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By Parsada dasi <\/strong><\/p>\n During kartik last year, a very dear friend of mine, Padma visted Sri Vrindavan Dham, and a sincere devotee for many years. She arrived a day after the much celebrated Gopastami festival. As we made our way to the ISKCON goshala that afternoon, I described to her our Gopastami festival, where our Srimati Radharani is dressed as the cowherd boy Subal and at this time Her devotees relish the sweet darshan of Her lotus feet, the only time in the year except Radhastami. On this wonderful day also Their Lordships Krsna and Balaram visits Their cows at the gosala, riding on a palanquin lead by the vibrant chanting and dancing of the devotees. You can\u2019t help but notice Their appreciative smiles as They examine Their calves, bulls and cows. She was really sorry for having missed the festival.<\/p>\n I asked her what she thought about the Supreme Personality of Godhead appearing as a cowherd boy in Vraja. What she said next shocked me.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat to speak of realizing Krsna as a cowherd boy, I have never touched a cow in my life! I have been to Vrindavan a few times but between my kids, the husband, their getting sick, the morning program, parikramas, loi bazaar and the MVT restaurant, there was no time for the cows. We often saw the stray cows but my kids were too scared to go anywhere near them. I know I should have spared some time to visit the goshala, for them to get used to the cows but we never had enough time. Today will be my first visit and without my family, I should feel guilty but somehow don\u2019t. My mom is taking good care of them. Thank you very much for bringing me.\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIts only fair then that I should introduce you to the bliss of serving Krsna\u2019s cows and have an inkling of why the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared as a cowherd boy\u201d As were entered our ISKCON goshala, the smell of cow dung, cow urine and freshly copped grass filled the air. A few cowherd women were busy picking up cow-dung in a metal pan; a few young boys were washing the cowsheds with buckets of water and else were the cowherd men were leading the bulls out of the sheds into the sunshine. Over the loudspeakers, Prabhupada\u2019s sweet bhajans played in the background. <\/p>\n I watched the happy look on my friends face and gave her, her first assignment, \u201cPlease take that pan from this mataji and you go to that part of the barn and fill it up with cow-dung.\u201d Next we got buckets and filled them with fresh sweet water and she carried them to every cow in the shed, it was tiring for she is not one to do menial labor. \u201cKeeping a maid has made me lazy\u201d, she quipped as she placed the bucket next to Jamuna a beautiful white cow who gave birth a week ago, her udders full, Jamuna drank up all the water and mooed for more. \u201cOf course you can take him home, in your heart, and photos should suffice for your boys, till you bring them to Vrindavan.\u201d I said. After much hesitation she put the calf down. \u201cGive him a name\u201d I said. She looked up at me surprised, \u201cGosh! I can name him too! ok, I will call him Jamuna Priya, I will never forget him.\u201d She went around feeding the cows and big calves laddus and at one time she let out a scream, \u201cThey have teeth! One just bit me!\u201d<\/p>\n I examined her fingers, \u201cYou got the mercy, and I said, millions of your sinful activities have been destroyed, you will be ok.\u201d \u201cOh, really, and how does that work?\u201d she questioned. \u201cYes, I never knew this, so instead of doing this and all the other things, my mother-in-law insisted I do the Shiva puja, Durga puja and read the Hanuman Chalisa, we could have just worshipped Go-mata, why didn\u2019t you tell me?\u201d We went over to Luxman lying with the other bulls under the pipal trees, as soon as he saw us he got up and held up his head high, a huge copper red bull. I pulled out from my bag a special brush, with firm bristles to brush Luxman. \u201cKrishna! He is such a big bull, you sure he will not toss me back to my hellish country,\u201d she retorted staying a little distance away. \u201cNot at all, He is the gentlest and sweetest of all the bulls in the goshala\u201d I said as I began brushing Luxman under the neck, on his back, the hump, between his horns, his head. He loved it. I laughed as she got into the swing of brushing Luxman, he loved it so much so, that he practically fell asleep while standing up and after some time he sat done and dozed off, not before she put a couple of laddus in his enormous mouth. My friend could contain herself no longer; she squatted besides Shyam the cowherd boy. He gave her a crimson smile and taught her how to milk Kalindi, at first Kalindi protested, after repeated attempts my friend finally milked her first cow! It was a historical moment. She was jubilant; she danced, gave me repeated hugs, kissed Kalindi and hugged Shyam as well!<\/p>\n As the milking went on, we sat under the kadamba tree, surrounded by Krsna\u2019s beloved cows and with our minds fixed on the Lords holy name, chanted five rounds. I smiled, gave her a hug and told her to share her experience with others, just as the holy names are non-different from Krsna, He can never be separated from His beloved cows in Vraja. \u201cAlso promote go-seva amongst your friends and family members and support this project according to your means.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will\u201d she said. As we made our way back to the temple she picked up a dried cow-dung patty and put it in her bag, looking at me, she said \u201c for memories and purifying my home and heart.