[Advaita-l] 1966

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

There is a school of thought by Hari Sastry that go (the desi cow) is
different from gavaya (other species). The medicinal properties of go are
said to be absent in gavaya. And while go is the incarnation of lakshmi and
sattvic, gavaya is considered to be a tamasic pasu. While go has tissues
from the neck and a hump, the gavaya does not. In my opinion, these are
intra-species differences not proven. If the foreign cow gives you milk, she
is like your mother. There is no reason not to worship her as such and
absolutely no reason to harm her. If you like the desi cows more, you should
take steps to protect them. There are some who go to the extent of creating
pure breed of desi cows because they are becoming extinct due to low milk
production.
 On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 5:28 PM, Venkatesh Murthy <vmurthy36 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Namaste
>
> Some people say only Indian cows are like Gods but American and other
> foreign cows are not like that.
>
> Should we worship the foreign cows? They may have mad cow disease
> also. Is mad cow disease a Shapa of the cows?
>
> On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 1:47 AM, Rajaram Venkataramani
> <rajaramvenk at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Thank you. The question was aimed at a practical objective. We have
> launched
> > ahimsa milk in the UK and we want to do the same in India. My friend who
> is
> > leading this in India wanted this information.
> > As you know, dharma is derived from the root word dhr, which means to
> uphold
> > or nourish. If we have to nourish the society and uphold its stature, we
> > have to uphold go and brahmana. By brahmana, the reference is to the
> > scriptures and a learned vaidhika who can advise the communities based
> the
> > scriptures. It also refers to one who has brahman as the goal. This
> > nourishing - not just protecting of brahmana - is intricately linked to
> > nourishing go, which refers to both the earth and the cow. If the cow is
> > nourished, which means she is worshipped as not only Goddess Lakshmi but
> > also the representation of all the Gods or forms of Brahman on earth,
> then
> > earth is protected because there is no exploitation of land and water to
> > serve beef indistry. There is protection of Brahmanas and they work
> amicably
> > with Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. It protects the Scriptures because
> it
> > depends on the protection of the Brahmanas and in a culture based on
> > knowledge and devotion, there will the right environment for having
> Brahman
> > as the goal.
> >
> > There are political, cultural, religious and social implications. It is
> okay
> > for different people to influence go-brahmana-samrakshana from different
> > points of view. It is not possible to expect every one to do it
> > unconditionally. If one wants to protect cows because it is a cultural
> > heritage, I think it is okay and factually correct. In Egypt, the cow was
> > considered  an incarnation of Great Goddess Hathore and worshipped. One
> may
> > support it because their religion - be it Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism or
> > Hinduism - prescribes it. In Christianity there is saying that "One who
> > kills an ox is as if he slew a man". If a Christian comes out to support
> cow
> > protection based on his interpretation of Christianity, it is the right
> > thing to do. A Muslim may follow the example of Ali, the son-in-law of
> > Mohammed and not want to harm the cow or follow Syed Nazir Ahmed Saheb
> the
> > author of Islamic Goraksha to consider beef as a disease. An atheist may
> > consider that it is necessary to not harm a living entity such as the cow
> > especially because we depend so much on the cow as we do on the earth and
> > the mother. Whatever propels one from cruelty to compassion is good.
> >
> > As a Shankarite, I am indeed glad that a Shankaracharya has taken the
> lead
> > in go samrakshana.
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 5:05 PM, Vidyasankar Sundaresan <
> > svidyasankar at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> > According to wikipedia, in 1966 one of the Shankaracharyas fasted to
> >> bring
> >> > in ban on cow slaughter. Is that so? I am keen to know if
> Shankaracharyas
> >> > have, if at all, voiced concern about cow protection. I know that
> >> Shankara
> >> > Mutts have goshalas. But I am no sure if there is an serious official
> >> > position by the mutts on this topic.
> >>
> >>
> >> The Shankaracharya of Puri, Swami Niranjana Devatirtha, agitated in 1966
> to
> >> ban
> >> cow slaughter in all of India, and was arrested. Swami Karpatri was also
> >> involved
> >> in the agitation.
> >>
> >> There is a book by an author called Christophe Jaffrelot, "The Hindu
> >> Nationalist
> >> Movement in India" (Columbia University Press, 1998, ISBN 0231103352),
> >> which
> >> has details. For historical reasons, banning of cow slaughter is a
> >> political issue in
> >> India, so chances are that you won't agree with the conclusions made by
> the
> >> above author, but please note that he gets the factual details right.
> >>
> >> The problem with all these questions is one of expectations. When any
> >> institution
> >> (not only the Sankara maThas, for gohatyA is an issue that concerns
> others
> >> too)
> >> gives out an official position, what would you take it as and how do you
> >> estimate
> >> its seriousness? A religious position in a religious landscape or a
> >> religious position
> >> in a political landscape or a political position in a religious
> landscape
> >> or a political
> >> position in a political landscape? What our religious institutions
> really
> >> are, what
> >> their administration's self-image is, what you think they should be,
> what
> >> someone
> >> else thinks they should be, these are all very different things.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Vidyasankar
> >>
> >>
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>
> --
> Regards
>
> -Venkatesh
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