Camera: Nitin Chopra
Video Editor: Prashant Chauhan
(This video was first posted on 21 February 2019 and is being republished in the light of Friederike Irina Bruning, aka Sudevi Mataji, threatening to return her Padma Shri award after her visa extension request was rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs.)
Beyond the din of fervent pilgrims in Mathura, a narrow, dusty village thoroughfare leads to a gaushala that has now become the talk of town. Flanked by the agricultural green on all sides, Surbhi Gau Seva Niketan isn’t just another shelter nursing injured, abandoned cows.
Holding this ashram for cows together, is a German, a Krishna devotee and a Padma Shri awardee. Meet Friederike Burning, popularly known as Sudevi Mataji, who arrived at the temple town around 40 years ago, in search of answers to the pressing questions of life.
“In Bhagavad Gita, I found answers to the big questions in my life and realised that only a guru can guide me to the right path. So, I took diksha and started living here in Mathura, when I came across a stray cow on the streets.”Sudevi Dasi
So moved was Sudevi by the calf’s plight, that she brought it home. “It had injured its leg and maggots had taken over its body,” Sudevi adds. What started with one cow around 40 years back, now houses over 1,800 cows.
Sudevi had decided to stop taking in more cows when her gaushala ran out of space. But the 61-year-old “couldn’t just stop.” Today, she spends around Rs 30,000,000 per month on the welfare of cows – a part of which comes from her father in Germany.
Sudevi believes that cows are special, owing to their close association to Krishna and must be protected. Comparing cows with one’s own children, Sudevi asks if she should allow someone to kill her children?
“Now if you decide to eat my children then I will definitely stop you. That is what I have to say. I consider cows my children. My rights stop where I offend you.”Sudevi Dasi
She, however, feels that cow-protection cannot and should not take on a violent character. “Of course it is important to protect cows, but one shouldn’t beat or kill anybody for that,” she adds.
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