A compassionate young devotee rescues 70 cows from a Hawaii
dairy that was forced out of business, raising almost $60,000
I rarely go on Facebook, but happened to see that Narayana, a young devotee on the Big Island (who is half brother to my daughter), wanted to take over operations of a dairy that was being forced out of business due to manure run-offs affecting the neighborhood’s water. The dairy had 2800 cows and scheduled to cease operations the end of January, 2019. My unsolicited advise to Narayana, who already cared for a dozen or so cows was to take up a simple living, high thinking lifestyle rather than try to run a large dairy operation. I explained that Srila Prabhupada told the devotees not to turn cow protection into a business and that while it was acceptable to sell surplus milk, the motivation should not be about profit.
Narayana’s response was that anything was possible and that he was going to do what he could to save the cows.
Because the dairy was located on the Big Island with a limited economic base, they ended up selling their prime dairy cows for pennies on the dollar. Here in Washington State, a top producing Holstein cow is worth about $2000. The Big Island cows were priced at $350 with the baby cows priced even less. Narayana was able to raise almost $60,000 on a Go Fund Me campaign and purchased 70 cows, mostly heifers (baby girls) and a few grown cows, taking them to his small farm with makeshift facilities.
A couple of weeks after rescuing the cows, I see a post on Facebook where he is asking advice about whether cow seva is a valid substitute for sadhana, due to the reality that he no longer has time to chant rounds. Below is my response:
Dear Narayana,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I’m writing this in response to a post that I saw on Facebook regarding whether cow seva is a valid substitute for sadhana. Since you are asking for insight, and I am someone who is engaged in both cow seva and sadhana, I thought I should respond in a longer format than just posting a reply in the comments section.
First, I’d like to express my heartfelt appreciation for your efforts to save the lives of those poor cows who were destined for a short, horrible life: probably an uncomfortable trip on a crowded barge to a muddy holding pen to a dismal place to be dispatched. When I saw that you were genuinely going to do your best to save as many cows as possible, it was very inspiring. And it was even more inspiring to see how so many people rallied to your support and to see you raise almost $60,000 to help you achieve your goal. If I had been in a position to contribute, I certainly would have, too.
You now have taken the responsibility for over 70 young Holstein cows and you have the youth, enthusiasm and faith to be able to give them the comfortable productive lives that they should live. The challenges ahead of you are that you are really just one person/family that is fully committed to the care of these young cows and you lack a large tract of land with facilities developed to make the care of so many cows an easy undertaking. Because you will have to put cows in various donated pastures that need to be fenced and maintained, it is easy to see how the routine care could become overwhelming. You are already justifying forgoing sadhana because of the time it takes to care for the cows. What will happen if there is a drought, flood or a storm that causes you to have to haul water, buy additional feed or fix numerous fences—each one an emergency with potential cows getting out and wandering onto highways? Even without a natural or unnatural disaster, the task that you have taken on is obviously daunting. In my opinion, the only Person who can get you back to a place of peace in which you are able to even contemplate living a simple living, high thinking lifestyle is Krsna.
Krsna is always sympathetic to the cows, and I’m sure that He appreciates where your heart is to take on the burden of rescuing these poor cows in need. Unfortunately the reality of the cow situation in the modern world is so sad that your efforts are akin to trying to stop a tidal wave with a single sand bag.
I rescued a single cow, Kalindi, who was only 2 years old and destined to be slaughtered the evening after I picked her up. She had chronic milk fever that caused her to become weak and had hurt her leg due to falling down on the slippery cement floor. Because she was in an organic dairy, they couldn’t use antibiotics to restore her to health, so they decided to feed her to their dogs. Because I’d expressed an interest in getting a new cow, they called me before killing Kalindi. The reality is that all the other cows who were in the dairy at the time I got Kalindi three years ago have been slaughtered. Dairies only keep cows if they are producing milk and they breed them every year to keep the hormones pumping that cause them to give milk. After only a few years of giving 70-100 lbs of milk/day the cows’ bodies become too worn out to get pregnant again. Once the milk production is too low for profitability and the cow can no longer conceive, she goes to market and from there to the slaughter house. They told me at the organic dairy that most of their cows go away when they are about 5 years old.
So rescuing 70 cows from a sad fate, while admirable, will do nothing to help the plight of the millions upon millions of cows that are prisoners being exploited in the modern dairies and destined for McDonalds before they are 6 years old. The only thing that has the potential to reverse the conditions for cows in our world is the lifestyle prescribed by our spiritual master: simple living and high thinking. If you take up this lifestyle and experience the joy and realizations that result, your example will be fuel to encourage others to do the same. Eventually, when enough people take up the lifestyle, cow abuse will naturally be replaced with cow protection. This is Srila Prabhupada’s plan to save the cows.
For you, Narayana, the irony is that your efforts to save these cows precludes you from being able to live a simple lifestyle because of the time and money it will require to care for them adequately. My advice, since you asked for it, is to take shelter of Srila Prabhupada and ask for his help to be able to take up a simple living, high thinking lifestyle. What needs to happen is for people to change their consciousness. And really the only consciousness that any of us has the power to change is our own. I was just reading in an old law book (Blackstone’s Commentaries) that good leaders need three qualities: goodness, power and wisdom. Your heart is in the right place and you have the force of character to make things happen. In the wisdom department, you have access to Srila Prabhupada’s instructions. I tried to advise you about Srila Prabhupada’s instructions before you took on the task of rescuing the cows, but your compassion forced you to do what you could for some of them. I now advise you to continue chanting your rounds (16) and pray to Srila Prabhupada. First, have faith that when you chant Krsna’s Name that He is fully present in the sound vibration. Second, try to say the Holy name with love in your heart. Third, humbly ask Srila Prabhupada for his mercy because it is only by the mercy of the spiritual master that we can possibly taste love of Krsna. Fourth, maintain a mood of appreciation for the sacrifices of all of the spiritual masters in the parampara. Fifth, chant and be happy: Srila Prabhupada always exhibits the mood of happiness.
Good luck and I pray that Krsna helps you find a way to achieve simple living and high thinking.
Wishing you the best,
Anuttama
Although our project doesn’t tug on the heartstrings in the same way that Narayana’s wonderful rescue does, until we develop a community that enables to be totally self sufficient, we do actually need support for our ongoing efforts, particularly in purchasing hay and developing living quarters for the numerous people who have expressed interest in participating. Anyone who is interested in finding out more about our simple living, high thinking project can visit: https://newnandagramcowprotection.wordpress.com/
or e-mail: anuttamadd@gmail.com or call: 360-496-0058
Or donate directly to: https://www.patreon.com/Simplelivinghighthinking
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