Volume 11 Issue 3 The International Society for Cow Protection 2001

Inside This Issue

Letters: Resources, Bottled

Cow Urine, Village Life in 2

Countries, etc.

page 2-

5, 10,

14-15

ISCOWP Update page 6-7

Gita-nagari Ox Power

Unit

Page 8

Why September 11? An-

imal Slaughter = War

page 9,

11

IMCPA Update page 12

Realizations of a Team-

ster in Training

page 13,

15

“He That Killeth An Ox Is As If He Slew a Man” - Isiah 66.3

Campaign Success! Barn Roof is Up!ince September 11, life formost people has changed, es-pecially those living inAmerica. Instead of the com-

fortable feeling of security, fear hasentered into the consciousness ofmany. Fear and the unexplainablequestion of, “How can this happen?”The traditional diet of Americans issteak (cow) and potatoes. In this is-sue read about the connection be-tween slaughtering animals andwar.The barn roof at Vrajapura Farmhas been completed to provide shel-ter for the cows this winter. This isall due to the contributions of IS-COWP members who are knowl-edgeable about the value of cowprotection. Thank you so much!Cow Protection is not just a senti-ment. To provide cow protection ef-ficiently and properly involvesknowledge and training. Eachnewsletter issue provides informa-tion to broaden the reader’s knowl-edge of cow protection.

Page 2 THE ISCOWP NEWS

ISCOWP PROFILE

ISCOWP was incorporated in the stateof Pennsylvania, U.S.A., March 1990,as a non-profit educational organiza-tion. William and Irene Dove(Balabhadra das and Chayadevi dasi)are its managing directors. They aredisciples of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, theFounder Acharya of the InternationalSociety for Krsna Consciousness(ISKCON). Through their spiritualmaster's teachings, they have imbibedthe practices and benefits, both spiritu-al and material, of lifetimecow protection.

ISCOWP's primary con-cern is to present alternativesto agricultural practices thatsupport and depend uponthe meat industry and indus-trialized, petroleum poweredmachinery. To this end, IS-COWP trains oxen (malecows or steers) to replacefarm machinery and therebyshow an alternative to theirslaughter. The tenets of cowprotection and ox-power areuniversal and nonsectarian,available to all regardless ofrace, creed, or nationality.

ISCOWP ACTIVITIES

Ox-power, An Alternative Energy

At ISCOWP's headquarters,Vrajapura Farm, fields for all crops areprepared by ox-power. In the winter,logging by oxen provides wood forheating. Due to the oxen's ability tohaul loads, petroleum powered ma-chinery is being replaced for farmchores and plans are developing for oxpowered machinery to provide electri-cal power.

Ox-power Seminars

Seminars are given in living class-room settings involving hands-on in-struction at locations such as Russia,North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and

West Virginia, U.S.A. If you wish topartake in such a seminar or wish tohave one in your area, contactISCOWP for seminar schedules.

Training Teamsters and Oxen

Teamsters and oxen are trainedworldwide. Prospective students areencouraged to contact ISCOWP foreither individual instruction or semi-nar schedules. At Vrajapura Farmthere are 6 trained ox teams availablefor the training of students.

Educational Videos, Newsletters, and

E-Mail Network

"Training Oxen by Voice Commands"and "ISCOWP Travels to Belarus"are some videos filmed and pro-duced by ISCOWP. 10 years in publi-cation, the ISCOWP News informs itsreaders of cow protection activitiesworldwide. 8 years in existence, theISKCON COM cow conference(cow@pamho.net) offers a forum forpractical and philosophical discus-sions to over 100 members from 18countries. Our web page offers awide scope of information about cowprotection.

ISCOWP Outreach

5 years of travel with oxen

International Society for Cow

Protection, INC. (ISCOWP)

throughout the United States’ majorcities and towns has resulted in pre-senting thousands of people with themessage of cow protection and ox-power.

Developing Vrajapura Farm

ISCOWP's headquarters, consist-ing of 168 acres, provides a settingfor seminars, hands-on instruction,ISCOWP's office, and an example ofox-power and life centered on theland and cows. At Vrajapura Farm,twenty-seven cows and oxen areprovided lifetime protection. Re-cently purchased, it is presently inthe beginning stages of development

ISCOWP CONTACTS

To Give a Donation

All donations to ISCOWPwithin the USA are tax de-ductible. The tax number is23-2604082.

ISCOWP Mailing Address

ISCOWPRD 1 NBU #28Moundsville, WV, USA,26041

ISCOWP Phone

Phone:1-304-843-1658

ISCOWP E-Mail/Web/Con-

ference

ISCOWP@earthlink.netISCOWP@pamho.nethttp://www.iscowp.comcow@pamho.net (cow conference)

ISCOWP 3x yr Newsletter

Within the USA: Send $21 check tosnail mail address Outside USA:Send $25 bank draft or money orderto snail mail address

ISCOWP T-shirts, videos, informa-

tion

Please inquire at above addresses.

ISCOWP News Details in non-editorial articles do not necessarilyrepresent the viewpoint of the edi-tors.

ISCOWP Logo designed by Madhava Priya dasi(copyrights).

THE ISCOWP NEWS Page 3

LettersRESOURCESFrom: "Noma T. Petroff"

<npetroff@bowdoin.edu>

To: "billy bob buckwheat"

<d_4h@hotmail.com>;

<Cow@pamho.net>;

<IMCPA@pamho.net>; "iscowp"

<iscowp@earthlink.net>;

Subject: Online Veterinary help - Cornell

Univ. Ag school

Date: Friday, October 27, 2000 4:51 PM

I had the amazing experience yesterday of

walking past a plaque listing American

Civil War soldiers on my way to lunch

and meeting a man who asked for

directions. who turned out to be Pete

white, (Maurice E. White), who teaches

veterinary science at Cornell University,

which is considered to have one of the

best Agriculture Schools in the country.

(Kamala dasi, who took care of cows on

many ISKCON farms went to school

there.)

Anyway, he told me about an online vet-

erinary diagnostic site which he had set

up. It is highly technical, but it may be

able to give devotees practical

information on what is the problem with

their cow or bull. Please check it out.

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/consultant/

consult.asp

You may also be interested in some of the

other links from the veterinary

school:

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/main/

Pete White was also interested in the

Amish and quite interested to hear about

old cows and oxen on Hare Krsna farms.

So it was quite an exchange of

information.

Hare Krsna dasi

Ox MowerFrom: "Iscowp"<iscowp@earthlink.net>To: "Syamasundara (das)(Bhaktivedanta Manor - UK)"<Syamasundara@pamho.net>; "cow"<cow@pamho.net>

Subject: Re: Ox mowerDate: Tuesday, June 20, 2000 11:13PM

> Dear Balabhadra Prabhu,I was very interested to see and hearabout the ox speed grass mower. Dothey still make them. Do you haveany e mail addresses of anybodywho has some for sale, especially ifthey don't mind exporting them.

