Cow's Milk

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Nrisingha Palli, 29 November 2020, part 6

Question: There are many devotees who become vegan because they think the milk industry in the West is horrible. Can you comment on that?

This will happen in this age of Kali. We must tolerate it. Actually, that is why we do not eat anything except prasadam. Krishna always likes cow's milk, so you should offer cow's milk to Krishna—when you offer the bhog, you need milk to make sweet rice, Krishna also always likes curd, paneer, butter, etc. You can make many things from milk. Why will you shrink from offering it? If you avoid offering milk to the the Deities (Deities are non-different from Krishna Himself, you know that—Krishna's name, beauty, pastimes, His devotees are all non-different from Krishna), what makes you think you can take such a decision not to offer milk to the Lord? I do not support this. You must offer milk to the Deities, and if you personally do not like to take milk, that is your decision. We do not take any food—we take prasadam.

In this age of Kali, there are problems with keeping cows in so many countries. Even here in India, there are Christian and Muslim areas where people kill cows, here in Bengal also Muslim people kill cows, but at the same time we also see that in some areas the government has banned cows' slaughter—if somebody is caught killing a cow there, the punishment is minimum two years in jail. When Bengal government changes, it will happen here too. There are many countries all over the world, Islamic countries or just secular countries, where people kill cows, and I have heard that they give so much austerity to cows in the West. People do not think. Their idea is that all wild animals, all cats, dogs, and cows are on the same level. Those who torture cows are sinners, and they shall get a reaction for that. When you do some action, an opposite reaction will come to you.

For example, in Kolkata we buy milk outside from some shop, and you cannot be sure that this milk is pure or not (actually, you can be more than sure that it is not pure because they mix something in), but we think this is cow's milk, offer it to the Lord and take it as prasadam.

So, somebody may be giving austerity to cows, but Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, why will you shrink from offering milk and milk products to Him?

Nirakarvadis' philosophy is Jainism—they think they do not want to give austerity to any jiva soul, but you can ask them, "Where do you take rice and dal from?" Even plant-based products come from some plants, trees, and to eat it you must cut the plants and trees. Rama Krishna (Murgi) Mission also says this—they say, "Why do you not eat meat? You think fish and animals are jiva souls, but do vegetables not have a soul too? You offer vegetables, then what is the problem offering meat?"

Nanda Priya Devi Dasi (Brazil): Srila Acharya Maharaj, with your permission I would like to say something Srila Gurudev (Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) told us directly. When devotees asked him if they should stop drinking milk because cows suffer, Gurudev said that devotees have a unique opportunity to give milk to Deities and give good fortune to the cows who suffer, so if we stop offering, cows will suffer for nothing, and if you offer cow's milk, cows will be benefitted. Also, I have one question—one time we heard Srila Gurudev said if we mix salt with milk then the result is like eating meat. Can you explain how this happens?

Yes, it is not good to mix salt with milk. I have never seen this written anywhere in the scriptures, but I have heard about it from Gurudev, and I never asked him why—I never asked Gurudev so many questions. Gurudev told not to mix salt with milk, and I follow that. I did not ask why.

Another thing is that ayurveda says that milk with tumeric is a good medicine in the pandemic situation—it is good for immune system, protects against covid-19, and it is also good medicine against influenza, cough, cold, mucus, etc. You can take 'dudh-halud' (milk with tumeric powder).

...Try to follow the rules and regulations set by the health commission, and we must preach also—we will try to adjust with everything. By the will of Krishna, everything will be perfect. We must be very careful this winter season. Always be alert, it will be good for all the devotees.

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