Glories of Vedic Cow

COW is called gaaya (गाय) in Hindi and gau (गौ) in Sanskrit. The word gau is derived from the verb gama (गम्), which means, "To Go". Mother Earth is also called gau in Sanskrit, and the earth is the place where all the living beings reside.

In the AtharvaVeda (अथर्ववेद), cow is described as the mother of Adityas, daughter of Vasus, and the very soul of the people.

The YajurVeda (यजुर्वेद) considers a cow as incomparable, meaning that she has unlimited qualities and virtues. There is no concept of eating a cow’s meat in the Vedas. In fact, the Holy Koran says that eating cow meat brings many kinds of illnesses and diseases.

In Mahabharat (Anusasanika parva), muni Vashitha said to king Soudasa that cow is sacred in the entire world and Lakshmi (लक्ष्मी - the goddess of wealth) stays where cows stay. Cleaning house with cow dung is advisable as cow dung and cow urine are sacred and has anti-microbial and excellent mosquito repellent property.

Gomaye Vasate Lakshmi (गोमय  वसते लक्ष्मी) - this phrase has repeatedly been used in Upanishad (उपनिषद). Apparently, it may look an unbelievable connotation. How can Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, live in cow dung? How is cow dung relevant to creation of wealth? If analyzed deeply in terms of modern economy, it would be revealed that what our ancient rishis (ऋषि) expressed is a universal truth, irrespective of area, community or time. The cow has always been held in high esteem as cattle wealth of India.  The five products of cow (milk - दूध, curd - दही, butter/ghee - मक्ख्न/घी, cow dung - गोबर and cow urine - गोमूत्र) — the panchgavya (पञ्चगव्य), possess excellent quality of nourishment and purification of five basic elements of cosmos (earth, water, fire, air and space/ether). While her milk, curd, butter churned from curd (दही का मक्ख्न, not the modern day butter we get in market), ghee and whey (छाछ) are most meritorious and energetic nourishment for us, the dung and urine are best nutrients to keep the land live, fertile and healthy.