Ultimate Self Realization (Q&A).....

Question: Veganism and Krishna Consciousness

I was wondering about veganism. I know traditionally in the Hare Krishna movement dairy is served. But it seems in today's world, with farming practices the way that they are, that it would be better to abstain from dairy. 

I was wondering what you thought about that.

Answers by Citing the Vedic Version:

Using a Thorn to Remove a Thorn

In a lot of ways veganism makes a lot of sense. One thing, however, that vegans are not aware of is that the consumption of cow's milk and cow's milk products is necessary for the development of finer brain tissues in order to gain higher level philosophical understanding. This puts the devotee of Krishna in an awkward position. He needs milk to understand the subtleties of Vedic wisdom, but yet he is vehemently opposed to the abuse of cows. The solution for this dilemma is to only take milk from protected cows, cows that are not being abused, like those on Krishna conscious farms. This is called ahimsa milk (non-violent milk).

But what should the devotee do if there is no ahimsa milk available?  Should he take non-protected cow's milk or should he abstain completely from milk?  His duty is to do everything possible and necessary to awaken his dormant Krishna consciousness and talking milk just happens to be one of those necessary items. Therefore he can take milk from cows that are not protected.  This will help him to develop mature Krishna conscious understanding and will also help him to devise the ways and means to put a stop to the abuse of cows. This is called, "Using a thorn to remove a thorn." Just like if someone is hiking in the forest and he gets stuck with a thorn and he does not have a pair of tweezers to remove the thorn, he can use a second thorn to remove the first thorn. In other words the devotee uses the thorn of non-protected cow's milk to get the brain power for stopping the abuse of cows.

Another benefit is that the cow whose milk is offered to Krishna will get the blessing of being engaged in the devotional service of Lord Sri Krishna. This will accelerate that soul's evolution in the cycle of birth and death and help the cow to gain liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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Chant.... HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE HARE RAM HARE RAM RAM RAM HARE HARE ....and be happy.