The New India?

Vrindavana. Land of Krishna and His pastimes, gopis and cows. The holy Mecca for
all Hindus. The beautiful Yamuna river meanders through its fields, past Kesi
ghata and the other places of pilgrimage. Land of serenity, bhajan and meditation.
Place of peace. Right? Think again.

Three nights ago my western friend who has spent the major portion of the past 20
years traversing this & other holy places of India, was awakened around 2am by the
loud sound of cows mooing and screaming. When she went to her 4th floor window to
see what the ruckus was all about, she saw those cows running helter-skelter for
their lives up and down the road she lives on in Chaitanya Vihar, a relatively new
government development in the area.

What she saw was nothing less than shocking, and horrified her. A group of local
Brij-vasis were hurling rocks and pieces of brick at a large truck and then
running for their lives. The truck was staffed by eight men armed with submachine
guns and other rifles and because of the heavily armed opposition the local people
were worried for their own lives and severely restricted from doing anything much.

The men in the truck were stealing cows and calves on a main thoroughfare, right
outside Radha Dham, one of the largest apartment complexes now in Vrindavana.

This is not a new thing. It used to be done in the outskirts of remote villages
where hardly anyone was around and the picking was easy. Now, up to eight trucks
at a time, all plied by unconscionable submachinegun-toting dacoits, pull up in
the middle of populated residential neighborhoods to apply their craft of cow
rustling. Even in the most holy city of Vrindavana where Krishna's cows have
remained the zenith of India's 'sacred cow' image.

It is happening all over the country. Five years ago there used to be around one
thousand cows wandering around the precincts of Manipal, the well known university
town five kilometers outside Udupi, another hallowed Hindu town. Now that
population has been reduced to forty. In Maharashtra, cattle stealing goes on big
time. And why shouldn't it. Each cow fetches about Re.40,000 and is shipped to
places like the U.A.E. and even some western countries. The 'employees' in each
truck share about Re.10,000 for each cow, so it's also lucrative for them. The
thieves either brake the legs of the cows or calves and throw them into the truck
or stab them with syringes loaded with tranquilizers to prevent the cows from
resisting further.

But now Vrindavana!? Hasn't this crime gone too far? And what are the police and
other political authorities doing about it? Apparently not much. The above-
mentioned story happened not more than 400 meters from a police check-point; all
within hearing distance of the screaming cows and calves.

One simple community effort would be to supply all the chowki-dhars and residents
with whistles, to be blown as soon as any of these trucks is detected. The Army &
police, armed with their own weapons, could confront the armed dacoits, whenever
the alarm was sounded. All it would take is one shoot-out. All the dacoits could
be killed. Once the word got round to those who contract for such downright theft,
it is doubtful that they would be willing to risk their lives so often.

Asramas & Goshallas

There are more goshallas per capita in the town of Vrindavana than any place in
the world. In Sant Colony, where this author is presently residing, every second
dwelling is a goshalla with at least 5-10 cows in each one. There are thousands of
mandirs and hundreds of asramas occupied by thousands of sadhus who supposedly
promote spiritual life, the spiritual equality of all living beings AND why
GoRaksha - the protection of cows & bulls - is one of the quintessential items to
the development of human virtues. Milk is considered by Vedic texts to be amrita
and a miracle foodstuff. It is said that all the Devas reside within the body of
GoMata. Even her stool & urine are used to bathe the Supreme Godhead with in
abhiseka ceremonies. Panca-gavya and panca-amrita are glorified throughout all
Hindu texts. Vrindavana is also the birthplace and kernel of the Hare Krishna
movement.

And WHAT are these local sadhus doing about this grossest of atrocities? Cows and
bulls are considered the mothers and fathers of human society. What adult would
stand by and watch, while their parents were abducted in front of their eyes? Why
are the asramas and their residents not banding together and forming protest
committees to confront the politicians and the police superintendents? Why is the
very fabric of India being allowed to be torn apart right in the most holy city of
Vrindavana, while so-called spiritual societies all go about their daily business
of preaching about the importance of cows in spiritual life?

Two days ago in the Raman Reti area of Vrindavana precincts, the Jagad Guru Dham
Kripalu mandir sponsored a huge feast and celebration in which thousands of the
sadhus in Vrindavana were fed a sumptuous feast replete with expensive sweetmeats
and who were all then given an umbrella and a large shopping-gift bag containing
stainless-steel lotas, bed sheets & new cloth.

Is it not possible for organizations such as this and the International Society
for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) with their extensive political connections,
international memberships, huge Hindu congregations in London & elsewhere and
their western brainpower & penchant for rallying against injustices, to devote
some of their resources and manpower to orchestrate some coordinated protests
outside their local, state and national MP's offices, the police and the Army and
to petition these men to stop this act of societal degradation? Where is the
willpower to resist the thuggery? If this is NOT stopped in India & stopped
immediately, Nature's remedy will be that Indians will find themselves embroiled
in endless wars just as the West is, after 100 years of gross animal slaughter for
palatal enjoyment.

The famous English playwright George Bernard Shaw, put put the law of Karma
succinctly;

We pray on Sundays that we may have light

To guide our footsteps on the path we tread;
We are sick of war, we don't want to fight,
And yet we gorge ourselves upon the dead.

Ganesadasa
rep@pamho.net