“Simply wasting time. There is a story about this. One man was canvassing . . . ‘Here is a book of cow protection, cow protection.’ He has written one book to take care of the cows.

So one old man called him, ‘What you are selling?’

Now, ‘I am selling this book.’

‘What is that book?’

‘Maintaining the cow.’

So, ‘Why you are selling? First of all give this book to your mother because you are no better than cow, so she will learn how to give you protection.’

That means he wanted to impress upon him that ‘Cow protection doesn't require any education. You have written a book? So you are such a rascal, cow intelligence. Better give this book to your mother. She will maintain you. Don't sell it. Everyone knows how to give cow protection.’”

Conversation, Vrindavana, 3 Nov. ‘76

Liquid DharmaSrila Prabhupada’s Vision of Cow Protection

and Dairy Consumption Within ISKCON

Tukarama DasaPresident, ISKCON Laguna Beach

Navina-Syama DasaChairman, ECO-Vrindaban

Is milk important?

namo brahmaṇya-devāyago-brāhmaṇa-hitāya cajagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāyagovindāya namo namaḥ

Viṣṇu Purāṇa, 1.19.65

Cow Protection

“This Krishna consciousness movement is for the protection of

brahminical culture and cows.”

Lecture, Los Angeles, 4 Dec. ’68

“Lord Krishna is never satisfied when these are lacking.”

S.B. 1.8.21 purport

Cow Protection

“When these two things are neglected, it is animal society, and then other animal qualities

and paraphernalia follow.”

Lecture, London, 13 Sept. ’69Morning Walk, Mayapura, 6 Apr. ‘75

Lecture, Vrindavana, 10 Nov. ‘76

Cow Protection

“In fact, comfort for the brahmanas is secondary, and

comfort for the cows is His first concern.”

S.B. 10.8.16 purport

Cow Protection

“The protection of cows . . . is not merely a religious sentiment but a means to secure the highest

benefit for human society.”

Light of the Bhagavata 27 purportLecture, New York, 7 Apr. ’73

Cow Protection

Cow Protection

“the most important business of the human society ”

Lecture, Los Angeles, 4 Dec. ’68Lecture, New York, 28 Mar. ’66Lecture, Los Angeles, 5 May ’73

Lecture, London, 4 Aug. ’71Lecture, London, 23 July ’73Lecture, London, 25 Nov. ’73Lecture, Hawaii, 15 Jan. ’74

“Without protection of cows, brahminical culture cannot be

maintained;”

S.B. 8.24.5 purportS.B. 1.16.4 purportS.B. 4.21.44 purport

Lecture, Los Angeles, 4 Dec. ‘68

Cow Protection

“Cow protection means feeding the brahminical culture.”

S.B. 1.19.3 purport

Cow Protection

Milk“the principles of religion in a

liquid form”

SB 1.17.3 purport

Milk“maintain[s] the body in the

mode of goodness”

SB 9.24.59 purport

Milk“is particularly essential for

developing the finer tissues of the human brain so that one can understand the intricacies of transcendental knowledge”

SB 3.5.7 purportSB 1.8.5 purport

Milk“the most miraculous form of

food”

SB 1.8.5 purportSB 1.17.9 purport

CC Madhya 4.93 purportLecture, Los Angeles, 29 Dec. ‘73

Morning Walk, Mayapur, 6 Apr. ‘75

Morning Walk, Mumbai, 14 Aug. ‘76

Milk“the best food you can have in

this material world”

Lecture, London, 13 Sept. ‘69Morning Walk, Nellore, 4 Jan. ‘76

Milk“without [it] there is no

civilization”

Lecture, Honolulu, 21 May ’76SB 2.5.37 purportSB 1.19.3 purport

From where should we get our milk?

Varnaśrama“We are about to embark on a new phase of our movement: varnaśrama.”

Conversation with Jagadisa, Jan. ’77

'I have no lamentation,' Prabhupada said. He paused for a few seconds, and then he said, 'No, I have one lamentation.'

"A devotee asked, 'Because you have not finished translating the Srimad-Bhagavatam?'

"Prabhupada replied, 'No, that I have not established varnaśrama.'

"On the next occasion, some time later, I was with Prabhupada in his room when he said, 'Fifty percent of my work is not complete, because I have not established varnaśrama.'"

Conversation with Abhirama, Vrindavana, Summer ’77

Varnaśrama

“[V]arnaśrama will help you . . . . I wanted to introduce this. Now I have given you ideas. You can do it. You are all intelligent.”

