An Introduction

"Prosperity looks for a place where cows walks fearlessly". Mother cow is so sacred that all demi gods choose to refuge in one or the other part of Its body. Krishna Himself worships and serves her. When Krishna was in braj, all the brajvasis used to keep, worship and serve the cows. Because of this service, streams of milk, yogurt, butter and butter milk (Chhachh) used to flow out of every home and every body used to be prosperous. Present situation is totally opposite of it. Nobody has that respect for cows any more. What to talk about others, even brajvasis do not want to keep and serve cows any more because of degrading cultural values, lose of respect for Braj tradition and poor financial situation. Even Goshala owners find it hard to run such institutions. You will be shocked to learn that these goshala owners now have started to sell the cows to butchers. Cows cannot run fearlessly any more not even in Braj.

Taking on this unfortunate situation, Maan Mandir Sewa Sansthan has started Mata Ji Goshala with a vision of bringing the glory and mejesty of mother cow back to its original form as it used to be in Krishna's time. Inspired by honest and selfless service to Krishna's lovely cow, some saadhus search for sick cows right in the middle of night when every one is sleeping and bring them in the Goshala.

A lot of brajvasis and other loss making Goshala owner have already started bringing sick cows to Mata Ji Goshala. Because of this overwhelming response, we planned to build shelter for more than 1000 cows. The site is still under construction.

By the grace of Shriji, the Mataji Goshala Project is becoming a very impressive project. The goshala is not only taking care of sick, abandoned cows, but is also helping the environment, and striving to provide many resources to the surrounding community. The goshala currently has approximately 400 cows, with more coming each day.

On our visit to the goshala a few weeks back, there were 400 cows, of which eight were milking cows, and eight were sick cows. Two of the eight six cows were seriously injured with spinal chord fractures. One of the seriously injured cows was brought a month back. The story is that she was trying to drink water in a village watering hole, and slipped. She fell, and fractured her back. According to the veterinarian there is nothing more that can be done for her.

So, she is being taken care of, and provided the most comforts possible until the time that she passes away. A veterinarian visits the goshala every other day to take care of the sick cows. There are cow herders hired to tend to all of the cows needs 24 hours a day. Abandoned cows are brought to the goshala on a daily basis. They can be dropped off by local villagers. As an example, 10 cows were dropped off by a neighboring village a day before we visited because the abandoned cows were grazing on their crops, therefore, ultimately having an effect on their livelihood.

Currently there are six sheds which house 72 cows each. The seventh one is under construction. The cows are brought out during the day to lay in the sun, and enjoy the dirt, which is of course their favorite place to sit. At night they are taken inside to the sheds. The cows are fed a grand diet of feed, which is enhanced by adding gur(sugarcane candy), rock salt, and barley.

Other projects under construction include offices for the veterinarian, an animal hospital, apartments for the cow herders and visitors, a lab to process cow urine, access roads, and the purchasing of two heavy duty vehicles for the transportation of cows.

There are awesome projects which have been completed to utilize cow dung. A cow manure gas plant has been constructed. This plant utilizes cow manure and coverts it into gas which can be used for cooking by the local community. The excess cow manure is also being utilized to create compost soil which is four times more fertile than regular soil. This soil will is given to the local farmers to use on their land. Along with these projects, landscaping projects, and a nursery for fragrant plants, fruit trees, flowers is on its way.

As you can probably understand, each aspect of the goshala, is providing wonderful results. Prior to our visit, we would have never thought that cow dung, and cow urine would be so useful to the community. It was quite apparent from our visit, that protecting and saving the cows is very important, and vital to all of us. It is Babashri's vision, that once the battle to save the mountains is successful, each mountain will then be turned into pasture land for the cows. All of the abandoned cows from India will have a home in Braj!

Watch Mataji Goshala Progress Report