Living in concert with nature can be a beautiful learning experience, and one of the lessons we learned while living in the countryside was the importance of water. During the summer, temperatures would reach as high as 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) inside the house, and even hotter outside.
But the most daunting challenge was the lack of water, as we were forced to live on rain water collected by the ground. The water well ran dry in the summer, and the effects were harsh; trees would lose their leaves and shrivel up, and birds were nonexistent except at sunrise and sunset.
We eagerly awaited the monsoons, as the water from those rains drastically changed the barren landscape into a spectrum of luscious green. Birds changed into their best shades and sang their finest tunes to attract mates, flowers blossomed, butterflies chased each other, and dragonflies darted around. The rains changed the whole vibe of the countryside, as each element transitioned from survival mode to growth and reproduction mode, as everything felt positive.
When we were children, it was natural for us to go outside during the first rain, as the wetness cured the searing heat. In days gone by, all Indian healers advised the use of rain water for the treatment of cancer. However, the pollution of major cities turns that rain into acid rain, which isn’t exactly the rain you want to use to heal.
Pankaj Oudhia did research on the role of rain water in traditional medicine, stating: “The healers prefer the water from the first rains, but in case of poor collection, they collect water from subsequent rains. For the collection of rain water, they prefer Tamra Patra (copper vessels). The traditional healers in interior regions not having the purchasing capacity to buy Tamra Patra use Earthen pots (Ghada) to collect rain water.
“According to them, the water must be collected before it reaches the ground. Although the rain water coming down from plants are also collected, they have a specific list of plants that can be used for this purpose.”
Ayurveda, or ayurvedic medicine, is a system of traditional medicine native to the Indian subcontinent that serves as an alternative medicine technique. Here’s an ayurvedic weight loss receipe which uses rain water as an ingredient:
Masuru Emoto’s study further plays into this thought process, as he talks about how water adapts to the environment that it falls in.
Flashing back to the earlier story, the groundwater is replenished a week after the rains start. We would bathe and drink this water without any boiling or filtering. The feeling of being charged when you drink this water, or even when bathing in it, in an unaltered state was extremely refreshing. People with long life span almost always have had access to high-quality, clean water.
That doesn’t even include the calming sounds of rain water, which supposedly opens up the fourth, or the heart, chakra. Personally, this effect is why I believe that my hair loss stopped and why I have regained some of my lost hair.
One must also consider the magic of the holiest river in India, the Ganga. Although the river is polluted in many spots, there’s an unknown factor, one that scientists have not been able to identify, which allows the Ganga to heal itself. We think it’s the faith of the thousands that bathe in the river each day and their beliefs that not only is the Ganga’s water pure, but it has the power to purify them!
Do you know of any other benefits of rain water? Do you think these benefits are a reason why the collection of rain water is banned by some states in the United States?
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