saints and sages live on
|
If you have got the opportunity to drink one pound milk maximum, not very much-half-pound is sufficient; suppose one pound-then you don't require any other foodstuff. The Vedic civilization, the brahmanas, they used to live in the forest, and the king would offer them some cows, so they will draw some milk. And in the forest there are fruits, so they will eat fruits and milk. And if the disciples go to the village, beg some food grain, then sometimes they cook some food grains. Otherwise the brahmanas used to live in the forest, drink milk and take fruit. That is sufficient. There was no need of jumping here and there. Anywhere you keep cows. And what cows to maintain? No expenditure. The fruits? The skin thrown away, and the cow will eat. And in exchange it will give you nice foodstuff, milk. Or it will eat in the grazing ground, some grass. So there is no expenditure of keeping cows, but you get the best food in the world. The proof is that the child born simply can live on milk. That is the proof. So anyone can live only on milk. If you have got the opportunity to drink one pound milk maximum, not very much-half-pound is sufficient; suppose one pound-then you don't require any other foodstuff. Only this cow's milk will help you, it is so nice. And it gives very nice brain, not pig's brain. So it is so important thing. Other..., why Krsna says go-raksya? He did not say that "pig-raksya." No. "Dog-raksya," no. Now they are interested in dog-raksya instead of cow-raksya. This is the civilization. They'll spend millions of dollars for dog, not for cow. So this kind of civilization will not bring any peace and prosperity. You have to take Krsna's civilization if you want actually... That is human civilization. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita:
(More...) Saints and sages live only on milk Saints and sages in the renounced order of life go to the houses of the householders at the time they milk the cows, early in the morning, and ask some quantity of milk for subsistence. A pound of milk fresh from the milk bag of a cow is sufficient to feed an adult with all vitamin values, and therefore saints and sages live only on milk. Even the poorest of the householders keep at least ten cows, each delivering twelve to twenty quarts of milk, and therefore no one hesitates to spare a few pounds of milk for the mendicants. It is the duty of householders to maintain the saints and sages, like the children. So a saint like Sukadeva Gosvami would hardly stay at the house of a householder for more than five minutes in the morning. In other words, such saints are very rarely seen in the houses of householders, and Maharaja Pariksit therefore prayed to him to instruct him as soon as possible. The householders also should be intelligent enough to get some transcendental information from visiting sages. The householder should not foolishly ask a saint to deliver what is available in the market. That should be the reciprocal relation between the saints and the householders.
(More...) Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/?qg=331
|