Conversation, Vrindavana, 8 Oct ’77

Varnaśrama

Varnaśrama

“So everywhere, in each center, this system should be introduced, and there must be practical application of the varnaśrama.”

Morning Walk, Vrindavana , 12 Mar. ’74

Varnaśrama = Farms"This is the next aspect of Krishna consciousness which I wish to push forward. If I am able to travel again then I shall visit the farms and make them perfect. On these farms we can demonstrate the full varnaśrama system. If these farms become successful, then the whole world will be enveloped by Krishna consciousness.Letter to Hari Sauri, Vrindavana, 10 Aug. ’77

Farms

“Krishna is the Farm Acarya. Baladeva is holding a plough, and Krishna is holding the calf.”

Letter to Hari Sauri, Vrindavana, 10 Aug. ’77

“How they were happy, the inhabitants of Vrindavana with Krishna and living and cows. That I want to introduce. At any cost do it . . . Don't bother about big, big buildings. It is not required. Useless waste of time. Produce. Make the whole field green. See that . . . Therefore I am asking so much . . . farm, farm, farm, farm . . . . That is not my program-Krishna's program. ‘Annad bhavanti bhutani.’ Produce greenness everywhere, everywhere.”

Conversation, Vrindavana , 27 May ’77

Farms

“We have got more than 100 temples all over the world, and attached to every temple we are opening farms.”

Letter to Krishna Mahesavari, New York, 11 July ‘76

Farms

Farms

“Make this ideal life here. America has got good potency. We have got so much land here. We can have hundreds of New Vrindabans or farms like that. And people will be happy.”

Conversation, New Vrindaban, 28 June ’76

Farms = Cows“Krishna by His practical example taught us to give all protection to the cows and that should be the main business of New Vrindaban. Vrindaban is also known as Gokula. ‘Go’ means cows, and ‘kula’ means congregation. Therefore the special feature of New Vrindaban will be cow protection, and by doing so, we shall not be loser.”

Letter to Hayagriva, Montreal, 14 June ‘68

Farms = Cows

“The basic principle of our life in New Vrindaban will be cow keeping.”

Letter to Satyabhama, Hawaii, 30 Mar. ‘69

Farms = Milk“Our farm projects are an extremely important part of our movement. We must become self-sufficient by growing our own grains and producing our own milk, then there will be no question of poverty. So develop these farm communities as far as possible.”

Letter to Rupanuga, Mumbai, 18 Dec. ’74

Farms = Milk

“We have practical experience in America that in our various ISKCON farms we are giving proper protection to the cows and receiving more than enough milk.”

S.B. 9.15.25 purport

Farms = Milk

“In one farm, Philadelphia, they are producing so much milk that they are selling $1500 per month. And they've arranged so nice, and big tank. . . .”

Conversation, Mumbai, 14 Aug. ‘76

Tamala Krsna: We supply the temple and the restaurant from the farm four hundred gallons of milk per week.

Prabhupada: You get from the farm.

Tamala Krsna: Yes. Every week we give to New York temple four hundred gallons milk.

Prabhupada: And you turn into chana?

Tamala Krsna: Chana and also milk, straight as milk. The devotees get sufficient milk, and also cheese for cooking.

Prabhupāda: Sandeśa, rasagulla.

Tamala Krsna: Oh, yes. . . In America, New York is known for its good milk sweets.

Conversation, Mayapura, 15 Feb. ‘77

Farms = Milk

“Yes, this supplying of milk to the temple is wanted. Thank you. In the way that Atlanta is doing, every center must have a farm so we can get all milk.”

Letter to Rupanuga, Mayapura, 21 Feb. ‘76

Farms = Milk

“The varnaśrama is centered around the cow.”

Conversation, Hyderabad, ‘77

Varnasrama = Cows

Varnasrama = Milk“So this was my dream. That a place should be there where we can get all nice foods, best of foods, milk. Krishna is fulfilling our desire.”

Conversation, Toronto, 21 June ’76

Why not from outside?

Mother Cow

Letter to Harbanslal, Mumbai, 2 Aug. ‘58

“The Indians are not cow worshippers as other wrongly interpret it, but the Indians are grateful to the species of cow for supplying milk to the human babies and the sentiment is so fine that simply for supplying milk the cow is accepted as one of the seven mothers.”

Letter to Hayagriva, Montreal, 14 June ‘68

“We have to maintain the animals throughout their life. We must not make any program for selling them to the slaughterhouses. That is the way of cow protection.”

