WATER-VELLAZM-JALAM Dear friends,
Today my topic is water- I hopesomething interesting read by me can be shared with you in this posting. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 14-3-2011. Reposted on 26-12-2020 after editing and updating. R. Gopala Krishnan. 1. Water most essential for humans. Water is considered to be themost essential for human life. A person can survive without food- but not withoutwater. The other way-just drinking water a person can survive even for a week. When solid food is not possibleto take in, people take liquid food –adding water. Even while taking semi solidfood, water has to be taken in between so that proper digestion takes place. Of course there is a view innaturopathy, water should be taken either before or after meals. However inhotels serving naturopathy foods, THEY ALSO SUPPLY WATER TO THE NEEDY. MAJORITYOF PEOPLE TAKE WATER IN BETWEEN WHILE TAKING MEALS. We should drink water even before we feel thirsty. By thetime we feel thirsty, the reserve water in the body would have been startedusing according to medical theory. After reading the above I made it a practiceto drink water 7-8 times whether I felt thirst or not. 1a. other beings Not only humans, animals, birds,plants and trees etc. also require water. Some species can survive in wateronly like fish. We can see plants in gardens appear fresh after watering. 2. Source of water The earliest water used wouldhave been from open water bodies. This is because the earliest civilisationdeveloped along the riverbeds like Egypt’s Nile and currently dry Saraswathi river of India. With construction of temples awayfrom water bodies gave rise to temple ponds. Either our old temples are closeto river or have ponds and wells. 2a. Sage Jamadagni story I have read the story of sageJamadagni asking his children to kill his wife, who could not make out pot on aday to bring water from river for use in ashram, due to her one moment distractionseeing a bathing Gandharva. This is an instance water was brought from riversin early days for use in ashrams and homes. In my boyhood days I have seen manydrawing water from river for drinking use, since well water was salty in thehomes. 3. Water bodies The rivers, ponds, streams,lakes, and sea are water bodies. Except in the sea, in other waterbodies wateris not much salty. Though all the rivers reach sea, the salt content does notreduce in sea. When I studied absorption of salts from the deep grounds, Icould understand the reason-Water is not flowing in the sea-It is a storage. I have learnt more than 70% ofearth is with water, but we can use only 1% of it for our use. 4. Human body I have learnt more than 70% of our body weight is water.This means if my weight is 70 kg about 50 Kg is water. But this water is essential for our body. This water manages oursweat. All fluids in the body aremanaged by water. It is the water content in the blood makes it circulating.Our mouth is kept wet by this water. Our kidney is always filteringout wastewater from the body with different unwanted salts. This comes out ofthe body as urine. When we give urine for analysis the salt content is analysedto regulate the intakes of salt. 5. The milk Recently I had posted about milk.More than 65% of milk is water. Sugar cane juice is having good content ofwater. Fruits like lemon, orange, lime, pomegranate etc. have a seeing watercontent. The fruits of all types of palm trees have water. 6. Water substitute. The substitute for water is ONLYWATER. If we take any other drinks like coffee, tea, or cool drinks, it would befelt thirsty after some time. If the same quantity of water is consumed thethirst would not appear. Here I like to refer DrAhilaswamy in KMH Hospital in Chennai. On a discussion he told me- Coffee, teaand cool drinks, which we take, cannot be considered as part of water weconsume a day. Similarly walking with in houseor while shopping or banking etc. cannot be part of our walking. Morning walk is a separate item and acontinuous one to perform. 7. How much water to be drank per day? The answer is to keep theequilibrium of body water. Water is left from the body mainly as sweat, urine,and in motion. In addition water is also left from the body through otherorgans like nose, mouth, eyes etc. The normal urine going from thebody is calculated as about 1-1.5 litre. People who have been admitted in ICUwould have experienced, measuring of water given and measuring of water goingas urine of a patient. 1.5 litre is about ten glasses.It is safe to drink water between 1.5 to 2 litre. 