“Of all kinds of animal killing, the killing of cows is most vicious because the cow gives us all kinds of pleasure by supplying milk. Cow slaughter is an act of the grossest type of ignorance.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 14.16 Purport)

For those growing up in a tradition where meat eating is the norm, learning that other societies protect and sometimes even worship an animal like a cow seems a little strange. “Perhaps it is part of their tradition or just some sectarian belief. Like wearing different kinds of shirts, the different religions practiced are there to be accepted on faith or just inherited from the parents as a matter of obligation. I am this or I am that, but what ‘that’ actually means doesn’t really matter because all there is to ‘that’ is the acknowledgment that I am ‘that’ and nothing else.” Though the Vedic traditions may be followed…