The Sacred Oath

- By His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami


The Text of Sacred Oath
O most worshipable Mother Cow! You are our most affectionate Sacred Mother. You are the wish-fulfilling Kamadhenu who grants everyone’s desires. You are the manifestation of all sacred places of pilgrimage, the support of all living entities and the ocean of all auspiciousness.
O most revered Mother Cow! You are the purifying Mother Ganga and the Goddess of Sanctity. You are the healer of all diseases, the bestower of good health and the embodiment of Maharshi Dhanvantari. You are the Goddess of Fortune and the provider of nourishing agriculture products.
O most venerable Mother Cow! Today I take this solemn oath to always remember my Mother India and my ancestors’ noble heritage. With my mind, words and actions, I hereby pledge to always protect, preserve and serve you and all the wonderful gifts of nature such as water, earth, the forests, as well as all living entities and all sacred places of pilgrimages. I will actively strive to ensure that your glory spreads throughout the entire world.
O most honoured Mother Cow! In order that our villages become holy places of pilgrimage, I will endeavour with my mind, body and soul to protect the ancient wealth and beauty of traditional village life.
O most beloved Mother Cow! Please bless and empower this humble servant of yours with the necessary ability, strength, and courage to fulfill this solemn oath.
All glories, all glories, all glories to you, o eternally most Sacred Mother Cow! (Translated from Hindi)
Edited by HH Bhakti Raghava Swami

Om Surabhyai Namah

- By His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami

Om Surabhyai namah! Om Sri Gurave namah!
The recently launched Visva Mangala Gou Gram Yatra in Kurukshetra on September 30, 2009, heralds the momentous 108-day historical sacred pilgrimage around India to save our cows, to save our villages, and to save mother earth herself. With the continuous ten-minute shankhnad (blowing of the conch) by world-renowned shankhwadak Shri Shavantha, this unprecedented event is a  tribute as well as a pledge on the part of the organizers and the participants to bring about not only a revival but indeed a complete overhaul against the present misdirected policies of modern leaders towards restoration of the natural traditional village lifestyle upon which the protection of cows and the land is only made possible and for which a total ban on cow slaughter in India and around the word is an absolute must.
Many prominent dignitaries and saints representing different religions organizations from around India gathered at the historical site of Kurukshetra where Lord Krishna officially delivered the perennial teachings of the Bhagavad-gita 5,000 years ago before embarking in what the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada, referred to as the first World War in Kali Yuga.
The main inspirational force behind this event is Gokarna Peethadhishwar Shankaracharya Shri  Raghaveshwar Bharati Swamiji who had successfully sponsored the national Go-Sammelon two years ago at his Ramachandrapur Mutt in South Karnataka where he safely preserves the only remaining 33 species of indigenous cows in India. He appealed to the countrymen to protect the cow and the villages: “The Gou Gram Yatra is an attempt to create an army of dedicated people who can fight against the atrocities on the cow. In real sense, the First World War was fought for mother Sita. The second World War was fought for Draupadi and the mother earth and the third World War will be fought for the cow”.
Also present for the grand opening was the head of the Madhava Sampradaya Saint H.H. Pejawar Swami Shri Vishveshteertha who stressed the need to protect four things— Gou(Cow), Gram(Villages), Gita (Bhagavad Gita) and Gayatri (Gayatri Mantra symbolizing Brahminical Culture): “One of the reasons of growing terrorism in the country is that we have tiger as the national animal. The tiger symbolizes ‘terror’, while the cow symbolizes peace and prosperity. Therefore, we must declare the cow the national animal forthwith to restore peace and prosperity in the country.”
At the end of the auspicious ceremony, all the leaders present took a solemn oath whereby they pledged to restore peace and prosperity in India by protecting our mother cow and by rebuilding the traditional village life.

Srila Prabhupada on Cow Protection

…In this movement, our one program is to respect the cows. We chant this mantra, namo brahmanya
brahmana-hitaya ca. The brahminical culture and the cows…Why they have selected the cows? There are so many animals. Why cow protection is so important in Krishna Consciousness? Why Krsna personally Himself became a cowherd boy and was taking care of the cows and the calves? Oh, that is very essential.
And here also, we see that the Dharmaraja is inquiring about the comforts of the cow. Amba, kaccid bhadre,
anamayam atmanas te. Amayam means disease. So, “Whether you are quite comfortable by your health?” This is very essential to keep cows very comfortably. If they feel comfortable, then you get the most nourishing food, We are practically seeing in our New Vrindavan center, because the cows are feeling secure in our custody, they’re delivering milk up to eighty pounds daily. You’ll be surprised. So if you get milk products, milk, then you can prepare so many preparations full of vitamins, which will nourish your brain.
-Srimad Bhagavatam 1:16:19—Hawaii, January 15, 1974.

There are so many facilities afforded by cow protection, but people have forgotten these arts. The importance of protecting cows is therefore stressed by Krsna in Bhagavad Gita (krsi-go-rakshya-vanijyam vaisya-karma svabhavajam [BG.18.44]). Even now in the Indian villages surrounding Vrndavana, the villagers live happily simply by giving protection to the cow. They keep cow dung very carefully and dry it to use as fuel. They keep a sufficient stock of grains, and because of giving protection to the cows, they have sufficient milk and milk products to solve all economic problems. Simply by giving protection to the cow, the villagers live so peacefully. Even the urine and stool of cows have medicinal value. [Srimad-Bhagavatam. 10.6.19 Purport]