Hare Krsna!
“The supreme occupation (dharma) for all humanity is that by which man can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.” (SB 1.2.6)
This verse describes the perfect in the human form of life. Be to a pure devotee of Sri Krsna. To attain this goal, Srila Prabhupada provides three principles: (a) protecting the cow, (b) maintaining the Brahminical culture, and (c) become a pure devotee of the Lord.
There is a co-relation between all these three principles. They are all dependent on each other. This is how I see their co-relation. There is no doubt that we should all aspire to become a pure devotee of the Lord. Not even a pseudo-devotee. Just 100% pure devotee. This is the lofty standard that Srila Prabhupada has set for all of us. Our goal is not to go to heavenly planets or even Vaikuntha. Our goal is to go back to the supreme abode of Lord Krsna, Goloka Vrndavana. Goloka is the home of Godhead, our home. In order to become a pure devotee, we have to maintain our sadhana (devotional practice) very strictly. Ideal standard is to chant the holy name of the Lord constantly (kirtaniya sada harih).
In order to do so, we have to minimize our material entanglements and anxiety. There is to be presence of some element of peace to perform bhakti. A disturbed mind, disturbed body, and disturbed environment are not conducive to bhakti. This means we have to live in harmony with Mother Earth. All the natural disturbances that we face in today’s world is because we kill our motherly cows. Cows are the representative of motherhood and Mother Earth. When we kill the cows, we disturb Mother Earth and create imbalance. According to the ancient Vedic texts the cow is the representative of Mother Earth. And, when the cow and the bull are mistreated, Mother Earth withdraws her bounty. In chapter 3 (Canto 3), Srila Prabhupada explains that “according to Vedic economics, one is considered to be a rich man by the strength of his store of grains and cows. With only these two things, cows and grain, humanity can solve its eating problem. Human society needs only sufficient grain and sufficient cows to solve its economic problems. All other things but these two are artificial necessities created by man to kill his valuable life at the human level and waste his time in things which are not needed.” In order words, we need to reduce artificial necessities of life to have sufficient time and mental peace to perform our sadhana.
Next, maintaining Brahminical culture is important. We need qualified and bonafide teachers to guide human society. Human society should develop brahminical culture on the basis of protecting cows. The brahmana cannot take any other food except it is made of milk preparation.
“Human civilization will advance only on the basis of brahminical culture and cow protection. As soon as there is falldown from brahminical culture, and as soon as there is discrepancy in the protection of cows, there will be no more peace in the world. Therefore He specifically said, go-brahmana-hitaya ca. This Krsna consciousness movement is for the protection of brahminical culture and cows. Then automatically the peace of the world will come, if two things are done. This is Vedic literature. They pick up the essence of the things, and all other things follows. Just like meditation. Meditation means… Not meditation, the yoga system. Yoga indriya-samyamah. Yoga system means to control the senses. This is the primary factor of practicing yoga. Now the senses, we have got five senses acquiring knowledge and five working senses.” (Srila Prabhupada Lecture Los Angeles, December 4, 1968)
Thus, we see there is a nice correlation between the three principles of cow protection, Brahminical culture, and becoming a pure devotee. However, a large part of the world does not know this. Hence ISKCON is the only institution that can teach these principles to the world. We can distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books, propagate these principles in our lectures and writings, live by these principles ourselves – all with the goal to make the whole world Krsna conscious. If we cannot preach directly, we can assist devotees preach directly.
“Without becoming a devotee of the Lord, one cannot perfect one’s human life. The perfection of human life is to be elevated to the spiritual world, where there is no birth, no death, no disease, and no old age. That is the highest perfectional aim of human life. Without this aim, any amount of material advancement in so-called comforts can only bring the defeat of the human form of life.” (SB 3.3.28 P)
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 