7a. Diabetic patients. While I have detailed anapproximate quantity, the diabetic patients and kidney affected should regulatethe water intake as per doctor’s direction. The KIDNEY SHOULD NOT BE PUT TO OVER LOAD. 8. Water purity If water is not pure, waterbornediseases like typhoid, pneumonia etc. can be occurred. The flowing water inrivers or well water or well-cleaned pond’s water is considered comparativelypure. The rainwater is caught after one or two rains are very pure. I have readin Lakshadweep rainwater is collected by the inhabitants for drinking. We get water in municipal orcorporation supply after purifying. Well water is purified if it is salty. InTamilnadu well water is more salty comparing to Kerala. This could be due tosalt content of earth. While in Kerala well water is preferred to river water,in Tamilnadu it is the other way. The bottled water now common ispurified good water. Pure water is taste less. Update- in Kerala also now municipal supply of water is usedfor drinking and cooking in many homes. In city many homes have no wells. With ROS system installed in many homes, one can see the salt contentjust tasting the left out water. If one drink the well water it will not be assalty as ROS left out water. 8a. Cost of purified water. The cost of purified water varieswith water source and method of purification. While normally the one litrebottle cost about 15 rupees in bottles, in most railway stations the purifiedwater sold cost only 8-00 per bottle.Railway has arranged it in no profit manner. The barrel water cost anythingbetween 35-00 rupees to 70-00 rupees depend on the company. In homes we uses water filter,which remove dissolved elements. But all are not removed. But with ReverseOsmosis plants 80-85% of other contents are removed. This water is practicallytasteless. (Whatever be the filtering system, charcoal bits are part of thepurifying system.) I have seen paper filters only after installing ROS in myhome. 9. Chemistry of water The water is made up of oxygenand hydrogen molecules. In simple words, H2O. Two molecules (atoms) of Hydrogencombined with one molecule of Oxygen. 10 Chiratyil vellam urumbinu samudram This is a saying in Malayalam.For the ant water in a coconut shell is an ocean. For the poor a few thousandsis a big debt. For the middle class a few lakhs. But for the affluent a fewcrores!!! 11. Vellam vellam sarvathra, thulli kutikkan illathare. This is another saying. Water iseverywhere but contaminated. Not a drop to drink. However when thirst is moreand unbearable, nobody can look for more purity. Something similar to diabeticpatients using public toilets or public places. Though it can cause urinaryinfection, having no alternative, when control is lost any available space isused. 12. Panchathanthra story In Panchathanthra stories, I haveread people travelling in deserts have killed camels to drink water stored in theirstomach, when thirst was felt uncontrolled. However I have read laterno such water is stored in their stomach. 13. Watering Tulasi plant. It is considered sacred to waterTulsi plant in the morning after bath and lighting aarthi in the evening.Tulasi is considered as incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and watering it amountto asking for her grace. 14. Spending money like water This is another saying when aperson spends money luxuriously. 15 Boiled water When water is boiled manyimpurities get removed and bacteria get destroyed. It is advisable to useboiled water in all seasons after cooling. Update- This is more important now with covid 19 remaininguncontrolled. Drinking boiled water using washed glass and washing handsfrequently using any soap can help a lot. 16. Bath The secondary use of water byhumans is for bathing. Bathing gives refreshing for body. It is a practice totake bath in the morning and evening or at least in the morning. If one has tofeel the enjoyment of extreme refresh ness, after tiresome walk he should takebath like in cool Pampa River during Sabarimalai pilgrimage.Bath should not be taken immediatelyafter meals. 16a. Washing and cleaning All washing and cleaning are doneonly with water. 17. Jala muneeswar It is told siddhas calledJalamuneeswar take their penance in still waters in the afternoon. Hence it is not advised todisturb water in the afternoon in the wells and rivers. 18. Jalakanteswar It is seen the deity inThiruvanaikkavil temple near Trichy is in water and neck and above seen. Thepriests there just rub in the granite in front in joints, and we can see beforeour eyes water oozing out. Update- Scientists have brought theories about the oozing of water inthat location. 19 Jalakreeda. It is told the Gandharvas verymuch like jalakreeda.I recollect now the scenes from film “Jnan Gandharvan “ 20. Jala/Matsya Kanyaka Jala kanyaka is told as a beinghalf the body of a human women and half like fish. Mahabharatha has referenceto Jalakanayaka (Ulupi)and Arjuna’s relationship with her. 21. Incarnations I will conclude this postingreferring first three incarnations- Matsya, Koorma and Varaha are from water. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1590624078.3549670.1608952812636%40mail.yahoo.com.
