14.2.2008

Holy Cow

My philosophy classes are very much fun, I was afraid to fall asleep in the 2 hours of talking and discussing but it was quite the opposite. I was fixated at Dr Naramashi without even blinking. He sure is a very wise and intellect being who is so knowledgeable not only in philosophy and spiritual practices but also in science.

The first day we spent the session talking about the human mind, our perceptions, our reality that we creat and how an object that looks so beautiful one day can look very ugly the next, not only because the object changes but how we change, how our emotions change. A lot of this applies to relationships ofcourse. We can fall out of love as easy as we fall in love and often we have certain expectations and needs that the loved one meets, as soon as we stop getting what we want it is time to move on...Oh, how true does this all sound? And the notion of constantly wanting a new experience, wanting different things...True happiness is when we stop that search and actually evolve in contentment with the everyday ordinary living with our loved one. True lesson to learn for me here!

Anyway, we also learn about the indian culture ofcourse, and the holy cow. Yesterday's topic was about food, what we eat, how we eat, our intentions, emotional attachments to food an so on. Then there came some facts about cows. Hindu tradition itself doesnt forbid eating meat or meat products as long as the degree of torture was minimised or say for dairy products as long as the calf was well fed by its mother it is ok to consume the cow milk. But what was amazing was when we got to talk about the holiness of the cow. Naramashi said that the cows in India are very true to cows in western world, because they live in the streets with their families and so engrossed in the society that they become more sensitive to their environment. Indian cows actually dont eat any food on the day someone from their household dies and their sadness is very visiable in their eyes and movements.

I got thinking about this today when I was walking in the narrow backstreets and always go pass an area with cows eating rubbish (often that is what they eat in india) on the side of a park. There is a kind of sensitivity and respect and maybe the freedom in the sense that they know they will not be killed some time soon and served as steak on the table.

Naramashi also said that it is ok to touch the backside of a cow (this one I refuse to experiment with) rather than the front side in terms of hygiene because the saliva of the cow often attracts insects and germs at the front end pf the animal compared with the area involved in urine and s***ting, so there is no need to wash your hands if you touch a cow's arse end...Hmmm lets not test that at all.