> ys syamasundara dasa

Dear Syamasundara Prabhu,As far as I know they are not madeanymore. There is a father and sonabout 1 hour from Gita-nagari whoreconditions them for a living. Idon't know if they would export toEngland. I'll call them and find out.The mower in question is aMcCormick-Deering # 9 High Gear.The last I checked (severalyears ago) they were asking $650 USfor a completely reconditionedmower with metal or rubber tires(your choice).

Have you tried to research mowermakers in your part of the world.There is a book titled " Tools forAgriculture" put out by IntermediateTechnology publications. They arethe publishing arm of InternationalTechnology Development Groupwhich is based at 103/105Southampton Row, London WC1B4HH, UK ISBN# 1 85339 100 X

When I was in Belarus the devoteeshad a mower that was made inPoland. Maybe you can contact thefarm in Poland to see if they havecontacts.

You may also want to place a letterof inquiry in Small Farmer's Journalfor contacts in your part of theworld. The magazine is a wealth ofinformation and well worth the sub-scription. Their address is:Small Farmer's JournalP.O. Box 1627Sisters, Oregon 97759 USAe-mail address:

agrarian@smallfarmersjournal.com

The mower's address is:B.W. Macknair & Son3055 U.S. HWY 522 NorthLewistown, PA 17044 USA717-543-5136

Balabhadra das

Sulky PlowFrom: Syamasundara (das)(Bhaktivedanta Manor - UK)<Syamasundara@pamho.net>To: <ISCOWP@pamho.net>Subject: Sulky PloughDate: Monday, October 22, 2001 1:20AM

Do you know where I can buy a newSulky plough in the USA, if in factthey still make them. I have not hadmuch luck surfing the net.

ys syam

From: "iscowp"<iscowp@earthlink.net>To: <Syamasundara@pamho.net>Subject: sulky plowDate: Wednesday, November 14,2001 12:46 PM

For Used Plows and PartsBalster's Implements & Parts Co.118 Third StreetScotch Grove IA 52331(319) 465-4141

B.W. Macknair and Son3055 US Highway 522 NorthLewistown, PA 17044(717) 543-5136

NEW PLOWSPioneer Equipment Inc.16875 Jericho RDDalton OH 44618(330) 287-0386 Voice mail(330) 698-3200 Fax

White Horse Machine5566 Old Philadelphia ParkwayGap PA 17527(717) 768-8313

Page 4 THE ISCOWP NEWS

To: <Cow@pamho.net>; cowz<cowz@jc-net.com>;Subject: A gift from the gods: bottledcow's urineDate: Friday, September 21, 2001 7:30AM

Here's an interesting article that ap-peared on news.telegraph.co.uk.

The specific link is:http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/02/wcow02.xml

A gift from the gods: bottled cow'surineBy Julian West in New Delhi(Filed: 02/09/2001)

HINDU nationalists in India havelaunched a marketing exercise topromote cow's urine as a health curefor ailments ranging from liver dis-ease to obesity and even cancer.

The urine, which is being sold underthe label "Gift of the Cow", is beingenthusiastically promoted by thegovernment of Gujarat, one of threestates in India dominated by Hindunationalists.

The urine is collected daily from al-most 600 shelters for rescued andwounded cattle set up by the VishwaHindu Parisad (VHP), or WorldCouncil of Holy men, as part of agovernment cow-protection programto save the country's sacred, but of-ten maltreated, beasts.

Advertised as being "sterilized andcompletely fresh" it is available for 20rupees (30p) a bottle at about 50 cen-ters run by the VHP in Gujarat, from200 of their outlets in neighboringMadhya Pradesh, and at fairs and re-ligious festivals throughout India.

It also comes in tablets or a creammixed with other traditional medici-nal herbs. Demand is currently out-stripping supply.

YOKES - PUBLICATIONS/PLANS

From: Noma T. Petroff<npetroff@bowdoin.edu>To: iscowp <iscowp@earthlink.net>Subject: Tillers' Catalog - Yokes andYoke MakingDate: Wednesday, December 20, 200012:10 PM

I think this information should be of in-terest to ox power farmers. Itwould be good if you could order sev-eral items listed here and examinethem.

Hare Krsna dasi

http://www.wmich.edu/tillers/cata-log/yoke.html

Neck Yoke Design and Fit.1992. -- byRichard RoosenbergThis paper gives more detail on howthe humble neck yoke works than anysource we know. It analyzes the impor-tance of the draft (or drop of the hitchpoint below the neck seats) and de-scribes the consequences of the draft onbow movement and beam seating onthe neck. The depth of draft has vary-ing consequences depending on the na-ture of the load. Understanding thishelps readers appreciate different yokestyles and their best uses. Yoke dimen-sions common to American neck yokesare described relative to the bowwidths. This paper includes conceptsessential for improving yokes alongwith a bibliography of traditional yokeknowledge.

TechGuide - 12 pages, Item # 2gnyk,Price $ 3.00

Building an Ox Yoke -- by DavidKramer, 1998This is a thorough how-to guide tomaking an ox yoke. You will find in-structions on selecting and curingwood, shaping the beam of the yoke,making the bows, forging the hardwareand assembling the final product. ThisTechGuide offers good background in-formation for using the plans and tem-plates.

TechGuide - 19 pages, Item # 2gykb,Price $ 4.00

Yoke Maker's Plan and Template

Package

For those who want to make a seriesof yokes for growing teams, we sug-gest a special package of 2TechGuides (Neck Yoke Design and Fitand Building an Ox Yoke), a 4" fullsized plan, and a series of templatesfor beams with bow widths from 4 to11 inches. For the package we candiscount these aids that would cost$36.50 separately.

Drawings - Sizes for 4-11", Item #2yktp, Price $ 29.00

Yoke Plans, Traditional American

-- by Richard RoosenbergThese actual sized plans can aid youin making your own yokes. They in-clude front and top views and alongwith several cross sections. They alsoshow bow shapes for oval bows aswell as half round bows should youranimals need ovals. The developmentof these plans is described in theNeck Yoke Design & Fit TechGuide(item #2gnyk). Their relative dimen-sions are based on bow widths andcan be extrapolated to larger layoutswithout buying a complete set ofplans. Indeed, we have discontinuedsizes larger than 8" due to high costsof reproducing copies over 48 incheslong.

Drawings - See "Plans Price List" be-low, Item # 2ykpl.

Yoke Templates, Traditional Ameri-can -- by Richard Roosenberg

These actual-size templates of thefront and top outlines guide the shap-ing of a good yoke. The larger sizescome in reversible half templateswith reference marks to orient theflipside to a straight reference chalkline. These are an economical alterna-tive to larger yoke plans.

