What Sri Sri said

Bring An End To Cow Slaughter

Mon, 03/11/2014 Delhi, India

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Mr Gopal here really lives up to his name – ‘Gopal’ (another name for Lord Krishna; also meaning one who takes care of the cows). He is so dedicated towards the cause of safeguarding the cows.
I have been wanting to come here since a very long time, but somehow it was not working out. Today I was supposed to take a flight from Delhi to Hyderabad at 1:45pm today. There is a Satsang there in the evening today along with Gopashtami celebrations (a traditional festival in India held to honour the cow as a mother), and a program at the Gaushala (a large shelter for keeping and raising cows in India). But today I have the chance of visiting the Gaushala on my way to Hyderabad via Jaipur.

The word ‘Gau‘ has four meanings: Jnaana (knowledge), Gaman (to progress), Praapti (to receive) and Moksha (liberation). A cow provides all four of these.

Whenever I used to travel by car and saw a cow eating something made of plastic, I would feel very troubled. I would always feel this way, even in the past when I saw any cow eating plastic. Even if you go into Delhi city and travel along the Ring Road, you will find many cows standing in the middle of the road chewing plastic. Today I am very happy to hear from you that you have taken the efforts to bring such cows to the Gaushala to take care of them. This act of safeguarding the cows is one of our most important divine duties.
See, all that is noble and virtuous begins with the sound ‘Ga’, such as Guru, Gyaan (knowledge), Gita, Ganga, Gati (progress), Gaman (to move towards one’s ultimate destination), etc. And it is our duty to honour them all.
When people take a tour of the Art of Living Ashram in Bangalore, the Gaushala is an important part of the bus tour. In the Ashram we currently have 300 cows. You will find that wherever there are large Ashrams, there they will surely have cows being raised in a good environment. So the safe-keeping of cows is an important and integral part of our lives. You all should keep visiting the Gaushala and feed the cows here when you come.
The word ‘Gau‘ has four meanings: Jnaana (knowledge), Gaman (to progress), Praapti (to receive) and Moksha (liberation). A cow provides all four of these.
Cow’s milk helps to sharpen the mind and the intellect. The milk from the Indian cows has a very unique protein component in it that helps enhance one’s intelligence. Then the next is Gaman - meaning to progress. All the other products that a cow gives us help in moving ahead in our day to day lives. So a cow is the one that provides us with all four of these. We should pay attention to this and honour the cow.

The act of safeguarding cows is one of our most important divine duties.
We should continue to appeal to the Government of India to bring an end to cow slaughter.

See, just by offering worship and bowing down before a cow will not help. You must truly serve the cow. Usually what we do is garland the cow and perform a pooja by lighting a camphor lamp and showing it to the cow. This is not right, because it scares the cow. So you must truly serve the cow.
Your life should blossom fully with these four things – Daya (Mercy), Karuna (Compassion), Sahanshilta (Tolerance) and Shanti (Peace). What good is a heart that cannot feel the pain of others? Such a heart can only bring pain and violence to others.
Today all the parliament ministers are also here. People across India today want to bring an end to cow slaughter.
When India won independence, it is said that the animal population was close to 120 million and we were just 30 million in number. Today that number has reversed. Today, we are around 120 million in number and our animal population has dwindled to around 30 million. This ratio is not good at all. Do you think it is right? So we all have to work hard towards increasing the population and well-being of our cows. We should continue to appeal to the Government of India to bring an end to cow slaughter.