born 5/18/2012 photo taken at 2-hrs

Our first divine baby is Vrindavanishvari, a Jersey heifer calf born on an Amish dairy farm on Friday, May 18th. Her birth was a miracle of timing — she was born between the time I called the farmer to inquire about visiting to see the calves and the time I arrived at the farm, a matter of just a few hours. When I arrived that afternoon, the farmer was feeding a calf from a bottle. As I approached them, I realized that the calf's umbilical cord was still fresh — this was a newborn baby! The farmer explained that one of his cows had just given birth with no warning at all (nearly unheard of!) this baby girl had been born just a couple of hours before I arrived. The farmer and I looked at each other and smiled. I said, "looks like maybe she's the one I'm supposed to take," he nodded, "yep, sure seems that way!"

Later, I felt chills as I envisioned the preparations happening in the cosmic Go-Loka for the Divine Being who was about to incarnate as our first goshala resident and temple cow. Could it have happened like this? ...everything was set in motion: my visit to the farm was arranged and one of the cows was ready to give birth to a girl calf ...events all in alignment so that this Divine Being could make her appearance and enter the physical world just in time for me to see her having her first milk!

Life on a typical dairy farm is rough, or maybe brutal is a better word. This tiny baby was taken from her mother before they could even touch each other. She was given her colostrum (first milk vital for the immune system) from a bottle. When she didn't drink it quite fast enough for the farmer's schedule, it was pushed into her stomach through a tube. Then she was put in a small enclosure barely big enough to take a few steps. If Gopala Goshala had not purchased her she would have grown up to be like her own mother — having a baby each year only to have them taken away at birth then she would be sold to slaughter at around four or five years old. Luckily, we were able to rescue her, she was born on Friday and we brought her home on Monday. And on the following Sunday, May 28th, she gave us all her blessings at the Kumbhaabhishekam of our temple's new Rajagopuram! So many people remarked that she seemed born for this — she certainly was! (see photos of the Kumbhaabhishekam Day in the Photo Gallery)

While her nakshatra name is Vrindavanishvari, as the calf who has been "adopted" by the temple to become our Temple Cow, she also has a temple-given name: Shyama. We are looking forward to her participating in many Go-Pujas and special celebrations at the temple and at private homes in the years to come!