A cow with a paper garland over its neck surprised many of those who visited the Regional Science Centre (RSC) & Planetarium here on Thursday evening.
The centre, which engages itself in inculcating ‘scientific temper in society’, was hosting a function titled ‘Godanam, Mahadanam’ to propagate cow donation, while extolling the medicinal values of cow urine.
After symbolically handing over the cow to Sivadasan, an organic farmer, V.S. Ramachandran, director of the centre, said it was high time we went back to nature.
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“People may ask why we are hosting such a programme and how it is related to science. I think anything under the sun is related to science.
All the animals in nature, including cow, is part of science,” he said.
The current crop of youngsters were obsessed with mobile phones and computers and were ignorant of the basic concepts of nature, he pointed out. “Development of science and technology is fine. But we also need awareness about nature,” Mr. Ramachandran added.
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Shantiniketan, an organisation offering training in yoga and promoting organic farming, which teamed up with the RSC to organise the event, claimed cows had been revered since ages.
There are ‘holy’ references to cows in the Vedas, Upanishads, Ashtangahrudayam, and Sahasrayogam. Cow urine has medicinal properties that can cure even cancer.
The glamour of all film actors can be attributed to their daily consumption of cow urine.
All the face creams available in the market has cow urine as one of the contents, it claims.
Can treat Alzheimer’s
Cow urine can also help clear poison from human body. Consuming two glasses of cow’s milk, which is rich with Vitamin B12, can help treat Alzheimer’s disease, Mr. Ramachandran, and Shaju Bhai, director, Shanti Niketan, said in a release.
Popular science activists, however, have criticised the programme. T. Gangadharan, president, Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad, told The Hindu on Thursday that a government institution which should have taken the lead in building scientific temper among the people need not have hosted it.
“We don’t have anything against the cow. But we should oppose those who use the animal as a tool to propagate an ideology,” he said. The programme comes less than two months after ‘Rally for Science’, the government-sponsored initiative to instil scientific thinking as a habit among the people.
Mr. Gangadharan said that it was unfortunate to see responsible institutions entertaining such comic events.
“The authorities there must have been misled by some vested interests. We can only hope that they will correct their mistakes,” he added.