Drinking one's own Amaroli is not Impure

Dr M. Hajirnis, MB, BS. Thane

There are a lot of misgivings about amaroli in the public mind. Most people ridicule it. Very few of those who profess it for others practise it themselves, while those who do follow it personally somehow feel shy about admitting it in public.

Those who ridicule it say that if urine can be drunk, why can't faeces be eaten? They fail to understand the difference between these two products. There are two systems in the human body which connect it to the external environment - the respiratory and the gastro-intestinal. The uro-genital system is also open to the exterior, but it is mainly for output and not for input. Through the respiratory system we inhale the outside air to oxygenate our blood. All other nutrients enter the body through the gastro-intestinal tract. It is the only system through which external substances can enter through the mouth, pass through the entire length of the intestine and exit through the anus even as such. So any contaminated material from the outside world taken in through the mouth may be contained in the faeces. Hence faeces cannot be pure. They can be infected and contaminated or may contain toxic substances or eggs and cysts of harmful bacteria and parasites taken from outside in food and drinks. It is not so with urine. Freshly voided normal urine is sterile.

Urine is a pure filtrate of the blood

Urine is formed in the kidneys from blood circulating throughout the body. It is an ultrafiltrate of the blood. Kidneys have no direct opening to the outside for input. They can work only on those substances brought to them by the bloodstream. Hence, the normal urine is never contaminated by anything from outside, when it is freshly voided.

Another objection raised against urine therapy is that, after all, urine is a waste product of the body. Products which are not needed or toxic are excreted in the urine. Why should they be taken in again? However, there is a fallacy in this argument. Urine contains valuable substances which are in excess in the blood at that moment. Because they are filtered from the blood and lost to the body, it does not mean they have no biological value. For example, a capsule of vitamin B-complex contains the vitamin in much greater concentration than is required by the body immediately. Thus, inevitably, most of it cannot be absorbed, and is excreted in the urine. You must have noticed the yellow colour and the odour of the urine after taking a B-complex tablet. If one drinks that urine, one will get one's daily requirement of the vitamin for 3 to 4 days regularly and save a lot of personal as well as national expenditure.

Similarly, various hormones are formed in the endocrine glands in tiny amounts and secreted into the bloodstream in response to specific stimuli. They are formed at great metabolic cost to the body. Once they are released they are broken down and filtered into the urine within hours because the body has no built-in recycling process to recapture these molecules. Their excretion represents an irreversible loss to the body.

The discovery of prostaglandins

Similarly, many precursors and derivatives of steroids and other substances useful for developing immunity are lost in the urine.

One of the greatest discoveries of the last decade in the field of medicine has been prostaglandins. These hormone derivatives are currently being tested in numerous laboratories and hospitals around the world. As a result of these research studies, they are being acclaimed as miracle drugs and panaceas for all types of maladies in the human body, and it is predicted that these substances, which the body produces in minute amounts, act to insulate and protect the body, preventing the onset of disease. They are also invaluable to the ladies as a natural form of birth control, preventing the fertilised ovum from attaching itself to the walls of the uterus.

Unfortunately, prostaglandins cannot as yet be chemically manufactured, and this shortage is holding up research studies at present. They have to be extracted in minute amounts from urine. Here may lie one explanation for the radiant health of those who practise amaroli on a regular basis. Each morning they are giving themselves an additional dose of a vital regenerative medicine. The properties of prostaglandins may yet substantiate many of the claims which have been made by the proponents of amaroli.

Does urine taste bad?

Another objection to amaroli is that urine is foul tasting and smelling. Actually this is only true where the diet contains excessive salt and/or proteins. It is especially true where animal proteins are being consumed- meat, fish, eggs, milk, etc. The breakdown of such large amounts of amino acids produces an excess of nitrogenous wastes which the liver transforms into urea and ammonia which give it a foul and unpleasant taste. This is why a pure yogic diet is recommended before commencing amaroli. The urine then becomes inoffensive, even pleasant. This occurs especially after the initial period when the bloodstream and body tissues are gradually cleansed and purified of residues and stored wastes by the practice.

When fasting is combined with amaroli, tissue purification occurs rapidly. Plenty of water should be consumed. As the quality and taste of the urine changes, so does one's perception of the body, its physical processes and activities.

In this way amaroli also exerts an influence upon the level of awareness of its practitioner.