Learning

Beauty

Learning to Milk the Cows

By Caranavrinda devi dasi

Last year, I began to help my husband with his service of milking the cows here at Santivana. I didn't really do it on a regular basis, but my husband kept encouraging me to learn. It wasn't really something that appealed to me, as my first attempts ended in disaster when I tried to milk Kalindi. Either I would help my husband or Dinadayadra when they needed me. When I would start to milk, my hands would ache after a few minutes and when I pulled at Kalindi's teats it seemed as though there just wasn't any milk there or the little I managed to get ended up everywhere but inside the bucket. The milk would be flowing straight into the bucket from Dinadayara's side, and her hands never seemed to give up on her. Watching her continuous success at milking and my continuous failure was very hard on the false ego as well! In the winter months it was very cold and wet in the gosala and in the summer months there were times when I would be plagued by the midges. I much preferred sitting in my comfortable little room in our house and working on my children's magazine, Bhakti-Lata Bija. But gradually, seeing my husband, Dinadayadra and Patri Prabhu doing it with a happy heart, I learned to enjoy it.

Since Yamuna had her calf last Christmas, I have learnt to milk her on my own and feel very proud of this achievement even though, not very long ago, I was milking her for two hours at a stretch, only to get 2 or 3 litres!!! I've learnt a lot from Yamuna too. She has had to tolerate being milked in all types of weather and being plagued by midges biting all over her body during milking. She has had to tolerate amateurs like myself pulling and pulling at her for hours on end trying to fill a bucket with milk. There are times when she has had cuts on her teats and must find it very painful to be milked. Sometimes I get angry with her and tell her to stop kicking and knocking the milk bucket over, when she gets restless because her teats hurt or I've pulled on some hairs around her teats accidentally while milking. Whatever pain or suffering she goes through, she does it in silence. She keeps in control of her frustrations which may only last a minute or two, while I have steam coming out of my ears because everything isn't going the way I want it. I don't take the time to think that she is suffering too. I feel like a big fool later, when it is all over, and she walks out with her head down after my scolding. But still she tolerates and says nothing. She just keeps providing us with lots of fresh milk.

Tolerance and steadiness are virtues I am trying to learn from Yamuna. These qualities have helped me to develop a great respect for her now which is growing all the time. When all goes well with the milking, you find yourself being lifted into the mode of goodness. You sit down and get into a rhythm and listen to the sound of the milk hitting the base of the bucket. You can feel the milk dropping from her udder, which is rock hard, into her teats and flowing at a very fast pace in the beginning and then gradually slowing down. Everything is quiet and peaceful. Yamuna's eyes begin to close because she feels relief as her udder empties and she stands obediently until it is all over. She loves to have her head stroked and being talked to, or having her coat brushed and her chin scratched. She especially loves her nuts and vegetable peels and practically devours them when I put them in the bucket for her to eat. She eats every morsel and if she spies a few extra nuts lying on the ground half way through milking, she will pull at the chain which is tied around her neck, to ensure that she can bend her head in such a way that her tongue can reach far enough to catch the nuts and lick them up with relish. Then when milking is over she goes off and munches at the grass again. I really feel a bond with her now and look forward to milking time.

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