Live Caitanya Caritamrta · CC Ādi 17.154
Honor the Cow and Bull Without Killing
“Since the bull and cow are your father and mother, how can you kill and eat them? What kind of religious principle is this? On what strength are you so daring that you commit such sinful activities?”
What the purport teaches
- The cow gives milk and the bull helps produce food grains, so they are considered mother and father. According to Vedic civilization, the cow is one of seven mothers.
- Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu challenges killing and eating the cow and bull, asking what religious principle could support such sinful activities.
- The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement prohibits eating any kind of flesh. It especially stresses the prohibition against cows’ flesh because śāstra identifies the cow as our mother.
Try this today
Eat no flesh today, remembering the cow’s position as mother.
Ask yourself
How can my food choices reflect respect for the lives that sustain us?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport; the practice and question are plain words for trying the verse today.