The five basic aspects of the foundation of Indian culture include Ganga (River Ganges), Gita (Bhagvad Gita), Gayatri (Goddess of Wisdom), Guru (Spiritual Teacher), and also “Gou” (the cow).
The Ganga purifies our body, Gita teaches us the art of living a meaningful life, Gayatri mantra purifies the heart and mind, Guru shows us the righteous light at each step, and Gou (the cow) is the basis of our physical, mental and emotional (spiritual) health. The cow is a sensitive creature; it likes cleanliness, is alert and regular, whereas, other animals that give milk are filth loving, lazy and lethargic. On drinking cow’s milk, we attain the above characteristics of the cow. If an innocent kid comes within a herd of cows, the cow saves it, which proves that cow is a sensitive creature. Cow’s milk is pure and full of virtuous qualities of the cow, which causes a person’s intellect to move on the righteous path; this quality is not found in the milk of other animals. Cow’s milk is a complete meal, easy to digest, full of strength, having disease resistant capabilities, and has all the nutrients necessary for the body. Because it is easy to digest, it removes mal-nutrition. Cow has appropriate quantity of cerebrosides, which are useful for the development of the brain and the healing of the damaged cells. The linolyic acid available in the cow’s milk resists cancer. Cow’s milk provides prevention from peptic ulcer. If a cow eats some poisonous substance along with the food, it is the only creature in which the poisonous substance gets accumulated in the flesh, and its bad effect is not found in the milk, cow-urine, and cow dung juice.
Cow is a mobile hospital, which relieves us from all the diseases. The panchgavya (five products obtained from the cow, i.e. milk, curd, ghee, urine and cow-dung juice) obtained from the cow are capable of curing all the diseases found in human beings, both in the mixed as well as individual states. Even in the case of snake bite, cow-dung juice helps in keeping the brain and the heart safe. If mother’s milk is not available to the child, then cow’s milk is the only alternative for saving child’s life.
Gobar (manure made from cow-dung) is the natural nutrition of the soil, by which all the essential nutrients that the plants absorb from the soil, can be returned back to the field. As a result the soil remains fertile. This way, on giving natural/organic manure to the soil, good crops are obtained, and also water seeps in the ground causing the water table to rise. On using cow-dung manure the crops are less affected by insects and diseases. This way, by the use of cow-dung manure the fertility of the soil is maintained, and the physical, chemical and biological structure is kept in proper order. Cow-dung manure leads to the increase of the much desired micro-organisms, which are beneficial for the crops. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides contaminate the ground water and disturb the biological balance.
The carbonic acid, manganese and iron oxide present in the cow urine helps in the control of pests; at the same time it does not cause pollution/contamination and maintains the biological balance. This way, the food grains, fruits and vegetables that are grown by cow-dung and cow urine are tastier, free from poisonous effects, and helpful in strengthening the economic condition of the cowherd man as these can be easily sold at higher price.
Bullock is the pollution free, natural source of energy for farming; use of tractor in place of bullock increases pollution. Deep ploughing by tractor degrades the condition of the ground. By the energy of the bullock a farmer can accomplish all tasks like ploughing of the field, extracting sugarcane juice, and drawing water by Persian wheel for watering the fields. Besides this, the farmer can also run a fodder cutting machine, oil extracting unit, and flour mill to obtain extremely nutritious products. By bullock-cart one can travel, without any cost, in places where other vehicles are not available. In a bullock-cart the farmer can carry the manure to the field, crops from the field to the granary, seeds and manure from the market, and farming products to the market for sale; all this does not result in any extra cost to the farmer.
Maintaining a cow-herd provides cow-dung, which is a smokeless fuel; also, a gobar-gas plant can be set up, which provides free electricity and light. The by-product of gobar-gas plant, i.e. slurry goes back to the ground as manure, which is an excellent quality of fertilizer.
Various businesses can also be run through cow and its offspring (gou-vansh), which helps the farmer in making a descent living. For example, ploughing others’ field by the bullocks, transporting others’ material, grinding flour, extracting oil, etc. can be done to earn money. These days, all these tasks are mostly done through tractor. In the villages close to the cities, cow’s milk can be produced and sold directly to the consumers to make good profit. By making the panchgavya (five products obtained from the cow, i.e. milk, curd, ghee, urine and cow-dung juice) available to the city-residents, cow can be made an effective source of earning money. In far off places as well, cooperatives can be made where cow milk can be collected and sold directly to the consumers in cities, thus creating jobs and assuring relatively greater profit to the producer. People who serve/take care of the cow or stay near the cow attain positive attitude/thinking. By caressing the cow and moving hand on the hump of the cow, negative thinking is transformed to positive thinking. Just like our mother, cow protects us in all the ways and gives us good characteristics and virtuous tendencies; this is why it is called Gou-Mata (Cow— The Mother). Therefore, the raising and taking care of Indian breed cows is in all the ways beneficial.
(The writer is chief of Gayatri Parivar and honorary president of Vishwa Mangal Gou Gram Yatra.)