Drawings - See "Plans Price List" be-low, Item # 2yktm.

A GIFT FROM THE GODS: BOT-

TLED COW URINE

From: Taraka (das) ACBSP (Gita Na-gari, PA - USA)<Taraka.ACBSP@pamho.net>

THE ISCOWP NEWS Page 5

Dr Jadi Patel at the VHP's headquar-ters in Ahmedabad said: "It's verypopular because the results are verygood, but we've got a shortage." Heexplained that the cow protectioncenters had been formed after the lastgrand gathering of sadhus, or holymen, to save cows from "unofficialslaughter by Muslims".

Killing cows is illegal in most Indianstates but there are an estimated32,000 illegal abattoirs and 13.7 mil-lion cows are believed to be slaugh-tered by Muslims for theleather industry. Animalrights activists in Indiaalso claim that the doe-eyed, hump-backed whiteBrahma cattle that are tobe found on almost everyIndian street are sub-jected to various abuses,including forced pregnan-cies to produce moremilk.

The cow protection com-mission was set up to pro-tect the holy cows, andresearch conducted bydoctors involved in theproject revealed that thecows' urine had medicinalproperties.

The idea of using it came from thecentral Indian headquarters of theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),the powerful Hindu nationalist ideo-logues behind the country's BharataJanata Party (BJP), where five scien-tists are researching its beneficial ef-fects.

Like all devout Hindus, RSS mem-bers believe that all cow products aresacred. ghee, or clarified butter, isused in Indian cooking and to lightlamps during temple ceremonies, andmilk is commonly poured over sa-cred idols as an offering.The healing properties of cow dungand cow's urine are also mentionedin ancient Hindu texts. The research

conducted by doctors at the cow-protection commission indicates thatthe urine can cure anything from skindiseases, kidney and liver ailments toobesity and heart ailments.Although most Indian doctors view themedicines as eccentric, several advo-cates of the treatment have come for-ward in Gujarat, to support the doc-tors' claims.

They include Vidhyaben Mehta, a 65-year-old woman with a cancerous tu-mor on her chest who has been taking

cow's urine for the past three years.She says she is no longer in pain andhas survived in spite of medical pre-dictions that she would die two yearsago.

So enthusiastic is the Gujarat govern-ment about its cows' urine medicinesthat it has asked the Indian Institute ofManagement to compile a databaseof traditional cures and verify theHindu nationalists' findings.

The academics have also discoveredthat cow's urine is an extremely effec-tive pesticide and plant fertilizer andare now developing for human con-sumption new drugs that contain the"gift of the cow".

Prof Anil Gupta at the institute said:"This isn't just a religious thing. If it'suseful we shouldn't stop it simplybecause we think it has religiousconnections."© Copyright of Telegraph GroupLimited 2001.

ANECDOTE of ARGENTINE

RURAL LIFE DURING ECO-

NOMIC COLLAPSEFrom: markjon chatburn

<protection_farms@yahoo.com>To: <Cow@pamho.net>Subject: Anecdote of Ar-gentine rural life duringeconomic collapseDate: Friday, September21, 2001 8:59 AMI thought I'd like to sharewith you all an anecdoteof rural life in Tucuman,Argentina during whatcan only be called aneconomic collapse. Thiscould well be relevant tomany 1st world devoteesas Argentina itself wasthe 6th richest country inthe world only 80 yearsago. Such economic mis-ery that the Great De-

pression brought about may not betoo far away. As devotees know onthis conference, I am not a scaremonger for "end of the world, run tothe hills", but when facts are factsone must respond. Whilst many ofthe details may seem to be "theworst of karmis", much can be learntfrom there life.

In the center of Argentina is found asmall state called Tucuman. This,and the surrounding states, havetemperatures of up to 50 C (110 F) inthe summer, and in the winter it willrise to between 20-30 C (70-90 F) inthe day and 0-10 C (30-50 F). Whilstthe land is arid bush, there is amplerain in the summer and a wide range

(Continued on page 10)

Balabhadra cutting vegetables from the garden to be canned.

Page 6 THE ISCOWP NEWS

ISCOWP

Update

we have taken much manure fromthe barn area and placed in the gar-den. This is a first year garden andwe did not put any manure in it be-fore we planted. Balabhadra wanted

to see how it would do without it andwhere the weak soil areas might be .

Additional Teamsters

Gauranga Prema das is here fromSouth Africa to learn the principles ofVaisnava farming. Balabhadra isteaching him how to utilize the oxento collect firewood for the winter

fires. The additional 28 acres that weacquired this year has proven to begood training grounds for loggingwith oxen. Logging by oxen requires

ability and once it is mas-tered, a good foundationfor other activities with theoxen is acquired.

Gauranga Prema exchangeshis training for labor on thefarm. Another brahmacari,Bhakta Eli, comes with him3 days a week to do thesame. This arrangement isproving helpful in complet-ing many farm chores.

Barn RoofWe are very pleased withhow the barn is developing.As you know, last year wecollected money to cementthe barnyard since thecows were in deep mud. Inthe process of cementing,poles were installed in thecement with the hope theywould support a roof thefollowing year if we couldcollect enough money. Thisyear we collected for theroof and were able to put a27 gauge green tin roof upand connect it to the oldbarn roof. The cement floorin the old barn connects tothe new barn floor. Nowthe cows have full coveredaccess to both barns. Underroof, 185 feet long by 60 feetwide is now the size of thecombined barns. The cowshave access to a thirty footwidth for eating and loung-

ing, and the other 30 feet is for stor-ing hay and equipment.

Frank Guzeck, a local resident, hasbeen the carpenter working on thebarn and it was his idea to connectthe roofs. He has done a very cre-ative and innovative job on the out-side as well as the inside of the barn.

arden

We canned over500 jars of pro-

duce for winter storageand gifts for our mem-bers. Tomato puree,tomato sauce, tomatochunks, tomato chutney,tomato soup, salsa, beans,bean subj, chard subj,zucchini subj, squashsubj, applesauce, and ap-ple chunks are the differ-ent types of produce wecanned. We dried boxesfull of sandwich bags oftomatoes, squash, zuc-chini, and lavender.Tomatoes were are largestamount of dried produce.We have stored in severalbushel baskets potatoes,squash and sweet pota-toes. All this produce isstored in our root cellarwhich is part of ourhouse.

Just up until a few weeksago we were still gettingproduce from the garden.Kale and brussels sproutswere still providing tastymeals. The deer popula-tion this year is very largeand at this time of yearthey are very hungry.They ate every thing afew days ago.

Next year we want toplant berry bushes to make jams, morelavender for sachets and other prod-ucts, and more herbs for medicinalproducts. Also more eggplant, pota-toes, and sweet potatoes since thesecrops grew well and their taste was sosuperb.

