Cow and village unite the whole nation

By Ashutosh

The mass awareness campaign started by spiritual leadership of the nation in the name of Vishwa Mangal Gou Gram Yatra by taking the cow as a symbol truly proved to be an effort to reawaken the soul of the nation.

Beginning from Kurukshetra on Vijayadashami Day (September 28, 2009) it traversed the length and breadth of the nation in 108 days and acquainted the countrymen with the importance and relevance of traditional Indian social and economic structure. The saints and social activists moving with the Yatra educated the people about cow protection and rural development in various public meetings.

The Yatra had basically turned into a mass movement in its initial days itself. The enthusiasm developed among the people by it had started agitating the people. The speeches of the saints exhorted the people especially the youth. On the other hand the upayatras undertaken in all the states awakened the people at the grass root level.

On the very first day itself, i.e. October 1, the people waited for hours at the places fixed to welcome the Yatra in bright sunlight. The Yatra normally moved late due to unprecedented reception accorded to it by the people at different places. People stopped the Yatra in middle way and did not allow it to move further till they welcomed the saints, performed goupuja and expressed their commitment for cow protection. People in villages were found happier as they felt that it was for the first time that somebody was fighting for their cause. People from all sections of the society including children, youth, old and women were participating with full vigour and furvour. The Yatra also cleaned the image of Indian youth who are normally depicted as anti-traditional Indian culture by a section of the media. The youth were seen highly energetic for cow and village protection.

The way the villagers extended welcome to the Yatra in whole of the country was a clear indication that they were ready to fight for their rights and also for cow protection. The Yatra not only mobilised the common man for cow protection but also established the fact that the forces committed to restore pride of the nation have not yet weakened. Women in Hisar (Haryana) distributed more than 10,000 food packets to the gobhaktas. An emotional wave was seen in Punjab too. It also received warm welcome while entering in Jammu on October 6, which is considered highly sensitive for security point of view.

It was a unique Yatra spreading the message of Bharatiyata. Taking the cow as a symbol of change, it moved with the objective of bringing a positive change in the system. It was an initiative which generated a debate all over the nation, for the first time after Independence whether the model of development we adopted during the last 63 years led us to prosperity and development or to destruction.

As the Yatra moved forward, upayatras continued to join it and very soon it took the form of a big movement. Crossing many mountains and valleys of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh the Yatra entered in Uttarakhand situated in the Shivalik range of the Himalayas. The enthusiasm of the people even at the small towns was very inspiring. There was same shankhdhvani, the same slogans for the protection of Cow, the Ganga and the Gita and the same inspiring speeches of the saints. But the crowed listening to the speeches of the saints and raising slogans was different but with same vigour, energy and faith.

Originating from the hills and joining many small rivers as the Ganga assumes a gigantic form while entering in the plain the Vishwa Mangal Gou Garam Yatra too took a gigantic form receiving energy from the upayatras that joined it at many places. This form of the Yatra began from Chandigarh and continued to become bigger and bigger.

The election battle in Haryana was at its peak. But at that time also the Vishwa Mangal Gou Gram Yatra attracted high turn out in the meetings. The Yatra was in Yamunanagar. The Ramlial Grounds at Paper Mill was packed beyond its capacity. There was a big line of the vehicles brought by the rural people participating in the welcome meeting. They included buses, jeeps, tractor-trolleys etc. People from adjoining villages of Yamunagar and Jagadhari like Nandgarh, Darpur, Rampur,  Golani, Khajuri, Budiya, Thana Dhapar, Sathora, Mughalwani etc. had starting reaching the ground since noon and stayed there till Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri administered them the oath of cow protection at late hours in the evening. The people responded with clapping on the speech of Shankaracharya Shri Raghaveshwara Bharati Swamji. The ground continued to reverberate with the clapping and slogans. This response proved that the public is still with those who are really fighting or their cause.

People’s participation was increasing day-by-day. After crossing the river Yamuna the Yatra reached Saharanpur city of Western Uttar Pradesh where thousands of gobhaktas had assembled even early morning to welcome it. Even after the Yatra left Saharanpur the people continued to come in tractor-trolleys and in other vehicles.

Besides the local people there were many leading saints at the function held in Haridwar. Apart from the cow they also expressed concern over the deteriorating condition of the Ganga. Prior to it the Yatra received tremendous welcome at Dev Sanskrit University in Shantikunj. Many senior leaders of Gayatri Pariwar were present at this function. The meeting held at Roorkier at night was very impressive. The BT Gang Crossing was full to beyond its capacity. Those who did not get the place to sit were standing. Noted Muslim leader Chhote Miyan described the cow slaughter as anti-Islam at the function.

