Jala (Water) and its Qualities
Jala – Liquidity
(Water) – Taste
Jala, the fourth element to arise sequentially from cosmic intelligence, is often translated as “water.” Though water is of key importance to life on earth, it is imprecise to call it one of Ayurveda’s five elements. As with the other elements, jala’s universal organizing principle, or mahabhuta, offers a more complete picture. When we understand the mahabhuta of jala, we know that it embodies the principle of liquidity and cohesion. In organic life, jala is also responsible for increasing size, since water is the primary constituent of all living forms.
Jala mahabhuta governs fluidity, irrespective of the substance or what is suspended in it. It governs a substance’s ability to change shape without separating or losing its integrity. This integrity exists because of jala’s nature to bind or hold together. Even solid matter can demonstrate jala’s cohesive influence. If we pick up a dry, parched clod of earth, it will quickly and easily disintegrate and turn into dust. However, if there is moisture in the soil, the dirt particles in the lump of earth will remain bound together.
Though water provides the best example of jala’s properties of fluidity and cohesion, there are many other substances which display these qualities, yet contain little or no water. For instance, both volcanic lava and gasoline can flow and move freely and though they do not have a shape of their own, they maintain their integrity while taking on the form of that which contains them or through which they flow. This is seen with liquid in a glass, the blood in our veins, or water in a pond.
Water, the most common manifestation of jala bhuta on this planet, is the major component of all life forms. In the sap of a plant or tree, water acts as a medium through which vayu carries nutrients to leaves and branches. In blood, it performs the same function, binding nutrients and oxygen within itself so that vayu can move them throughout the body. As saliva and digestive secretions, it binds together nutrients which have been broken down by the transformative action of agni, and allows them to be carried by vayu through the G-I tract to further stages of digestion and elimination. Jala protects the mucous membranes of the body and lubricates the joints so that solid structures can move or flow more freely over one another. In the form of cerebrospinal fluid, it surrounds and protects the delicate nervous tissue of the brain and spinal cord.
The Sense of Taste
According to Ayurveda, the sense of taste arises out of jala bhuta. The ability to taste is dependent on the liquidity that exists within the mouth in the form of saliva. Imagine trying to taste something, much less swallow it, if your tongue and mouth are completely dry. Taste does not exist in a mouth totally devoid of moisture. Taste also does not occur when water is the only liquid in the mouth, since pure water is experienced by the sense of taste as an absolute — totally devoid of taste.
Jala, in the form of water or saliva, acts as a medium in which the sense of taste discerns the relative quality and quantity of solids dispersed within it. The body needs to know the proportion of solids to liquids, and the sense of taste gives the knowledge of how much solid content is contained in the substances we put into our mouths, as well as the composition of those substances.
When we are served a cup of tea, the sense of taste identifies the particles of tea suspended in the water, and determines the relative proportion of sweet flavor provided by the sugar to offset the tea’s somewhat bitter flavor.
As we will discuss later, taste is a very important factor in both diet and digestion. Ayurveda describes six fundamental tastes or flavors that are found in food: Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. These tastes arise out of the varying predominance of the five elements that compose that food substance. The human body is also composed of all five elements, but some elements exist in greater proportion than others.
The body has an innate wisdom regarding food selection, which functions through the sense of taste. The body favors those foods that reflect its specific elemental make-up. The sense of taste gives us an indication of the elemental make-up of food and thereby protects us from ingesting substances that may upset the natural balance of the elements in our body. This explains why, when we are offered unfamiliar food, we will first sample only a small amount on the tip of a spoon or finger before taking a larger amount. It also explains why we are more inclined to eat a bowl of fruit or sweetened cereal than a bowl of cayenne pepper. The body contains relatively small amounts of agni and large amounts of jala. Sweet flavors are more readily accepted by the body because they are closely associated with the water element. To ingest a large amount of agni in the form of cayenne pepper would greatly disturb the natural balance of the elements in the body.
The tongue is extremely well-suited to be an organ of taste. Full and fleshy, its construction allows maximum surface contact with the watery element that constantly surrounds it. Through the tongue the sensory mechanism judges the appropriate tastes and quantities to be ingested, thus protecting the body and helping to keep it in balance.