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Re: time to give up milk even in India?

From the Bhakti List Archives

mohan_r_sagar • August 9, 2001 


--- In bhakti-list@y..., Mani Varadarajan  wrote:
> 
> 
> What do you all think about this? Is it time to give up drinking
> commercially produced milk? Is it not a violation of the
> Vaishnava dharma to participate in such injury?
> 
> It pains me to no end to read how we torture our fellow beings.
> 
>   "ahimsA prathamam pushpam ... 
>    sarva-bhUta-dayA pushpam ...
>    vishnoH prItikaram bhavet"
> 
>   "Non-injury and compassion to all living creatures
>    are two of the flowers which truly please Vishnu."
> 
> aDiyEn, 
> Mani

I am deeply saddened and disillusioned by Sri Mani's posting. While I 
certainly cannot even begin to explain the enigma that is India, I 
would like to share a few thoughts as to what we in the West can do.

Unlike much of the rest of the world, and contrary to popular belief, 
the USA offers many options to those who for spiritual, health, or 
environmentally conscious reasons, prefer alternative and wholistic 
diets.  This is particularly so in the Rocky Mountain Region, which 
for years has been deeply influenced by Native American and Asian 
philosophy.  As a result, there are several dairies and milk 
producing companies here that are advertising their products as being 
guaranteed to be the result of the "humane" treatment of animals.  
The cows in such dairies are fed no chemicals or animal by-products, 
and if I understand correctly, are allowed to graze and nurse their 
calves in a natural way.  While most of these dairies are localized 
and generally provide door to door service, some, like Horizon Dairy, 
sells its products on the shelf in most leading grocery stores.  The 
milk, of course, is pasteurized in order to meet FDA codes prior to 
being packaged. And to meet a larger demographic, it can also be 
purchased in low-fat and non-fat varieties, as well as whole milk.

My wife and I have been purchasing the milk of what some dairies 
call "happy cows" for several years.  While it costs a little more, 
the health and spiritual benefits are well worth it, what to speak of 
the priceless value of being able to offer our perumAl milk that is 
produced in a way that makes Him happy.

While I have so far spoken only about Colorado, I am certain that 
many states have similar facilities.  I would like to suggest that we 
make a concerted effort to put together a list of these "animal-
friendly" dairies and share them in this forum.  If we gather 
together with the larger Hindu communities in a concerted effort to 
purchase such milk, it could potentially create enough of an impact 
to get the mainstream dairies to start thinking about their own 
methods of milk production.

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
Mohan






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