Protection of Cows is the single-most important principle towards saving the whole world from both moral and spiritual degradation. Simply by protection of Cows all the wonderful benefits of religiosity and piety will be automatically achieved without any separate endeavor. This is because Cows are  beloved by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna.

On this page we will explore some of the advantages of protecting the cow.  A man can subsist on varieties of grains, fruits, vegetables, and milk, and therefore it is not necessary to kill the animals.  Rather the greatly sinful act of killing inocent animals is responsiable for all the troubles in present society.  The protection of the lives of both the human being and the animals is the first and foremost duty of a goverment. 

The administrative class of men (ksatriyas) are meant to protect the citizens of the state, while the farmers (vaisyas) are ment to protect the cows and bulls and utilize them to produce grains and milk.  The cow is meant to deliver the miracle food milk, and the bull is meant to produce grains.  But in this age the cows and bulls, or the mothers and the fathers, being unprotected, are subjected to the slaughterhouse organized by the administrators.

Surabhi is the name of the cows which exist in the spiritual planets and are especially reared by Lord Sri Krishna Himself.  As men are made after the form and features of the Supreme Lord, so also the cows are made after the form and features of the surabhi  cows in the spiritual kingdom.  In the material world the human society gives all protection to the human being, but there is no law to protect the descendants of Surabhi  who can give all protection to men by supplying the miracle food milk.

One of our favorite cow protection programs is careforcow.org which is  providing food, shelter, and care for the abonded cows in Krishna's holy land.  Please give their page a look.

Readers are invited to share their own programs on cow, and animal protection by writting to us at theharekrishnamovement@gmail.com

Lord Krishna’s Example

To teach by example, the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna and Lord Balaram show us when They descend into this world, how important it is to protect, love and serve Cows and Bulls.  Krishna is known as Gopala (protector of the Cows) or Govinda (one who gives pleasure to the Cows).  Lord Balaram represents plowing the land for agriculture and therefore always carries a plow in His hand, whereas Krishna tends Cows and therefore carries a flute in His hand. Thus the two brothers represent krisi-raksha (protecting Bulls by engaging them in farming) and go-raksha (protecting the Cows).  (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.5.20 Purport)

“Offering respect to the Cows will help the devotee to diminish the reactions to his past sinful activities” (Skanda Purana)

Vrindavan’s Cows are constant remainders of Krishna’s ecstatic Cow herding lilas (pastimes).  By serving the Cows one receives tremendous spiritual benefit.  Feeding grains to the Cows, offering puja, or simply a scratch under the neck will please these peaceful personalities and attracts the attention of Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Govinda.  The Gautamiya Tantra says, “One should gently scratch the body of a Cow, offer her a mouthful of green grass and reverentially circumambulate her.  If Cows are maintained nicely and comfortably, Lord Gopal will be pleased.”

The Importance of the Cow and Bull

The people of our times have forgotten that the Cow is the most important animal for human society.  The Bull is the emblem of Dharma (Religion) and the Cow is the representative of the Earth.  When the Bull and Cow are in a joyful mood, it is to be understood that the people of the world will also be in a joyful mood.  The reason is that the Bull helps in production of grains in the agricultural field, and the Cow delivers milk, the miracle food which can be further converted into curd (cheese), yogurt, butter and ghee.  Milking a Cow means drawing the principle of religion in liquid form.  Cow’s milk is so pure that it is considered liquid religiosity.  So in scriptures the Cow is considered to one of our Mothers. The Cows give milk and the Bull gives grains through tilling the land, they are considered the Mother and the Father of human society. Both the Cow and Bull are symbols of the most offenceless living beings because even their dung and urine are of Immense Value (medicinal, fuel, etc.) to the human society.

Our Responsibility

Human society must, therefore, maintain these two animals carefully.  But, unfortunately, both are being slaughtered in large numbers.  Today in India, 60,000  per day are being slaughtered.  And in U.S. it is 1, 59,500 according to recent statistics.  These greatly sinful acts are responsible for so many troubles in our present society.  To kill cows means to end human civilization.  People do not know what harm they are doing in the name of economic development and for sense gratification.  They do not realize that only by seeing that bulls and cows are happy in all respects, human society can be happy.  This is a fact by the laws of nature.

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet"

                                                                                       -Albert Einstein