the cows and the

brahmanas. Brahmanas are the symbol of spiritual education, and cows are the

symbol of the most valuable food; these two living creatures, the brahmanas and

the cows, must be given all protection--that is real advancement of

civilization. In modern human society, spiritual knowledge is neglected, and

cow killing is encouraged. It is to be understood, then, that human society is

advancing in the wrong direction and is clearing the path to its own

condemnation. A civilization which guides the citizens to become animals in

their next lives is certainly not a human civilization. The present human

civilization is, of course, grossly misled by the modes of passion and

ignorance. It is a very dangerous age, and all nations should take care to

provide the easiest process, Krsna consciousness, to save humanity from the

greatest danger.

 

Srimad Bhagavatam 6.4.9 P The Hamsa-guhya Prayers By nature's law,

or the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one kind of living

entity is eatable by other living entities. As mentioned herein, dvi-padam ca

catus-padah: the four-legged animals (catus-padah), as well as food grains, are

eatables for human beings (dvi-padam). These four-legged animals are those such

as deer and goats, not cows, which are meant to be protected. Generally the men

of the higher classes of society--the brahmanas, ksatriyas and vaisyas--do not

eat meat. Sometimes ksatriyas go to the forest to kill animals like deer

because they have to learn the art of killing, and sometimes they eat the

animals also. Sudras, too, eat animals such as goats. Cows, however, are never

meant to be killed or eaten by human beings. In every sastra, cow killing is

vehemently condemned. Indeed, one who kills a cow must suffer for as many years

as there are hairs on the body of a cow. Manu-samhita says, pravrttir esa

bhutanam nivrttis tu maha-phala: we have many tendencies in this material

world, but in human life one is meant to learn how to curb those tendencies.

Those who desire to eat meat may satisfy the demands of their tongues by eating

lower animals, but they should never kill cows, who are actually accepted as the

mothers of human society because they supply milk. The sastra especially

recommends, krsi-go-raksya: the vaisya section of humanity should arrange for

the food of the entire society through agricultural activities and should give

full protection to the cows, which are the most useful animals because they

supply milk to human society.

Adi 17.159 The Pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in His Youth In the Vedic

scriptures there are concessions for meat-eaters. It is said that if one wants

to eat meat, he should kill a goat before the goddess Kali and then eat its

meat. Meat-eaters are not allowed to purchase meat or flesh from a market or

slaughterhouse. There are no sanctions for maintaining regular slaughterhouses

to satisfy the tongues of meat-eaters. As far as cow-killing is concerned, it

is completely forbidden. Since the cow is considered a mother, how could the

Vedas allow cow-killing? Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu pointed out that the Kazi's

statement was faulty. In the Bhagavad-gita (18.44) there is a clear injunction

that cows should be protected: krsi-goraksya-vanijyam vaisya-karma

svabhava-jam. "The duty of vaisyas is to produce agricultural products, trade

and give protection to cows." Therefore it is a false statement that the Vedic

scriptures contain injunctions permitting cow-killing.

 

SB1.12.26 P Birth of Emperor Pariksit The wisest man in the world is a

devotee of the Lord. The sages are called wise men, and there are different

types of wise men for different branches of knowledge. Unless, therefore, the

king or the head of the state is the wisest man, he cannot control all types of

wise men in the state. In the line of royal succession in the family of Maharaja

Yudhisthira, all the kings, without exception, were the wisest men of their

times, and so also it is foretold about Maharaja Pariksit and his son Maharaja

Janamejaya, who was yet to be born. Such wise kings can become chastisers of

upstarts and uprooters of Kali, or quarrelsome elements. As will be clear in

the chapters ahead, Maharaja Pariksit wanted to kill the personified Kali, who

was attempting to kill a cow, the emblem of peace and religion. The symptoms of

Kali are (1) wine, (2) women, (3) gambling and (4) slaughterhouses. Wise rulers

of all states should take lessons from Maharaja Pariksit in how to maintain

peace and morality by subduing the upstarts and quarrelsome people who indulge

in wine, illicit connection with women, gambling and meat-eating supplied by

regularly maintained slaughterhouses. In this age of Kali, regular license is

issued for maintaining all of these different departments of quarrel. So how

can they expect peace and morality in the state? The state fathers, therefore,

must follow the principles of becoming wiser by devotion to the Lord, by

chastising the breaker of discipline and by uprooting the symptoms of quarrel,

as mentioned above. If we want blazing fire, we must use dry fuel. Blazing fire

and moist fuel go ill together. Peace and morality can prosper only by the

principles of Maharaja Pariksit and his followers.