New Vṛndāvana and Cow Protection

When Krsna descended from the spiritual sky 5,000 years ago, He gave a practical example of the ideal life when He sported as a cowherd boy. He showed that man can live very simply and reserve his main energies for what Emerson called "high thinking" ("plain living and high thinking") by protecting and cultivating the cow. So one of the aims of New Vrndavana is to protect the cow and to demonstrate the value of the cow in providing for the sustenance of man.

At New Vrndavana, the cow is more than just an ordinary animal. Aside from the fact that Krsna was very fond of cows and that the cow is considered man's second mother in the Vedas ("dhenu mata"), the cow represents man's religion or man's yearning and love for God. When such yearning and love are slaughtered, then man is left with the empty shell of materialism, or life without principle and meaning. So one of the main functions of New Vrndavana is to demonstrate the humane practicality of cow protection