The prevailing atmosphere in our country is toxic. Public sentiments are being manipulated to the hilt in order to reap power and control, by and for some self-serving organisations and netas (politicians). In all of this, it is we the people who are getting hurt.
Are we not a country of intelligent citizens? Why do the intelligent become putty in the hands of the few, and that too in the name of religious beliefs?
Religion is a human-made entity. Therefore, religion does not make us; we make religion. And by indulging in violent acts and hatred in its name, are we creating a new religion of abject hate?
We seriously need to make a choice now—a choice between destruction and conservation. Because, clearly, the path we are on now leads to destruction.
One of the outcomes of this wave is ‘Gauraksha’ (cow protection) and the State- or self-appointed gaurakshaks (cow vigilantes). And there are few things that this righteous brigade needs to stop and think over before it’s too late.
In The Name Of Religious Beliefs
To all those who are fanatical about gauraksha and defend or support orencourage the extreme actions and atrocities being committed under that, I have a few questions for you:
1. Is taking one life in lieu of another dharmik (an act of faith)?
2. Is one life more valuable than another?
3. Have you yourself stopped using all products which contain cow-extract? Or do you still buy dairy products, leather footwear? Do you still use medicines, hygiene products, accessories, clothes, medical sutures, sugar, vark (used to decorate Indian sweets) which use animal products in the manufacturing process?
4. Do you know the difference between various types of leather?
5. Are you even aware of what all is made with cow extract as one of its ingredients?
6. Can you differentiate between milk, leather, and meat that comes from a cow, as opposed to a buffalo or any other animals’ ?
7. Have you stopped the export of beef from our country and shut down butcher shops employed for the purpose of highly profitable exports (rather than traditional livelihood)?
8. Are you a volunteer at any gaushala, serving the cows?
9. Do you seriously take care of a cow’s calf irrespective of its gender and not snatch them away from their mother just so you can steal the milk meant for the young one?
10. Do you find a wandering cow and stop whatever you are doing to take her to a gaushala ?
11. Do you respectfully cremate a dead cow or let it fester in the open, expecting someone else to do the needful?
12. Have you stopped all use of plastic bags? Yes, plastic that the cows ingest and choke on.
13. Have you learnt a lesson from the cows you protect, who are peaceful beings, and not violent or cruel?!
Ending The Violence
These are just few of the things you need to sincerely ask yourself before you charge forward on a self-righteous and self-appointed mission of being a gaurakshak. If you must protect the cow, first understand and learn from the nature of the cows. I feel so calm and full of love and empathy when I look at or am near a cow. So what makes you so violently aggressive and full of hate?
Spreading mayhem and violence in the name of one of the most peaceful beings only hurts the cause of animal welfare.
Let us stop harming ourselves and others by playing into the hands of self-serving netas, for whom the value of any life—yours included—lasts only until the vote banks help them gain a seat of power.
Stop. Think. Understand.
तारीख गवाह है, कोइ देश नफरत व अतयाचार से न कभी बना है और न कभी बना रह सकता है।
आग जब ज़ोर पकड़ती है तो आग लगाने वाले के भी निगलती है। भड़कती आग पर किसी का बस नही।
(The times have witnessed that no nation can be made from hatred and injustice, and cannot remain intact.
When fire catches, then even the one who lit it burns. No one has control over those spreading flames.)