Cow is the mainstay of Agnihotra. Cow’s pure ghee and cow-dung cakes are the most essential ingredients in the performance of Agnihotra without which it is difficult to practice it. At the outset of the propagation movement in 1968 Shri Potdar Saheb (Madhavswami) himself used to procure cow’s fresh milk and after processing it at home used to get the required ghee for distributing it to Agnihotris in Ujjain where he was stationed then. However, soon the number of regular Agnihotra practitioners at various places grew in large figures and hence providing cow’s ghee to all became a problem. This prompted Saheb to forthwith go for a solution. Encouraged by the positive results of his propagation efforts and to help the Agnihotris to maintain regularity is its performance Shri Madhavswami worked fast and established a cow-pen (Goshala) on a plot of land in Bairagarh, Bhopal. This ‘Panchratna Goshala ‘ was inaugurated by him on the Vijayadashami day of 29th September 1971. The unique feature of this Goshala was that it was the first cow-pen of its kind in the world  which was established solely for the purpose of providing cow’s pure ghee and cow-dung cakes for performing morning evening Agnihotra regularly.

In the establishment of this Goshala the financial support was provided by Shri Sureshchandra Tiwari and Shri Ramprasad Yadav and a 2 acre plot of land was made available by Shri Narayansingh Patel.

At the same place is situated today’s ‘Madhavashram’ on Sehore Road, Bairagarh, Bhopal. In this ‘Panchratna Goshala’ all the cows were of the local breed, most of them from the Malwa region. Later, the ‘Rathi’ breed of Rajasthan and Haryanvi pedigree cows too were purchased. The first cow was named ‘Kamdhenu’ by Saheb. There were 20 cows and all had their individual names. The paintings of Goshala boards and wooden name-plates showing name of each cow was all done neatly and aesthetically by Shri Jayant Potdar. The big shed of the cow-pen was truly a village type structure made of wooden poles, bamboo chips, mud, grass, cow-dung paste and such other things. Its maintenance and upkeep at all times used to be very neat and clean.Shri Bhagwansingh Agnihotri of Bairagarh was the caretaker of the cows.

Now a good quantity of cow’s ghee was produced in this Goshala. Apart from catering to the needs of Bhopal it could also be sent to places like Nagpur, Solapur and Timrani for Agnihotra purposes. Cow-dung cakes, however used to be all consumed in Bhopal itself.

A volunteer Agnihotri, once in a week, used to carry on his bicycle cow’s ghee and cow-dung cakes for home-delivery to Agnihotris in different localities following the list of their requirement. The Goshala functioned smoothly and without any problem from 1971 to 1973 but after this, due to financial problems it managed to remain in existence sometimes on a fair scale and at times on a small scale. Even today there are about 10-15 cows in Madhavashram. This Goshala is now running under the efficient management of Ms. Vijaya Potdar. Cow-dung  cakes cast in a mould are regularly produced here and are sent all over India to places like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangaluru, Pune and many other cities and towns. The object with which ‘Saheb’ had started the Goshala and set directions for its running the same has been accepted by the atmosphere with the result thousands of Goshalas have come into existence. This is what ‘Saheb’ (Madhavswami) desired. This truly is the service of the cow.