worshiping cow

murugan

murugan

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Namasta!

Is there any history or belief in worshiping cow in Hinduism?
 
As I've understood it from my Hindi friends. India has always had a population problem and during a particularly bad time of famine and drought the religious leaders saw that the people were about to eat all the cows to survive. To save the population as a whole, cows were made 'sacred', and not to be eaten. This allowed them to keep cows and oxen for plowing fields and providing milk and may have saved their people.

Another health related edict was that crossing rivers was forbidden. Which made the job of moving goods cross rivers by 'untouchables' the lowest caste. The reasoning was to keep disease from spreading and reduce epidemics in densely populated areas...hopefully the disease would stop at the water.

Now my Hindi friends today who live in the states and fly around the world regularly to visit family so often feel they've hindered their karma irreparibly by their constant crossing of waters that they are over here eating pastrami sandwiches and steaks. I ask them about this, "In India I am a vegetarian, but when in Rome...besides, this is not the sacred cow, the sacred cows are in India"
 
wil said:
As I've understood it from my Hindi friends. India has always had a population problem and during a particularly bad time of famine and drought the religious leaders saw that the people were about to eat all the cows to survive. To save the population as a whole, cows were made 'sacred', and not to be eaten. This allowed them to keep cows and oxen for plowing fields and providing milk and may have saved their people.
Click to expand...

But I have heard people reciting this mantra during cow worship.

"SARVE DEVAAH STHITA DEHE
SARVA DEVAMAYEEHI GAOU"

When I asked them for the meaning of the mantra they said that...

It means that all the deities dwell in the body of a cow. Therefore the cow itself is as holier, as the deities. The various parts of the body of the cow in which the deities, the revered sages, the various elements, are believed to dwell
 
I provided what I know of as the history behind the mythology. Hindu's also worship a G!d with an elephant head and a mouse body....yet they all represent Krishna... I think every living thing and perceived G!d represents Krishna...

A Hindu priest once told me that they are Monotheists...there is only one G!d, all the rest are representations, various views. His example was, "To my mother I am a son, to my niece I am her uncle, to my son I am his father, to my sister I am her brother, to my wife I am her husband....I am just me, but they all see me as different."
 
"Hindi" meat eaters = future planning for birth as 'un-touchable and/or every variation on that theme'
---IOW, they may be Hindi (speaking) but they are not religiously educated enough to 'Know what is allowable & what is NOT-allowable' actions that amount to future good karma . . . obviously!

{IMO: "Hindu meat eater" is like saying a "capitalist-free-enterprise Dictator" }

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I have gathered and posted verses & commentary from A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami's translations of orthodox Hindu Scripture at this link to a hindu forum site:

Verses to brace-ourselves to preach Cow Protection

Here is some excerpts from my compilations:

The cow . . . when there is no milk the cow is sent to be
slaughtered. These greatly sinful acts are responsible for all the
troubles in present society.

Everyone can understand that we drink the milk of
cows and take the help of bulls in producing agricultural products.

Therefore, since our real father gives us food grains and our mother
gives us milk with which to live, the cow and bull are considered our
father and mother.

According to Vedic civilization, there are seven
mothers, of which the cow is one. . . . "What kind of religious
principle do you follow by killing your father and mother to eat
them?"

A civilized man is expected to live on foodstuffs comprising fruits,
vegetables, grains, sugar and milk. The bull helps in the agricultural process*
of producing grain, etc., and thus in one sense the bull is the father of
humankind, whereas the cow is the mother, for she supplies milk to
human society. A civilized man is therefore expected to give all
protection to the bulls and cows.

{*bhaktajan comments: this amounts to Agrarian-Culture/economics devoid of war}

. . . indulgence in animal killing for the taste of the
tongue is the grossest kind of ignorance.

Of all kinds of animal killing, the killing of cows is most vicious because the
cow gives us all kinds of pleasure by supplying milk.
Cow slaughter is an act of the grossest type of ignorance. In the Vedic literature
(Rig Veda 9.4.64) the words gobhih prinita-matsaram indicate that one
who, being fully satisfied by milk, is desirous of killing the cow is
in the grossest ignorance . . .

In India, the cow is considered sacred not because Indian
people are primitive worshipers of mythological totems but because
Hindus intelligently understand that the cow is a mother.
As children, nearly all of us were nourished with cow's milk, and
therefore the cow is one of our mothers. Certainly one's mother is
sacred, and therefore we should not kill the sacred cow.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The following statement is sincere and not just a whimsical attempt to be a provocature.

As long as the cows are killed & eaten by humans ---there cannot be world peace.

The cow is sacred solely because aesthetically the cow is
Mother of agrarian culture. The Bull is the oxen power best suited for plowing fields.

The Mother supplies milk-based foodstuffs and the ox plows the fields.

Aside from these priorities all sorts of enterprises may be pursued ---but any & all such supra-mundane priorities have & will again lead to confligations.

The last century is a text-book study of this maxim.

"How to achieve world peace"

There is a direct relation between cow-eating and wars!

This may be news to you. It is a sublime truth that needs to be understood.

It is not about the Cow's 'rights' ---it's about incurring what I like to call "Funky Karma" [in sanskrit the term for "Funky Karma" is 'ugra-karma']

Cow-eating causes 'ugra-karma' and thus wars are the most efficient way to accomplish ugly "karmic-reactions enmass", thus accomplishing multiple "paybacks" simulateuosly with minimum effort.

