Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/920

 880 MISCELLANEOUS intoxicating drinks and drugs, and from all kinds ol foods, especially meat, is undoubtedly a great aid to the evolution of the spirit, but it is by no means an end in itself. Many a man eating meat and with everybody but living in the fear of God is nearer his freedom than s man religiously abstaining from meat and many other things, but blaspherning Godin every one of his acts. The central fact of Hinduism, however. is cow·pro- tection. Cow·protection to me is one of the most wonderful phenomena in human evolution. It takes the human being beyond his species. The cow to me means the entire sub-human world- Man through the cow is enjoined to realise his identity with all that lives. Why the cow was selected for apotheosis, is obvious to me. TUB cow was in India the best companion. She was the giver of plenty, Not only did she give milk, but she also made agriculture possible. The cow is a poem of pity. One reads pity in the gentle animal. She is the mother to millions of Indian mankind. Protection of the cow means protection of the whole dumb creation of God. The ancient seer, whoever he was, began with the cow. The appeal of the lower order of creation is all the more forcible because it is speechless. Oowprotection is the gift of Hinduism to the world. And Hinduism will live so long as there are Hindus to protect the cow. The way to protect is to die for her. It is a denial of Hinduism and Ahimsa to kill a human being to protect o cow. Hindus are enjoined to protect the cow by their tapcsya., by selbpurihcaticn, by selbsacrihce. The pre- sent day cow-protection has degenerated into perpetual feud with the Mussulmans, whereas cow-protection means conquering the Mussulmans by our love. A Mussulman friend sent me some time ago a book detailing the