cow is mother, bull is father
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According to scriptures also, there are seven mothers It appears that Vasudeva, the father of Lord Krsna, had completely separate residential quarters where he lived with his eighteen wives, out of whom Srimati Devaki is the real mother of Lord Krsna. But inspite of this, all other stepmothers were equally affectionate to Him, as will be evident from the following verse. Lord Krsna also did not distinguish His real mother from His stepmothers, and He equally offered His obeisances unto all the wives of Vasudeva present on the occasion. According to scriptures also, there are seven mothers: 1) the real mother, 2) the wife of the spiritual master, 3) the wife of a brahmana, 4) the wife of the king, 5) the cow, 6) the nurse, and 7) the earth. All of them are mothers. Even by this injunction of the sastras, the stepmother, who is the wife of the father, is also as good as the mother because the father is also one of the spiritual masters. Lord Krsna, the Lord of the universe, plays the part of an ideal son just to teach others how to treat their stepmothers.
(More...) According to Vedic understanding, the cow is considered one of our mothers because we drink her milk, just as at birth we drink our mother's milk. We are indebted to the demigods. The body, the material body which we have got, it is running by the direction of the demigods. There are different demigods controlling different parts of the body. So that means as soon as we get a body, we become indebted to the demigods. Then, when we are educated, we take knowledge. Then we become indebted to the great sages, saintly persons, who have given us all the direction how to live comfortably, sinlessly. Then devarsi-bhūta. Bhūta, ordinary, general living being. Just like we are taking milk from the cows, service from the bull, from the horse, from the ass-even cats and dogs. So we are also indebted to them. Devarsi-bhūta-apta: relatives. We get so many help from relatives. Bhūta-apta. Devarsi-bhūtapta-nrnam: general public. Devarsi-bhūtapta-nrnam pitṝnam: and the forefathers. So a rni we are immediately. But if we renounce everything for the sake of Krsna, then we are not rni, or indebtor. That is the injunction of the sastra.
(More...) The cow and bull are considered our father and mother. Everyone can understand that we drink the milk of cows and take the help of bulls in producing agricultural products. Therefore, since our real father gives us food grains and our mother gives us milk with which to live, the cow and bull are considered our father and mother. According to Vedic civilization, there are seven mothers, of which the cow is one. Therefore Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu challenged the Mohammedan Kazi, "What kind of religious principle do you follow by killing your father and mother to eat them?" In any civilized human society, no one would dare kill his father and mother for the purpose of eating them. Therefore Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu challenged the system of Mohammedan religion as patricide and matricide. In the Christian religion also, a principal commandment is "Thou shalt not kill." Nevertheless, Christians violate this rule; they are very expert in killing and in opening slaughterhouses. In our Krsna consciousness movement, our first provision is that no one should be allowed to eat any kind of flesh. It does not matter whether it is cows' flesh or goats' flesh, but we especially stress the prohibition against cows' flesh because according to sastra the cow is our mother. Thus the Mohammedans' cow killing was challenged by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
(More...) You produce your food. The bull will help you. And the cows will supply you milk. They are considered to be father and mother. Just like father earns money for feeding the children, similarly, the bulls help producing, plowing, producing food grains, and How they will be happy? It is not possible. Most sinful activities. You produce your food. The bull will help you, and the cows will supply you milk. They are considered to be father and mother. Just like father earns money for feeding the children, similarly, the bulls help producing, plowing, producing food grain, and the cow gives milk, mother. And what is this civilization, killing father and mother? This is not good civilization. It will not stay. There will be catastrophe waiting. Many times it has happened, and it will happen, because transgressing the law of nature, or laws of God, is most sinful. That is sinful. Just like you become criminal by transgressing the law of state, similarly, when you transgress the law of God, then you are sinful. So this example is given: idam sariram ksetram. That means to own a certain piece of land is the basic civilization. Everyone must have a portion of land to produce his food. There will be no economic problem.
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