Cow protection movement
People who ask if cows are considered sacred should understand that Hindus regard all living creatures as sacred-mammals, fishes, birds and more. The cow symbolically represents all other creatures to the Hindu. The cow is a complete ecology, a gentle creature and a symbol of abundance. Yes, the cow is considered very sacred in Hindu religion and for very good reason. It's good qualities are those that we can emulate.
Traditionally, the bulls work in the agricultural farms, cows provide milk — as a baby, mother provides milk, later it is the cow. The generous cow gives milk and cream, yogurt and cheese, butter and ice cream, ghee, buttermilk etc. That makes one respect and love the cow. This is largely true in India even today!. Even after their natural death their skin provides leather. In modern times, however, the tanneries which use extremely carcigenous chemicals to process leather, have been polluting the scarce drinking water. It is true that most people respect the right of way to cows and in fact to any animal, when they stray in a street. They are viewed as food producers and not as food itself. Actually, the word for cow in Tamil is "pasu". The word for animal in Sanskrit is the same "pasu". In other words, the cow personifies "animals" in general. All animals are sacred in Hinduism.
No wonder milk
is known as white poison in today's world. Contrary to this statement,
in ancient India, cow's milk was regarded as a wholesome food for
children and adults alike. It was a complete food in itself then,
whenever nothing else was available to eat.
The way cows are ill
treated today for more milk production, is nothing but torture to the
poor animal. Whenever cows are forced to produce more milk, by injecting
artificial hormones into their bodies,
they become more susceptible to udder infections called mastitis.
Mastitis is a condition which can increase the amount of cow’s pus
cells, which ends up in the milk that we drink these days.
Mastitis is treated with antibiotics, increasing the antibiotics residues which are present in milk supplied to the consumers in India.
I was under the impression, that only under developed and developing
countries, are crude and unscientific in farming and dairy production.
But I now realise that developed nations are even cruder. Grass eating
herbivorous animals like poor cows, are fed with minced beef along with
fodder, for exponential growth in milk production in countries like US. I
heard this from my brother Raman, who has almost stopped milk
consumption these days. He says he lives on just Soya milk these days,
as the beef eating cows' milk has a repulsive smell.
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