They say that there can be no marriage without dhal. Under modern ultracivilised conditions even marriage may get performed even without these. If the marriage is celebrated at a Restaurant, surely dhal does not take a prominent place. The marriage celebration gets finished, with cakes, pups and hand shakes.
Natural Drink
The marriage can take place without dhal. But health cannot be had without water. Nature’s drink is water. The composite drinks prepared out of this are not so useful. Some artificial preparations stand as destroyers of health. One must have first, to live, pure air, then comes water, Thirdly comes food. Hunger can be tolerated; but not thirst. Life does not ebb even when one fasts for six weeks. But death will ensure in torture if water is not taken in for a few days. Water and its uses need a lot of investigation.
The blood is the basic principle of life in the human body. This depends on the watery contents for its circulation. The water content in the body changes due to various reasons. When this water limit goes down, certain organs get active in the human body and thirst ensues. Water is drunk by man to quench this thirst. When satisfied of this thirst the system gets to normal.
Importance of pure water
Water is important for human existence. The water part of the food is important for the purpose of digestion in the stomach and also for the absorption of the nutrition in the intestines. The toxins produced out of metabolism have to be sent out through the kidneys. For this purpose also water is most important. The glands to secrete their secretion depend on water. To harmonise the bodily heat with the external heat of the atmosphere, water also becomes very essential to the system. The secret of water is very subtle. It is common to drink water to quench the thirst. This water becomes a friend or an enemy according to the way this is used by man. When people understand the truth about the use of water many evil and blind practices will vanish from us.
Cleanliness
The small girl reading in the II Standard will tell us the details about water easily. In the text book, the author would have devoted a small chapter for pure water. It is a pity that the parents are not compelled to read this chapter on water. It is a practice to pour into the stomach whatever is reached by the hand. Who goes on worrying or enquiring about its purity? Whether that is the sweet water of the bubbling hill-brook, or the impure decoction of dead leaves of the unused well, or the muddy liquid of the village pond, who cares to enquire or hesitate? Is there anything to be surprised when John or Ramasamy that drinks this untouchable liquid called water dies of cholera or dysentry?
Water pollutions
We know that in the countryside, villagers in millions are undergoing terrible suffering to get drinking water. Usually there will be a pond. In this will bathe the buffaloes and the villagers.
In this will be washed not only the vessels and cloth! The teeth are washed in this water. The same water is used for drinking also! It is the duty ofbthe Government to make available pure drinking water.
To eradicate laziness
The sufferings due to ignorance cannot be adequately described. The lazi immobility of the people also constributes to this. Cold rice is eaten with oil and the time is spent or mispent in the village chawl! The hands are ornamented by playing cards! The mouth is reddishly adorned by tobacco! All the vitality is displayed in thefight on the playing-cards! What is this horrible mentality? Why not convene and work a panchayat in each village for securing and safe guarding the water supply for the village? Money can be collected and the labour almost going waste in the villages could be utilised and deep wells sunk and pure water procured. Later on when the Local Boards are approached they will not refuse support to this indigenous endeavour further improvement. Have the Indians who had built collossal structures, like the Gopuras and wonderous buildings, forgotten the simple task of digging and maintaining tanks, keeping the surface wells clean and instilling clean habits into their children and village folk?
Whatever water may be available, that water should be boiled, filtered, cooled and then drunk. The deadly germs will die and get separated. The vessels which contain water must be daily washed in and out and kept clean and well covered all the time. It is good ordinarily to drink cold water. When the temperature is very cold in any place, the water could be heated to a bearable temperature and then taken.
To eat when hungry and to drink when thirsty is the best health law. There are even in this, subtle points to be considered.
SOME POINTS ABOUT WATER
It is best to drink pure water. Hatayogis do this through the nose. Some scoffers may take up the cudgel. They will refuse to misuse the nose created by the kind Lord for snuff, for drinking water! There is no necessity to understand the secrets of Hatha Yoga. This drinking can be done through the mouth only.
