Cows and Civilisation

If you've followed my blog for even a short while you've probably figured out that I'm a Hare Krishna. Cows are considered sacred by Hare Krishnas, and my recent posting on the effects of dairy on the human body will verge on heresy for some members of the movement. You might say that it challenges a sacred cow - literally.

However, bhakti yoga is not meant to be dogmatic or unthinking, so let's take a look at this sacred cow, shall we?

In an conversation reproduced in the book The Science of Self Realization Srila Prabhupada explained the following, ending with a rhetorical question:

Actually, giving up meat-eating is not a question of Krsna consciousness but of civilized human life. God has given human society so many things to eat--nice fruits, vegetables, grain, and first-class milk. From milk one can prepare hundreds of nutritious foods, but no one knows the art. Instead, people maintain big slaughterhouses and eat meat. They are not even civilized. When man is uncivilized, he kills poor animals and eats them. Civilized men know the art of preparing nutritious foods from milk.

The blood of the cow is very nutritious, but civilized men utilize it in the form of milk. Milk is nothing but cow's blood transformed. You can make milk into so many things--yogurt, curd, ghee (clarified butter), and so on--and by combining these milk products with grains, fruits, and vegetables, you can make hundreds of preparations. This is civilized life--not directly killing an animal and eating its flesh. The innocent cow is simply eating grass given by God and supplying milk, which you can live on. Do you think cutting the cow's throat and eating its flesh is civilized?

At a particular point in history a number of human beings changed from nomadic hunter gatherers to agriculturalists. Some groups of humans, the "uncivilized tribes" remained as nomadic hunter-gatherers right up to the 20th century. In fact, in some remote regions of the world, such as the Amazon jungle, they can be found even today.

The agricultural societies gave rise to the first urban civilizations, and also developed sophisticated metaphysical systems.

An integral part of that was the symbiotic relationship that developed between humans and cows. Without that relationship and the civilisation and worldview that grew out of it, I wouldn't be writing this, and you wouldn't be reading this today.

The utilization of cow's milk by human beings freed up huge amounts of human energy by providing a source of highly concentrated protein at a relatively low cost of energy, time, and risk. This energy was then able to be utilised in pursuit of higher goals.

Cow's milk, like meat, leverages the life energy of another living being to concentrate protein. Human beings can then take advantage of that. The advantage of milk over meat, as Srila Prabhupada points out, is that it does not necessitate the level of violence required for meat eating. Also, milk, especially in modified or cooked forms, is more easily assimilated by humans than meat.

Milk, like meat, is higher up the foodchain than vegetables and grains, so it shares with meat the drawback of biomagnification. As protein is concentrated so are toxins. Parasites, bacteria, and viruses are also present.

Milk can be boiled to reduce the risk of infection, and it can be cultured into yoghurt to extend its shelf life and make it more easily digested.

Overall, milk is a miracle food for a human civilisation based on non-violent principles. It allows people to dedicate their time to the pursuit of higher goals than simply eating each day. Moving from meat-eating to cow cultivation is an advance in civilisation, and it paves the way for further advances in the cultivation of higher values by human beings.

Milk back in the day - a Vedic History

As an example, in the Vedic history Srimad Bhagavatam (SB. 1.19.39) we hear of Sukadeva Goswami, a great saintly person and renunciant. Of him "it is said that (he) hardly stays in the houses of men long enough to milk a cow."

Srila Prabhupada elucidates:

Saints and sages in the renounced order of life go to the houses of the householders at the time they milk the cows, early in the morning, and ask some quantity of milk for subsistence. A pound of milk fresh from the milk bag of a cow is sufficient to feed an adult with all vitamin values, and therefore saints and sages live only on milk. Even the poorest of the householders keep at least ten cows, each delivering twelve to twenty quarts of milk, and therefore no one hesitates to spare a few pounds of milk for the mendicants.

In this way we can see practically how the symbiotic relationship between humans and cows, and the concentration of protein, was an integral part of a civilisation that allowed the development and maintenance of a class of people dedicated to higher thinking.