Mother Cow

Lecture, Los Angeles, 29 Dec. ‘73

“Nowadays the trade is that you take as much milk as you can, and then kill the animal and sell the flesh to other countries. That is going on. No. ‘Go-raksya.’ ‘Go-raksya.’”

Mother Cow

Lecture, Stockholm, 9 Sept. ’73(quoting SB 5.5.4)

“So these rascals are doing that. Taking milk as much as possible from the cows, and then as soon as . . . they see that the cow . . . "Now they were giving thirty kilos. Now it has decreased, twenty kilos or ten kilos. Oh, economic development. Cut its throat." Economic development. Just see how rascal civilization it is. Therefore, it is called ‘nunam pramattah kurute vikarma.’ ‘Vikarma.’ ‘Vikarma’ means criminalities.”

Mother Cow

Matricide

“She’s actually mother, and this rascal civilization is killing mother. Mother-killing civilization. Just see.”

Lecture, Stockholm, 9 Sept. ’73

Conversation, London, 14 Aug. ’71 Conversation, Philadelphia, 13 July ‘75

“Can anyone kill his own mother? ‘Oh, mother is old and useless. Let her be killed. Burden.’ Is that very gratitude for the mother by the son?”

Matricide

Lecture, Los Angeles, 27 Dec. ‘68

“You are drinking milk, you are taking so much butter, milk product, and as gratitude you are killing cows? You should be ashamed. Even if you have no human feelings. You suck the breast of your mother and kill? Is that humanity?”

Matricide

Lecture, Gita Nagari, 15 July ‘76

“We are drinking the milk of the cow, and in exchange, if we cut the throat of the mother, that is not civilization. That is barbarism, less than animal. Animals also, they have respect for mother.”

Matricide

“Cows are innocent; they give us milk. You take their milk-and then kill them in the slaughterhouse. This is sinful.”

Conversation, Paris, July ’73Conversation, Paris, 9 Aug. ’73

Bad Karma

Bad Karma

Lecture, Melbourne, 22 May ‘75

“What is this justice, that after taking milk from the animal and kill it? Is that very good justice? So it is very, very sinful, and we have to suffer for that.”

Conversation, Detroit, 14 June ‘76

“This is simply animal civilization. Taking the last drop of milk from the cow and immediately send it to the slaughterhouse. . . Mother-killing civilization. And they want to be happy. And periodically there is great war and wholesale massacre, reaction.”

Bad Karma

Lecture, London, 24 July ‘73

“So everyone should be obliged to mother cow, because she is supplying milk. . . But they are not taking care of mother. Therefore they are sinful. They must suffer. They must have, there must be war, pestilence, famine.”

Bad Karma

“In the Kali-yuga . . . the cow stands with tears in her eyes, the śudra milkman draws milk from the cow artificially, and when there is no milk the cow is sent to be slaughtered. These greatly sinful acts are responsible for all the troubles in present society.”

SB 1.17.3 purport

Bad Karma

Lecture, Los Angeles, 14 June ‘72

“It is in your country, ‘Dog is best friend.’ And cow, mother, giving milk and actually drinking—’Send her to the slaughterhouse.’ Just see. Is it not an animal, who is making friendship with dogs and sending mother to the slaughterhouse? What is your answer? This is my charge against your country. What is your answer?“ 

Especially in America

“European and American civilization will be finished on account of this sinful activity of killing the cows.”

Letter to Kirtanananda, Honolulu, 31 May ‘75

Especially in America

But we’re not killing the cow, we’re just drinking her milk.

Bad Karma

Lecture, New York, 20 May ‘66

“Because we are drinking milk from the cows, so we are indebted. But instead of paying our indebtedness, we are killing. You see? These are all reactions. We are creating reactions.”

Bad Karma

Lecture, Mayapura, 29 Oct. ‘74

“You cannot take any service from anyone without being indebted . . . So we are becoming entangled, complicated with indebtedness. That is called karma. If you don't pay bill, then you have to suffer . . . These rascals, they do not know. They are so much ungrateful. They are taking milk from the cows, and when the milk is no more supplied, ‘All right, send it to the slaughterhouse.’ Once he has taken milk, he's indebted; again, it is being killed by him. So how much he has become entangled in his karma he does not know. ‘Mudha.’ ‘Duskrtino mudhah.’”

Bad Karma

What about the benefit the cow gets

from offering her milk?

