KAMDHENU

' dhenunam asmi kamadhuk '

Among cows, I am the wish fulfilling cow
- Lord Krishna ( Bhagvat geeta, Chapter 10, verse 28 )

Kamdhenu, also called as Surabhi is described as the mother of all cows. She is a divine creature, who provides her owner everything he desires. She is depicted as a white cow with several deities in her body.

One of the most common questions from the West to us is - “Why do you worship cows?” Most of the times,there is a mocking undertone attached to the question. It is understandable, because predominant western religions or ideologies have conditioned people not to respect the so-called lower forms of life and to think that those who do so, are somehow primitive or superstitious.

In India, we not only worship cows, but also elephants, monkeys and lots of other animals too. Infact we have more than 33 million gods !

We believe, that each and everything, in the natural world, is a manifestation of the supreme god and hence it should be respected, revered and treated as god himself.Sanatan Dharma advocates a respect for all creatures and for our environment, because God’s presence is everywhere.In the history of our civilization, we have taken a lot from cows. The cow’s milk is taken to nourish ourselves.The milk was used to make 'Ghee', which is an essential part of almost all our rituals. Even the cows’ dung was extensively used, as fuel and a building material.It is often said, in the West, “a dog is a man’s best friend”. But if we look at the history of the human race, it is more true to say that cows are man’s best friend.They helped man settle down from thier nomadic lifestyles. Ancient Indians saw it as a mark of ingratitude to take so much from an animal, and then to kill and eat it. Such ungratefulness and lack of respect creates a negative and exploitative tendency in us as a species.

Today, some of the major crises facing our planet are due to unrestrained exploitation of nature, including other creatures. In our quest for more, humans have not hesitated to take so much, without any sense of balance. This has left many species on the verge of extinction and has caused seemingly irreversible environmental changes, such as global warming, ozone layer disruption and huge deforestation.We are constantly exploiting the same mother nature who is our provider.

What does reverence of the cow have to do with this? Not much you may think at first. But if the issue is examined with a deeper vision, we will find that cow protection stems from an outlook towards life and nature that could help prevent and overcome the current problems. Aspects of Vedic culture such as respect for the cow and other forms of life create and reinforce a mentality and outlook of gratefulness, appreciation and humility. Humanity has shamelessly exploited nature. The whole problem arises from a mistaken feeling that nature and other creatures are simply here at our disposal, and we owe nothing to the nature. If we strive to appreciate how much we receive, we would not have abused our planet and its inhabitants.

I was extremely happy to read in the papers recently, that Mr Manohar Lal Khattar, chief minister of Haryana, has promised to ban cow slaughter in his state. Finally, someone makes a beginning! We as a nation, have to not just respect, but more importantly, protect our divine mother cow.