Milk "creates finer brain tissue for higher thinking"

Repeatedly Srila Prabhupada explains that taking milk creates the opportunity for higher thinking (for example: SB. 1.8.5, SB. 8.6.12, SB. 3.5.7, BG 9.26).

This has often been interpreted to mean that drinking milk makes you more disposed toward or capable of spiritual thinking. Srila Prabhupada himself sometimes presented it that way. In one letter he advised a disciple to daily take a cup of milk filled to the depth of three fingers placed side by side (that would be like 10 cm or 3-4 inches).

However, based on my personal experience of diet and thoughtful consideration of the social development of humanity, I am more inclined to view it from a macroscopic perspective. Milk, as a form of concentrated protein, gave humanity the opportunity to sustain and develop more advanced forms of civilisation. Meat-eating allows more advanced material(istic) civilisation, but milk-drinking enables a non-violent civilisation with higher ethical and spiritual values. So milk drinking provides people with the time to think, and it does so in such a way that they think about more refined things than which village they should pillage next.

Back to the Future

Today, however, we live in a different technological and social milieu. The milk that we are able to obtain is not the product of a non-violent, symbiotic relationship between humans and animals, but rather part of a meat industry that profiteers from the suffering and extermination of others.

Concentrated protein is available to us in forms that were previously unavailable to Sukadeva Goswami - for example, broccoli is 45% protein by calories, and modern vegetable juicers can turn a box of that in a jug of juice, which is easily taken. Modern agricultural techniques and economic infrastructure make boxes of broccoli relatively easily available to contemporary urban dwellers.

Along with its benefits as a concentrated protein, milk also has drawbacks. It enables time-saving and higher thinking, but it also has a health impact - not as strong as that of meat, but nonetheless present.

Lesson from the Govardhana-lila

One key lesson of Krishna's Govardhan-lila is that we should be realistic, not anachronistic. Krishna chastises his father, Nanda Maharaja, for continuing to ritualistically execute a tradition without knowledge, in this case worshiping Indra, the Vedic demigod in charge of rain. Instead, Krishna tells Nanda that he would be better of showing appreciation for the things that actually sustain his life on a day-to-day basis.

Now that other sources of protein are available, some of them superior in terms of health, and with less violence involved than modern milk supplies - do we need to continue to fanatically insist that only by drinking milk, any milk, can spiritual life be successfully executed? Do we need to dogmatically and unconsciously consume dairy products, and in such quantities, in the name of "spiritual realization"?

The rising tide of reason, and direct perception

I am not alone in raising these points.

Madhava Ghosh has spoken on this point (Time to Live in the Here and Now, Milk Drinkers), with specific reference to how cows are treated in the modern dairy industry, our responsibility to the cows, and our moral standing relative to "vegans" and animal activists. Krpamoya prabhu spoke out after his operation for prostate cancer about the health implications of a diet high in dairy products (Go easy on the curd!).

The role of the cow in the post-industrial HK movement of the 21st century

This is not to say that the cow no longer has any value.

Persons who are addicted to meat-eating can change to a milk-product diet and experience a boost in their health, and an improvement in their ethical relationship with the environment.

If the machine civilisation and modern agriculture disappear for whatever reason, we may once again heavily rely on our symbiotic relationship with the cow. It's good for us to remember and honour our roots. We may need to return to them.

And lastly, for Hare Krishnas, devotees of Krishna, we have a sentimental attachment for the cow. At the time that Krishna incarnated on the Earth human society was heavily reliant on the relationship between cows and humans. We remember His interactions with the cows at the time fondly, and because they are related to Him, to us they are sacred.

Personally I take a little milk products, mainly directly related to Krishna (although by normal HK standards I'm practically vegan). This morning I woke the Deities at the local temple, and afterwards shared with my son some milk sweets that were offered on the altar.

So milk still plays an important part in spiritual life, although material circumstances have changed. And who knows, maybe scientists will discover one day that a little bit of milk (Srila Prabhupada said 10cm in a cup per day) does literally change your brain tissue to make you smarter and more spiritual.

But as a primary source of concentrated protein? I'll go with the broccoli, thanks.