Osho’s Cows

Posted on 22 March, 2016 by

The Cow Convoy

I remember my friend Swami Veet Arthen, getting up, in 1978/9,  at 4.30am in the morning to go and milk Osho’s cows. He had learned about milking in Ireland where he had a small holding/ commune with my brother and four others,  in the mid seventies. It seemed to me a very surrendered “worship” the very early hour, and the responsibility of it, as the milk was going directly to the Master.
(When he had his leaving darshan Osho told him to “go and be with the animals” – it was somehow a better life than hanging out with human beings ).
He used to take the milk to Vivek and handed it to her in her kitchen around 6.0am.   It was thought that Osho began his day with a glass of milk, but no-one is really sure, then or now, but the milk was used in Vivek’s kitchen, and daily.
Osho spoke against milk on a number of occasions. As I remember he used to say it was “robbing” the cow and the calf line. And that milk was for human  infants and should be from the human mother only.  He used to say what was the use of it for the adult body. ?
He was particularly hard on one Hindu monastery that only drank milk!  I myself have some respect for the vegan line on milk, but rarely embrace it. Life gets so complicated around such things. I must admit I found the endless homeless cows in India a mystery, and Hinduism also!  Why were there so many uncared for cows. Did Hindus take the milk, but never kill the animal?? But those questions were poorly formed in my head, and oddly enough remain unanswered.

When I read the memoir, “The day we got guns” by Swami Prem Rajesh,  and the following lines below,  I found myself wondering again about Osho and milk, and not just that Osho’s cows had been poisoned.
It sparked some thoughts, but I am interested to hear how it grabbed others.

“A long flatbed truck rumbles by. Tied down under tarpaulins, hidden cargo forms irregular shapes.
Priya motions at the truck, says half-jokingly, “There goes another load
of dead cows being smuggled off the ranch. Did you hear? Sheela’s gang poisoned
the cows that supply milk to Bhagwan’s house. This is turning absolutely
medieval.”

Parmartha

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6 Responses to Osho’s Cows

  1. Lokesh says:
    23 March, 2016 at 8:13 am

    “It seemed to me a very surrendered “worship”: the very early hour, and the responsibility of it, as the milk was going directly to the Master.”

    A reflection of the time described, when it was all about surrender. Meanwhile, millions of people go about such a daily business and the word ‘surrender’ will never enter their minds, because it is their work to perform such tasks. For all the surrendering that went on around Osho I question the value of such a practice today.

    Having kids, for the most part, was frowned upon in Osho’s communes. Yet bringing up children is perhaps one of the greatest opportunities to experience acts of surrender in human experience.

    As for Sheela and her gang poisoning cows, it just goes to show how nuts those people were. Yet sannyasins surrendered to her authoritarian regime.

    The short article concludes with the following:
    “When I read the memoir, ‘The Day We Got Guns’, by Swami Prem Rajesh, and the following lines below, I found myself wondering again about Osho and milk.”

    “Wondering again about Osho and milk!”
    Makes me wonder what on earth someone is doing wondering about such bullshit.

  2. swamishanti says:
    23 March, 2016 at 11:45 am

    I like the way Indians know how to talk to cows, something that westerners seem to have lost.
    One of the best cups of chai I ever drank recently came from the fresh milk of a cow that was tethered, with her calf, and being used by an Indian family for their little chai stall, just set up outside their home. Beats pasteurised milk any day.

    Here is a sample of Osho talking about milk and sex in Hindi:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb1-9Rm1WM4

    I haven`t got a clue what he`s talking about, but it sounds good anyway.

  3. Lokesh says:
    23 March, 2016 at 5:03 pm

    SS confesses, “I like the way Indians know how to talk to cows, something that westerners seem to have lost.”

    Yes indeed, a symbol that encapsulates perfectly the tragic decline of western civilization. But hold on…all is not lost. In the West we have horse whisperers. Not as good as having a chat with a cow, because you have to whisper, but there remains hope for us yet.

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