Cow Urine Soda?

They probably resorted to that because it might be cleaner than the Ganges.

The RSS is a pretty nasty group. Their right wing is rough equivalent to neo-nazis.

Despite that, I had two interesting interactions with the RSS when I lived with India. One of their mid-level people was a friend of my first host family, and spent a few hours one evening explaining why the RSS was so anti-foreigner and anti-Christian. Considering the evils of colonialism and the abuses of some Christian missionaries (we'll give you food for your starving children if you convert, stuff like that), I can see where a rational person might go there. Not why a rational person might stay there, though.

One day I was walking home from college, and there was a demonstration in my way. Everyone in town knew who I was (the only non-missionary Anglo in town, basically, and a harmless exchange student). I was halfway through the demonstration before I managed to decipher enough of the signs to realize I was in the middle of an RSS rally. Had a moment of panic, then realized that if the crowd was going to turn on me, they'd have done it by now, and, besides, a lot of them I recognized, and they recognized me. So, I continued on, greeting folks I knew.

Still, this is probably one of the saner ideas they've had. Usually, they drink human urine.

Cow urine soda: Real food.

Admitting to naiveté on my part, but I honestly thought that the Hindus were one of the few religous groups in the world with out a right-wing fanatic element. Another myth destroyed!

RtSO: Good one. Just brings the whole week together in one tidy package.

Joyce, you're confusing Hindus with Buddhists. Behavior in war is part of Hindu scripture.

And speaking of tidy packages: will this be available in a 6-pack.

In India I guess the tradition would be an afternoon on the couch watching the test match (cricket) tossing back a 6-pack of Cow Urine Soda. The Wide World of Sports.

Joyce, you should look up the right wing Buddhists. They were the cause of militarism in Japan before WWII.

There isn't a religious group without a fringe. I've even met right-wing fanatical Wiccans. Not many, but give them time.

Hey Gang
Before the marketing guys get on this
How about some Brand Names?

Utter Up (?)

Cow Urine Soda probably still tastes better than RC Cola.

Cow Urine Soda probably still tastes better than RC Cola.

Like Lissa, I am reluctant to say anything favorable about the RSS. They're fascist thugs (one of its adherents was Gandhi's assassin). Still. cow urine is one of the five ingredients in a purifying substance (panchgaya?) that is used in mainstream Hindu ritual. Haven't tried it, wouldn't try it, but it isn't any more wacky than some Western religious practices I can think of.

Buddhism is not a religion. If you think it is, you're doing it wrong. Source: Buddha, just a man.

If you are warlike you are not a Buddhist. The Japanese cherry-picked pieces of Shinto-ism and Buddhism to suit their needs. Nothing in Buddhism supports war, that's why the VC murdered and exiled Buddhist monks during the Vietnam War.

“In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us.”
-- Thich Nhat Hanh, exiled Vietnamese Buddhist

“The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.”
-- Thich Nhat Hanh

It's fun congratulating ourselves on being superior, but cow urine is not a random ingredient. It's an element of ayurvedic medicine that goes back thousands of years. I don't know as much about ayurvedic but it seems quite similar in principle and practice as Chinese medicine, i.,e., using natural substances to create harmony or balance in the body.

Drinking one's own urine is an element as well. Gandhi practiced it as well as former Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai.(and many more millions). I don't really have an opinion on it, but I am saddened by the arrogant American dismissal of things unknown. But that's not true is it? Most of you have covered yourself in animal urine quite frequently (which animal? Who knows.). Urea, a component of urine, is an almost universal element of face and body creams and moisturizers (go ahead look at the ingredients). So snicker some more cow piss puss. 8>)

The next time you kiss you kiss your girl, say tonight, pucker up and say moooo..... Don't even think about where they get the animal fat that they make lipstick from (hint:pets, but does it really matter?). The FDA banned cow brains and spinal cords from older cows being used in makeup - younger ones are still fine though.

Yeah, and people there at the Mumbai Sun are making fun of us at Dining With Rajiv for drinking a urine-colored soda that contains: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Concentrated Orange Juice and Other Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (Preserves Freshness), Caffeine, Sodium Citrate, Gum Arabic, Erythorbic Acid (Preserves Freshness), Calcium Disodium EDTA (to Protect Flavor), Brominated Vegetable Oil and Yellow 5.

People who live in Mountain Dew houses shouldn't throw stones.

People utter, cows have udders.

mountain dew is nasty.

I like the line in "Dr Strangelove" where the one guy professes his love for pure grain alcohol, as the only true drink.

What would a left or right wing Hindu be? Are those our labels? Ever notice how the farther away from the so-called center you get the more similar you get, like Nazis and Communists, Pol Pot and Lex Luthor, old people and babies.

It's quite an extreme act of egoism to define oneself as the referential center of all historical political action. The whole left/right metaphor is a sign of mental depravity.

When I die, my only wish is that Cambodia remain Cambodia and belong to the West. It is over for communism, and I want to stress that.
-- Pol Pot

Owlie, you are just trying to get a response, no?

If you want to know what a right wing Hindu is, may I suggest you look up the recent Gujarat riots? Or some of the stuff they pulled during Partition?

While I'd agree that the whole left-right thing is a limiting, lazy shortcut, it is valid to lump the RSS in the same group with Soto Buddhism in occupied Korea, SSPX, Kach and some of the megachurches in this country. They are all religious groups who believe they have the One, True Way. For some members, this has led to violence against non-believers.