Usha Panam
Drinking pure water in the early mornings is called “Usha Panam” in India. Let us suppose that in the civilised world of to-day that people do get up in the early morning and proceed to give the process of this early morning drink of water. The Cock, and the cattle only get up in the early mornings. Are we beasts? We are supposed to be beings endowed with commonsense and discretion! That is why perhaps, we stop the nuisance of the alarm time piece and roll on the bed, prior to getting up, for the tenth time. What if man gets up after nine? Is one mad to drink pipe water on getting up? As soon as this gentleman yawns on the late morning couch, he should according to dictates of fashion drink hot tea brought by the servant or the mistress of the household! Who has got the right to question if on top of this tea a couple of aspirins are also rolled into the stomach to keep company with tea and make this gentieman feel fit for the work during the day? When you mention “Usha Panam” to these and their like they will grin and ask “Is it Usha-Marriage?”.
Purification by water
Soon after getting up from bed let us wash and rinse the mouth well and straight away drink a litre of cool water. Then other works could be attended to. This water will clean the stomach and the intestines. It will prepare the stomach to receive subsequently food. Even if for several hours the person fasts and then takes his food, no disorders will result. No bile complaints will crop up. The tongue’s vagaries will be unbearable for some. That would refuse to drink mere water. It would try to vomit the water. “Where is my Lord the Tea? Where my King Coffee!” the tongue will roar! Let us not get worried over the pranks of this stupid tongue. If the process is forced for three early mornings, the tongue will get subdued and accept the inevitable and co-operate. Even if you vomit there is benefit. The stomach will become clean. This water will stimulate the sensation to answer calls of nature. The greatness of this early morning drink is well adumbrated in our hygienic texts.
During Food
Half an hour before meals, water could be drunk, just a cup. It is not good to take your food immediately after drinking water. When the meal time arrives and when the thought of food comes, the gastric juice gets generated. Water is made available for the system in the soup, rasam, etc. There is no necessity to wash down the food with water. It is good to drink water sometime after taking food, when generally a thirsty sensation will commence. For these reasons, evil will result to digestion if water is taken during eating. Ordinarily those whose staple food is rice, seldom masticate their food. This is the food which has most of its digestion finished in the mouth. When water is taken while eating, the food instead of being masticated well and then sent in, is simply washed in without any revolutions in the mouth. This is bad for digestion. If the meal is hard and dry, then water will be necessary while eating.
Problems in digestion
One should not drink iced water. The organ which has to control the heat in the body will feel fatigued. People during eating and soon after take in ice cream and other very cold stuffs. The digestion gets delayed and spoilt on account of this. The food mass for digestion has to remain at a certain minimum temperature. When this gets very cold, the digestion does not commence immediately but waits till the food comes back to a particular suitable temperature. That will stagnate like slime and dullen the nerve endings and nerve sensations. To restore the needed temperature the heat regulations in the system will have to work harder.
We are not finding fault with the practice of cooling the drinks in very hot climates.
Suitable quantity required
Water should be drunk daily suited to the need for the particular type of food taken in. The North Indians consume a lot of wheat preparations like, chappaties and puries. They do not as a rule drink enough water. Constipation is generally prevalent with these people. Some forget to drink water. These would suffer from insufficient passage of urine, from headache and dull brains. They must improve the quantity of water taken in. Some children consume a lot of rice and black gram dhal preparations and wheat flour preparations. When they see water, they would set up squeals. These must be given water by force even. Otherwise they inspite of eating so heavily, would suffer from constipation, dullness and want of growth.
Obese people
Thirst is a great enemy of obese people. For digestion these do not require any great quantity of water. But whatever water is taken in, that would go to swell adiposity. They should reduce the salt in their food and also the water drunk by them. Otherwise the huge pumpkin lime fleshy growth will never get reduced.
Water should not be drunk at one gulp. Thirst also will not feel quenched. Water in greater quantities than necessary may be needed. It should be drunk by mouthfuls. Thirst will be satisfied easily. The salivary glands will get saturation of water.