Should we avoid cow’s milk since Cows are exploited commercially?
A male devotee asked like this:
“I recently heard a interview of ………….. Prabhu ji that Person with sedentary lifestyle shouldn’t drink milk, also milk should be Sourced ethically not from a place were cow’s are treated as milk machines, But I have read an article on vaniqoute by Shrila Prabhupada I think that milk is essentially for Spriritual growth, and it helps with certain tissues I guess. So a person who can’t afford “ethical milk” should remain vegan since because of our demand these milk companies artificially impregnate the cow and later releases it or perhaps sell it. I don’t know since cow meat export is ban but we’re largest exporters of buffalo meat, but were do male calf’s and old cows go? Also cows are treating inhumanely aren’t we taking part in cows suffering by drinking from commercial dairy. Thank you so very much for your valuable time.”
REPLY:
See, in this kaliyuga, we are following devotion and regulative principles using the available facilities as properly as possible.
However, there are chances for some small mistakes or violations in kaliyuga.
For example, I have seen a few ISKCON temples buying the Pickles from the shop.
(Value of a cow – Story! READ HERE!)
And, some temples use readymade spicy powders because of the shortage of serving devotees in kitchen to grind and make spicy powders.
Small temples and even big temples in some western countries and in many other countries have to use the milk supplied by their governments or private sellers.
Milk is sacred though a mother feed her child even without taking sufficient food.
Milk has no doshas at all. That is why, it can be consumed from the house of any person.
Exploiting the cow is a separate sinful act that will invite the severe reactions for those who use the cows like machines to draw whole milk using sucking instruments.
The devotees who maintain cows in their gosalas won’t do like that.
However, we can’t expect all the temples to have gosalas.
So, they are forced to buy from the available sources. We are helpless.
In many cities, they have banned maintaining cows. So, the milk has to come from the far away villages.
(Why milk is allowed, egg is not though both have animal sources? READ HERE!)
This is the situation in this commercial kaliyuga.
If we totally avoid cow’s milk, the people will never maintain cows and they will use the cows only for meat.
So, all the cows will be killed for meat even in young age.
So, using their milk atleast increases their life time in this kaliyuga.
Milk is always pure. Milk should be consumed in limited quantity only – say, just two cups a day. It is enough.
Taking more milk may make the digestion delayed because milk takes long time to get digested.
However, cow’s milk has less fat and hence is digested faster than buffallo’s milk.
In fact, cow’s milk is primarily for its calf only.
However, every cow produces more milk than that required for its calf.
(Who are our Seven mothers? Why cow is a mother and given importance? READ HERE!)
If that excess milk is not drawn, it may cause udder related health issues for the cows. So, should we avoid cow’s milk? We shouldn’t.
So, it is not wrong to draw milk from the cows after its calf takes its share of milk.
But, in kaliyuga, cows don’t even get s…xual pleasure because they are artificially made pregnant.
These are all the trend of kaliyuga.
Just because there are some exploitations, we can’t stop using milk. If we stop using milk, it will immediately kill all the cows.
In this contaminated kaliyuga, we are trying our best to establish dharma and vedic way of life using the available resources.
Let it continue though it has some flaws.
If possible, let us raise some cows at our homes. If not possible, let us encourage forming gosalas. This may save many cows.
The purpose is important. Some flaws or defects will always be there. They will be forgiven because they are preaching the Krishna Consciousness in spite of many hurdles throughout the world.
Hope you are clear about avoiding cow’s milk since Cows are exploited commercially.
(Scientific reasons for honouring Gurus, Vaishnavas and Cows though they are humans and animals respectively! READ HERE!)