In preparation for next years garden

Top: Mike securing nailers for the new tin roof on the barn.

Bottom: Frank, Butchy, and Mike screwing new green tin roof on

the new barn. Great crew.

THE ISCOWP NEWS Page 7

The land is mostly hilly here, so when con-structing it is more of a challenge than whenthe ground is flat. The barn has the characterof an old barn but with all new materials.

When we first bought the property and welived a few miles away, we took part of theold barn roof that had fallen due to a stormand built a shed for our young oxen where wewere living at the time. We had to take thatshed down and now the same materials havebeen put back in place to once again completethe original old barn roof. Frank also straight-ened the poles on the old barn to give a moresymmetrical look.

On the whole the farm is shaping up and look-ing more presentable. We hope by next winterwe will have the old barn painted, our housefully painted, the other two residencespainted, a cow path installed to the barn, thenew barn completed, and an equipment shedfor all the ox drawn machines that are rustingin the weather. Once this initial "set up" stageis over we hope to get more into training, us-ing the farm as a center for preaching, and de-veloping income from farm based products.

We are eternally grateful to all our memberswho have donated to the construction of thisbarn with the purpose of giving comfort to thecows. In our financial report we will givethanks and recognition to all donors.

Top: North facing side of the barn has 2 hanger

sliding doors. We found a very good deal on Hick-

ory boards and used them as siding on 3 sides of

the barn. Hickory is a very hard wood and also

has a pretty grain pattern.

Middle: Looking down the inside length of the

new barn.

Bottom: The west side of the new barn has 2 large

doors that open in the middle, one door on the feed

isle and one door on the area where the cows are.

This arrangement allows also for equipment to

clean out the barn. The open part on the lower

west side of the barn is where the cement cow path

will start and provide the cows a walkway out to

the pasture without making a mud lane.

Page 8 THE ISCOWP NEWS

spinning at 765 rpm that will pro-vide 60 horse-power. By using vari-ous types of pulleys off the finalshaft, any range of speed can beachieved to drive any type of equip-ment desired.

To construct a machine similar toours, you must have access to cer-tain raw materials and the facility to

convert them forusage. The sizesand strength ofthe componentsused in this unithave been care-fully engineeredand coordi-nated, so thatany reduction ofthe given specifi-cations will un-doubtedly resultin failure. In ourcase, many of theparts we usedwere not new,but we made it apoint to be surethat used compo-nents were ofgood quality.Precision is es-sential. At onepoint, we raninto a lot of trou-ble with a used 23/16” shaft thatwas 4’ long, but1/10000” out ofround.

Much of thework involved

can be done with basic metal work-ing tools, but there is also a lot ofwork that must be done by skilledmachinist. We did most of the workourselves with an oxy-acetylenetorch, electric arc-welder, drill press,and similar tools. In addition youmust have access to a metal lathe.We were lucky to have a neighbor

(Continued on page 15)

powered generator. The concepts be-hind the design and operation of thisunit are not new or complicated.Throughout history all over the world,man has used the same principles to

produce power from draft animals.Traditionally, the mechanisms used toproduce power have been made ofwood, but we have constructed ourgenerator from metal components,with the objective of maximizing thestrength and efficiency of the unit. Fiveoxen pull the tongues which a circularmotion. Then, the motion is geared up,and the direction of the rotation ischanged so that we end up with a shaft

his unit was built in 1985 as aproject of Gita- nagari’s

Adopt- A- Cow program, to demon-strate the value of working oxen us-ing improved alternative technology.For about five orsix years, the oxenprovided all theheating require-ments for 60 resi-dents of the farm.Residents selec-tively cut trees onthe hillsides, andoxen pulled themdown to the oxpower unit, wherethey were sawedto the wood-stovespecifications forthe temple andvarious homes.The oxen then de-livered the cordwood to each lo-cation around thecommunity. In theearly 1990’s theuse of the unitwas abandoned asGita- nagarishifted its focusaway from self-sufficiency. Butthe unit, well-sheltered, can stillbe inspected atGita- nagariwhere the community welcomes in-terested visitors.

If you would like to have this manualplease contact us (see page 2). Themanual is well illustrated by SarvaSiddhi Ratha das. Excerpts from themanual’s introduction follow to giveyou an idea of its content.

“In this article we will describe howwe built an ox-driven, sweep-

Gita-nagari Ox Power Unit

A manual by Paramananda das & Vaisnava dasNow available through the courtesy of Hare Krsna dasi

Comprehensive view of pulley arrangement, showing placement in relation to master-

sprocket tongues and oxen.

THE ISCOWP NEWS Page 9

ome of our members have calledto get our understanding of theSeptember 11 tragedy. The fol-

lowing quotes connect animal slaughter ,specifically cow slaughter, to war andtragedy. In reality, cow protection is atthe forefront of preventing such inci-dences . The quotes are from talks andpurports of Vedic scriptures by His Di-vine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhu-pada, Founder Acharya of the the Inter-national Society for Krsna Conscious-ness, and various religions and authors/philosophers.

The Golden Rule, “Do unto others asyou would have others do onto you,”Is one of the uniting principles in theworld’s major religious traditions. InJudaism, it is taught, “What is hatefulto you, do not to your fellowmen.”(Talmud, Shabbat 31a) Christianityteaches, “Whatever ye would thatmen should do to you, do you evenso to them.” (Matthew 7:12) The fol-lowers of Islam declare, “No one ofyou is a believer until he desires forhis brother that which he desires forhimself.” (Sunnah, Hadith) In Confu-cianism it is said, “Surely it is themaxim of loving kindness: Do notunto others that which you would nothave them do unto you.” (Analects15.23) Buddhism also teaches, “Hurtnot others in ways that you yourselfwould find hurtful.’ (Udana-Varga5.18) And finally, in the world’s earli-est religious scriptures, the Vedic lit-erature, we find, “This is the sum ofduty: Do naught unto others whichwould cause you pain if done untoyou.”(Mahabharata 5.1517)

The world of science echoes theworld’s religions with its own equiv-alent of the Golden Rule. Newton’sThird Law of Motion says that “Forevery action, there is an equal andopposite reaction.” While Newton’slaw applies only to material nature,

the implications run deeper still, ex-tending to the most subtle levels of ex-istence. In the East, this is called thelaw of karma.

