Below: A Hindu bathes directly in fresh cow urine, and Hindu office-goers take a break to imbibe ... some urine.
Current Events
Is It An April Fool Joke Gone Out Of Control?
Or Has The Nation Gone Mad?
Hindu India’s Self Abuse With Urine
UTTAM SENGUPTA, Outlook India
EDITOR: This latest scam emanating from India follows the Hindu practice of drinking one’s own urine which has been widely touted and state-promoted by the Modi/BJP/RSS government since it took power a couple of years ago.
If you have lost sight of why our Gurus unequivocally broke away from Hinduism, the following article will give you an inkling. But …
WARNING: You may find the contents of this article nauseating and disgusting. Read on at your own risk.
Now that cow urine is costlier than both milk and petrol in India, isn't it time for the government to initiate a more scientific investigation, especially in view of concerns that urine from infected cows could lead to Meningitis and liver failure?
On Sunday (October 16, 2016), Go-mutra (cow urine) ceased to be a joke.
When your Sunday newspaper plugs the product and assures readers that journalists or its marketing men or women had tried a 250 ml bottle of shampoo manufactured by Holycow Foundation, one has to sit up and take notice.
The report informed that the shampoo 'foamed well and left the hair smooth'. It had 20 per cent urine distillate and 7% rainwater, the report helpfully added and concluded that while it did not leave any 'Cleopatra-like transformation', the result was not too unpleasant.
To be fair though, it added a caveat that the shampoo left a whiff of cow smell when applied on wet hair.
Distilled cow urine, a search showed up, was selling at Rs 100-200 a litre, higher than the price of milk and costlier than petrol. Self-proclaimed godman ‘baba’ Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth alone was purchasing cow urine worth Rs 150,000 every day from the animal husbandry department of Uttarakhand, another report informed.
Muslim clerics discovered earlier this year that cow-urine is ‘haraam’ (prohibited) in Islam and issued a fatwa for boycotting Patanjali products. And the Ayurvedic company which is giving multinationals a run for their money was prompt in declaring that only five of its 700 products contained urine.
A Youtube video of a lecture by one Rajiv Dixit advised pregnant women to have three doses of cow-urine that would help in effortless delivery and would call the doctors' bluff while advising for a C-section surgery.
You have ulcers in your mouth? No problem. Just gurgle with cow-urine and they would be gone.
You are overweight? You do not have to go to the gym. Go-mutra would do the trick.
You wear glasses? Yes, regular doses of the urine would correct your eyesight.
What, your mother has been diagnosed with glaucoma? Don't worry, get her to swallow the urine.
Your pregnant wife has discovered that the foetus she is carrying is upside down? You guessed it right, the urine would do the trick.
More diligent search revealed that in Ayurveda, there is a chapter on urine which deals with the properties of eight kinds of urine. But while some research is claimed to have been done on cow-urine with the Junagadh Agricultural University in Gujarat certifying the properties in June, 2016 and two US patents secured in 2011 and 2013.
However, why has no research been done on other substances, including urine of goats and elephants?
The US Patents Office (search for patent number 6,896, 907) says that Indian researchers claimed that a small dose of cow-urine appeared to have activated anti-bacterial and anti-carcinogenic elements in chemicals, making them work better and faster. But the same page also appeared to suggest that higher quantity of the urine did not have similar effect.
The patents and the NDA Government which not only upgraded the department of AYUSH into a ministry but also has spent Rs 5800 million on 'Gaushalas' or cow shelters, have given a fillip to the trade in cow-urine, described cheekily as the 'liquid gold'.
It is, however, an Indian origin veterinary doctor in Australia, Navneet Dhand, who has struck a note of caution. A Bloomberg report in July quotes him as saying that cow-urine from infected cows had the potential of causing several diseases in India including Meningitis, liver failure, Arthritis and inflammation of the heart.
Dhand, who is a faculty member in the University of Sidney, has not carried out any research in India, of course. But his warning does not appear to have been taken seriously in India with nobody apparently responsible for ascertaining whether the urine is obtained from infected cows.
Given the state of 'Gaushalas' and the health of the bovine population there, infections can never be ruled out. And with the trade growing, there is an urgent need to ensure that this new fad does not add to the miseries of the people.
While the Indian Government is abdicating its responsibility for conventional healthcare and promoting cheaper alternatives, it also runs the political risk of facing the fallout of an epidemic.
The panic in Delhi this year following the outbreak of Dengue and Chikungunya is a pointer to how such diseases can get out of hand and acquire political overtones.
[Courtesy: Outlook India. Edited for sikhchic.com]
October 18, 2016
Conversation about this article
1: Rup Singh (Canada), October 18, 2016, 8:13 PM.
Any word if this wonder drug has cured any politician of corruption, or stopped their thirst for blood of innocents? After seeing the images, it seems as if the animal is the higher form of life. Might come a time when the cows run free and these mindless followers will be tied at the khurli (trough?). Oh, wait! Would like to see a picture of Modi or Ramdev himself taking a fresh dose.