According to Vedic civilization, the cow is to be given special protection. Why it is recommended for the cow? It does not say of other animal. When animal killing is required according to Vedic civilization, those who are meat-eaters, they are allowed to kill some insignificant animal like deer, goat, pigs. It is for the animal eaters, not for all. But if one is bent upon . . . and there are persons, they want meat-eating. So for them these unimportant animals are recommended. But cow is very important animal. You get from its milk so many nutritious food. So apart from religious sentiment, from economic point of view cow-killing is not good. And from moral point of view it is not good, because you drink cow's milk, so cow is your mother.
According to Vedic civilization, there are seven mothers.
- ādau-mātā guroḥ patnī
- brahmaṇī rāja-patnikā
- dhenur dhatrī tathā pṛthvī
- sapta eta mataraḥ smṛtaḥ
Ādau-mātā, real mother, and guru-patnī, the wife of guru or teacher, she is also mother, because teacher is father. Ādau-mātā guroḥ patnī brahmaṇi, the wife of a brāhmaṇa, she is mother. Ādau-mātā guroḥ patnī brāhm . . . rāja-patnikā, the queen, the wife of the king, she is mother. And then cow is mother because you are drinking her milk. Ādau-mātā guroḥ patnī brahmaṇi rāja-patnikā, dhenur dhatrī, nurse. Nurse is also mother because you suck the breast of the nurse. Therefore according to Vedic civilization, there are seven mothers. So you cannot kill your mother. That is not very good philosophy. And who can deny, "The cow is not mother"? Who has got this audacity? You are drinking milk in the very morning. Christ says: "Thou shall not kill"—wholesale killing stop. And the Vedic literature is little liberal. It does not say: "Thou shall not kill," but "You shall not kill at least cow." But the wholesale stop is not possible. The Vedic wisdom knows that. But you shall not kill at least cow. That is civilization.