Compassionate Living in the Test Valley: Gauranga, Honoring Cows, and Remembering We’re Family

The sky turns to honey and rose, and for a breath or two the whole field listens. That is how it felt, out in the Test Valley in Hampshire, with friends gathered at sunset, birds stitching their little songs into the air, cows grazing like they have all the time in the world. We paused, we breathed, we chanted softly, and we remembered what the heart keeps trying to say: wherever there is life, there is a person; and whoever you meet, you are meeting a relative.

A Simple Evening Practice: Be Here, Be Kind

We started with gratitude. Not the big, grand, heavy kind; the simple kind that says, the day is done, let tomorrow’s worries wait their turn. Thank you for today. Thank you for this field, this sun, these cows, these friends, and you, wherever you are.

Then a little breathing, a gentle sound practice with the name Gauranga, the golden-hearted name that lengthens the breath and softens the mind. It can be quiet, just under the breath, or spoken with a smile. The point is not perfection. The point is presence.

Try it if you like:

• Sit or stand tall, soften your shoulders.
• Inhale slowly, letting the belly rise.
• As you exhale, softly say “Gauranga.” Let it ride the breath like a small boat on a calm river.
• Repeat 5 to 10 times. Keep it light. Keep it kind.

We shared a few rounds together, with some laughter, a few camera fumbles, a pheasant calling from somewhere, maybe a pig snuffling in the hedgerow. Imperfect and perfect at the same time. That is the flavor of real practice. The mind wanders, the breeze teases, someone calls out “Haribol,” and you just come back to the breath and the name.

The English Countryside as Teacher

Spring had the whole valley awake. Daffodils lined the paths like small suns, and the fields rolled out green and generous. There was an old house nearby, with chimneys where wood fires once warmed hands and stories. The trees stood like elder friends behind us, and in front, the cows, steady and unbothered, doing the ancient work of turning grass into milk and calm.

Nature teaches without a lecture. She teaches by rhythm, by patience, by cycles that hold both endings and beginnings. The sunset says, enough for today, child. The flowers say, look up. The cows say, eat, walk, rest. The breath follows along.

Gauranga Breathing: The Name That Softens

If you are new to it, Gauranga is a cherished name in the bhakti tradition. It carries a mood of compassion and joy. Saying it with the breath is a simple way to anchor attention while opening the heart.

A few friendly notes:

• Keep it gentle. No strain, no pressure, just a soft rocking of breath and sound.
• Let the sound lengthen your exhale. This signals the nervous system to settle.
• If thoughts rise, let them float by like clouds. Come back to Gauranga, come back to the belly, come back to the kindness that brought you here.

Ten rounds can feel like lighting ten small lamps along a path. One after another, the mind brightens, the body softens, and the evening becomes a friend.

Surabhi, the Life-Giving Cow

Standing there with the herd, it is easy to understand why so many traditions revere the cow. In Vedic culture, the cow is honored as mother, Surabhi, life-giving and gentle. She offers milk, which becomes yogurt, butter, ghee, and cheese. Families have nourished themselves this way for thousands of years, with reciprocity and care at the center.

There is also a deep ritual thread. Scriptures praise the purifying nature of the cow’s gifts, including dung and urine. This may sound strange at first, but it lives in a long line of practice: cow dung used to seal floors and walls, seen as antiseptic and protective; patties dried for fuel and sacred fires; offerings made with love, returning energy to the cycle of life. For readers who want to see how these ideas travel from scripture into practice, this overview of the cow’s place in Vedic culture provides a helpful bridge.

Another resource, rooted in traditional understanding, speaks to the view of gomaya, cow dung and urine, as protective and health-supporting within that cultural context. You can explore a classic compilation here: Cow, Our Mother. These materials reflect a devotional worldview. They are not medical advice, but they do illuminate why communities treat the cow as a sacred family member rather than a commodity.

The heart of it is relationship. Offer care, receive milk, offer gratitude, and keep the circle whole.

