Srimad Bhagavatam 9.15.25 Possessing a cow that gives everything you want

SB 9.15.25 Kartaviryarjuna wanted to possess that Kamadhenu cow


Kārtavīryārjuna thought that Jamadagni was more powerful and wealthy than himself because of possessing a jewel in the form of the kāmadhenu. Therefore he and his own men, the Haihayas, were not very much appreciative of Jamadagni’s reception. On the contrary, they wanted to possess that kāmadhenu, which was useful for the execution of the agnihotra sacrifice.

In his purport to this verse, Srila Prabhupada writes “Jamadagni was more powerful than Kārtavīryārjuna because of performing the agnihotra-yajña with clarified butter received from the kāmadhenu. Not everyone can be expected to possess such a cow. Nonetheless, an ordinary man may possess an ordinary cow, give protection to this animal, take sufficient milk from it, and engage the milk to produce butter and ghee, especially for performing the agnihotra-yajña. This is possible for everyone. Thus we find that in Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa advises go-rakṣya, the protection of cows. This is essential because if cows are cared for properly they will surely supply sufficient 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. In other farms the cows do not deliver as much milk as in our farms; because our cows know very well that we are not going to kill them, they are happy, and they give ample milk. Therefore this instruction given by Lord Kṛṣṇa — go-rakṣya — is extremely meaningful. The whole world must learn from Kṛṣṇa how to live happily without scarcity simply by producing food grains (annād bhavanti bhūtāni) and giving protection to the cows (go-rakṣya). Kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāvajam. Those who belong to the third level of human society, namely the mercantile people, must keep land for producing food grains and giving protection to cows. This is the injunction of Bhagavad-gītā. In the matter of protecting the cows, the meat-eaters will protest, but in answer to them we may say that since Kṛṣṇa gives stress to cow protection, those who are inclined to eat meat may eat the flesh of unimportant animals like hogs, dogs, goats and sheep, but they should not touch the life of the cows, for this is destructive to the spiritual advancement of human society”.

Comment: This is a very important purport by Srila Prabhupada for cow protection with many insights.
A segment of Srila Prabhupadas purport is as follows: “Nonetheless, an ordinary man may possess an ordinary cow, give protection to this animal, take sufficient milk from it, and engage the milk to produce butter and ghee, especially for performing the agnihotra-yajña. This is possible for everyone. Thus we find that in Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa advises go-rakṣya, the protection of cows”.
Srila Prabhupada encourages everyone to have cows and produce butter and ghee, especially for the fire sacrifice. Some devotees are inspired by these types of directions and take up the keeping of cows. They are able to keep the cows and produce lots of milk products. It is often found that the cows are so generous with their milk, that they often produce far more than is needed by the family. In these cases, the cow keeper wants to find a temple to supply their milk to. The temples are often eager to accept the milk from the producer but generally they are not accustomed to pay a premium price for cow protection milk.This leads to a tension between the inspired cow protector and the recent Temple. The negotiations need to be done well before there is surplus milk to ensure there is a full understanding of the price range needed to support cow protection milk. Recently the Goshala in Sweden calculated that their milk has a break even cost of 57 SEK (£4.18 or $5.22) per litre. The temples would have some purchasing pains with paying that price due to their habit of buying from conventional sources and paying a much lower price. The milk is not the same standard as one is cow protection milk and the other is conventional dairy system pricing. The pricing is a real challenge and needs good communication and certainly an appeal to support cow protection as an aspect of Srila Prabhupadas mission.
The cow protector will need a succession plan in place for a continuation of the protection of the cows once he or she has retired for one reason or another. If one has family members who will continue with the cow protection then that is ideal and is a test of a culture closely aligned with cow protection. These days we more often see that the children or other family members don’t want to continue with the cow protection either for economic or mission reasons. Many of our family cow protection initiatives don’t have sound economics to cover the living costs of the family members, thus it is hard to transfer the project to the next generation who have a min on their own financial needs. Cow protection projects need to work on normal financial conditions that allow the key workers to find their economic needs. There are many examples I have come across in Europe where devotees took on the role as cow protectors for a few years, even many years, but in practically all the cases they reached a point of old age or sickness where they were looking for a person to hand over the cow protection to. In all these cases they looked to ISKCON as a recipient of their cows and oxen. ISKCON is not obliged to take on any ones cow protection cows.
Because of these challenges I prefer that cow protection is in the hands of the ISKCON society and the that the ISKCON society expands their cow protection more and more. If ISKCON had enough cows for their own needs then it would give the connected householders a very substantial opportunity to link with those goshalas and develop a collaborative systems that provides a degree of autonomy and at the same time has a strategy for retirement or ill health. The ISKCON society needs to keep the topic of cow protection being discussed and shaped in the higher levels of leadership. In practice we see that goshalas are able to harness a mystical reciprocation of the Supreme Lord and funding is generally obtainable if sound planning is conducted.
Cows will need land for grazing and for their winter or other fodder needs. Go means cows, land, and senses. Cows need land and they people with senses to take care of them. Each cow will need perhaps one acre of land for grazing. More may be needed if the grazing is not good or the land can handle more cows if the grazing is good. In planning for the grazing and fodder needs for your cow/s, you will need to balance how much land you have for grazing, how much land you have to grow winter fodder, and how much hay and fodder you are willing to buy from others. You can own land, rent land or you can purchase crops from somebody else’s land. As a benchmark try to have at least half an acre per cow for grazing and exercise, an acre is better. If the grazing can’t sustain the cows you will have to make or buy in more fodder. Cows will need land. We can estimate that to buy land might cost £10,000 an acre and to rent an acre may cost £100 per acre per year. To keep a cow you will need land and a plan to provide fodder. Each cow or ox will need about 2-2.5% of its body weight in hay each day. An adult bull or ox weighing about 1000 kg will need about 20-25 kg of hay each day. You will need to ensure you have enough hay in storage to cover the entire winter housing period, where grazing is likely not possible. For a six-month (180 days) winter housing for your adult ox you would therefore need about 3,600 kg of hay. In practice, you can give less hay and add straw to the diet. Straw is usually cheaper to buy than hay.
Cows will need some shelter. In the colder climates the barns are often enclosed to provide more shelter. If you provide about 2m2 per 100kg of cow or ox then you will be about right for space allocation. One-third of that space could be part of an open yard to reduce housing costs and to give the cows more atmospheric variety.
Srila Prabhupada goes further in his purport “In other farms the cows do not deliver as much milk as in our farms; because our cows know very well that we are not going to kill them, they are happy, and they give ample milk”.
In a recent comparison with our cows in the Almviks gaard farm we measured that each cow had produced about 14,000 Kgs of milk from its three year lactation. Commercial cows give less milk than that but over a shorter period. The general period of lactation for a dairy cow is 305 days. They are re-impregnated annually and the calves are sent away. In our farms, the cows have extended lactations and the calves are kept and nourished for their whole life. A commercial cow in Sweden gives about 10,000 kgs of milk in its lactation. A comparison then may be made that our cows are giving 14,000 kgs of milk per calf and the commercial dairy is getting 10,000 kgs of milk. Our cows are giving more and they are not fearful of being sent away. Commercial dairies don’t allow lower milk yields, higher bacteria counts, or illnesses if it affects profit. They would send them away.