In a very fundamental sense, too, thislaw relates to our treatment of ani-mals. The violence in society is at leastin part the result of our merciless dietand abuse of the natural world aroundus. In karmic terms, violence begetsviolence. In dietary terms, you arewhat you eat.Food for the Spirit, Steven Rosen

Not to hurt our humble brethren (theanimals) is our first duty to them, butto stop there is not enough. We have ahigher mission--to be of service tothem whenever they require it... If youhave men who will exclude any ofGod's creatures from the shelter ofcompassion and pity, you will havemen who will deal likewise with theirfellow men.--Saint Francis of Assisi (mystic andpreacher)

Prabhupada: [...] But in the westerncountry the cows are specially beingkilled. Now the reaction is war, crime,and they are now repentant. And theywill have to repent more and more.Jayatirtha: So the wars and the crimeare a direct result of the cow slaughter.Prabhupada: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. It is awholesale reaction. All these crises aretaking place.[...]>>> Ref. VedaBase => Room Conver-sation with Mr. & Mrs. Wax, Writerand Editing Manager of Playboy Mag-azine -- July 5, 1975, Chicago

"Until he extends the circle of compas-sion to all living things, man will nothimself find peace."--Albert Schweitzer

In this age of Kali the propensity formercy is almost nil. Consequently

there is always fighting and wars be-tween men and nations. Men do notunderstand that because they unre-strictedly kill so many animals, theyalso must be slaughtered like animalsin big wars. This is very much evi-dent in the Western countries. In theWest, slaughterhouses are maintainedwithout restriction, and therefore ev-ery fifth or tenth year there is a bigwar in which countless people areslaughtered even more cruelly thanthe animals.SB 4.26.5

To be nonviolent to human beingsand to be a killer or enemy of thepoor animals is Satan's philosophy. Inthis age there is enmity toward pooranimals, and therefore the poor crea-tures are always anxious. The reac-tion of the poor animals is beingforced on human society, and there-fore there is always the strain of coldor hot war between men, individu-ally, collectively or nationally.>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 1.10.6

"Until we have the courage to recog-nize cruelty for what it is--whether itsvictim is human or animal--we cannotexpect things to be much better in thisworld... We cannot have peace amongmen whose hearts delight in killingany living creature. By every act thatglorifies or even tolerates such mo-ronic delight in killing we set back theprogress of humanity."--Rachel Carson

We are the living graves of murderedbeasts, slaughtered to satisfy our ap-petites. How can we hope in thisworld to attain the peace we say weare so anxious for?--George Bernard Shaw (LivingGraves, published 1951)

As long as men massacre animals,(Continued on page 11)

Why September 11?Animal Slaughter =War

Page 10 THE ISCOWP NEWS

LETTERSof crops can be grown all year round. Itlies at the end of the great Argentinepampas, over 3000 km of flat land, go-ing from humid to arid zones. Then thefoothills and mountains of the Andescordilleras spring up.

In the rural outback live people verysimply, devout, superstitious, tradi-tional and simple. Whilst there a mancame from Tucuman city to sell clean-ing solutions. His face was pure anxi-ety. In contrast to the faces of the localsthere was no comparison. The locals,due to bad education, had poor teeth,poor health and looked rough andready, but they had a simplicity of con-tentment that knew no bounds. Thecity man had nothing but tales of eco-nomic hardship, no jobs, no money,how it was impossible to pay the billsand to raise his children - to eat, tohave shelter for married life whilstprotecting ones interests.

Very few people go hungry in Ar-gentina, why should they it is a coun-try a little smaller than the US withless than 40 million people, where asthe US has almost 300 million. Theland is rich and fertile, cows are every-where and nourish the bodies of the lo-cals (we may disagree, but that is howit is). For people looking to emigratefrom the US, EU and other dangerspots, Latin America is a very goodbet, mostly if you are in rural areas.The air system in the northern hemi-sphere mix little with that from thesouth, so any nuclear or biological war-fare would leave the south more insafety. As with Australia, the popula-tion density is very low, but there is awider distribution in Argentina thanmany places - it used to be developed,and has always profited fromdeveloped-world wars.

The moral of the story here is that therural people were entirely immunefrom the economic chaos engulfing thecountry. They owned on average 10hectares of land, most of it bush, they

(Continued from page 5) earn from it. I have others too, similarbut different that I may share ifwanted.

Mark

SIMPLE VILLAGE LIFE IN INDIAFrom: Taraka (das) ACBSP (Gita Na-gari, PA - USA)<Taraka.ACBSP@pamho.net>To: cowz <cowz@jc-net.com>; NewTalavan <talavan@fnbop.com>; Ta>Subject: Comment:

> In the centennial year I traveled toa number of villages in a Gandhi pro-ject to the east of Puna in Maharastra

I saw much the same, these villageswere having difficulty with nutritionand the wealthy people of the bigcities was funding medical and im-provements introduced into the vil-lages. This improvements consistedof expanding the income base of eachindividual household. The initial ac-tivities where a change of milk sourcefrom goats to cows (the local cowswere for draft only, Kilnar) the cowsintroduced were from a variety ofbreeds from neighboring areas butwere an improvement in milk pro-duction. Each family was given a cowand a bull was introduced from oneof the other breeds to improve themilk production of the local Kilnarbreed, the headman was the personin charge of the bull.They were alsointroducing mulberry trees and silkworms and various other cottagetype industries to broaden the in-come base of the village.> ys, Rohita dasa

I'd like to share some of my experi-ences for what ever it may be worth. Iwas travelling in areas quite far fromany cities. These people were reallyquite isolated. None had ever seen awesterner. I only saw obvious in-stances of nutritional problems anddiseases in villages closer to the citieswhere various influences had com-pelled the villagers to deviate from

(Continued on page 14)

went about the land on "sirkos", onehorse carriages, or on bareback onhorses. They were connected to elec-tricity and television and mobilephones, but were quite aware thatthey could do with out them, theydid before, they could again. It wasnot too long ago. Heating was from awood stove and social life was rounda campfire with a guitar, dancingand home made brews. Food was an-imal (cow, chicken or pig) with homegrown corn inter-cropped withpumpkins. Pest control was via "curapalabra", known to us as witchcraft -taking the insect and hexing it, whichwould then remove all the insectsfrom the area. So with just the aboveingredients there food needs weremet. Water was from a well that eachhousehold had.

This may all seem very familiar tomany in the US or in other formercolonies. That is why it is relevant tous, more so than India, because at theend of the day no matter how muchwe absorb other cultures we stillharbinger the simple things that wegrew up with. And at the end of theday, it may well be much more diffi-cult for "whities" to live in other cul-tures in Asia or Arabia, or Africa; justas the corollary may be true.

Another major factor is that peopleare used to working hard for littlerecompense, they know how to workthe land, how to build simple shelterand contraptions to aid in farming.They may not have a diverse farmingsystem suitable for the lacto-vegetarian diet, but many steppingstones are there to aid. Such may notbe easily found now in more devel-oped countries where farmers aresubsidy-agrochemical-mechanizationjunkies and whilst rural life may besimple compared to LA or NewYork, it is extremely complex com-pared to 3rd world rural life.

