Cow Protection and Krishna Consciousness… a blog by Madan Gopal Das

Hare Krsna!

As I had informed in my previous post, I would be listing few unacceptable methods of making ghruta which have crept in, not only in western countries but also in India.  Also would like to explain in detail the changes in properties of Ghruta due to wrong method of making Ghruta.

Few important methods that are wrongly executed are as follows:-

• 1. Wrong Process: From past 60 – 70 years people in India has developed a habit, to take only cream from the milk after boiling it. Collect the cream for few days and make it into curd.  Later churn it to get butter.  One of the reasons for using this wrong method was the introduction of tea in India. There is an interesting story behind this, which I would be mentioning later on.

Correct Process:  In proper process the whole milk along with cream is converted into curd and then churned in order to get butter.

• 2. Wrong Process: People directly try to convert the milk in to curd without boiling it i.e. after obtaining it from cow.  This is a shortcut but wrong method.  After little research, we came to know that in some parts of  India where the temperatures is very high especially during summer, So people draw milk from cows and as it is warm fresh from cows they add curd to milk to make it curd. They prefer using this shortcut method because after boiling milk it takes long time to cool the milk to required temperature so that curd can be added.
• 3. Wrong usages: Usage of ghee made in modern factories which is called cream ghee. Actually this is not ghee but poison and so modern doctors say that we should not eat ghee. The actual ghruta can cure even heart attacks and blockages. Actual ghruta can increase good cholesterol and decrease bad one however this factory ghee is going to give exactly reverse effects.
• 4. Wrong usages:  To use milk of non Vedic cows or buffalos etc. This is also recent addition in wrong method from past few decades, after the introduction of tea in India.

Analyzing wrong methods

Now I will analyze each wrong method mentioned above and its limitation.

• 1. We boil the milk and after the milk stays for few hours undisturbed then cream gets accumulated on top of it. Take the cream off the milk and add some curd to it. Keep it in fridge or outside if we don’t have fridge. Keep on adding more cream thus obtained for few more days. Then churn the cream where some curd is added. Add water and then butter will come on top. Take this butter and heat it to get ghee. Here in this process the process of fermentation or rather development of bacteria does not take place fully and properly as it will happen when full milk is utilized. This development of bacteria is an important step as they digest milk. Development of bacteria will not happen in only cream process. And if the cream is kept in fridge then it is all the more difficult for bacteria to act.

Reasons

Following are the reasons for pursuing wrong method of processing Ghruta.There is an   interesting history behind this wrong usage…

• 1. Certainly one reason is shortage of milk in past few years.
• 2. However the major reason the habit of consuming tea. Indians used to drink milk and not tea. So the Britishers made propaganda to popularize tea by adding milk and drink it even though the tea in Europe was normally consumed in the form of black tea.  I.e. without milk. But tea has an addictive kick, when drunk hot and has its odor and taste. The Odor and the kick are hampered when cream is added into milk. So we see in India the tea drinkers would hate tea with cream in it. In fact the system was to remove cream from milk and then add it to tea. From here onwards people began the process of separating cream from milk. Otherwise in actual process if we want to drink milk it has to be done with full cream i.e. in natural way. In past, if milk was offered without cream it was ridiculed as if one is offering water. Similarly when milk was made into curd, it was again full milk with cream. There was no separation of milk and cream. Either take full milk for drinking or curding. But as tea became a habit, cream was separated from milk and as cream was remaining it was added with little curd and churned to make into ghee.

When I inquired from few people, why don’t they go back to the original process of making curd with full milk?

The standard answer is that we get milk and ghee both by removing cream. However in full milk process we get butter milk and ghee. So actually there is no loss. Only loss is for tea drinkers, where milk has to be without cream. We can’t add butter milk in tea. Now in modern society when a guest comes to our house we offer tea in the process of welcoming them. But previously one would offer milk, buttermilk, fruit juice etc. But as the standard is now tea the requirement of milk without cream is present, and thus the cause of this defect.

Ghee thus made will be certainly beneficial in some way but will also be with some defects. Certainly much better than factory ghee but not what is intended in Vedic scriptures.

• Adding curd directly to the raw milk of cow i.e. without boiling it.  This shortcut method of making curd is practiced in some parts of Kutch where the climatic conditions are very hot and some other areas as well. This method is used to avoid the milk to cool down in order to add curd. Honestly I am not aware of the negativity of consuming such ghee however it surely tastes different from the normal ghruta.

• Before making ghruta from butter we have to be carefull that we should remove water or buttermilk from butter. When we take out butter from churned buttermilk we have to be carefull to remove all water content. In previous times when the walls of house were plastered with mud people would stick butter on walls like plaster so that all extra water would drain off. When water is drained off butter stay without spoiling for few days. Such butter from which water is drained off should be heated slowly to make ghruta. If water is not drained off and water remains in ghee then there is chances of ghruta getting spoiled becasue of water content.

• To churn the curd in mixer or fast moving machines that move only in one direction.  The word churning means to move in both directions. Moving in one direction is different activity. When we churn in only one direction then the prana (life energies) in the curd goes out of it. This is like friction and heat is generated which destroys the nutrition. Even we can observe that when curd is churned in one direction with motors it gets heated whereas when it is churned in both directions it remains cool. When curd is churned in both directions all the life energies remain in the curd and in fact the process of churning attracts life energies from atmosphere to it. Ghee thus made will be of less value than made by churning in both directions. As far as my experience is concerned my health improved in 2-3 months by consumption of right ghruta was reversed by this unidirectional machine ghee in 2-3 days. Later I would write in detail about my personal experience.

• Cream ghee made in factories and modern dairies. This is nothing but cheating. So the factories also call it animal fat on their label. In this process the cream (fat) is separated from milk by mechanical means like centrifugation etc. this separated cream is heated to make ghee. This ghee would be harmful in numerous aspects and is nowhere close to nectar. Milk thus rendered without fat which is generally sold in cities is also not the milk which sages used to drink to advance in spiritual life and longitivity. It’s better to eat oil in natural form than to eat factory ghee which has been made by cream separator machine. This factory ghee will bless you with high blood pressure, heart blockages, obesity, weakness of bones and many other similar gifts.

• To use milk of non Vedic cows or buffalos. For this point we can refer to quality of milk from these two animals when I write about it. In short former will give us diseases of body and mind and latter will make us lazy and obese. Details will come in milk section which will be posted later on.

In next post I will write about the methods to utilize ghruta and its multifarious benefits. Before that I will write my experiences with cow urine, dung and ghee for past 10 years. I don’t want to brag about myself but I am writing this just to share information.

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