Benefit to the cows Number of times Srila Prabhupada made this point:

0

•Maybe

•But cows would get same spiritual benefit if they were well-cared for and protected

•And only reason there is a supply of milk from abused and slaughtered dairy cows is because there is a demand

Benefit to the cows

If industrial dairy is so bad, why did Srila

Prabhupada allow us to use it?

Srila Prabhupada

No milk at all

Temporarily get industrial milk

Anyway shouldn’t we worry more about

preaching?

Restaurants

“From the very beginning I was asking to open restaurant and farm.”

Conversation, Honolulu, 4 May ‘76

“The farming and opening the restaurant are correlative—in farming you produce enough milk and milk products, at least ghee, and the ghee is dispatched to the restaurant in the city and with that you prepare first-class samosas, kacoris, vegetables, halava—so many things people will like very much.” Letter to Tusta Krishna, Mumbai, 9 Nov. ‘75

Conversation, Paris, 11 June ‘74Conversation, New Vrindaban, 24 June ’76

Conversation, Honolulu, 4 May ’76Conversation, New Orleans, 1 Aug. ‘75

Letter to Aksayananda & Dhananjaya, Honolulu, 26 May ‘75

Restaurants

“So you can keep as many cows as possible and collect as much milk from them. . . Utilize the ghee, curd, for making nice confectionary. People will purchase like anything . . . and when they taste it—’Very nice.’”

Conversation, New Orleans, 1 Aug. ‘75

Restaurants

Lecture, London, 12 July ’73Conversation, Melbourne, 2 July ‘74

“They cannot give up that small piece of meat. What is the difficulty? The same thing can be made by milk, milk product, channa. What do you call curd? Cheese. You prepare cheese and fry it. You'll get the same taste.”

Restaurants

Letter to Tusta Krsna, Mumbai, 9 Nov. ‘75

“It is a very good idea for people to come to our vegetarian restaurant and take so many nice things, especially the panir, fried cheese, and sandesh, kachori, rasagulla, samosa and in this way they will forget their meat-eating. If you make a soup of fried panir with asafoetida and ginger, this will replace lobster soup nonsense.”

Restaurants

“From milk you can make hundreds and thousands of preparations. That is enjoyment, real enjoyment . . . So introduce this. They do not know. It is a new type of civilization we are trying to introduce for the benefit of the human society.”

Conversation, Detroit, 14 June ‘76

Restaurants

“And if you organize in this way, your whole country will be transferred into Krishna conscious country. Whole country.”

Conversation, Honolulu, 4 May ‘76

Restaurants

The Instructions

The Reality (‘70s)

The Vision(Present)

The Reality (Present)

What can we do?

MILK IN ISKCON: STATEMENT FROM THE EUROPEAN LEADERS’ MEETING 2013We deplore the slaughter of cows and regard it as completely unnecessary for the dietary requirements of human society.

We commit ourselves to a future when ISKCON’s self-sustaining communities and/or slaughter-free farms are able to provide the milk requirements of our ISKCON communities and projects.

Our preference will always be a lacto-vegetarian diet, in accordance with the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.

Until such time as cow-protection standard milk / slaughter-free milk is available, we will serve this lacto-vegetarian preference in the following ways.

1.We will source better qualities of milk. (64%)

2.We will completely avoid milk and dairy products. (23%)

3.We will reduce our milk consumption generally. (13%)

4.We will continue the current status quo. (0%)

Create SupplyFarm to temple

ISKCON Escondido, CA

Create SupplyFarm to temple

New Vrindaban, West Virginia

Create SupplyFarm to temple

Gita Nagari Yoga Farm, Pennsylvania

Create SupplyFarm to temple

Govardhana Eco Village, Maharashtra, India

Adjust Demand Option 1: Accept only cruelty-free dairy

Adjust Demand Option 2: Buy best dairy available

•Whole (no loss of Vitamin A from skimming fat off)

•Organic (no poisonous pesticides or polluting fertilizers in feed / cows not given synthetic hormones or antibiotics /grass-fed)

•Raw/Unpasteurized (no destruction of enzymes when milk is ultra-heated to kill bacteria)

•Unhomogenized (no high pressure filtering to break up fat globules so no cream at top)

•Unfortified (no animal-byproducts—wool or worse—added to provide Vitamin D for calcium absorption)

Adjust DemandOption 3: Only take essential dairy

“One night, I was sitting right up by Srila Prabhupada’s desk, and he was sipping milk. He had a nice goblet and a spoon and he was just sipping the milk. And he was explaining that milk should be taken sipping-hot; that if it’s cooler than that, it simply goes to urine. But you should take it sipping-hot, and then it goes to the brain to nourish the brain, the finer brain tissues. A few minutes later, he put his spoon down. I looked in the goblet, and it was still half full. So the temperature had cooled down, and he just stopped drinking it.”