Quite a few issues are raised here,aand I hope you enjoyed the anec-dote and the lessons that we can

THE ISCOWP NEWS Page 11

WHY SEPTEMBER 11?they will kill each other. Indeed, hewho sows the seeds of murder andpain cannot reap joy and love.”Pythagoras (6th century BC)

We don't want to stop trade or the pro-duction of grains and vegetables andfruit. But we want to stop these killinghouses. It is very, very sinful.That is why all over the world theyhave so many wars. Every ten or fif-teen years there is a big war -- a whole-sale slaughterhouse for humankind.But these rascals -- they do not see it,that by the law of karma, every actionmust have its reaction.

You are killing innocentcows and other animals --nature will take revenge.Just wait. As soon as thetime is right, nature willgather all these rascals andslaughter them. Finished.They'll fight amongst them-selves -- Protestants andCatholics, Russia andAmerica, this one and thatone. It is going on. Why?That is nature's law. Tit fortat. "You have killed. Nowyou kill yourselves."

They are sending animalsto the slaughterhouse, andnow they'll create their own slaughter-house. [Imitating gunfire:] Tung! Tung!Kill! Kill! You see? Just take Belfast, forexample. The Roman Catholics arekilling the Protestants, and the Protes-tants are killing the Catholics. This isnature's law.>>> Ref. VedaBase => JSD 6.5: Slaugh-terhouse Civilization

As long as there are slaughterhouses,there will be battlefields."-Leo Tolstoy,

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, ev-eryone would be vegetarian. We feelbetter about ourselves and better aboutthe animals, knowing we're not con-tributing to their pain.

(Continued from page 9) --Paul and Linda McCartneyPanca-gavya, the five products re-ceived from the cow, namely milk,yogurt, ghee, cow dung and cowurine, are required in all ritualisticceremonies performed according tothe Vedic directions. Cow urine andcow dung are uncontaminated, andsince even the urine and dung of acow are important, we can just imag-ine how important this animal is forhuman civilization. Therefore theSupreme Personality of Godhead,Krsna, directly advocates go-raksya,the protection of cows. Civilized menwho follow the system of varnas-rama, especially those of the vaisya

class, who engage in agriculture andtrade, must give protection to thecows. Unfortunately, because peoplein Kali-yuga are mandah, all bad,and sumanda-matayah, misled byfalse conceptions of life, they arekilling cows in the thousands. There-fore they are unfortunate in spiritualconsciousness, and nature disturbsthem in so many ways, especiallythrough incurable diseases like can-cer and through frequent wars andamong nations. As long as humansociety continues to allow cows to beregularly killed in slaughterhouses,there cannot be any question of peaceand prosperity.>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad Bhaga-

vatam 8.8.11

To kill cows means to end humancivilization.Srimad Bhagavatam 1.4.9

The cow’s calf not only is beautifulto look at, but also gives satisfactionto the cow, and so she delivers asmuch milk as possible. But in theKali-yuga, the calves are separatedfrom the cows as early as possiblefor purposes which may not bementioned in these pages of SrimadBhagavatam. The cow stands withtears in her eyes, the sudra milkmandraws milk from the cow artificially,

and when there is no milkthe cow is sent to beslaughtered. These greatlysinful acts are responsiblefor all the troubles in pre-sent society.Srimad Bhagavatam1.17.3

According to Manu, thegreat author of civic codesand religious principles,even the killer of an ani-mal is to be considered amurderer because animalfood is never meant for thecivilized man, whoseprime duty is to preparehimself for going back toGodhead.

He says that in the act of killing ananimal, there is a regular conspiracyby the party of sinners, and all ofthem are liable to be punished asmurderers exactly like a party ofconspirators who kill a human beingcombinedly. He who gives permis-sion, he who kills the animal, hewho sells the slaughtered animal, hewho cooks the animal, he who ad-ministers distribution of the food-stuff, and at last he who eats suchcooked animal food are all murder-ers, and all of them are liable to bepunished by the laws of nature. Sri-mad Bhagavatam 1.7.37

Kalki enjoying the warm fall weather at Vrajapura Farm.

Page 12 THE ISCOWP NEWS

SKCON Ministry for Cow Pro-tection and Agriculture

We have submitted 3 proposalsfor the ISKCON Governing BodyCommission concerning cow protec-tion for their March 2002 meetings.One proposal concerns a budget forthe Ministry. At present there is nobudget to cover the Ministry’s servicesto ISKCON. The second one addresseslast year’s problems with the manage-ment of two cow protection centers inIndia, Mayapur and Vrndavan. Vrn-davan has made progress in imple-menting steps for a solution, butMayapur has not. Therefore this pro-posal addresses the urgency of findingsolutions.

One of the ways to support a cow pro-tection program is to sell milk fromthe cows. If this becomes the promi-nent means then there is danger infalling into the commercial dairy pit-falls. The only way a commercial dairymakes a profit is to cull (kill) its un-productive animals. It is imperativethat such programs find other promi-nent means of income. Cow urine anddung are also a means of income andcan become the prominent ones.Please read the following correspon-dence.

From: Nirguna To: ISCOWP(Balabhadra Dasa & Chaya Dasi -USA)

Subject: News from Lavanga. Date:Tuesday, July 31, 2001 2:30 AM

Hari Bol Chayadevi Prabhu, All glo-ries to Srila Prabhupada, Following isthe text of a letter from LavangaLatika that I received yesterday: "Afriend of ours who is a research scien-tist in Agriculture and an independentconsultant in organic agriculture andwho was at the Daund ISKCON farmfor a few months advising them, wasjust visiting and he told me how hewas at the Rajasthan Goseva Sangh

working with them for 10 years. Atfirst by selling their milk and rawcow dung they could barely makeends meet, but last year following hisplan they earned 32 lakhs from cowurine medicines and selling com-posted gobar in bags. They have theirown clinic for cow urine medicines.He can really teach a lot of valuablethings for cow protection. He says ofprimary importance is cow urine,then gobar, lastly milk as a side prod-uct.

In Daund he said that they grew 13acres of wheat only on cow urinespray and had a wonderful crop .Now somehow I have to get the fig-ures of how many tons of wheat andtimes of spraying from Sanat Kumarwho is in charge there. This is veryimportant to know how to use cowurine. For growth just 5 % in water isused and for pest repellent 10%. Weare starting cow urine medicine herewith our devotee farmer who is justgetting over malaria with a tempera-ture of 105. So there is a lot of hopefor the future in cow urine and dung.Never mind the milk.

I got in touch with Sanat Kumar andthey grew 6 tons of wheat with 10%urine sprayed weekly on the crop.Our friends name is Manohar Kahke ,he is MSC but did not learn anythingof value in college but by practicalexperience in organic farming."

The third proposal concerns therecognition of a committee to formu-late Vaisnava Rural DevelopmentGuidelines. We have been workingon these guidelines with the help ofthe COM Cow conference members.Realizing that we can not finish theformulation by the GBC proposaldeadline for this year we are slatingits completion for next year’s dead-line.

