Message on cow protection ‘A mother feeds her child for six months but the sacred cow feeds humankind throughout its life’.
Being a Realized Master, Sadguru Murali Krishna displays deep unconditional love; such love is not restricted to human beings but includes animals and plants as well. A Mahatma is a living truth of the principle ‘All is in One and One is in All’. Such unreserved compassion for the universe is the true test of a genuine Mahatma. Such a blessed one is unable to view the universe as being apart from himself or herself. His love embraces all creation and He makes no distinction between one form of life and another.
Sadguru Murali Krishna displayed such love from the earliest days and all kinds of animals were accorded a warm welcome and respected by everybody in the ashram. They are treated like human beings and always addressed by their names. Sick animals were brought to the Ashram and kept by him on his couch or on the floor beside Him until their eventual recovery. Swamiji often speaks with great insistence and feeling on the subject of cow protection.
The Sharavana Baba Goshala located at Sreekrishnapuram (village that Swami Murali Krishna was born in) in Kerala in South India aims to advance the noble cause of cow protection in a modest way. In this goshala (cowshed), cows, bulls and calves are looked after with great care and affection. These animals are not sold to slaughter houses or abandoned even when they become old. They are maintained till the end of their lives in the same circumstances that they were brought up in.
Why is the cow sacred in our scriptures?
Kamadhenu, the sacred cow, which grants all wishes and desires, is an integral part of Hindu mythology. This divine cow, which lives in swargaloka (heaven), emerged from ksheersagara (the ocean of milk) at the time of samudramanthan (the great churning of the ocean by the suras and asuras).
It was presented to the seven sages by the Gods, and eventually came into the possession of Sage Vasishta. Kamadhenu’s complexion is like the white clouds. Every part of a cow’s body has a religious significance.
Its four legs symbolise the four Vedas, and its teats, the four Purusharthas (these include dharma or righteous conduct, artha or wealth, kama or desire, and moksha or liberation). Its horns symbolize the Gods, its face symbolizes the Sun and the Moon, its shoulders Agni (the god of fire), and its legs, the Himalayas. Kamadhenu is also widely known through her other five forms including Nanda, Sunanda, Surabhi, Susheela and Sumana.
Importance of cow protection
Lord Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavatam, “I can be worshiped within cows by offerings of grass and other suitable grains and paraphernalia for the pleasure and health of the cows, and one may worship me within the Vaishnavas by offering loving friendship to them and honoring them in all respects.”
Hindu scriptures portray the cow as a symbol of motherhood and the bull as a symbol of fatherhood. Together they symbolise the parents of the human race.
The cow is the quintessential mother; just as a little child pulls at the mother’s breast for milk, human society pulls the teats of the cow for her milk. Similarly, the bull represents the paternal side; it is often that the father is the breadwinner very similar to the bull who tills the soil to produce food grain. Destroying cows and bulls is tantamount to human society destroying the spirit of parenthood.
The article is taken from the book The Global Mission of Sadguru Sri Sharavana Baba