Balabhadra DasaMemories of Srila Prabhupada

Volume 21 (1:11)

Adjust DemandOption 3: Only take essential dairy

“So we have to make our brain very clean. And for that purpose you require to drink not very much, at least, one pound or half-pound milk daily. That is essential.”

Lecture, Hawaii, 15 Jan. ’74Lecture, Hawaii, 21 May ’76

Adjust DemandOption 3: Only take essential dairy

Prabhupada: So everyone is getting milk? How much?

Kirtanananda: As much as they want.

Prabhupada: As much as they want, then jaundice. (Laughter.) Too much is not good. They may take minimum half pound per head.

Kirtanananda: Minimum.

Prabhupada: Minimum. And maximum one pound. Not more than that. But "Because there is enough, let us eat," no. That is not good.

Conversation, New Vrindaban, 24 June ‘76

Adjust DemandOption 3: Only take essential dairy

“You should not introduce sense gratification for maintaining your body. Your body can be maintained very nicely if you take simple food made of rice, wheat, vegetable, little ghee and little milk. That's all.”

Lecture, Mumbai, 26 Dec. ‘72

“‘Anna,’ ‘ghrta,’ ‘dadhi,’ and ‘dugdha’ are food grains, ghee, yogurt and milk. Actually these are the basis of all food.”

CC Madhya 4.93, purport

Adjust DemandOption 3: Only

take essential dairy

“Most of our preparations are made from milk products . . . We keep cows, we take milk, and from milk we make yogurt, we make ghee, and from ghee we prepare so many things.”

Interview, London, 27 July ‘76

Adjust DemandOption 3: Only

take essential dairy

Adjust DemandOption 3: Only take essential dairy

SB 1.9.26, purportSB 5.16.25, purport

SB 8.8.2SB 8.8.11

SB 10.5.14CC, Madhya 4.57

CC, Madhya 4.61, purportCC, Madhya 4.93, purport

Conversation, Washington, D.C., 8 July ‘76

•Milk

•Yogurt

•Ghee

Adjust DemandOption 3: Give up nonessential dairy

Lecture, Seattle, 14 Oct. ‘68

“Don't take ice cream.”

Adjust DemandOption 3: Give up nonessential dairy

Letter to Syama, Seattle, 21 Oct. ‘68

“Ice cream purchased from the market may not be offered . . . We must offer to Krishna only first class prepared foodstuff, especially made at home. We shall try to avoid as far as possible goods purchased from the market and offer to Krishna.”

Letter to Puru, Vrindavana, 6 Apr. ‘76

“Concerning the use of sour cream in the temple, it should be stopped immediately. Nothing should be offered to the Deities which is purchased in the stores. Things produced by the karmis should not be offered to Radha-Krishna. Ice cream, if you can prepare, is o.k., but not otherwise. Now, you have such a big stock of this sour cream, so sell the stock at any cost. Who is the rascal who has purchased without permission?”

Adjust DemandOption 3: Give up

nonessential dairy

Letter to Kirtananada, Los Angeles, 7 Jan. ‘74

“You inquire whether you can make cheese? Why cheese? . . . Cheese is not good.”

Adjust DemandOption 3: Give up

nonessential dairy

Nanda Kumara DasaMemories of Srila Prabhupada

Volume 22 (1:08)

“One afternoon, I made fresh panir . . . and I offered it with [Srila Prabhupada’s] food offering at 4 o’clock. I put a little honey on top, and a little cinnamon. So I took it in and he ate about half the bowl . . . So the next day, I made it again . . . and when I came to get his tray, there was one bite gone . . . A third day, I made it again, and when I came in to get his plate, he hadn’t touched it. He said, ‘The panir is very nice, very tasty. But, as brahmacaris, we can only eat panir once a week. Otherwise (shaking right hand in air), sex desire!’”

Adjust DemandOption 3: Give up

nonessential dairy

What will you do?

More Information

ECOV.com

SnowCreekFamilyOrganicsBlog.wordpress.com

BhumiProject.org/index.php/compassionate-living

LocalHarvest.org

RealMilk.com/real-milk-finder/

Raw-Milk-Facts.com

OrganicValley.CoOp/why-organic/overview/