Thos embroiled in war are experiencing "karmic-reactions enmass" ---reaping the 'funky' fruits of their labors preformed during "Peacetime".

I am not a PETA person and I don't give a fig for the animals "Rights".

Cow protection & vegetarianism is all about avoiding "funky-karma".

Bhaktajan

PS: The cow is sacred because = the cow is the quintessentially perfect species for agrarian society—the husband of the cow ‘the bull’ is the best beast of burden for farm life; the cow gives milk, cheese(s), yogurt, butter, panir, ghee, ice cream, whip cream, caramel sweets, medicinal urine, fuel, fertilizer, Oxen, and when they naturally die: leather.
 
bhaktajan said:
"Hindi" meat eaters = future planning for birth as 'un-touchable and/or every variation on that theme'
---IOW, they may be Hindi (speaking) but they are not religiously educated enough to 'Know what is allowable & what is NOT-allowable' actions that amount to future good karma . . . obviously!

{IMO: "Hindu meat eater" is like saying a "capitalist-free-enterprise Dictator" }

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I have gathered and posted verses & commentary from A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami's translations of orthodox Hindu Scripture at this link to a hindu forum site:

Verses to brace-ourselves to preach Cow Protection

Here is some excerpts from my compilations:

The cow . . . when there is no milk the cow is sent to be
slaughtered. These greatly sinful acts are responsible for all the
troubles in present society.

Everyone can understand that we drink the milk of
cows and take the help of bulls in producing agricultural products.

Therefore, since our real father gives us food grains and our mother
gives us milk with which to live, the cow and bull are considered our
father and mother.

According to Vedic civilization, there are seven
mothers, of which the cow is one. . . . "What kind of religious
principle do you follow by killing your father and mother to eat
them?"

A civilized man is expected to live on foodstuffs comprising fruits,
vegetables, grains, sugar and milk. The bull helps in the agricultural process*
of producing grain, etc., and thus in one sense the bull is the father of
humankind, whereas the cow is the mother, for she supplies milk to
human society. A civilized man is therefore expected to give all
protection to the bulls and cows.

{*bhaktajan comments: this amounts to Agrarian-Culture/economics devoid of war}

. . . indulgence in animal killing for the taste of the
tongue is the grossest kind of ignorance.

Of all kinds of animal killing, the killing of cows is most vicious because the
cow gives us all kinds of pleasure by supplying milk.
Cow slaughter is an act of the grossest type of ignorance. In the Vedic literature
(Rig Veda 9.4.64) the words gobhih prinita-matsaram indicate that one
who, being fully satisfied by milk, is desirous of killing the cow is
in the grossest ignorance . . .

In India, the cow is considered sacred not because Indian
people are primitive worshipers of mythological totems but because
Hindus intelligently understand that the cow is a mother.
As children, nearly all of us were nourished with cow's milk, and
therefore the cow is one of our mothers. Certainly one's mother is
sacred, and therefore we should not kill the sacred cow.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The following statement is sincere and not just a whimsical attempt to be a provocature.

As long as the cows are killed & eaten by humans ---there cannot be world peace.

The cow is sacred solely because aesthetically the cow is
Mother of agrarian culture. The Bull is the oxen power best suited for plowing fields.

The Mother supplies milk-based foodstuffs and the ox plows the fields.

Aside from these priorities all sorts of enterprises may be pursued ---but any & all such supra-mundane priorities have & will again lead to confligations.

The last century is a text-book study of this maxim.

"How to achieve world peace"

There is a direct relation between cow-eating and wars!

This may be news to you. It is a sublime truth that needs to be understood.

It is not about the Cow's 'rights' ---it's about incurring what I like to call "Funky Karma" [in sanskrit the term for "Funky Karma" is 'ugra-karma']

Cow-eating causes 'ugra-karma' and thus wars are the most efficient way to accomplish ugly "karmic-reactions enmass", thus accomplishing multiple "paybacks" simulateuosly with minimum effort.

Thos embroiled in war are experiencing "karmic-reactions enmass" ---reaping the 'funky' fruits of their labors preformed during "Peacetime".

I am not a PETA person and I don't give a fig for the animals "Rights".

Cow protection & vegetarianism is all about avoiding "funky-karma".

Bhaktajan

PS: The cow is sacred because = the cow is the quintessentially perfect species for agrarian society—the husband of the cow ‘the bull’ is the best beast of burden for farm life; the cow gives milk, cheese(s), yogurt, butter, panir, ghee, ice cream, whip cream, caramel sweets, medicinal urine, fuel, fertilizer, Oxen, and when they naturally die: leather.
Click to expand...

Nice post bhaktajan. Thanks for sharing.:)
 
In an industrialized nation we've moved well beyond the cow eh?

No need to plow fields with it....the ox took the place of man's labor, and made man's labor easier, the machine has taken the place of the ox.

Milk....pretty much been shown that we don't need any after being weaned and drinking cross species is not the best for us...doesn't provide nearly the nutrients we thought it did years ago...

has the cow moved on..?
 
Did all things "industrial" start in the "Indus" Valley?
Was Christopher Columbus trying to boost Industry by getting to the Indus valley?
 
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