Addressing a group of students and faculty at the IIT campus in Chennai, India, Sadhguru answers a question on water memory and the research that has gone into it.

Speaking about the incredible findings that have happened in this field in the last few years, Sadhguru explains how the molecular structure of water can be rearranged to behave in a completely different way, without altering the chemical composition. He also speaks about the wisdom of ancient/indigenous cultures, which have always maintained that water be handled in a certain way.

Questioner: You said that water has some memory. Is there any viability to bring that memory level to our life or something? Is there any scientific evidence or spiritual evidence or some other evidence is available for that? Basically, as I’m a chemist I'm telling this.

Sadhguru: Okay. Today, is it okay if I walk down into you? Today, particularly in the last four-and-a-half years, phenomenal amount of research has gone into water and water potential. This started off inadvertently because of the… the way the usable water in the world is receding per person. In India, for example, in 1947 how much water an average Indian had, potable water, today we have only twenty percent of that. They say by 2025 we’ll have only seven percent of what we had in 1947 per person, per capita water, only that much will be available. So because of this, lot of research has gone into water. It went mostly from this line, but slowly they went deeper and deeper into this and they find – which you must be… being a chemist you must be very much aware of this – without changing the chemical composition of the water, you can rearrange the molecular arrangement in such a way that the water will behave completely in a different way than the way it does, to such an extent, it's sensitive to this extent, that if I take a glass of water in my hand and just look at it in a certain way and give it to you, well-being will come to you. If I look at it another way and give it to you, you will fall sick tonight. This is no more superstition, this is science.

I’ll tell you an incident that happened. About seventeen years ago I announced a ninety day program. Ninety day program for what? The most fundamental aspect of yoga is considered as Bhuta Shuddhi. Bhuta Shuddhi means… Bhuta means, you know what? Pancha bhutas, the five elements in nature - earth, water, fire, air and space – these are the five elements in nature. It is these five elements which is the basic components which make this body, which made this planet, which has made the whole universe, isn't it? The whole existence, in a way, is a play of these five elements. So Bhuta Shuddhi is about cleansing these five elements within the system. How these five elements behave within me will determine the quality of who I am – based on this, the basic form of yoga is just Bhuta Shuddhi; everything else is an outcrop of that, taught in various bits and pieces by many people without understanding the whole… the homogeneity of what it is, but essentially it's about taking charge of the five elements.

You practice Bhuta Shuddhi for a certain period of time and you achieve what is called as Bhuta Siddhi, that means you have total control over the five elements, to such an extent, there is any number of incidents where at the time of death or at the time of leaving their body, a yogi goes into a room, people lock it from outside, he goes in and after a few days they open and he's just not there because he de-materializes himself, he doesn’t want to trouble you with a funeral, he doesn’t want anybody to carry him to the grave, he just dematerializes his own system.

Seventeen years ago I announced one program for the first time, ninety day program. Why ninety days is, approximately between forty to forty eight days the system goes through a certain cycle on the elemental level; this is called a mandala. Every forty to forty eight days, there is a cycle where the system goes through this cycle. So this is the reason if you go to any Ayurvedic doctor, or a Siddha vaidya, he will always give you a medicine for forty days or forty eight days to make use of that cycle, natural cycle in the body. So I said two mandalas minimum. Three would be good, but if I say three, many things will happen. I said, ‘Minimum two mandalas if you do sadhana, you can gain control over your system, those who want to come, you come,’ and I left the town because I know lot of drama will happen. Now in a family, husband wants to go for ninety days; wife will do kathak. Wife wants to go for ninety days, husband acts like Rajinikanth in the house – angry man, walks up and down like a hero, so many things, drama will happen, so I don’t want to be there. I said, ‘Those who want to come, you come, it's up to you.’

So after that I came back, you know, to a particular family that I know well. You know, it's a normal part of our hospitality, when somebody comes home, first thing is you bring water. So this lady in the house brought water for me and she's like Kali suddenly, not just kathak, she's like Kali. I looked at her – she's a nice lady, today she's in the Kali form – so I looked at her and she offered water to me and I said, ‘Amma, I don’t need this water. I don’t need to drink this water. You're like Kali right now, I don’t need Kali’s prasadam right now, I'm fine.’ She said, ‘Why, will I poison it?’ I said, ‘No, you don’t have to poison it, it's already done.’ Then I told her, ‘You take a sip from this glass.’ She took a sip from the glass, then I said, ‘Give me the glass to me.’ I held in my hands for two minutes and I just gave it to her, ‘You drink it now.’ She drank one sip and burst into tears and started crying, she said, ‘It's sweet.’ I said, ‘That’s all the difference it is.’

Now your body is over seventy percent water, if the water in this system behaves in a sweet manner, will you be at least seventy percent sweet? Hmm? If the air and earth behaves sweetly within you, will you be at least ninety percent sweet? Space is never bothering anybody, isn't it? So the essential science of yoga is about Bhuta Shuddhi, taking charge of the elements within the system. Once you have control over the elements in the system, you can also influence the elements around you. Essentially your whole work with life, your whole work in the world is just with the elements, always, in a very basic form, isn't it? So if you have certain mastery over this, you will… what you want, you don’t even have to think about it, your intention… you don’t have to generate a thought, just before you intend, that is how life will work out for you.

So success is not an uphill task. If you raise this to a higher place, if you raise this to the highest place it can reach, then everything is downhill. Downhill you can run easily or uphill you can run easily? Definitely downhill, isn't it? So is there any scientific evidence? There's substantial scientific evidence today about how the molecular structure of the water can be rearranged without changing the chemical structure, even with a simple thought or a touch. The problem is, your grandmother told you this, didn’t she? Didn’t your grandmothers tell you you should not drink water from anybody’s hands, do not take food from anybody, there is a certain way you must receive only if they have good intentions for you. Did they tell you these things? But when your grandmother said it, the problem is if it goes from the East it is superstition, if it comes from the West it becomes science. That’s where it is. That has to change. Your generation of people, that’s your responsibility to change that, that even if it goes from the East, if it is science it's science.