From the 12th ISKCON European Leaders Meeting, Radhadesh, Belgium, October 5-6
Today the animal rights lobbyists are very outspoken about animal welfare and often they advocate a vegan diet due to the cruelty inflicted on Mother cow in the dairy industry. Many devotees are being influenced by the vegan argument. We will have two presentations on this topic from different points of view. Is there anything different now than when Srila Prabhupada was physically with us that requires us to change the standard given by Srila Prabhupada with regard to a lacto vegetarian diet? Or should we continue with that standard using non ahimsa milk for the deities and devotees.
Milk in ISKCON: statement from the European leaders’ Meeting 2013
We deplore the slaughter of cows and regard it as completely unnecessary for the dietary requirements of human society.
We commit ourselves to a future when ISKCON’s self-sustaining communities and/or slaughter-free farms are able to provide the milk requirements of our ISKCON communities and projects.
Our preference will always be a lacto-vegetarian diet, in accordance with the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.
Until such time as cow-protection standard milk / slaughter-free milk is available, we will serve this lacto-vegetarian preference in the following ways.
We will source better qualities of milk. (64%)
We will completely avoid milk and dairy products. (23%)
We will reduce our milk consumption generally. (13%)
We will continue the current status quo. (0%)
I applaud those who are trying to create Ahimsa milk. Of course we primarily should be concerned first and foremost with becoming Krishna conscious not simply cow conscious or milk/food conscious. Therefore we must always remember that the essence of all rules and regulations is to remember Lord Krishna and never forget Him, doing everything that is favorable in a particular circumstance for Krishna consciousness and rejecting things unfavorable for it. In the 13th century the great Sri Vaishnava Acharya Vedanta Desika in his book Ahara Niyama gave the sastric rules regarding rules for Vaishnavas concerning foods. Here are some examples: Food items like sugarcane juice (கரும்புச்சாறு), curd (தயிர்), milk (பால்), ghee (நெய்), betel nut (பாக்கு)( Widows, Brahmacharis and Sannyasis should not use betel leaves), pepper, honey (தேன்), cardamom (ஏலக்காய்), jaggery,flours,wheat flour,Tender Coconut Water ,Juice of flowers/ raw vegetables/ fruits are beyond dhoshams/faults and can be consumed anytime.
I am surprised there was no resolution to invest more money and effort in developing cow protection in ISKCON. I am also surprised that 36% of the voters did not think it was important to source better quality milk to offer Krishna. One of my main points in the presentation is that most commercial milk is contaminated and therefore not sattvic, and because Lord Krishna only accepts sattvic foods offered with devotion, most commercial dairy products should not be offered. This is not a question of vegan or non-vegan, but is all about what is the BEST thing to offer Krishna, and honesty asking ourselves are we doing our best?