Why Do Rishis Say That Water Can Heal

Today we will look at a sukta from Atharva Veda.
This sukta also pertains to water.
Water is the primary material.
After pralaya everything becomes water, and everything is recreated from water.

That’s why so much importance is given to water.
There are four mantras in this sukta.

The first mantra:
शं नो देवीः अभिष्टय आपो भवन्तु पीतये
शं योः अभिस्रवन्तु नः

Water in the Vedas is always mentioned and addressed in plural.
Here they are being called deviihi.
They are devis because of certain characteristics.
They qualify to be called devis because of certain characteristics.

They are providers; they nourish us.
They are brilliant. Brilliance can be in two ways — it can be simply light-emitting, like the light that you see in a TV, or light and heat emitting like Surya, Agni.
Devis are both light and heat emitting.
They are devis because their permanent abode is dyuloka, Swarga loka.
We say Swarga Ganga, Ganga Devi came to earth from heaven — dyuloka.

This prayer is addressed towards the devis called water, inviting them to come to us for three things:
Sham abhishtaye, sham peetaye, sham yoh.

Abhishtaye – abhiyajanaya —
For performance of yaga, yajna.
It is through performance of yaga that every wish, every desire is achieved.
Anything that you wish, anything that is nonexistent today, which you desire for, can be manifested through the performance of yajnas.
Water is essential for yajna.
If you want to cook offerings, water is needed.
The ghee that is used — where does it come from? From milk.
Milk is more than 85% water.
For purification, achamana, sprinkling — water is needed.
Even for making the yagavedi, for making bricks, water is needed.
This is the essentiality of water in yajna — so many other things also.
Come to us for all these, so that we can perform yajna and achieve our desires.

Peetaye – for drinking.
Water should taste good.
Can you take water from the sea and drink it?
Water should taste sweet and good.
Please come to us sweet, tasty, and good.

Sham yoh – Whenever there is a health issue, doctors say these days — stay hydrated.
Drink water, drink liquids.
60% of the human body is made up of water.
For health, water is essential.
If you are sick, to get cured, the body should be sufficiently hydrated.
To prevent sickness, the body should be sufficiently hydrated.

Not just physical health — suppose you are thirsty, very badly thirsty, looking around for water, not able to find it.
What will be your state of mind?
Once you get water and drink it, what will be your state of mind?
So, even for mental health, water is essential.
Stress, anxiety, fears — even to keep them away, water is needed.
Please come to us for all these.

Second mantra:
अप्सु मे सोमो अब्रवीत् अन्तर्विश्वानि भेषजा
अग्निं च विश्वशंभुवम्

All medicinal properties reside in water only.
It is from water that all the medicinal herbs acquire their power to heal.
Why?
Because there is Agni present in water.
Yajurveda says:
स निलायत सोऽपः प्राविशत्
Agni entered water.

And you know the power of Agni.
What is lightning? It is fire inside water only — discharging.
Lightning has both light and heat.

When you want to cure, what is it that you want to do?
If there are external organisms such as bacteria, viruses, you want to burn them away.
This power is there in water.

Or you want to balance the body, restore the pancha bhutas in the body —
Water is both water and Agni.
This is also possible with water.
This is why Rishis say that all the healing powers are there in water.

The third mantra:
आपः पृणीत भेषजम् वरूथं तन्वे मम
ज्योक् च सूर्यं दृशे

Now, since it is clear that all the healing powers reside in water,
It is prayed that — make my body so strong that diseases are not able to touch my body.
If there is an existing disease, may you fill my body with your healing power so that the disease goes away.

Can you imagine the power of drinking water chanting this mantra?
This is what our elders used to do.
For anything and everything, they had mantras.
Water naturally has healing properties.
With this mantra, you are also activating and enabling those properties further.

Tanve mama – in my body.
So that I live long.
I am able to see sunrise so many times, in so many years to come.

The fourth mantra:
शं न आपो धन्वन्याः
शमु सन्त्वनूप्याः
शं नः खनित्रिमा आपः
शमु याः कुम्भ आभृताः
शिवा नः सन्तु वार्षिकीः

What all kinds of water should give us all these?

शं न आपो धन्वन्याः – water of the desert
शमु सन्त्वनूप्याः – water from places where there is abundance of water, such as rivers, lakes — anupo deshah
शं नः खनित्रिमा आपः – khananena nirvrttah apah — water that is dug out — water of the wells, ponds
शमु याः कुम्भ आभृताः – water gathered from rivers, lakes, brought in pots — even brought by modern means such as pipelines
शिवा नः सन्तु वार्षिकीः – the rainwater

Every kind of water should give us comfort and health.

Chemistry also says — living things are composed of atoms and molecules within aqueous solutions (solutions that have materials dissolved in water).
Science is just one step away from saying that water is behind the healing power of all the molecules they come out with in the field of medicine — maybe something to do with the polarity of water molecules or some other such factor.
It is up to them to find — I am saying at a molecular level.

Since Veda says:
अप्सु मे सोमो अब्रवीत् अन्तर्विश्वानि भेषजा
They will find this out some day.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi