Why
cows are sacred to Hindus?
People who do not have any idea about Hindusim, Often moke Hindus as Cow- worshipers. Cows are sacred for Hindus, but
that do not mean that Hindus worship cows as god. Indeed, in Hinduism every
living organism say animals, plants are considered as equal to humans, Humans
are not superior over others because they all are children of god just like
Humans. Hindus respect all animals and plants. 30% to 50% Hindus are vegetarians. There are many stories in Purana or Hindu mythology about various
plants and animals, instances where god saves animals, where animals achieves
salvation! There are so many temples in India, which are dedicated for those
animal bakthas or devotees. Lord Shiva temple at Srikalahasthi (believed to be
the worship place for a sri=spider; kala=snake;and hasthi=elephant) is one of
the famous temples in India . Ironically there is no temple that was dedicated to
cows. Plants like tulasi, neem, banyan etc are also respected most. One can
find Tulasi plant in the houses of almost all orthodox Hindus especially in south
India. So,we can understand how Hindus respect animals. But cows are respected even more for various
reasons.
1.Spiritualistic
2.Socialistic
1.spiritualistic
reasons:
There are
many instances where cow slaughtering was condemned and cows are praised.
A) cows are
mentioned as the offspring of a holycow called Surabhi or Kamadhenu. So hindus
do not kill them in respect to their mother.
B) Vedas,
the ancient scripture of Hinduism says that there are 7 persons who should be
treated as mothers( saptha mathrukas) 1.Mother who gave birth, 2.Wife of the King,3.Wife
of the teacher,4.Women who nurses,5.Wife
of other person,6.The cow and 7.The earth.
Cow is considered as Mother because she
feeds us with her Breast milk. Bulls should not be slaughtered because they are
spouse of cows. When someone consider cows as his mother, He cannot slaughter
cows. Earth is considered as mother because she is the one who gives us the plants.
One cannot kill cow since it should be considered as a Mother.
C) In Bhagavat geetha Sri Krishna says “An
enlightened person looks at a learned Braahmana, an outcast, a cow, an
elephant, or a dog with equal eye” [BG 5:18]
Here Krishna says
that all creatures are equal.
D) Bulls are
considered as forms of Nandeeswara the Mount
or Vahana of lord Shiva.
E) Concept of
reincarnation: according to this concept, the person who is dead takes other
forms, he maybe born as a cow. So, not only Hinduism but also other Indian -Born
religion such as Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism prohibits non-vegetarian foods.
And there are several other instances where
Cow slaughtering is condemned in various sacred Scriptures.
2.Socialistic:
We saw that Hinduism prohibits slaughtering of the cows, but why does
atheist sects of Hindus too venerate cows? Because Cows played an important role
in the economy of ancient India, It is very important for today’s Indian
society too.
There were
several instances in Purana where kings wage war on each other for cattle, by
this we can understand the economic importance of cows in ancient India. During
certain period of time, number of cows the kingdom posses was used as a measurement
of the economy of that kingdom. The kingdoms which had large number of cattle
considered to be the richest. What are the benefits a person had in the past by
having cattle? Few of the uses of cattle are described below.
1.
Cows
provides milk .Cow’s milk is the best replacement of mother’s milk for infants,
from milk other products such as butter, curd, lussci, cheese, sweets, ghee can
be made.
2.
The
ghee, a milk product is used as fuel for lamps during night times, in Yajna.
3.
Cow
dung can be used as fertilizers.
4.
Cow
dung is mixed with water and sprayed over the dry lands, Streets, floors in
houses to avoid soil erosion and make the floor stronger.
5.
Cow
dung can be dried to make Cakes, which can be solely or in combination of
firewood to produce fire for the stoves.
6.
Bulls
are used to plough the fields.
7.
Bullocks
carts were the important means of transport in ancient India.
8.
Cows
urine and dung is believed to be having insect repellent properties. Thus they
were sprayed in corners of the houses.
And a lot more
uses.
Even if a Cow or
Bull becomes old and useless, they are protected safely as a token of gratitude
for all the help they did when they were young. However they become part of their
family and their pet.
CONCLUSION:
Not only the Hindus but also people living in anywhere
in the world are not likely to kill their pets. Dog meat is consumed in some
countries like china, Korea etc., varies people living in countries like the U.S., U.K., spend
billions of dollar for their pet dogs, does that mean dogs are gods for them?
No, they love their pets. Similarly, cows are more than just pets for Hindus .
Mocking Hindus as cow worshipers is a foolish
act.
