In the Ramayana, when Lakshmana lies down unconscious, Hanuman gets the Sanjivini plant to revive Lakshmana, and saves his life. Hanuman is Rama Dasa. It is believed that one who takes Rama Nama during their life’s last moments, goes to GouLoka Brindavan, the celestial place. While alive during Kaliyug, we can get our sorrows mitigated by doing service to GouMata on this Bhoomi itself. Just going to any Goushala, playing with the calves, massaging the cows, cleaning the cowsheds, all this gives us unlimited peace. Gou Mutra, taken as a medicine, is no less than Sanjivini. But the unfortunate truth is that protecting the Holy Cow today is being equated to the vile act of lynching.
Shree RamachandraPura Matha, Karnataka has always been in the forefront of saving GouMata, in a completely non-violent way. In fact, one of the ongoing campaigns is #ProtectWithPen, also known as the #Abhayakshara Campaign. Through this campaign, volunteers of the ShreeMatha go from house to house to make people aware about the Bos Indicus (Bharatiya Breed of Cows) and convince them to save them from extinction, by signing a petition to Ban Cow Slaughter. Presently only about 36 breeds of Indigenous cattle survive in Bharat, from a total of over 70 breeds originally.
It is to the credit of the volunteers that more than 3,00,000 people have signed the Petition to save the Cows from Slaughter. As per Peethadeesha Shree Shree RaghaveshwaraBharati Mahaswami ji’s instructions, no person should sign the Petition without awareness or willingness. Readers will be happy to know that people of all religions have signed the Petition, since people do understand that GouMata is more valuable to us when she is happily ALIVE.
Another Campaign that the ShreeMatha is involved in is the #GouSanjivini campaign. Every year during the Aadi Maasa (month) festival, fairs are held in South Bharat to trade in Cattle. Earlier these fairs involved only farmers. But presently, it is the Butchers who rule the trade. They either pay more to buy the cattle or they threaten the farmers to sell it to them. For example, at the annual Jathra at Andiyur temple in Tamil Nadu, a cow fair is organised every year as part of this Jathra. 1000s of cows sold in this Jathra. Unfortunately now all the buyers are butchers. It is really disgusting to note that the Jathra is turning to be a wholesale market for cows where butchers buy them in bulk. To counter this, the ShreeMatha is organising Abhaya Jathras to buy such cows. The plan is to buy as many cows as possible directly from the farmers and save them from reaching the butchers’ hands. A similar campaign is going on in various places in Karnataka also – at Malemahadeshwara and other places. Sanjivini, the holy plant which saved Lakshmana, is now the Campaign to save the lives of innumerable GouMatas & Nandis.
What people do not understand is that once the cattle reach the butchers, we will lose them forever. At one point of time, Chinese did not have any cow’s milk to drink & had to satisfy themselves with Soya Milk because they had slaughtered all their cattle during the various famines that took place over the years. Today China has imported cattle from Australia and New Zealand and is into cattle rearing in a big way – the only problem is that they have turned this into a milk and beef business.
Also, what the poor farmers do not understand is that by selling their cattle at a cheap rate and repurchasing them at a later date, at a higher rate, they are getting into a debt trap. What ShreeMatha is also doing is offering to help farmers by looking after the cattle for the lean months, only to return them to the farmers when they need the cattle back – a sort of a Gou Bank.
As expected, the Volunteers of ShreeMatha are facing problems of threats and huge expenditure. As of now, more than 800 cattle have been saved by the ShreeMatha, but at the average cost of Rs.10,000 per cattle. To cover all these expenses, the ShreeMatha has been requesting people to donate generously with a large heart.
Almost every Hindu wishes to save cows and bulls in a non-violent way. Gou Sanjivini is the best way to participate in this noble initiative of saving cows by directly protecting them from being sold to the butchers. We would be helping our poor farmers too. Also note-worthy is the fact that the ShreeMatha will be looking after the cattle, feeding them and as and when required, distributing them to various Goushalas, Temples and poor farmers, for FREE. All this involves huge expenditure and it is the duty of all to come forward and protect GouMata. She is verily Vishwasya Mata incarnate – Mother of the Whole World.
Jai Gou Mata! Vande Gou Mataram!
Note: Readers can join us in the #ProtectWithPen and #GouSanjivini campaigns on Twitter. For more clarifications, readers can contact Rati Hegde @ratihegde on Twitter or send an email to [email protected]
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