The One Species We Are Most Unfair To || AP Neem Candies
Acharya Prashant: If all those who oppose beef and cow slaughter would really know that the beef industry and the dairy industry are deeply interrelated, would they still be milk lovers? The majority of opposition to beef in India comes from those who love milk. That’s very, very strange.
Look at all those who are demonstrating on the roads against beef. In one of the important states, Maharashtra, beef has just been recently banned. So, if you are found slaughtering a cow in Maharashtra, you would be jailed and fined or both. That’s wonderful, but stupid because you do not know that the beef comes from the same cattle that was previously used to fulfill your milk needs and farm needs. The cattle that are slaughtered do not drop from the sky; they are the same cattle that were previously there in the dairies or in the fields for the sake of human welfare and human consumption.
We consume the cow twice. Firstly, when we use it for milk, for energy in the farm, the bull, that is, the ox. And secondly, when it can no longer provide us with labor or milk, then we sell it off so that it may get slaughtered.
When there was a ban on beef slaughter, there was a major opposition by a segment of farmers. They said that “If we cannot sell the oxen for slaughter, what do we do with them? They are not useful in the fields as they are old now. And after twelve or thirteen years of age, the animal is no longer useful in the fields. So, what to do with it? Keep it and feed it? And if we feed it, then our children will starve. So, we have to sell it to the butcher. We have to sell it to the one who would help us exploit it a little more.”
Krishna is Gita. Krishna is idealess action. Krishna is niṣkāma-karma . Krishna is the height of spirituality. But unfortunately, in this land of Krishna, the image of Krishna has been manipulated to stand mostly as a cowherd, as someone who would relish his milk, his curd, his butter.
India hardly understands the Gita, but uses the metaphor, the image, the justification of Krishna, to keep consuming milk, ghee, butter, and the rest of these things. You go to someone and ask, “Why are you so insistent on milk?” and they would say, “Why? Even our very Lord was a milk lover! He was born in a family of dairymen and he would tend the cows all day and then milk them and that was an expression of his love for the cows.”
Ask them, “Have you read the Gita? Do you know what love is? And if you really know what love is, would you stick to this particular image of Krishna?” But going to the Krishna of Gita is dangerous, very dangerous. So, one goes to the Krishna of the mythical stories. That Krishna is suitable. That Krishna helps one consume.
It’s extremely unfortunate that religion and spirituality in India have become synonymous with milk usage. So, you have women coming over and dressing and bathing the Shiva Linga with milk. They call it ’dugdhabhishek’ , which is so very nonsensical. Do you know what Shiva stands for? Have you read the Shiva Sutras? Have you any real respect for Shiva? Do you really love Shiva?
Shiva stands for total love. Shiva stands for dissolution of all that which is personal, and that is called pralay . Shiva does not stand for exploitation of the animal. But you go to the religious types and they will say, “We do not exploit the cow. We love the cow! That is why we have chained her in our little gaushala , and we provide her with food and nourishment.” Do you see what we are doing?
You ask them, “What if you are chained by your neck in the same way and provided good nourishment, and you are made to have sex with a stranger, just as the cow is made to have, and you are forcibly made to bear children because somebody wants you to reproduce, because your progeny is going to be useful as a farm resource—is that love, really?”
Unfortunately, this great land of love, India, has just forgotten love. And the worst symbol of our cruelty, and the worst recipient of our cruelty, is the cow. The world has been cruel to the entire vast ecosystem, but India in particular has not been more cruel to any animal than the cow. And most of that happens in the name of love and religion. If cows could speak and if they were to be asked which country would you want to escape from, they would say India. Indians have been so unfair to the cows.
I was with an acquaintance, and I do not touch milk products, that’s known. So, he wanted to sort this out with me. He said, “You know what, if the cow is not milked, then it faces physical discomfort. The milk must be drawn out of her breasts. Otherwise, it’s a burden.” I said, “Does that happen with beings of any other species? And has existence nominated human beings as the caretakers of cows in particular?” And when you say ‘caretaker’, you mean taking care of their milk, nothing more than that.
What about cows in the jungle? Who goes to them to relieve them of their milk? What about other mammals? Who relieves them of their milk? Nature has its own intelligence. Nature knows how much milk to give to a female. The lioness has only as much milk as the lion cub needs. The she-camel only has as much milk as the baby camel needs. And a little bit here and there is well within the scope of nature. Nature will take care of that adjustment.
But look at the stupid and dangerous justification. It is the same justification as when people say that “Unless we eat chicken, chicken will proliferate so much that they will take over the world. There would be chicken republics and chicken armies and chicken governments! You see, they breed so much, so it is our holy responsibility to kill and eat chicken.” The fools don’t even know that chicken is produced in de facto factories; they don’t drop from the skies.
Full article link: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/articles/spirituality-and-veganism-1_2e5e3c0
