To
Dr. R. S. Sodhi
Managing Director
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation
P.O. Box 10, Amul Dairy Road
Anand 388001, Gujarat, India

Aug 25, 2022

Dear Dr. Sodhi,

I’m writing on behalf of Climate Healers regarding Amul’s continued use of Lord Krishna’s likeness and stories for promoting the consumption of Amul products. The latest occurrence was just last week on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami when the image on the right above appeared in Amul’s social media marketing campaign for Amul Mithai Mate.

For your information, Lord Krishna’s stories were not meant to be taken literally. As a child, Lord Krishna lifted a mountain, Govardhan, with his little finger which meant that if we had faith in Lord Krishna, he would shelter us from the thunderstorms of life.

In another story, Lord Krishna danced on the hood of a seven-headed snake, Kaliya, which meant that He had overcome the seven chakras and therefore became enlightened. This is why Lord Krishna is typically shown playing a flute while dancing on top of Kaliya. A flute has seven open holes through which He plays beautiful music as an enlightened being.

I’m sure that no one at Amul Coop takes these stories literally and attempts to lift mountains with their little fingers or dances on the hood of seven-headed snakes. Therefore, it is troubling that Amul Coop is using a literal interpretation of the story of Lord Krishna and butter in its marketing campaigns.

This butter story is also symbolic and sacred to me as a practicing Hindu. In the story, milk represents the fluid mind that has doubts about God, which when curdled and churned becomes butter. That butter signifies the solid mind that has no more doubts about God, or the mind of a devotee. Lord Krishna “loves butter” actually means that Lord Krishna loves the mind of a devotee.

Lord Krishna’s stories originated at a time when society was pastoral, cows were treated as family and there were no industrial toxins blanketing the planet, bio-accumulating in cow’s milk and bio-magnifying in butter. Is it right to use these sacred stories to promote the consumption of modern variants of products that have now proven to be unhealthy here, here and here?

I urge you to please reconsider these marketing campaigns and avoid the use of symbols and stories that are sacred to any religious sect. In particular, please stop using the likeness of Lord Krishna as a mascot for Amul Coop.

For more information, please watch the new documentary, The Land of Ahimsa, which follows the journey of my dear friend, Dolly Vyas-Ahuja in her quest to inspire Indians to embrace their cultural heritage of nonviolence without such blinders on.

With best wishes,

Dr. Sailesh Rao
Climate Healers
3145 E Chandler Blvd #110-233
Phoenix, AZ 85048