DURBAN - With the rate of infections increasing daily globally, maybe it is time to become a vegan.
Picture this. A mother cow lives in a dairy farm. She has just given birth to her calf. Even before the cow can nurture her newborn, the calf is dragged to a separate isolated area.
The cow cries out in agony for her calf, but instead she is kicked and directed into the milking parlour, where a milking apparatus is attached to her to collect the milk intended for her calf. The mother cow and the calf are never reunited.
Sadly, this nightmarish ordeal is repeated again and again, over several years, up until the cow is no longer fertile and, therefore, unable to produce calves.
The cow’s final destination is the slaughterhouse. All this for the milk in our tea and our pound of flesh? The pain, terror and anguish suffered by cows in dairy farms cannot be overlooked.
We are privileged to live in the era of modern technology, where almost any information is accessible within seconds. However, we still find ourselves being wilfully ignorant of exactly how and what we nourish ourselves with.
We need to think beyond the neatly packaged meat and dairy products at our friendly grocer, where the labels show cows grazing on endless green fields.
This is the furthest from reality. We need to make a change to our dietary lifestyle, slowly but surely, with the absolute truth being that there is no nutritional basis for us to continue consuming milk and meat products.
Since becoming conscious of the plight of animals in the dairy industry, I began to regret the time-honoured offering of milk for the bathing of idols in our temples. I can personally recall hundreds of litres of milk being poured over our sacred idols and I now believe I can never be part of this practice again.
Change cannot occur instantly, as I stand testament to years of conscious oblivion. However, I pray we can open up this discussion further, with the eventual ban of all milk products in our temples.
As much as I write this letter with respect and sincerity for our Hindu culture, I can expect many to disagree with my sentiments.
However, this is a conversation that needs to begin and continue, as long as these sacred animals are being tortured and killed for our unnecessary and insatiable appetite, our historic rituals, and our lack of insight.