5 FESTIVALS OF THE HOLY COW

HINDU FESTIVALS

PAY HOMAGE TO COWS

www.boldsky.com - Hindus do not eat beef for religious reasons. This is because cows are holy to Hindus. The pun or sarcastic phrase 'holy cows' has sprung from this religious belief of Hindus. According to Hindu culture, cows are holy because they are milk giving animals. We get our first milk from our mother and that is why cows are equated with mothers. In fact they are also called 'Gau mata' which means 'cow mother'. Many Hindu festivals revere cows. Everything coming from the cow is considered holy, even the cows piss and dung. Some festivals require cow dung to cleanse the atmosphere. Let us take a deeper look at the festivals that require the holy cows to complete them.
1. Pongal: The biggest harvest festival of Tamil Nadu is incomplete without the presence of cows. The third day of Pongal is allocated to cows. Women from every Tamilian family worship the cows and feed them sweet Pongal.

2. Gaijatra: This is a festival dedicated to cows celebrated in Nepal. Numerous cows are marched on the streets of Nepal in the memory of family members who have passed away. 3. Gowardhan Puja: The day before Diwali is the famous Gowardhan puja or the festival of cow dung. On this day, cow dung is the deity to which food (vegetables) and money is offered.  This custom stems from the fact that cow dung is considered holy by the Hindus. 4. Deepali-Tihar: Deepawali or Diwali is a pan-Indian festival that is celebrated with great pomp and show. Our neighbour Nepal also celebrates Deepawali, but they call it Tihar and celebrate it differently. In Nepal, the customary Lakshmi puja for Diwali is incomplete without cows. 
5. Shivaratri: Don't be surprised because we are talking about the cow's male counterpart, the bull. No worship of Lord Shiva is ever complete without paying homage to his pet bull, Nandi. Especially on Shivaratri, women pay their respects to Shiva's bull and then move on to the Lord himself. Do you know any other Hindu festivals that pay homage to cows?.

The presence of the holy cows is essential for many rituals in Hinduism and many Hindu festivals cannot be complete without worshiping cows. Anwesha, the author of the article, mentions that the Nepali festival 'Gaijatra' or 'cow's journey' usually takes place in August or September. Also in Nepal, on the main day of the Deepawali festival, cows are worshiped as the form of Goddess Lakshmi. Women do 'aarti' of the cows and feed them 'prasad'. On the third day of Pongal - called the Mattu Pongal - cows are adorned with kum kum and their horns are painted. As regards Lord Shiva's bull, Anwesha explains that every Shiva temple has an idol of this bull outside the sanctum chamber. The bull, Nandi, is always placed right in front of the Shiva Linga. Besides all the spiritual significances, the protection of the cow and the bull is the basis for a simple and prosperous life.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Bhaktivedanta's alternative vision of how human society ought to live could be summed up with the twin concept of protection of brahmanas and protection of cows. ... he writes: "The bull is the emblem of moral principle, and the cow is the representative of the earth. When the bull and the cow are in a joyful mood, it is to be understood that the people of the world are also in a joyful mood. The reason is that the bull helps production of the grains in the agricultural field, and the cow delivers milk, the miracle of aggregate food values." To protect the cow is more than good economics, it is a matter of principle. In the Vedic tradition she is one of the seven mothers: the real mother, the wife of the spiritual master, the wife of a brahmana, the wife of the king, the nurse, the earth and the cow. All of them should be respected and cared for.

Ranchor Prime (Śripad Ranchor Dasa) :
“Hinduism & Ecology”
Chapter 12: “An Alternative Society”
Friends of Vrindavan (FOV) - WWF
http://www.fov.org.uk/hinduism/hinduism.html
http://www.fov.org.uk/aims/aims.html

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/

CHEMICAL EVIDENCE OF OLD CHEESE-MAKING

EVIDENCE OF WORLD'S
'OLDEST' CHEESE-MAKING FOUND

www.sciencerecorder.com - Scientists have reportedly discovered pottery fragments that suggest cheese-making is a much older process than previously thought. The pottery pieces, which have small holes throughout, are thought to be more than 7,000 years old and may have been used to separate curds from whey. According to the article in the journal Nature, the pottery fragments were discovered along a river in Poland and have been determined to be the oldest piece of evidence of cheese-making ever found. The pieces are expected to help researchers further understand the development of dairy in the ancient world, which had a big impact on human history and culture.
Peter Bogucki, an archaeologist at Princeton University, said the development of dairy, especially cheese, helped the people of Neolithic age get valuable nutrients. “In the course of excavating these sites, we occasionally came across fragments of pottery with small holes in them,” Bogucki recalled. “We realized these were sieves.”

Bogucki has been studying ancient relics in Poland for nearly 35 years of excavations. In addition to discovering the pottery with holes, he and his team also discovered that farmers in the area herded cattle and grew numerous crops. A research team led by University of Bristol professor Richard P. Evershed have studied the pottery fragments and determined that they contain milk and fat residues, lending evidence to the cheese theory. Evershed’s team focused on the chemical analysis of ancient pottery to determine what people were eating at the time and how they processed the food. 
Previously Evershed’s lab has found milk fats in pottery pieces from Turkey that are more than 8,000 years old. However, that study did not conclusively mean cheese was being made, it could have been butter, yogurt, or another milk product. Now, the new study in Poland is the first to strongly suggest cheese was being made due to the strainer-like appearance of the pots.