Like the standards, these guidelinescan be used by any group interestedin developing a community based onVaisnava understanding and cowbased agriculture. Some interesting

excerpts from this proposal:

PROPOSAL NAME: Rural Develop-ment Land Committee

PRESENTATION OF PROPOSAL:

Whereas: Most ISKCON farm com-munities are struggling to maintaintheir land, cows and devotee fami-lies,

Whereas: There is no Vaisnava RuralDevelopment Guideline to guide notonly the maintenance but further de-velopment of ISKCON farms,

Whereas: To reinvigorate ISKCONfarm communities in accordancewith the wishes of His Divine GraceA.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhu-pada, the ISKCON Ministry of CowProtection and Agriculture and aninternational ISKCON Rural LandDevelopment Committee are cur-rently formulating a Vaisnava RuralDevelopment Guideline,

Whereas: The guideline presents sus-tainable principles and practices ofland use that encourage participationin lifetime-protected cow-based agri-culture and provides tenure securityfor the participants,

PRESENTATION OF RESOLUTION:Resolved, That the GBC body ap-proves the ISKCON Rural Develop-ment Committee be established toformulate the Vaisnava Rural Devel-opment Guideline for ISKCON ruralland management.

EXPLANATION:

Please give answers to the followingquestions:2) Why this proposal is important forthe success of ISKCON?

Cow protection is a foundation prin-ciple to the establishment of a potentspiritual ISKCON. Without viableISKCON farming communities cowprotection can not become estab-lished.

IMCA

UPDATE

THE ISCOWP NEWS Page 13

me of my accounting teacher I had inhigh school, old Mr. Hughes. He wasinfamous for giving students

a hardtime,yelling, and boring uninspiring lec-tures. But, guess what? I’m realizingthat for most of my life I’d been deal-ing with people the same way thatMr. Hughes had. I’m seeing a wholeside of me which I never had to dealwith for so much of the day. Anger,all bottled up inside. For me I’m see-ing that if something didn’t go myway, I’d have to “FORCE IT”, justlike old Mr. Hughes. Just like if I’m

lifting something that’s really heavy,my next attempt is usually out ofanger, which could easily lead to in-jury. If something doesn’t go my way,maybe resists a little, the naturalthing to do (at least in my case) is ad-minister some pressure or force, notintelligence. The question one couldask is, “why is this door not open-ing?” or “why doesn’t it work?” And9 out of 10 times there will be an an-swer.

While working with Agni and Shyam(ox team) I’m learning that whensomething doesn’t go “MY” way thenit’s probably my fault. That is some-thing that I’ve not considered before,however it is something the oxen areaware of. For instance, while hauling

firewood fromthe forest thereare so manyobstacles.Sometimes theoxen see aground hoghole in theground whichI haven’t seen,and they goleft instead ofmy instruc-tions to goright. Thereare so manyways one canachieve thedesired resultwith patience

and intelligence. I need to remindmyself that Agni and Shyam havebeen doing this longer than I have.They are in the mode of goodness andI’m not. So instead of doing the in-stinctive action of applying Force, I’mlearning to stop to re-evaluate the sit-uation and use my God given intelli-gence. I know this is not new to many

(Continued on page 15)

Realizations of a Teamster in Training

By Gauranga Prema das (in training at Vrajapura Farm)

ave you seen the movie called“City Slickers”? If you havethen you’ll have a pretty good

idea of what my first experiences werelike here onthe farm. Ex-ternally, I gotmy footstepped on bya cow andnearly had ateam of oxentrample rightover me(thank Godthey’re welltrained andstopped byvoice com-mand). Whileinternally Irealized thatthis servicerequires awhole lot ofpatience, intel-ligence andlove.

I’m fromSouth Africaand have beenliving in a Hare Krsna Temple for 5years now. For those of you who don’tknow what this monastic lifestyle in-volves, I did things like cooking, clean-ing, teaching, organizing, and manag-ing besides your daily religious prac-tices. Of course there’s much more, butsomething I never got to look at is howI was “getting things done.” When Istarted working the oxen, I got to seemy behavior more closely.

First lesson I learned was that a stu-dent would like to learn from someonethat makes learning and working anenjoyable and exciting experience. Noone likes to learn and work with some-one who is grumpy and keeps yellingand hitting him or her. This reminded

Left: Agni

and Shyam

waiting for

a small

load of fire-

wood.

Bottom:

Gauranga

Prema

driving

Agni and

Shyam up

the hill with

the load of

firewood.

Page 14 THE ISCOWP NEWS

fields to great us. They would make of-ferings of all kinds to us and ourGaura-Nitai deities. Everyone wouldchant with us and EVERY SINGLEfamily would buy a small book for onerupee. I used to go door to door with abasket in which there was a framedpicture of Gopal Krsna. Every house-holder would fill my basket with allkinds of grains. If I came in the morn-ing or evening, they would all supplyfresh milk.(at those times I wouldbring a pot) In village market places,all the vendors would load me up withfresh produce of all kinds. The head ofthe village would always come out toreceive us and make all kinds of ar-rangements for our comfort. Our oxenwere all fed and watered sumptuouslyand their carts loaded with enough hayto feed them for several days. All theprominent men of the village wouldbeg us to take meals at their homewhere we were also fed sumptuously.We always had so much produce do-nated that we would prepare feastsenough to feed the entire village andstill have weeks worth of produce re-maining. When we encountered tem-ples, we would donate the excess pro-duce to the deities there. In no case didwe ever actually ask for anything. Mostof the time I did not even have to usethe basket. People just approached uswith offerings. Our carts were loadedmostly with books. We also carriedGaura-Nitai and their paraphernalia.,pots and utensils for cooking and strawmats for sitting and sleeping on andthat's about it apart from the one set ofclothing on our backs. It was great! Al-though we had practically nothing, wewere never in need of anything at anytime.

These people were not poor. They hadall their necessities in abundance.They were well and cleanly dressed.They had plenty of food and were allwell fed. They were not like the emaci-ated refugees we often see in the cities.They were healthy, happy and relaxed.I never saw anyone work up a sweat.No one was ever in a hurry. No oneever appeared to be in any kind of anx-

iety. In the morning they would enjoya big and leisurely breakfast and andafter casually cleaning up they wouldshuffle off to work a rice paddy orwhat ever. They would work aroundtheir homes and in their fields in themorning till the heat of the day set inand then by late morning workstopped till afternoon when it gotcooler out. When the sun set, the en-tire village went to sleep, but theywere up very early. There was al-ways lots of time for their puja sev-eral times a day and never a reasonto neglect it. As far as I could see, themen were generally not putting inmore than six hours a day and thesewere very leisurely hours. Thewomen were busy most of the day,but also at a very relaxed pace. Addi-tionally, the field work did not go onall year around, but only during thegrowing season which came after therains and lasted maybe three to fivemonths. In some cases the seasonwould be stretched by irrigation, butmostly irrigating was done only forgrowing rice. Even during the grow-ing season, people are busy when it'stime to plant and busy when it's timeto harvest and do very little in thefields the rest of the time. They don'tseem to have much a problem withweeds. Hardly any come up after theoxen have tilled. They don't use anyobvious means of pest control. Theyplant enough to feed the bugs andother critters and still have enoughfor themselves.

