Yesterday I talked of the dead, today, keeping to the theme, I speak of the dying.

Premavatar is visiting New Vrindaban for the temple presidents/GBC meetings and I was taking him on a tour of the winter barn, more commonly referred to as the Big Barn. Several cows that are unable to make the 5 mile walk to the summer pasturing grounds at Bahulaban stay at the Big Barn for the summer. There we came across one of them dying.

When I first looked at her, I thought she was already gone but upon closer examination saw she was still clinging to life, even moaning very softly a bit.

Premavatar chanted some very clear mahamantras for a while. While he was chanting, she stopped moaning and listened. When he stopped, she again moaned, Perhaps it was my imagination but I thought I heard some gratitude in her vocalization.

I will check on her early this morning and see if she is still in her body. Any devotees wishing to go chant to her, I am sure she would appreciate it. I heard that Brkasanga has been reading Srimad Bhagvatam to her, but mostly she is dying alone.

I don’t know her personally, but she must be close to 20 years old. Balabhadra has the last dairy calves born in New Vrindaban before a moratorium on breeding was instituted in the early 90s, and they are 14-15 years old so she has to be older than that.

Why would we keep cows like her around even if they aren’t giving milk?

“There will be more water for gardening, and it will be moist, and then produce fodder for the animals and food for you. And animal gives you milk.

“That is Vrndavana life. And they are absorbed in this so-called opulence. Krsna has taken birth. They are bringing so many nice, pleasant foodstuff, very well-dressed and ornamented. These are description.

“In the morning we were reading. How they were happy, the inhabitants of Vrndavana with Krsna and living and cows. That I want to introduce.

“At any cost do it and…Don’t bother about big, big buildings. It is not required. Useless waste of time. Produce. Make the whole field green. See that. Then whole economic question solved. Then you eat sumptuous. Eat sumptuously.

“The animal is happy. The animal even does not give milk; let them eat and pass stool and urine. That is welcome. After all, eating, they will pass stool. So that is beneficial, not that simple milk is beneficial. Even the stool is beneficial.

“Therefore I am asking so much here and…, “Farm, farm, farm, farm…” That is not my program — Krsna’s program. Annad bhavanti bhutani [Bg. 3.14].*

“Produce greenness everywhere, everywhere. Vrndavana. It is not this motorcar civilization. If it has taken in his brain, then it is to be understood that he can do this plan. He’ll be able.”

Conversation Pieces — May 27, 1977, Vrndavana

*”All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajïa [sacrifice], and yajïa is born of prescribed duties.”