Cow protection and tree conservation
Cards (7)
- Cows are sacred and therefore protected in Hinduism
- An example of one way that some Hindus practice ahimsa is tree conservation
- Why Cows are sacred
- Lord Krishna was a cowherd so caring for cows follows his example
- Cows provide enough nutrition for a complete diet
- A living cow looks after humans better than a dead cow
- The Vedas state that killing cows if forbidden
- Lord Shiva rides on a bull which is a source of power
- What are goshallas
- Goshallas are retirement homes for cows (go is Sanskrit for cow)
- There are charities who look after elderly cows at goshallas in India
- What is the Bhaktivedanta Manor Cow Protection Project
- The Bhaktivedanta Manor is a goshalla in the UK , in Hertfordshire
- It is run by members of the Hare Krishna movement
- The estate was donated to ISKCON by George Harrison of the Beatles in 1973
- In 1996 the goshalla was set up there to save cows from being slaughtered because of the disease BSE
- The Manor shelters around 50 animals
- Origin of tree hugging
- In 1730 in Rajasthan, over 300 people, led by Amrita Devi, hugged or linked arms around trees to try to prevent them from being cutdown
- Tree hugging movements have been inspired by this example
- The Chipko Movement
- A group of peasant women hugged trees in the Garhwal Himalayan region of India in 1974, to prevent tree felling
- The movement spread throughout India and changed the attitude of the regional government
- These women were part of the Chipko movement
- The Chipko movement won the Right Livelihood Award , an environmental honour similar to the Nobel Prize, in 1987
- The Vrindavan Forest Project
- The Vrindavan Forest Project in northern India is a place of pilgrimage for many Hindus as it is believed that Lord Krishna lived there
- By the 1980s, however, India’s industrial development was having a disastrous effect on the forest
- The Vrindavan Forest Project protects and restores the forest