During a visit to Vrindavana-dhama, Hare Krsna Rural Life (www.hkrl.com) had the good fortune to be able to sit down and interview Kurma Rupa Prabhu (KRP) about his efforts in starting and maintaining the program Care for Cows in Vrindavana.  He provided valuable insight into the spiritual perspective of protecting the cows and we were impressed by his selfless commitment to cow protection. The Care for Cows in Vrindavana website can be found at www.careforcows.org.

A Care for Cows in Vrindavana protected cow

Hare Krsna Rural Life: When did Care for Cows in Vrindavan begin?

Kurma Rupa Prabhu: It began five years ago when I moved out of the temple and into this neighborhood. One particular cow we called Tilak used to beg from door-to-door and we would give her whatever vegetable cuttings or old chapatis we had around. Sometimes if the door was left open she would nose her way into the kitchen. It became a habit for us to give her something.

When Kartika arrived I decided it would be part of my vow to feed fresh grass to her and stray cows in the neighborhood fresh grass. So I began purchasing 40 kilos of grass daily and every evening Tilak, her calf, and some abandoned cows in the neighborhood would come to eat here.

One morning I discovered the six stray cows I had fed in the evening sleeping outside the gate and understood they had camped out there. I fed them the remainder of the grass and very soon they adopted me.

When the month of Kartika ended, I offered the developing herd an evening feast to celebrate the completion of my vow. The next morning they were still camped out at my door and demanded I continue feeding them. I realized they had no other place to go so I decided to keep it up. So for one year I fed them on my doorstep and had about eleven coming every day. Soon the neighbors started bringing their cuttings and putting them on my doorstep to assist in the effort.

Then one neighbor who had a vacant plot nearby offered to let me use it so the cows could be better cared for. So I spent about ten thousand rupees to build a feeder and shed and started keeping the cows there. That went on for a couple of years.

Then Rupa Raghunatha of Vrindavan Food for Life acquired some land nearby and offered me a quarter of an acre to host the abandoned cows. By that time I had fifteen cows and we planned to build a shed for 25. By the time the cowshed was complete, we had 25 cows. Other people showed interest, offered donations and assistance and the project grew.

             
Food For Life Gardens in Vrindavana, India. All crops are grown organically and fertilized using compost
from the Care for Cows in Vrindavana barn.

HKRL: What year did Vrindavana Food For Life offer you the land?

KRP: In the summer of 2001. One of the supporters of Vrindavan Food for Life, Radha Jivan dasa from Alachua, decided to get involved in cow protection and donated the funds for another cowshed so we could take in more abandoned cows.

We soon discovered that it is customary for villagers who can not afford to maintain non-milking cows to abandon them in those areas in Vrindavana where charitable pilgrims often drop grass to feed the stray cows. Once the word was out that we were tending to abandoned cows, villagers came to our place to offer their cows to us rather than abandoning them in the street.

HKRL: So it seems they wanted the milk but were not willing to take responsibility for the calf; especially the bull calf.

KRP: Yes. At first we accepted them but soon felt by doing so we were encouraging people to abandon their responsibility. So we changed our policy and just tended to those abandoned cows that were diseased or injured.

HKRL: How many cows are there now in the program?

KRP: 72

HKRL: What is your capacity?

KRP: We are at capacity. We have 14 calves under one-year-old so today they fit in one feeding area but as they grow they will require more room. So before we can host more cows, we have to get some more land. That is our focus right now. We hope our example can serve as a model for other neighborhoods to follow.

These cows' legs required amputation after being run over
by cars on the streets of Vrindavana. The cows' feed is
brought to them by hand and they are given support
when they require to move around  the barn.

HKRL: Are you unique in your endeavor here? You don't call this a goshalla but a go-sadan.

KRP: Go sadan is a place to care for retired cows, a retirement home. There are others who are attending to this but I don't see that they are giving the abandoned cows much attention. Unfortunately there are some who collect money for serving abandoned cows but use it for other purposes.

HKRL: Is Care for Cows in Vrindavan registered or incorporated?

KRP: We are a branch of Vrindavan Food for Life which is a registered non-profit organization. I started independently but when Rupa Raghunatha of Vrindavana Food for Life offered us the land we made a partnership.

HKRL: So basically your donations come through Vrindavan Food for Life and if someone wants to sponsor abandoned cows they can make a donation to Vrindavan Food for Life?

KRP: Yes, specifying that funds go for Care for Cows in Vrindavan. Some donations come directly to me and they are spent on straw, grains, gur, mustard cake, and medicine. The donations that come to Vrindavan Food for Life go for fresh grass, labor costs and other expenses.