Lissa, is there a church for doubters?

Someone brighter than I came up with
Cow Urine
"For Whatever Mooed Your In!"

Action without reaction isn't much fun and oh so non-Newtonian.

Dahlink, any religion worth its salt should accommodate, of not celebrate, doubters. I'd argue that the most respectful way to approach $DEITY (geek speak for "insert the god and/or gods you wish") is with the attitude of doubting. It shows that a) your brain is engaged and b) that you don't *know*. Because if you know about $DEITY, you are limiting them. While not all deities are omnipotent, omnipresent and omnivorous, all the ones I'm aware of are pretty danged different from humans.

Dag...since when does religion come up so often? I have to start shutting up more.

Can we hear from any Druids among us now?

As far as I know, doubt is a well-respected and essential part of Catholic theology. I always joke that a Jesuit education teaches the religion out of you. A well-educated Catholic eventually becomes a Buddhist whether he knows it or not.

My logic (fulfilling my philosophy requirement) professor said he was a Catholic and a Buddhist.

To me, and this is way over-simplifying ideas, is that a combination Catholic/Buddhist is someone that is way uptight about themselves yet quite forgiving of others.

I was raised and educated in Catholic schools so I'm well aware of the guilt thing.

You speak truth PCB Grasshopper

Fl Rob - I had a friend in high school who claimed to be an Orthodox Jew and Buddhist. Doubt and guilt huge in Judaism too, Owl.

Lissa - keep your thoughts coming. I don't think any of us here are offended by well reasoned religous discussion.

Lissa, I agree with Joyce and would also point out that it was EL and not you who first invoked religion on this particular post. Anyway, it wouldn't be too hard to make the food connection. For starters, we could discuss:

The Last Supper
Transubstantiation
Necco wafers
Water into wine (perhaps it was sparkling)
Manna
Loaves and fishes
Sacrificial lamb
Feasts, fasts, famine
Clean and Unclean foods
Land flowing with milk and honey
Bread, leavened or unleavened
Lot's wife, pillar of salt
The Apple
Would you sell your birthright for a mess of potage?

I've just scratched the surface of the Judeo-Christian tradition and there's plenty to explore in other religions as the initial post observed.

My cup runneth over.

Laura Lee, I embrace you!

I also love Water into wine (perhaps it was sparkling). In any case, I'll bet they didn't charge $5 per liter for it.

Laura Lee, I embrace you!

Pillow fight!

Really? That's how you want to start the week?

Oh no, not the Unreliable Hostile Narrator is back. I hate that guy.

Shut it Bindlestiff Bart.

What does that even mean?

LL, that's a lifetime of blogging there. There is so much food in Christo-Judaism because it's a manual for primitive people, so what is there? Birth, death, food, violence. Plus all the magic stuff. Food is primitive and universal and that's why this blog has appeal. When I used to write poetry I used a lot of food because food can represent desire, suffering, sex, violence, communion, hunger, satiation, gluttony, etc. and everybody gets the reference.

If you're a part of Western society you can't escape Christo-Judaic mythology. We are brain washed with the most primitive infantile versions of Judaism and Christianity at the earliest age. Children don't understand complex ideas but they do know that Jesus brings them toys in the winter and candy in the spring. Plus ham. Sure it's not at all related to the Bible, but it's way better early marketing than Jews do. No one's switching teams for the food there. They even managed to take the fun out of fresh bread ... matzoh?

When you're snickering about Hindu religious purification, consider how they might look upon people who worship a dead Jewish magician and believe that eating a magic wafer and drinking magic wine turns into his flesh and blood in your mouth. Check please!

Probably my favorite Bible/food link is the fable of God wrestling Jacob. .Lego version.

First the god randomly picks a fight with someone, turns out to be a TERRIBLE wrestler (sounds a little gay to me), CHEATS, still can't win and taps out like a little girl. So the lesson is: because god cheated by smashing Jacob on the hip bone in his very special man-grappling fest you can only eat the front part of a cow. (Unless you go to a special kosher butcher who pays extra tax to the temple priests and gives them the prime cuts first of all ... paging Karl Mark ... clean up in material-spiritualism aisle one!)

But don't get me started.

Oh Owlie, nobody wants to play your game of shatterred assumptions? Pobrecito. Not everybody understands that game. Plus sometimes you play rough.

I don't know where to start to catch up. Do I detect a softening in OMG2? Something is different. Less ranty? Is that happiness or depression or both? Hmmm....

Grrrr... I'm just as mean and unhappy as ever Amanda. 8>}
I mean, grrr... |8>[

OMG II,
You forgot one thing in your description of Christo-Judaism: It should read (with apologies to Ben Casey, M.D.) "birth, death, food, violence, infinity."

RiE, who's Ben Casey? I don't think the bible's rules for living extend to infinity - or beyond.

My rules for living extend to infinity and beyond!

"Ben Casey, M.D." was the name of a medical drama/soap that was on in the 60s. I vaguely remember it, I was just a little kid then. If I remember correctly, it came on in the mornings in Baltimore.

Link spam at 2:12 PM! (It's shilling a business in India that could be a diploma mill, for all we know.)

Sorry -- that's link spam at 2:12 AM, not PM.