WHY COWS ARE SACRED TO HINDUS

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.