We regard all living creatures as sacred – mammals, fishes, birds and more. We acknowledge this reverence for life in our special affection for the cow. At festivals we decorate and honour her, but we do not worship her in the sense that we worship the Deity.
To us, the cow symbolizes all other creatures. The cow is a symbol of the Earth, the nourisher, the ever-giving, undemanding provider.
The cow represents life and the sustenance of life. The cow is so generous, taking nothing but water, grass and grain.
Cow gives and gives and gives of its milk, as does the liberated soul give of his spiritual knowledge. The cow is so vital to life, the virtual sustainer of life, for many humans. The cow is a symbol of grace and abundance. Veneration of the cow instils in human being the virtues of gentleness, receptivity and connectedness with nature.
Who is the greatest giver on planet Earth today?
Who do we see on every table in every country of the world –breakfast, lunch and dinner?
From breakfast to dinner in night we consume milk or milk product and eatable made of milk or milk products.
The generous cow gives milk and cream, yogurt and cheese, butter and ice cream, ghee and buttermilk.
The only cow-question for us is, "Why don’t more people respect and protect this remarkable creature?"
Mahatma Gandhi once said, "One can measure the greatness of a nation and its moral progress by the way it treats its animals. Cow protection to me is not mere protection of the cow. It means protection of all that lives and is helpless and weak in the world. The cow means the entire subhuman world."
In the Hindu tradition, the cow is honoured, garlanded and given special feedings at festivals all over India, most importantly the annual Gopashtama festival.
Demonstrating how dearly Hindus love their cows, colourful cow jewellery and clothing is sold at fairs all over the Indian countryside. From a young age, children are taught to decorate the cow with garlands, paint and ornaments. Her nature is epitomized in Kamadhenu, the divine, wish-fulfilling cow.
The cow and her sacred gifts –milk and ghee in particular –are essential elements in Hindu worship, penance and rites of passage.
In India, more than 3,000 institutions called Gaushalas, maintained by charitable trusts, care for old and infirm cows.
By her docile, tolerant nature, the cow exemplifies the cardinal virtue of Hinduism, noninjury, known as ahimsa. The cow also symbolizes dignity, strength, endurance, maternity and selfless service.
In the Vedas, cows represent wealth and joyous Earthly life. From the Rig Veda (4.28.1;6) we read. "The cows have come and have brought us good fortune.
And the last but not the least , it is the nature of human being and most of animals to give respect and value to mother whose milk helps in growth of a baby and in the same way to Cow which gives milk and many milk products that helps all persons from birth to death irrespective of caste and community till old age. We all are indebted to this innocent creature called as cow.
Now we have to decide whether it is justified to kill cow that gives and only gives and take only grass and waste products of house ?
| Why do Hindus worship the cow? |
| We really don't pray to cows. We respect, and when we greatly respect out of love, we call it worship. Worshiping means paying particular attention, care and concern. We worship cows, we worship people, we worship our mother because we simply respect them all. We sincerely love them. We don't want to hurt them. India, being an agriculture society in its early days, found the cow useful not only for milk but also for plowing the land and for transportation. The cow was very important to the Aryans, so they gave more importance to cows than the other creatures. Like you are more important to your parents than other people so they serve you more. So to respect cow is just like we respect automobile today. We care for the cars because it is a necessity. So instead of word "care", we might use the word "prayer" or "worship." Hence the cow is considered a manifestation of God. It represents all the helpless animals that cannot talk. By respecting them it means we should not take advantage or harm them, but be lovable to all creatures. Worshiping does not mean that they have become God, but that God has manifested in them. To worship a cow means to worship all the helpless ones including the sick, poor, and old. The life of a worldly person will show that he is always worshiping where he finds himself as a benefactor; it is a selfish attitude. He will worship all that he has -- a house, a car, or money. To make more money some will want to study more; they will become doctors to make more money rather than to serve mankind. There is nothing wrong in respecting or worshiping all creatures, including cows. We should really be worshiping the entire universe as the Gita teaches us. To worship means to respect, to love, and to dignify everything -- including ourselves. -- Swami Radhanandaji |
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