Milk IS Good For You

[Guest guest]

Hot Milk

By Sesa Dasa

Board Member of ISKCON's Ministry for Educational Development.

He has a degree in law and prior to joining ISKCON he served at the

US Military Academy at West Point.

 

 

Uh-oh, there's trouble in the laboratory. Those starched lily-white

lab coats may project a prime and proper picture of scientists, but

those bad boys are all fight on the inside. They rumble big time.

Milk is the latest hot topic. What's at stake? Our money and our

health, in that order, are two things that come quickly to mind.

 

The March issue of the premier medical journal Pediatrics features a

study conducted by researchers of the Physicians Committee for

Responsible Medicine that debunks the idea that regularly drinking

milk helps growing children develop stronger bones. "Under scientific

scrutiny, the support for the milk myth crumbles," (read - don't

waste your money) said Amy Joy Lanou, the group's nutrition director.

 

The National Diary Council immediately retorted by calling the study

an "opinion piece" (read - not science), and here is where it gets

nasty, written by "an animal rights organisation that has only 5

percent physician membership" (read - they're radicals).

 

This is advancement of civilisation? Human beings were profitably

drinking milk long before Louis Pasteur started scientifically

heating up with milk in the 1860s. Now, nearly 150 years later these

vanguards of modern civilisation are still fighting over spilt milk.

 

Well, perhaps I'm too harsh. After all, modern civilisation is

primarily focused on corporeal and corporate profits, and the

scientists are leading where we want to go, right? So why not let

them duel, best scientist wins? Unfortunately, neither side can

promise us that this body, healthy or unhealthy, will live forever,

or that we will have enough money to satisfy our bodily demands.

 

"Something old, something new," this old saying provides much needed

guidance. Taking something from the profitable use of milk in ancient

civilisations perhaps we can mold something that holds the promise

for our future that modern scientists cannot guarantee.

 

Vedic civilisation focused on spiritual advancement as the purpose of

human life. Their life-style was centered on God consciousness, as

opposed to materialism, and is captured in the phrase, simple living

and high thinking.

 

How did milk aid that civilisation achieve its objectives? Milk was

useful as a bridge between our bodily existence and spiritual

consciousness.

 

Robert E. Svoboda, a chemistry graduate from the University of

Oklahoma, and the first Westerner ever to graduate from a college of

Ayurveda (the Vedic science of medicine) and be licensed to practice

Ayurveda in India, writes, "Milk helps to integrate the

consciousness. Other animal protein is derived from flesh and drags

the consciousness down into the flesh, discouraging that breaking

free of early restraints which is required for spiritual advancement.

Plant protein is sometimes insufficient to ground the consciousness

firmly enough in the physical body. Milk is the one food that

combines the uplifting essences of plants with the firm groundedness

of animals."

 

According to the Ayurveda, all foods have medicinal benefits. Milk is

particularly noted for its anabolic or tissue building properties,

both in terms of new and rejuvenative tissue growth.

 

The Founder of the Hare Krishna Movement, His Divine Grace A.C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes, "If we really want to

cultivate the human spirit in society we must have first-class

intelligent men to guide the society, and to develop the finer

tissues of our brains we must assimilate vitamin values from milk.

Devotees worship Lord Sri Krishna by addressing Him as the well-

wisher of the brahmanas and the cows. The most intelligent class of

men, who have perfectly attained knowledge in spiritual values, are

called the brahmanas. No society can improve in transcendental

knowledge without the guidance of such first-class men, and no brain

can assimilate the subtle form of knowledge without fine brain

tissues. For such important brain tissues we require a sufficient

quantity of milk and milk preparations. Ultimately, we need to

protect the cow to derive the highest benefit from this important

animal. The protection of cows, therefore, is not merely a religious

sentiment but a means to secure the highest benefit for human

society."

 

This is advancement of civilisation.

 

Niika Quistgard of Inside Ayurveda Journal has written a very

comprehensive article entitled "Milk: To Drink or Not to Drink." I

highly recommend it. Her article contains two sections I specifically

recommend to the scientists at the Physicians Committee for

Responsible Medicine and the National Dairy Council:

 

1. An Experiment

 

Drinking milk cold is not advisable, as milk is already cool and

heavy in nature. Before drinking, boil milk briefly in a non-aluminum

vessel until it produces a foamy head, then cool to warm or room

temperature. It is best to do this over a heat source, not in the

microwave oven.

 

2. Some Advice

 

Milk is effective in calming you when intensity and aggression call

out to be soothed.

 

So, come on fellas, get together over a nice cup of hot milk and work

out your differences in a civilised manner.

http://www.iskcon.com/new/050318_opinion.htm