I had the good fortune to work as a volunteer in a Gaushala and my experience is that ethically run Gaushala is the abode of Bhagwan Shri Krishna and His cows. As a beginner, I was very curious to observe everything that goes around and I made many interesting observations. The Divine Grace of Almighty God has created an intelligent system for every mother to feed it’s child. Like they say, a mother is born when the child is. The cow delivers the calf and her heart is full of love for her child. She starts to lick the calf till her heart content. The calf gets strength to stand up because of this love and starts to move towards its mother. The mother cow very lovingly guides the calf to her udder. The mother cow experiences lot of joy and happiness as she feeds her newly born calf. Milk is the source of all nutrition, energy and intelligence which is transferred from the mother to her child. The mother cow always very protective of her calf, calling out to the calf whenever it goes little away. The calf goes back to the mother and the mother becomes quiet. In a few days the calf becomes very active. It starts to jump, run here and there – something which gives us great joy. After a few days, the calf is kept in a separate place from its mother – at a short distance where they can still see each other. It is allowed to go to its mother only for sometime especially for feeding. The first day of it’s separation is quite bitter. But thereafter, both the mother and the child get used to this system. It is also important to protect the calf from other grown up calves and cows. One calf was my favourite. I would spent lot of time showering my love and affection and then it would also reciprocate it’s feelings to me. It would follow me everywhere I went. Since it had lost it’s mother, and the Gaushala had adopted the calf from it’s previous owner, I had to arrange milk for it. Everyday morning, while other cows went out for grazing, this calf would stand at my door.
This wonderful association gave me the opportunity to understand the divine love between a calf and cow and also importance of good nutrition to calves.