Water/Jal
The fourth element is water. It is also called as jala or Apa. Whenever we think of water qualities like liquidity or fluidity comes to our mind. Water shows important quality of binding – e.g. if we see dry soil, we cannot make a ball out of it.
But if we add water to the soil, then we can easily make mud balls. This binding nature helps in forming different structures in the body as it binds the 2 cells together. Hence this element is a constructive force.
The tanmatra of water element is rasa (taste). The sense of taste or the ability to taste depends on the liquidity that exists within in the mouth in the form of saliva. Dry mouth along with dry tongue is unable to give sense of taste. The water element exhibits qualities like cool, liquid, dull soft, and sliminess. Its main actions are cohesiveness and adhesiveness.
The energy of water can be seen in all fluids, from cerebral spinal fluid to digestive juices. Blood, sweat, plasma, saliva and urine are the primary sites of the element of Water.
Functions Of Water:
– Moistening
– [lubricating]
– Binding
– Oozing
– Softening
– Exhilirating
- Saliva
- Plasma/Pericardial fluid
- Pleural fluid
- Gastric juices
- ultrafiltrate of plasma/urine
- Intracellular fluid/cytoplasm