On Soil, Seasons, and Letting Animals Be Animals

We also spoke about land care. When cows are allowed to graze and move as herds do, pasture can thrive. Voids fill. Roots deepen. Dung returns nutrients to the soil. People are quick to blame, quick to reduce complex systems into one-liners. But fields teach a quieter story. Balanced grazing, mindful rotation, and real stewardship can support both animals and earth.

If you have ever walked a pasture after rain, you know the scent of living soil. It is not abstract. It is the breath of the land. We should be careful whom we learn from, and careful with claims shouted without context. Better to walk the field, talk to the farmers, and watch how the cows knit the whole scene together with their slow steps and steady chewing.

Walk Softly, Family All Around

Wherever there is life, there is a person. This is not a slogan. It is a way to look at an ant and see a neighbor. Many yogis prefer to walk barefoot on soft ground, not only for grounding and sensation, but to move with gentleness. Place your foot with attention, avoid harm where you can, and make your body a home for kindness.

It can change how you move through a day:

• Check your steps on a garden path.
• Escort a beetle off the kitchen tile.
• Notice the spider in the corner and consider leaving their tiny web up for one more day.
• Speak kindly in small moments, to strangers and to yourself.

Kindness has weight. It settles into the bones. It shapes a life.

A Sunset, a Laugh, and a Phone in the Way

At some point, we realized a phone might have drifted in front of the camera. Oops. It happens. The sunset was too beautiful to miss, and the cows were too perfectly themselves. So we laughed, moved the phone, kept going. That is another teaching from the field: keep going. Apologize when you goof, thank people for their time, and return to the breath. Return to Gauranga. Return to the simple fact that we are lucky to be together, even through a screen.

If You Want to Practice Along

You can sit on a bench, a cushion, or a patch of grass. You can be alone or with friends. You can chant out loud or whisper. Here is a light structure to try:

1. Settle your body. Soften the face, the jaw, the shoulders.
2. Take three slow breaths, longer on the exhale.
3. Repeat Gauranga with each out-breath, five to ten times.
4. After the last repetition, sit in quiet for a minute. Notice any ease or warmth that arrived.
5. Offer a blessing, in your own way, to your family, your community, your country, and this sweet, aching planet.

If you feel moved to learn more about the devotional view of the cow and her gifts, a traditional introduction can be found here: Cow Gives and Gives and Gives. It reflects a devotional lens that many find nourishing.

Community, Questions, and Ways to Connect

We love hearing from you. If you have a sincere question or want to share a moment of gratitude, you are welcome to join our circle at the Juicy MagiK Agora community portal. It is a quiet corner of the internet where we try to keep things human and kind.

If you feel called to support the projects we are tending, including community offerings and teachings, you can do that through our projects page via BTCPay. Your support helps us keep filming in fields, sharing practices, and building little bridges of care between people and places.

Gentle Reminders for the Road

A few simple principles from this evening that may stay with you:

• Be present, even for a few breaths. It changes the tone of the day.
• Treat life as family, from the cows in the field to the beetles by your door.
• Honor the sources of nourishment, and the hands that tend them.
• Walk lightly, with your feet and with your words.
• Keep returning, to breath, to gratitude, to a name that opens your heart.

Closing

The sun went down and the valley glowed, and we remembered we are not alone in any of this. The flowers, the cows, the old chimneys, the winged ones passing overhead, they all belong to the same wide household. Thank you for sharing this moment. Try a few rounds of Gauranga, offer a blessing to someone who needs it, and let tomorrow’s worries wait until tomorrow. If you want to keep walking with us, say hello in the Agora and tell us what you are noticing where you are. Peace be with you and upon you. Haribol.

mariakerwin

As a former serial entrepreneur, she turned from a workaholic in the business world to freedom and creativity, living now as a writer, creator and world traveller. Since an early age Maria is close to death and what exists beyond, courageously exploring the dimensions of existence. A Kundalini Awakening guided her into the abyss of fully surrendering to the life force itself, crushing all known aspects of her old life. Finally, it led her to her purpose of bridging both worlds, connecting to what goes beyond the ordinary.

See Full Bio