The scene in Muzaffarnagar was no less impressive than in Saharanpur. There was a large crowed of gobhaktas and the people were continued to come. The main attraction at this meeting was the presence of noted farmers’ leader Shri Mahendra Singh Tikait.

The Tyagi Hostel Ground of Meerut was packed, but there was huge crowed at the meeting in Garh Mukteshwar. The slogan of ‘Gomata ki Jai’ was reverberating from the venue to the banks of the Ganga. The pain of the farmers and the villagers was clearly visible during the speech of Shri Raghaveshwara Bharati Swamiji. It was a very emotional moment when the young saint Shri Atul Krisna Bhardwaj administered the crowed of more than 20,000 people the oath of cow protection.

Passing through Badanyun the Yatra reached Kasganj on October 13 where it received grand welcome. People were showering flowers from both sides when it passed through the main streets of the city. People extended special welcome at many places. The participation of the rural people was very much inspiring here.

It was marvelous and indescribable scene when the convoy of vehicles moving with the Yatra entered Lalganj town, near Benaras. Thousands of people were lined up both sides of the road to have darshan of the gourath and saints. Grand welcome was being accorded with the tune of the band. Welcome gates had been erected. Women were peeping into the small holes and also having a look of the Yatra from the roofs of houses. Some people are showering flowers. A group of enthusiastic youth climbed on the trees to have greater and the best look of the yatra.

It took over one and half hours to cover the distance of just three km in Lalganj.  “It is for the first time when somebody is talking about us. We have received so many political assurances so far but it is for the first time that an effort has been made to raise the living standard and self-respect of the villagers,” said Ramanand of Azamgarh.

Ramkeval Yadav who belongs to a village near Lalganj said, “We have been doing what we were told to do. We started herding crossbreed cows when the government told us that we can get more milk if we improve the breed of the animals. Similarly we used urea and other chemical fertilizers when the government told us that by doing so we can get more production. It was the government which organised Farmers Meetings to ‘educate’ us how to use chemical fertilizers and fertilizers. It is the government too that taught us to use so-called high quality seeds and also having cash crops. Now you people are telling that all that was wrong.”

When asked whether he was benefited after following the suggestions of the government and also what the people of Gou Gram Yatra are telling is wrong, another farmer Ajudhya Prasad says, “The people in the Yatra are telling what our ancestors used to say at that time. But we did not listened to them and are not perishing today. This is fact that we got some benefit in the beginning but now our soil has become infertile. Now we get what and how much chemical fertilizers we use in the field.” Meanwhile, another farmer Ramarai interrupts, “What you are telling appears correct but we fail to understand why our own government cheated us?”

This innocent question raised by an illiterate farmer belonging to a backward village was no less than a Yaksha prashna that exhorted all of us. If a question has power it exhorts lakhs of minds and forces to find an answer.

Beginning from Gorakhpur and passing through Kushinagar on October 25 the Yatra entered Bihar from Motihari. The above question emerged before my eyes every time I saw the people attending different meetings. Though there were different people, different places and different geographical atmosphere. The language and words too were different. But the gist of all the questions was same everywhere and it was not difficult to feel it.

During the Yatra about four big meetings were organised everyday. Barring the 50 odd people moving with the Yatra permanently, both the speakers and audience were changed in every meeting. Some speakers talked about the welfare form of the cow while some called her highly revered as crores of Gods and Goddess reside in different parts of her body. Some speakers also questioned the intention of the government and its policies and cornered it for the declines surfacing in the society and the country everywhere. Not only the environmental degradation was raised but also the side effects of the chemical pesticides, change in the climate like global warming melting glaciers and natural disasters were too discussed in details. A concern was also expressed over the suicides by farmers.

Many questions surfaced but the Gou Gram Yatra was a positive step in totality. It did not lead the agitating society to revolt or violence but presented the centuries old tried and tested cultural, traditional and ancient wisdom in modern and scientific perspective before the common masses. It is encouraging the people to adopt different methods cow protection and rural development. That is why the problems of common men raising in their own languages and sharing the pain of their sufferings were touching the heart of the real Bharat.

Despite living on the coast of the sea in Western Ghat of Andhra Pradesh., the people there are still thirsty. The dry soil and unbearable scorching heat of the season force the people to properly save and store each and every drop of the water. The main task of the women in this region is to find out water resources and store water properly. If a pot of water falls it means another visit to the water resource. But the matter that was different.

The people of Davuru village received the news that the Vishwa Mangal Gou Gram Yatra would pass through their village. Since the street the gourath would pass through should not remain dirty, the women brought water pots from their houses and start washing it with water. It is their style and tradition of extending welcome. This scene was nothing but a wonder for the people of north India who were moving with the Yatra.  The Gourath was worshipped at the door of every house. People showered flower petals, performed aarati, broken the coconut and started following the rath. The youth expressed their enthusiasm by bursting firecrackers. Not only the male but females of the village too come to see off the Gourath out of the village. They do not seem in a hurry despite the fact that they had to go to the water resources again to fetch water for preparing the meal at the night.

