Why cow is a sacred animal in India?

[Ana.J]

Can you please explain why cow is a sacred animal in hinduism?

 

[Madhuri]

Hi Ana.
The religious perspective is that the cow is one of the divine Mothers of creation. She represents both maternity (kindness, giving, nurturing, gentle etc). and is seen as being deeply in the mode of Goodness. All created things are believed to entail a combination of three modes: Goodness, Passion and Ignorance. I won't go into detail about that here, but needless to say, Goodness is obviously the most valued/respected.

Because of this nature, the cow is given a lot of respect and she is taken care of as she takes care of us.

 

[Ana.J]

Hi Ana.
The religious perspective is that the cow is one of the divine Mothers of creation. She represents both maternity (kindness, giving, nurturing, gentle etc). and is seen as being deeply in the mode of Goodness. All created things are believed to entail a combination of three modes: Goodness, Passion and Ignorance. I won't go into detail about that here, but needless to say, Goodness is obviously the most valued/respected.

Because of this nature, the cow is given a lot of respect and she is taken care of as she takes care of us.

Interesting....Thank you. What about goats? They give milk too. Are they divine as well? Are there any more sacred animals in hinduism?

 

[Madhuri]

Interesting....Thank you. What about goats? They give milk too. Are they divine as well? Are there any more sacred animals in hinduism?

A lot of animals give milk but none hold the significance that the cow does. Her very nature is maternal and Good.

 

[Chakra]

The cow is important, more so than others, because in ancient India the cow practically gave the ancients everything: milk, yogurt, ghee (all of these are important in religious rituals), and oxen helped plow the land. But in reality, there really is not a difference between a cow and other animals.

 

[Vinayaka]

All life is sacred. To go further, every thing is sacred. But the cow epitomizes the concept. Gentle, caring, giving, all the qualities of dharma.

 

[Kapalika]

Hinduism places important on the cow for historical reasons because it was the only beast of burden and provided a lot of food through milk and labor.

They are symbolically important, but I wouldn't call them sacred and a human life is more valued.

 

[Chakra]

They are symbolically important, but I wouldn't call them sacred and a human life is more valued.

I do not know if this can be said. More accurate would be "human life is more precious".

 

[Aštra’el]

I honestly have a deep respect for the cow and can totally understand why some cultures would develop an esteemed spiritual-religious opinion of it. Cows are an incredibly significant source of protein in my life and thus directly contribute to the constant improvement of my physical condition and abilities.

 

[Kapalika]

I honestly have a deep respect for the cow and can totally understand why some cultures would develop an esteemed spiritual-religious opinion of it. Cows are an incredibly significant source of protein in my life and thus directly contribute to the constant improvement of my physical condition and abilities.

Red meat is actually one of the most unhealthy meats due to . Fish is probably the best meat, followed by lean birds. Funny enough, we can actually eat many types of fish raw. You can't say the same about any other meat. Also we can't process a lot of things in red meat such as uric acid which is actually pretty bad for you.

Broccoli has nearly as much protein as beef (ratio of 8/11), and spinach has just as much if not more than beef from what I recall.

Edit: Although beef is a good source of iron, it's actually more efficient and better to your health to just take iron supplements if you are actually low on iron.