Hare Krsna!
From Mahabharata Anushashan parva – Chapter 51
Once upon a time there was a sage name Chayavan, who was a great Tapasvi and also the son of Bhrugu Rishi .Once he undertook a vow to remain inside water for meditation. He wanted to give up attachment, anger, pride, pain, pleasure, sorrow etc. He was inside the water for 12 years and meditated. Seeing this austerity and nature of great soul all the living entities inside the water became his friends and had no fear from him. Once this great saint entered the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna rivers with great faith and humility. At times he would perform Samadhi inside water and sometimes float on water. In this way, lot of time passed away.
Once a fisherman came there to catch fish. With the intention of catching the fish he threw the net. Coincidently Chyavan rishi was caught in the net. However fisherman was not aware that he has caught the Rishi in his net and so when he tried to pull the net, it was very heavy and so he thought that today he has got a big fish in his net. All fishermen together started pulling the net with full force and when the net came out on shore they saw that along with fishes Chyavan rishi has also been caught in net.
Seeing a Rishi caught in their net all the fishermen got frightened. They started begging for forgiveness with folded hands. Having being removed from water the fishes died after withering in pain. Seeing this scene the heart of Chyavan rishi melted with compassion. He said to the fishermen, “I will give up my life along with these fishes as we both were living together for long time. I cannot give up their company. Since they are now without consciousness, I will also become like them.
Hearing such statements from the sage the fishermen were trembling with fear, as they would become the cause of death of saintly person like Chyavan rishi. They told the sage to wait, and ran toward the king Nahusha and narrated the incident in detail. King Nahusha heard everything and was pleased that a sage of such great caliber i.e. Chyavan rishi has come to his kingdom to show some mercy. He thought this to be mercy of Supreme lord and went to meet the sage along with ministers and priests along with the fishermen.
King immediately joined hands in front of him and worshiped him nicely and offered obeisances unto the sage Chyavan. Then thus satisfying him the king said, “Your servant is ready to carry out your order. Please order and be merciful.”
The sage said, “Today these fishermen had removed me from water along with these fishes with great effort. But seeing me caught in the net they have become greatly fearful and perturbed. They could not get much fish also today. How will their life go on? Please give them the right price of myself to these fishermen so that they can carry on with their life.”
At that time the king Nahusha said to the ministers, “Please give these fishermen 1000 gold coins as price for this sage.” Hearing this sage said, “O King is my value only 1000 gold coins. Please decide the right amount of my value and give to the fishermen.” Then Nahusha said to the ministers, “Please give these fishermen 1 lakh gold coins. Saying this he enquired from the sage weather is this the right amount? The sage Chyavan replied, “Please don’t limit me to only 1 lakh coins.
Please take advice from your ministers and priests and then decide my value.” The king without discussing told the people to give the fishermen 1 crore gold coins. Sage again protested. King told that half his kingdom be given to fishermen. The sage said, “O king what to speak of half kingdom, even your full kingdom will not be equal to my value. Please consult your ministers, priests and sages etc to decide my value.
Hearing this king was mortified. He thus consulted his ministers and priests. At this time another forest dwelling muni who subsisted only on roots and fruits came near the king and spoke to him. O King don’t be dejected. I will satisfy this Chyavan rishi and also tell the right value of this sage.
Please listen to me carefully as I never speak lies.. I always speak truth and so have no doubts.
King said, “O lords, I am in great danger. Because of my actions, a great sage is ready to give up his life. If you can tell me the right value of this Chyavan rishi then I will be grateful. Please save my kingdom my family and me from this great danger. Hearing this that Sage spoke, “Brahman’s and cows belong to same family but appear differently. Brahman’s take the form of mantras and cows take form of offering in yajnas. We cannot estimate the value of Cows and Brahman’s. Therefore, you give a cow as value for this Chyavan sage.
Hearing the statements of this forest dwelling muni king and his priests became overjoyed. They quickly went to Chyavan rishi and told him that we have fixed cow as equal in value to you, which we will give to anglers. Now please get up and desist from giving up life. Chyavan replied, “Yes, you have purchased me at right price. Surely, there is no wealth comparable to Holy cows in this world. Great glories are sung chanting and glorifying holy cow’s qualities and names. Performance of above activities grant us supreme destination. They bless us with laxmi, and they are not tinged with sins.
Cows always grant men grains and demigods sacrificial offerings. All sacrifices are dependent on cows and cows are the sacrificial mouths. They hold divine nectar (amruta) which is free from all faults and on being milked; they give only nectar (milk). Nectar is sheltered on cows. Whole world bows in front of them. Where ever a group of cows sits and breaths fearlessly that place increases in beauty and is freed from all sins. Cows are steps to heaven. Cows are worshipped even in heaven. They are demigoddesses who can fulfill all our desires. There is no one as great as they are and no one can describe them fully.
Saying thus the sage Chyavan became silent. That time the anglers requested the sage to accept the cow that they have received from the king. Sage accepted the cow and said that by donating a cow all your sins have been destroyed. Now soon all of you will attain heaven along with these sins. While the sage was saying, thus the fishes and anglers started ascending to heaven. Seeing them ascend to heaven king Nahusha was astonished. Then the sages who had suggested the values of cow and Chayavan muni asked the king to ask for blessings. The King asked that he should always walk on codes of religion and be engaged in devotional service. The king received this blessing and then worshiped all the sages.
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Thanks for narrating the value of cow. Cow is supremely valuable and auspicious.
Thank you for giving wonder use of cow dung ash as we know te importance but nowa days we are ignoring these. we have to spread this across the society.
thank you pr for sharing this wonderful pastime on the glories of cow
As per our vedas what is the procedure for donating a cow.
To whom should a cow be donated.
I will be grateful for your guidance
Ans – In previous times the governments would protect and maintain grazing pastures for cows and in present times government is encroaching on them. In today’s scene donating cow is easy but maintaining them is difficult. There is no need of cow donation when 100’s are loitering on streets.
We should not be ritualistically attached to Go dana. We should be practical.
So what I suggest is two things.
1. Donate for maintenance of cows. Better donate to maintain grazing pastures for cows or maintain one yourself.
2. Start using cow blessing (products) in your life and thus be spiritually, bodily and mentally blessed.
There no point in donating a cow when we have no personal relation with a cow and its blessings. If you are interested i can tell in which goshalas you can donate to maintain cows and where you can get cow products (blessings) for your personal and family use. You can also propagate about above points.