"I am wondering if this is getting into my system and thus I am getting some of the same benefits as drinking it?"

I'm quite sure it gets absorbed by the skin and works its way into the blood that way. But I don't think you get the exact same benefits as drinking it. I don't think you get "less" benefit either though, just "different". One difference is that the digestive acids can possibly destroy some elements of the ingested urine, so you're not "getting" EVERYTHING that was originally in it. But of course, the benefit is that it comes in direct contact with many internal organs and gets into the blood much more efficiently. External application retains the urine's original composition, but if the urine is aged it undergoes some other processes. I'm not exactly sure what changes, but I think it's generally considered a "good" thing for applying externally. The "downside" is that it's not really getting into the system as much -- but even if limited to just the skin, it's still quite beneficial! The skin is a very important part of the body and aged urine seems to be pretty good for it.

Basically, the point is, both kinds of application affect the body in slightly different ways, and should be used hand in hand, for the "whole" benefit... I don't think you can replace one with the other and still expect the same results.

Of course, there probably is some "overlap" in benefit between the two, but I'm sure there are also certain things that each does better than the other might not be so good at. And even if you do only one, that's still worlds better than none at all ;)

--James