Comments on: Climate Chief Declares: Give up Meat to Save the Planet

By: anceintmariner

anceintmariner — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:55:14 +0000

I wonder how much money the climate chief makes. Sounds like a good job if you can get it but I imagine you have to be a serious yes man. It is noble to give up meat eating out of compassion for animals but in regards to humans “saving the planet” I am in agreement with George Carlin:

“We’re so self-important. So arrogant. Everybody’s going to save something now. Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save the snails. And the supreme arrogance? Save the planet! Are these people kidding? Save the planet? We don’t even know how to take care of ourselves; we haven’t learned how to care for one another. We’re gonna save the planet? . . . And, by the way, there’s nothing wrong with the planet in the first place. The planet is fine. The people are messed up! Compared with the people, the planet is doin’ great. It’s been here over four billion years . . . The planet isn’t goin’ anywhere, folks. We are! We’re goin’ away. Pack your stuff, we’re goin’ away. And we won’t leave much of a trace. Thank God for that. Nothing left. Maybe a little Styrofoam. The planet will be here, and we’ll be gone. Another failed mutation; another closed-end biological mistake.”

I guess that it wont exactly be a failed mutation just a spiritual cleansing when the Kalki avatar arrives in 427,000 years.

By: Syama Gopala dasa

Syama Gopala dasa — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:18:47 +0000

I love your last paragraph, GM. It’s mindblowing. Many think vaisnavism is so rigid, but it’s all accommodating.

By: Amara dasa

Amara dasa — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:59:32 +0000

Exactly…that’s the way I’ve always seen it, anyhow. The whole Vegan idea of completely cutting out the cow just doesn’t seem right or positive to me, kind of like cutting out the eye rather than curing it. Most Vegans I talk to believe it is unnatural for humans to drink cow milk anyway.

This is how I would grade this whole issue:

-offering and drinking milk from protected cows (ideal)

-offering and drinking milk from unprotected cows (second-best)

-not offering or drinking any milk at all (neutral, negative)

-drinking unoffered milk from unprotected cows (worst)

By: Citta Hari dasa

Citta Hari dasa — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:34:02 +0000

We should offer everything that we have, everything that we are — sincerely — even when what we offer is not quite perfect yet. Incredibly generous indeed.

This brings to mind Gita 18.48: all actions have some fault mixed in with them but we still must act. Better to do something imperfectly than not at all.

By: swami bv tripurari

swami bv tripurari — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:01:03 +0000

Here is a link that may help people locate raw milk in their area:

http://www.westonaprice.org/localchapters/index.html

By: Bhaktikanda

Bhaktikanda — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:43:16 +0000

Amara dasa,

I am pretty sure Hridayananda maharaja meant the opposite: he meant to encourage devotees to take a more active involvement by avoiding commercial milk, not offering the commercial milk with “extra sincerity”. Sincerity indeed will result in action. Offering the milk and leaving things as they are sounds like a copout to me.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:30:34 +0000

Speaking of raw milk….

Based on the encouragement of Swami and other visitors to this site, I decided to try raw milk. I am VERY fortunate to have Organic Pastures Dairy right here in town. I was able to meet them at the farmer’s market and ask them about their practices – they do not sell the boy calves for slaughter and they make sure all the colostrum on day 1 goes to babies.
With regular milk, I get nosebleeds and migraines if I have more than a cup a day. I’ve been drinking a gallon of raw milk a week and have not had any of my typical symptoms. So I’m quite impressed.
I looked on Cornucopia and they got the highest possible rating. They’ll even UPS milk to you.

By: Sridama dasa

Sridama dasa — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:21:50 +0000

Just to clarify, when I praised Hridayananda Maharaja’s take on the dairy issue, it was because I felt like he presented it in a somewhat nuanced way. It wasn’t the same old tired “cows get benefit, drink whatever you want” justification that I’ve heard a million times.

By: Gopakumar das

Gopakumar das — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:38:36 +0000

Spend the extra money on organic milk, take social action, become vegan and/or if all else fails…accept that we are often a part of the problem as well as a part of the solution. We all have aggression, the question for me is: In which way do we express it?

By: Gopakumar das

Gopakumar das — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:33:16 +0000

utilizing karmi milk if devotee milk is not available to us.

I get so tired of hearing the word ‘karmi’. Does saying it really make us feel superior to others?

Those poor cows are suffering and the best thing that will likely ever happen to them is that their milk was offered to Krsna.

I think the idea that cows suffer and we can make it (the suffering and environmental repercussions) better by offering the milk to Krsna seems naive and denialist to me. It’s called magical thinking and undoing in psychology. It only changes one reality, the subjective or group imaginary.

If it bothers us so much then some action will speak louder than fantasy.