Re: Multiple Questions

Dear Param Rushi Das,

      Nityananda! Gauranga! Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble obeisances! Maybe this question could be moved to a new thread.

      The story of Bharata Maharaja is something we all have to understand as it shows how maya often manipulates us through sympathy and making us 'feel good' or thinking that we are doing something good when actually we are not. At first he simply saved the deer, took care of it for a while and let it go, but it kept coming back to him and diverted his mind from Krishna to itself. So eventually he could no longer meditate on the Lord, but only on the deer and because of that he had to be reborn as one. Simply feeding cows or birds won't bring you in an animal body on its own, but if our minds get attached to them and we end up placing our love in them, we run the risk of thinking about them at the moment of death and getting such bodies in our next life. What we think at death is usually that which has made the strongest impressions on the mind.

       While we are passionate about many things in life, we should see whether those things are really necessary in our material life or will they help us in our devotional life or the spiritual life of others. If neither, then we are really only wasting time trying to satisfy the emotional side of our mind.

       First of all, ask yourself why you are so eager to feed birds and animals. If you're attached to them, then be careful!  If you really love the cows and birds, then do something spiritual for them. If you want to give them something, why don't you give them some bits of prasada along with regular feed? That will purify them spiritually so that if they have a next life, they will be born as human beings with the opportunity to get devotional service. Not only that you may also go about chanting Nityananda! or Gauranga! or Hare Krishna! loud enough for them to hear so that the holy name can get into their ears. The names of Nitai Gaura are so merciful that simply hearing them will do for those who are unable to chant, including the lower species. Give it a try and see. Ramanujacharya gave spiritual bodies to fishes in a pond by giving them Visnu prasada and Sivananda Sena had a dog reach Goloka by his association.

      However we must be very careful not let it take over our mind and make us attached to them on the bodily platform. Our job is to elevate others and not get pulled down by them. We may think that we are responsible for them and without us how may the animals or birds survive without us and we are being cruel if we can't feed a cow everyday or that we are doing something very good and noble...etc etc...but really that's maya's instigation. But unfortunately this is by far the easiest thing to fall for.

      You know, the animal bodies are where the living entities are simply spending out their karmic activities and their lives are much more in the hands of fate unlike we humans, who have some freedom to choose our destinies. It is almost completely impossible for one living entity to interfere in the karmic reactions of another living entity and it is futile to try and do so through material means. It is impossible to interfere in their fate by any means other than spiritual potency.

       Feeding cows may be quite difficult in your country where grass isn't available, etc. So I wouldn't waste time and energy trying to get something done with a lot of difficulty and that too which isn't necessary. I don't think the US is a country where cows are let loose on the roads and forced to eat anything they can get. On the contrary I have yet to see a skinny cow not on a farm in your country.

       Chanting the name of the Lord is better than opening millions of charitable organizations, hospitals, etc...is a statement of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

Your servant,
Srinath

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