Avahanam
By Sivam Facebook
 
 
 Why do you mount the coconut on the metal pot?

Why do we put the husked coconut in the mouth of the vessel?

A devotee asked why no other vegetable sat on the top of the vessel.

Water is the essence of life. Valluvar says there is no life without water. We invoke God into the water stored in the pot and worship him.

It is customary to tie a thread around the neck of the vessel, fill the vessel with water mixed with cardamom, clove, and edible camphor, apply mango leaves at the mouth of the vessel, and place the coconut on the leaves for worship.

The pot is a bronze or copper vessel. These metals are good conductors and draw the chanted mantras into the vessel. The container is the body of God, and the threads are the Nadis (tube, pipe, nerve, blood vessel, pulse).

Cardamom and other aromatic powders are the basic powers compared to chromosomes, genes, DNA, and RNA. The mango leaf is unique because they do not dry out for many days after being plucked from the tree. Other leaves fade quickly. That is the reason for the use of mango leaves. The belief is that the mango tree drives away Ajñāna and gives Jñānam.

Coconut has a unique quality that others do not have because it has three eyes.

While we perform Archana with the recitation of God's names, it is customary to say,' Sōma, Sūrya, Agni, and Lōcanā (Eyes).

Lōcanam means eyes: The right eye is the sun, the left eye is the moon, and Agni (fire) is the third eye in the mid-forehead. God only has the power to open the third eye. Because the coconut has three eyes, we place it in the mouth of the vessel. The three eyes of the coconut are on the upper end with attached fibers regarded as the hair of God. As soon as we break the coconut, we say, 'Shear the Kudumi (the cone-like fibers).'



We associate the coconut with the head without conscious effort or recall. If the vessel is unavailable, we can worship with the coconut alone, whose water has the essential powers besides the sweetness.

Our ancestors equated the coconut with the head of God for the reasons mentioned above.
Om Nama Sivaya