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I watched the happy look on my friends face and gave her, her first assignment, \u201cPlease take that pan from this mataji and you go to that part of the barn and fill it up with cow-dung.\u201d With an amazed look her face, she turned to me, \u201cYou can\u2019t be serious!\u201d she said. After giving her a practical demonstration, she went down on her knees and picked up her first handful of cow-dung. And in no time she had the pan filled up. She was having so much fun; she then carried it on her head and took it to the area where it would be made into cow-dung cakes. Sitting among the ladies who were already making them, she made over a dozen cow-dung cakes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9649"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33450,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9649\/revisions\/33450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe whole day devotees are plunged into an ecstasy of dramas, lectures, exotic prasadam and go-seva. <\/p>\n
\n\u201cCome to think about it, it never struck me as something important, I just took it for granted, you know, it\u2019s in all of Prabhupada\u2019s lectures, books and purports. Its there, and something I accepted without much thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI am the humble servant of Krsna\u2019s cows, please lead the way!\u201d she said laughingly.<\/p>\n
\nWith an amazed look her face, she turned to me, \u201cYou can\u2019t be serious!\u201d she said. After giving her a practical demonstration, she went down on her knees and picked up her first handful of cow-dung. And in no time she had the pan filled up. She was having so much fun; she then carried it on her head and took it to the area where it would be made into cow-dung cakes. Sitting among the ladies who were already making them, she made over a dozen cow-dung cakes!<\/p>\n
\nGiving her back a massage, she panted, \u201cCould I take a break now?\u201d \u201cSure\u201d I replied. We went over to where the baby calves were kept, there were about five of them sitting huddled together enjoying the sunshine. That did it, she crouched down picked up Jamuna\u2019s baby, placed him on her lap and began caressing and kissing him. Every time he jolted back, she held him tighter. \u201cYou are sooooooooo beautiful, eh, sooooooooo beautiful!\u201d And beautiful he was, white as snow except for his forehead and the tip of his tail, which has a sprinkling of brown. She looked at me, \u201cHe is mine! I want to take him home, my boys will love him\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\u201cCan\u2019t believe the fun I am having, it\u2019s like another world\u201d
\n\u201cIt is another world,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAlright, its time to feed the cows laddus,\u201d I said. \u201cOh! Wonderful! Let\u2019s get those laddus.\u201d After we got a basket full of laddus, she wanted to know what they were made of, \u201cjaggery and coarse wheat,\u201d I said. \u201cThey smell yummy, are they good for human consumption?\u201d she asked jokingly.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou see, the 33 million demigods live in the body of these cows, especially these ones with the silky soft skin folds at the neck, lotus eyes and the huge hump on the back. Also residing in their bodies are the nine planets. Remember that time when you sent me an email saying me that your husband was in his saturn period?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAt that time I was also not aware of the importance of worshipping Krsna\u2019s cows. Its only by their causeless mercy, I can render some service to them. Its getting closer to milking time, we have a few minutes left, lets go brush Luxman, my favorite bull, he sometimes bring Krsna Balaram\u2019s milk to the temple.\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\nSeeing how much he was enjoying the brushing, my friend grabbed the brush from my hands saying \u201cCome on, give me the brush, you are too slow, Luxman wants a full body brush, I am expert in these things, having a husband and two sons, you know!!\u201d <\/p>\n
\nHugging me as we went to the milking pen, my friend with tears in her eyes said, \u201cThank you, I never knew cows can be such lovable, sweet and gentle animals, no wonder Krsna loved them so much, I cannot in my wildest dreams ever think, I would ever feel so much happiness and closer to Krsna.\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not over yet, you have to milk at least one cow and then we will together relish the chanting of the Lords holy name amongst the cows\u201d I said.
\nAs we entered the milking pen, the cowherd men had the milking cows back legs tied with ropes and into a silver pail fell thick, creamy white milk as they gently pressed the udders between their thumbs and forefingers, continuous streams of frothy milk fell into the pails.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis is the best japa, I ever did, and everything seems so mystical and pure. It seems as if I am in another time zone, actually it seems as if I am closer to Krsna, a truly unbelievable experience, something to relish, cherish and keep locked away in the heart. We lead such hectic lives, twenty four seven, its about work, money, keeping house, seeing to the kids, pleasing the in-laws, my husband just a promotion and we hardly see him, I make it to the temple on Sunday\u2019s but its not enough, I want to do more, what can I do, please tell me what I can do for the cows?\u201d She said looking at me.<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/vcV6MKB.jpg\"\/)
By Parsada dasi<\/strong><\/p>\n