Researchers said they found the earliest known chemical evidence of cheese-making, based on the analysis of milk-fat residues in pottery dating back about 7,200 years. Scientists found ancient, perforated clay pots excavated at sites along the Vistula River in Poland had likely been used by prehistoric cheese mongers as strainers to separate curds and whey - a critical step in making cheese. The discovery suggests Europe's early farmers added a cheese course to their diet almost as soon as they learned to domesticate cattle and started regularly milking cows. According to the Vedas, the cow is one of our mothers and from her milk one can make many other foods such as cheese or curd, yogurt, kefir, butter, ghee, and so on.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

Bhaktivedanta's alternative vision of how human society ought to live could be summed up with the twin concept of protection of brahmanas and protection of cows. ... To ensure spiritual well-being, brahmanas must be protected, and to ensure material well-being, cows must be protected. In a simple agrarian society it is easy to see the value of cow protection. The cow eats grass which humans cannot eat, and turns it into the “miracle food” of milk, which is versatile and full of nutrition. From milk comes yoghurt, cheese, butter and ghee (butter-oil). In return for her milk, the cow is protected and cared for as a member of the community, and she and the bull are never slaughtered. The bull cannot give milk, but he can be just as valuable because he likes to work hard in the fields, ploughing, grinding and pulling carts. While the bull helps to produce grains and vegetables, the cow gives milk. Milk products, combined with grains and vegetables produce the perfect balanced human diet.

Ranchor Prime (Śripad Ranchor Dasa) :
“Hinduism & Ecology”
Chapter 12: “An Alternative Society”
Friends of Vrindavan (FOV) - WWF
http://www.fov.org.uk/hinduism/hinduism.html
http://www.fov.org.uk/aims/aims.html

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/

NOT ONLY HINDUS REVERED THE COW

WHY BOVINE IS
SEEN AS DIVINE ?

ww.speakingtree.in - The cow enjoys a special place in healing and purification rituals across cultures and faiths, writes Ranjeni A Singh. Every day after lunch and dinner, my mom would sprinkle a solution of water and dried cow dung on the dining table and then clean the surface. I would wince and scoff at the “cleansing” ritual. One day, she sat me down and explained why she did it. “Cow dung contains disinfectants. Both cow dung and cow urine have been used in purifying rituals since the Vedic period,” she said. Kamadhenu or Surabhi, the cow of plenty that gives ceaselessly, rose up from the milky ocean during samudra manthan, when the devas and asuras churned the ocean in search of nectar. 
When reading up on other cultures, I found that in China, some Guan Yin worshippers do not eat beef. In ancient Egypt, animal sacrifice was a common practice but this did not include the cow. The Bible describes Lebanon as the land of milk and honey. The beef taboo is fairly widespread in Burma, particularly within the Buddhist community. 

And all this while, I was under the impression that only superstitious Hindus revered the cow! Further readings and discussions were instructive on the divine attributes of the bovine, a belief that is common to many religions and cultures. Jewish tradition says that a red heifer or cow heralds the Messianic era, an era of global peace and harmony. Recent scientific research suggests that cow urine could help in treating cancer, diabetes and blood pressure. Indian scientists were awarded a US patent in 2002 for a desi drug formulation composed of cow urine distillate and an antibiotic. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s former director-general R A Mashelkar says, “Ancient Indian texts have recorded the use of go-mutra (cow urine) for therapeutic purposes.” 
A Scientific American report says that among all species, cow’s milk is the closest match to human (mother’s) milk. This is because the DNA of the cow is compatible with that of human DNA. So, it does seem, we have close links with the bovine, sometimes extending to the divine.

According to the author of the article, Ranjeni A Singh, the cow is a walking, living, eating, ecosystem. The panchagavya or five products of the cow - milk, curd, ghee-butter, urine and dung - are used in pujas and rites of severe penance. Singh mentions that the ninth chapter of the Vendidad of the Avesta expounds the purificatory power of cow urine. It is declared to be a panacea for all bodily and moral evils. “Milk nourishes children as they grow up, and gobar or cow dung, is a major source of energy in households across India. Cow dung is sometimes added to the materials used to make the tilak that is drawn on the forehead. For us it is an earthy and useful natural product,” says Ramanatha Shastrigal, a Delhi-based priest. Cow's milk is sometimes called “liquid love” in the Ayurvedic shastras, because it's so life-giving, for babies or old men or anybody.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

What is the relationship between cow’s milk and love? Milk is very necessary for human life. You can’t manufacture milk or water or grains in a laboratory. No scientists can do that. ... In Maharaja Yushidstira’s time, the cows were grazed freely in the pasture and they would happily give their milk. The milk coming from the cow was actually the love of the cow. The cow gives the milk for the calf out of love. ... The cow's milk is very good for the mind because the cow has more love for her offspring than any other species including humans. The scientists have observed this. ... So that love of the cow, which is more intense than any other mother in the entire creation, is also in her milk, the cow’s milk. And that milk is being given to her baby, so she is giving the baby her love in the form of the milk. ... Previously cows gave milk happily.  Now cows are afraid of the milkman ... because they pull all the milk out and they don’t leave any for the calf.

Śrīla Mahanidhi Swami Mahārāja :
"Cow's Milk and Love"
http://www.mnsbooks.com/
http://www.mnsbooks.com/content/cows-milk-and-love

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/