These people's minds were not dis-turbed by unnecessary desires im-posed on them by outside contact.They were very content in their sim-ple village life and they were EX-TRAORDINARILY God conscious.They were living in such a way thatthey were always aware of their com-plete dependence on God for every-thing and God supplied all theirneeds through the agency of the landand the cows. To protect the cows,the land and to satisfy God by theirservice was therefore the prime ne-cessity.

LETTERS

the traditional system. For example, Isometimes saw villages in whichgoats or chickens were kept. Thesevillagers looked terrible, physically.Mostly, I saw clean simple villagesfull of healthy, well-fed, bright-faced,smiling people who were clearly notunder any kind of pressure and hadno problem to break from their rou-tine for a spiritual program at anytime of the day.

These villages definitely dependedon cows and oxen for everything. Thehomes and compound walls were allmade of cow dung. All cooking wasdone with cow dung. All tilling wasdone with oxen. All transportationwas done with oxen. Threshing ofgrains was done by oxen. Irrigationwas done with oxen. Crops were allfertilized only with cow dung.

Fruit trees of all types grew allaround the homes providing coolshade and abundant fruit. The yieldof just one of these trees far exceededthe ability of even the largest familyto consume, so lots of fruit went tomarket, and EVERY family hadmoney, but not much need to spend.Every bit of available land was culti-vated and covered with lush, greencrops. Even steep slopes were cov-ered with terraces and ingenious,earthen irrigation systems. Wells fullof fresh water were everywhere un-less there was a river, lake or pondnearby. It seems that almost any-where you go, you can dig down 10to 15 feet and hit water. Even in themost remote countryside, there werealways wells situated at short inter-vals along all the roads. While travel-ling at ox-speed, we would encountera village at a rate of two or three perday; roughly three or four hoursapart.

When I arrived in a village, the vil-lagers would all pour out of theirhomes and come running out of the

(Continued from page 10)

THE ISCOWP NEWS Page 15

REALIZATIONS OF A TEAMSTERIN TRAINING

of you, but to me, I’ve learned an im-portant lesson. And this is somethingI’m now trying to apply in every situa-tion. This anger comes from unsatisfiedlust, which comes from contemplationof the senses; at least this is what theBhagavad-Gita is teaching us. “Whenone contemplates the object of thesenses, attachment develops and fromattachment lust. And when lust is un-satisfied anger which leads to loss ofintelligence.”

Of course it did happen and it mayhappen again that I did thrash it outwith the boys and yell out of anger notlove. And when it did happen I lostintelligence and just wanted to “makethem” go my way not trying to findout why they stopped. You know, I re-alize that I have to develop a good lov-ing relationship with them because I

(Continued from page 13)

GITA-NAGARI OX POWER UNIT

who does this work as a second job,so we avoided paying the inflatedprices of a specialty metal-workingmachine shop. What follows is asection-by-section description ofhow the unit is constructed.”

“Thus, as the oxen are pulling ontheir individual small cables, thepull is transferred to the large cable,and it is immediately taken up bythe others. We underestimated theimportance of these eveners at first.However, after a few weeks of run-ning our power unit, we noticed thatthe oxen had to walk a little to farforward to get a good pull. So weshortened the larger cable by about18” around. Thus, each of thesmaller cables got pulled by a little.The result was astounding: our oxenwere able to pull much more easilyand much harder with half the atten-tion by the driver. After this, onedriver was more than able to handlethe whole unit single-handedly.”

(Continued from page 8)

have to deal with them tomorrowand the day after and after. So to getthem to do what I want by force andno real love cannot last for a longtime. This will spoil our relationship.This is just like our relationship withKrsna (the name of the Supreme Per-sonality of Godhead). He doesn’t puton a show about His real position orpretend or force us to do anythingbecause He knows He has to dealwith us eternally. He doesn’t fake acaring, loving relationship like we do.If we meet someone for one day wecan be very nice to that person, but ifthat person is not so nice towards usit’s very difficult to maintain that pre-tense. But Krsna has to always dealwith us. So He acts out of love. And Isee that I need to come up to the levelof loving the oxen, the cows, becausethey can sense pretence. Just like ifsomeone just wants to be your friendso that he can enjoy your wealth andkeeps telling you nice things, this isdisturbing. So the oxen also are nothappy when I’m just praising themand speaking nicely to them so thatthey’ll do what I want them too.They can sense that I am not reallycaring for them.

When we first turn to God it’s out offear, then once we develop someknowledge, out of duty, but ulti-mately we have to approach Him outof Love. Similarly we need to followthe same formula with these animalsthat are situated in the mode of good-ness. First we may hear about thekarmic reactions for mistreating thecows and oxen and start making bet-ter arrangements for them out of fear.If we want to love the cows we’ll nat-urally want to develop knowledgeabout them. What they like and dis-like and in this way try to pleasethem. Because they are animals in themode of goodness, they know how toreciprocate with our attempts at lov-ing them. But the problem is thatmost times I’m not in the mode ofgoodness. Now I’ve a lot of home-work to do, and it starts with me.

Peace on Earth

For this HOLYday seasonof giving, give a gift to theservice of the cows.“Peace on Earth” can onlybe achieved when our an-imal brothers and sistersare lovingly cared for aswell as our human broth-ers and sisters. If youwish to give to the cows.please use the enclosedenvelope. Every gift willreceive an ISCOWP gift inreciprocation.

Hare Krsna and thankyou!

A westerner might go stir crazy in suchan environment. Some of us have be-come addicted to all kinds of incessantsensory stimuli. But many would findthis setting peaceful, beautiful, and ex-tremely pleasing. Even these villagersare not content simply to watch theirrice grow. They have lots of festivals,celebrations and social gatherings andthese are all done in a big, colorful waywith lots of food, music, dance, etc. Atthese times, everyone is happy to sharetheir opulence.

I thought these remembrances might beinteresting for those who have no expe-rience of this. I'm not necessarily tryingto make a point here, but if I was, itwould be that the simple life style SrilaPrabhupada describes is not a theory,but a system which has been in practicefor millennia and is still working nicelytoday for millions of people. Srila Prab-hupada was not introducing somethingnew and unproven. Of course, differentparts of the world present challengesnot found in India.

Taraka dasa

Page 16 THE ISCOWP NEWS

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