HKRL: And this arrangement is working well.

KRP: Yes, very well.

HKRL: Is Vrindavan Food for Life fully audited so people can have confidence in giving to them that it is going to get to you?

KRP: Yes. They are very good people. They are attending not only to abandoned cows but have various other projects. They distribute prasadama to many people daily, they have a school for underprivileged kids, they provide clothing and other necessities to people, dig wells in villages, provide medical care, and so on.

HKRL: I heard that they fed 1,400 people yesterday.

KRP: It is amazing how the behavior of the students in their school has improved. I have seen them undergo a substantial transformation.

Bullock school cart

HKRL: Is this the school that has the ox-driven school bus?

KRP: Yes. We keep the school bus in the go-sadan which is near the village of Sunrak. Every school day our oxen take 50 kids to and from the Sandipani Muni School.

HKRL: I have seen for myself that many of the injured cows you have taken in have been nursed back to good health. Now that they are healthy will they be turned back out into the street, or do they become life-long charges of Care for Cows in Vrindavan?

KRP: If they go back to the street, it will not be long before their health deteriorates or they are injured by careless motorists. So I am keeping all of them. So far I get enough support, enough sponsors, to keep up their maintenance. The Bhagavad-gita explains that by offering sacrifice to the demigods man gets all his necessities supplied. This is the law of the universe. The scriptures also state that all of the demigods reside in the body of the cow and that service to the cow constitutes sacrifice to the demigods. And we are experiencing all our necessities being supplied. These last five years I have not come up short even once.

Protected calf suckling her mother

HKRL: Are you planning to expand into a goshalla? I see a lot of young calves here.

KRP: Almost all of the abandoned cows we have tended to were pregnant when we took them in. Thus several calves have been born here. Up until recently the mortality rate in the go sadan far exceeded the birth rate. We have buried over 40 animals who we have taken off of the street but died. Their condition was so poor that we were only able to nurse them until death.

In the first three years I had five cows born and twenty die. So I wasn't concerned about reproduction and did not separate the cows and bulls and six cows became pregnant. Now that the herd is healthy and we have run out of space, the only responsible thing for me to do is to restrict the breeding until we can get more land to accommodate expansion. So in the future a goshalla may develop, but for now I am concentrating on keeping cows from deteriorating in the street.

HKRL: My experience in the west is that the cow program has been the largest contributing factor to the communities getting into difficulty because they over-breed the herds and all the land is monopolized for fodder. In fact, many communities like New Vrindavana, possibly Gitanagari too, still have to buy hay off-farm. I know New Vrindavana does for sure. They do a big fund-raising drive every year. How do you perceive that not becoming a problem with the milking? Is it just the purchasing of land or keeping your milking herd lower than the mortality rate?

KRP: Care for Cows is like a battlefield hospital, an emergency measure to keep the abandoned cows from dying in the street. It is not a farm community striving for self sufficiency. At present we have to purchase all the fodder and grains for our herd and it will remain that way unless and until volunteers come forward to acquire the land to produce all that is required to maintain the herd.

It is the duty of the vaisya community to protect cows and at least in India, people are aware of this. Many vaisyas live in the city and though they may not be able to keep cows at home, they are fond of supporting goshallas. So what I see myself doing is providing them the opportunity to maintain a cow in Vrindavana. I am not thinking in terms of self-sufficiency at present because land is so expensive in this area.

Food for Life Vrindavana's vegetable gardens

HKRL: What is the cost of an acre of farm land in this area?

KRP: Farm land in the outskirts of Raman Reti is about US $7,500 per acre. If you go farther away it is cheaper. But since I don't know anything about farming I don't think in terms of getting enough land to achieve self-sufficiency. I think in terms of finding people who are interested in cow protection and offering them the opportunity to protect and maintain a cow in Vrindavan. This is how Care for Cows has developed and expanded so I think within that framework.

HKRL: So what do you think the future holds for the Care for Cows in Vrindavan program? You were telling me the other day of trying to get ten acres of land?

KRP: There are perhaps 350 abandoned cows on the streets of Vrindavana. Care for Cows could develop into one facility large enough to host them all, or our present facility can serve as an example for other neighborhoods to model. Either is fine with me though I prefer the latter as more people would directly be involved in cow protection and experience the benefits. Since there are many more people than cows, and many wealthy vaisya families, it is feasible that they all contribute to maintain the abandoned cows. If every family were to sponsor one cow the immediate problem would be solved.

