Brahminical culture and cow protection establish the foundation for lasting world peace and spiritual advancement.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Lecture — December 4, 1968, Los Angeles 681204LE-LOS ANGELES [97:39 Minutes] Prabhupāda: [kīrtana] [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much. [devotees offer obeisances] [19:10] [sings] Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. [three times with devotees responding] cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣalakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs. 5.29] [I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of lakṣmīs or gopīs.] Devotees: Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. [three times responsively] Prabhupāda: Thank you very much.
So we are worshiper of the original Absolute Personality of Godhead, Govindam. Govindam... Go means senses, go means cow and go means land. And indam, indam means who gives pleasure—the pleasure potency of all these three things: senses, cows and the land.
The land... Sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg. 5.29], in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said. The proprietor of all land, the maintainer of all land, to give pleasure to the people of all land, is Govinda, Kṛṣṇa. Govindam.
And He is the protector, and pleasing to the cows. You have seen many pictures of Kṛṣṇa, He is loving cow. Why cow is loved by Him? Why not another animal? There are many other animals.
Why particularly cow? Because cow protection is the most important business of the human society. In offering obeisances to Kṛṣṇa it is said, namo brahmaṇya-devāya go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca: "I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Person, who is the protector of the brāhmaṇas and the cows." Go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca jagad-dhitāya. The first qualification is that He protects the brāhmaṇas and the cows. Next, He protects the whole world.
Jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇa. And He is Kṛṣṇa, govindāya, this Govinda. So the example is set by the Supreme Personality of Godhead that human civilization will advance only on the basis of brahminical culture and cow protection. As soon as there is falldown from brahminical culture, and as soon as there is discrepancy in the protection of cows, there will be no more peace in the world. Therefore He specifically said, go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca.
This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is for the protection of brahminical culture and cows. Then automatically the peace of the world will come, if two things are done. This is Vedic literature. They pick up the essence of the things, and all other things follows. Just like meditation.