Children must drink sufficient milk

Prabhupada, London, July 24, 1973: […] But if you cannot give children cows’ milk, the children will be rickety, not very healthy.
They must drink sufficient milk. So cow is therefore considered mother. Because one mother has given birth to the child, the another mother is supplying milk. So everyone should be obliged to mother cow, because she is supplying milk.

So according to our sastra there are seven mothers. Adau mata, real mother, from whose body I have taken my birth. Adau mata, she is mother. Guru-patni, the wife of teacher. She is also mother. Adau mata guru-patni, brahmani.

The wife of a brahmana, she is also mother. Adau mata guru-patni brahmani raja-patnika, the queen is mother. So how many? Adau mata guru-patni brahmani raja-patnika, then dhenu. Dhenu means cow. She is also mother. And dhatri. Dhatri means nurse. Dhenu dhatri tatha prthvi, also the earth. Earth is also mother. Full Lecture