If it happens that we get more land, then I would like to develop a simple educational facility along with the cow protection program. I have always maintained that education and cow protection complement each other.

HKRL: Education of...?

KRP: A place where different teachers can present courses on Vaisnava siddhanta and practical devotional skills. Students could spend five or six months in Vrindavana to study and go-seva would be part of the curriculum. In this way more people would be exposed to cows and learn to appreciate them and how their presence stimulates a sattvik atmosphere.

I think my contribution will be to stimulate interest in cow protection and those with other inclinations will be the ones who develop the
self-sufficiency. So I would like to bring people in contact with the cow so they can develop an appreciation for them and a desire to serve them and protect them.

Care for Cows in Vrindavana paddock

HKRL: Would an expanded project have barn areas and classrooms?

KRP: Ten acres is enough to get the cows off the streets. Of course we could use much more. A part of the land could be used to grow organic vegetables and grains. Some of the bulls could be used in plowing and we could expand our use of the gober and urine. I like your suggestion that we produce all the things required for yajnya and Deity worship and supply our sponsors with those items. Classrooms and lodging for students could be very simple.

HKRL: You were mentioning that cow protection is vaisya activity...

KRP: Brahminical also.

HKRL: I guess the teaching would be brahminical. But if you are not going to be moving towards self-sufficiency, how are you going to be showing the vaisya activity application of it?

KRP: I agree that self-sufficiency is the goal but I see my role more in education and in encouraging people to participate. Many devotees come here to purchase land so I will encourage them to host a few cows there to help alleviate the present problem. It requires a community effort.

HKRL: Would you say that cow protection in the Vrindavana area, barring these small number of animals that there are on the streets, a success?

Blind cow protected by Care for Cows in Vrindavana.
She produces the most milk of all cows on the project.

KRP: No, I don't think so. I have met very few people who are actually focused on cow protection. Most of them are focused on having the cow serve them by delivering milk. I don't see many people protecting cows for the purpose of pleasing Krsna. Mostly they want to take service from the cow. There are, however, some genuine go sevakas.

HKRL: We all have responsibilities in life as a parent or whatever. So at the same time don't these cows have the responsibility to provide draft, to pull the plough, to pull the wagon to the school, to produce milk, ghee. So it seems to me if we can't find that balance, then the cows are going to lose out in the long run. Especially if there is an economic downturn where there isn't a lot of money available, where are people going to have the surplus laksmi that they can provide for cow protection.

This has always been my concern in the west regarding the over-expansion of herds where it comes down to that it is short term. I don't know the social context here in India, particularly in Vrindavan, but I imagine that there are still problems here in the goshalla with the size of the herd especially since the milk yield from each cow is quite low so you have to milk so many. Then if you are milking one cow you have one calf  -- that is simple math. So you get to the point where you got wall to wall cows and not the facility to protect them in the long term.

My feeling is that a protected cow or oxen is one that is actually working. If they are putting food on your table then you are going to take care of that animal. And it is not necessarily a question of exploitation. Srila Prabhupada questioned while visiting one Iskcon farm project during a morning walk that all this land is just for the cows, what about the humans. So there must be mutual responsibility.

KRP: I agree. The more practical returns we get from the cows and bulls, the greater we value them. The more we value them, the better we protect them. But we should not forget that the most important return we get by serving them is that Krsna is pleased. So cows and bulls are valuable even if not "productive."

The Bhagavatam states, "It is therefore concluded that the highest perfection one can achieve by discharging varnashrama duties is to please the Personality of Godhead." (1.2.13) All of our work should be aimed at pleasing Krsna. Go seva offers us a simple and unique opportunity to do so.

Contented calves

Krsna tells Uddhava, "I can be worshiped within the cows by offerings of grass and other suitable grains and paraphernalia for the pleasure and health of the cows (11.11.43)"; and the Gautamiya Tantra states, "Worship of the cow is accomplished by gently scratching, offering green grass and by circumambulating. By pleasing the cow, Sri Gopal is also pleased."

So even if we don't get milk and ghee from the cows and draft from the bulls, serving them still offers us the opportunity to please Krsna. And for one who has pleased Krsna, there is nothing left to achieve.

So whether they produce useful material products or not, they are always productive from the spiritual perspective. But I agree that they will be valued most and consequently protected best when they provide milk, ghee, and can plow the land to grow all that is required to serve Krsna.

HKRL: Thank you very much. Hare Krsna.

If you would like to contact or support
Care for Cows in Vrindavana
please email Kurma Rupa Prabhu at:
giriseva@pamho.net

for information