The local organisers of the Yatra announced that the Yatra would not go to Dharmavaram city as without skipping this city the Yatra cannot reach the next venue in time. But what a surprise! Hundreds of people thronged the bypass road to extend welcome and perform puja of the Gourath. They included children and over eighty-year-old women also. The enthusiasm of these people shows that faith and traditions still dominate over modernity.

There are many big religious places in southern parts of the country. The functions were held at almost all the places including Tirupati, Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Kanyakumari, Gauri Mayur region, Tanjavur, Mudrai, etc. In many temples the gourath was taken inside them to perform proper puja and abhishekam. The unity of various ways of worship, sections and social, religious organisations too was clearly visible.

After visiting various places of easten Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa, the Vishwa Mangal Gou Gram Yatra entered Vijaynagar city of Andhra Pradesh on November 11. It was accorded a warm welcome there. The Yatra reached Visakhapattanam in the evening where it was received by a group of youth in the form of a huge vehicle rally. The local people played their traditional musical instruments to welcome it. After taking out the Yatra as a procession in the city for about an hour, a welcome meeting was organised on the RK Beach near the seacoast.

The Yatra entered Tamil Nadu on November 20, where it was accorded a touching welcome in Chennai. It traversed the state for seven days and then entered Kerala on November 7. As the Yatra reached the Nayatinkara village near Kerala border, it was accorded a traditional welcome. Here too a grand vehicle rally was taken out by the youth. The people were dancing on the tunes of Chenda Melan and Nad Swaram. As the goubhaktas were showering flower petals on the route of the Rath, a thick layer of flower petals was visible on the road. A group of women carrying umbrellas of different colours was moving in front of the gourath and accorded a traditional welcome. The streets turned saffron with saffron flags. Some youth also burst firecrackers to express their enthusiasm.

After completing the tour of Kerala the Yatra entered Karnataka on November 30 where it was welcomed with playing of traditional musical instruments. The Yatra reached Mysore in the evening where a public meeting was organised. The meeting was accorded a warm welcome in Bengaluru on December 1. The founder of the Art of Living Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji, Swami Dayananda Saraswati of Arsh Vidyagurukulam, Gokarna Peethadhishwar Shri Raghaveshwara Bharati Swamiji and VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal were also present at the meeting.

The Yatra enterd Goa on December 7, where it was accorded a warm welcome at Mulem village near the border. Then passing through Fonda it reached Dichauli. A grand public meeting was organised at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maidan there. Starting from Dichauli, the Yatra entered Ratnagiri, the birthplace of Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Maharashtra on December 8. Here too, it was accorded a warm reception.

The Yatra entered Gujarat on December 17 where it was accorded a traditional welcome. Saffron flags were installed at the both sides of the roads. People in large number were showering flower petals on the gourath. The traditional folk dance of Dangs and the tunes of ‘Pawari’ and ‘Sarnai’, the traditional musical instruments, touched the heart of the goubhaktas. The youth took out a vehicle rally to welcome the Yatra. The women in large number were moving ahead of the Yatra carrying mangal kalashes on their heads. The scene turned highly moving when the youth invited Swami Akhileshwaranand Giri in a rath and took out the grand procession in the city. There was a cannon installed on a vehicle which was showering flower petals on the goubhaktas.  The goubhaktas in Rajkot donated 492 units of blood equal to the weight of the Geer breed cow which was worshiped at the function.

The welcome accorded to the Yatra in Delhi was highly touching while the welcome accorded in Jaipur on December 29 was moving. The local administration had imposed curfew in some parts of Bhilwada on December 31 following communal tension. But when the administration granted three hours relaxation in the curfew the whole city turned to welcome the Yatra. A total of 21 upayatras were organised Banswara and Dungarpur districts which visited 4200 villages. There was not a single village in both the districts where the upayatras did not visit and signatures were not collected.

The functions organised in Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain, Jabalpur, Pann etc in Madhya Pradesh was presided over by Nandi Swami of Karantaka. The Yatra was welcomed by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh when it reached Raipur. The welcome of the Yatra in Nagpur on January 16 and the concluding ceremony organised at Reshim Bagh Grounds were both highly impressive.

By and large the Yatra exhorted the whole nation in 108 days. It was accorded touching welcome wherever it visited. The Yatra not only exhorted the countrymen but also generated a hope in the disappointed hearts. Undoubtedly it proved to be the biggest ever constructive movement of the independent Bharat which untied the whole nation on the issue of cow and the village.