TRADITIONAL health cultures everywhere are founded on a basic premise: that the human organism is naturally geared for health. Since the body is made from within, it is fully capable of setting right most of its internal problems.
Whether it is the human body or the cosmic body, both are made up of five elements — earth, water, fire, air and space. Each one of us is made up of the very same building blocks. But what makes each one of us unique? The answer is simple: our software. The five elements in each of us carry their own unique memory imprint.
In the human body, the dominant element is water: it constitutes 72% of the organism. Consequently, human health is significantly determined by the way in which the water element behaves within our systems.
Today, there is substantial scientific evidence to show that water has tremendous memory. If you just so much as generate a thought looking at water, the molecular structure of the water will be altered. The yogic culture has always been aware of this. But today, after an enormous amount of experimentation, modern science has confirmed this. Scientists are, in fact, describing water as a fluid computer!
The practice of offering holy water in Indian temples is based on this understanding. Devotees wait for a single drop of teertha—consecrated water—because it carries a memory of the divine. By drinking it, they seek to sanctify their own interiority and re-awaken the divinity within.
There could be a significant impact on our health if we were to change the way we treat even the regular drinking water in our homes. When we keep the water in our body at a high level of purity, our health and well-being are easily managed. This is why our grandmothers told us not to accept water or food from anyone’s hands, and urged us to receive it only from those whom we know or who care for our well-being.
Today, water reaches your home after being violently pumped through a convoluted network of lead or plastic pipes. Through all these violent bends and turns, much negativity is generated in the water. But while water has memory, it also has a way of unfolding itself back into its original state. If you just leave this water undisturbed for an hour, the negativity will undo itself. Another thing you can do is place some neem or tulsi leaves in it. These will not remove chemical impurities, but they will help make the water vibrant and energetic.
It is also advisable to keep the water in a metal container (preferably of copper or an alloy of copper), to wash the container daily with an organic substance, and place it at some distance from other objects where it is undisturbed by other smells and substances. Additionally, if you handle the vessel with a sense of gratitude and reverence before you consume the water, it will do wonders within your system. It is important to remember that this gratitude is not towards some God in heaven. It is towards the life-making material of water itself!
While traditional cultural and spiritual practices in northern India make primary use of fire, those in southern India largely employ water and earth. Fire was dominant in the Aryan culture since it promotes receptivity rather than stability. But older pre-Aryan cultures sought to create a stable foundation before exploring newer dimensions of experience, and water is the ideal element for this.
Modern societies have forgotten that the foundational intelligence responsible for creating this body lies within us. If we were to address this condition of wilful myopia by simply approaching the elements around and within us with greater sensitivity and attention, human health and equanimity would be significantly and dramatically enhanced.
Sadhguru, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader (www.ishafoundation.org)
