Because the entire body is capable of this. I must tell you my experience. Once, you know, like we had a major success in some business venture when I was doing this. So I was always exposed to nature wherever possible. I’ve been trekking, motorcycling, all this. But my partner is a nice city boy. So we decided that we will go to a place where there was a reservoir, like a dam, and there’s a big lake, and there are small, reasonable-sized hills. We went there, and we were all swimming. After swimming – I was still in my swimming trunks, I thought let me climb the hill. The summer month’s – pretty dry. So I went up the hill.
Now I’m… sometimes I wonder these days wherever I go, somebody’s carrying a bottle of water. At that time I rode through the day and night, I never had a water bottle with me. We just managed just like that. So I went up the hill. As I went in the summer heat, bare bodied, I was sweating heavily. But, you know, I have a problem of turning back halfway. So I want to go all the way up, and then come down. I went up, and as I was beginning to come down, I started feeling that I was suffocating with my tongue kind of bloating up. I was dehydrating so much that my tongue was becoming like a block in my breathing, and I really started struggling. I badly needed at least a few drops of water. I tried to lick my own sweat but it didn’t help.
When you really need something, like food or water, you will see every cell in the body will long for it. If you pay attention, you will see thirst is not just in your mouth, it’s everywhere.
When I thought I’m going to kind of literally lose my consciousness, like I’m going to faint. Then I just sat there with my eyes closed for some time. Then I realised my entire body – you know like, all the hair on my hands and legs are all going this way. It’s not like goosebumps. Goosebumps means, this will rise ‘this’ way, this will rise ‘this’ way. I just saw that all the hair pointing this way. And I just knew there’s water somewhere here, and I just went in search of it. I went into a small, beneath a rock outcrop, like a small cave – a cave not for a human being, maybe rabbits and rats and those kind of animals could go and stay there, that kind of cave. Just about that much. There was a small pool of water. Maybe it was a rabbit’s urine, or it was rain water. I don’t know what the hell it was, it didn’t matter. I just put my face into it and drank up the whole thing, including the mud and everything. I sat there for a while recovered from that and came down.
Why I’m saying this is, when you really need something, like food or water, you will see every cell in the body will long for it. If you pay attention, you will see thirst is not just in your mouth, it’s everywhere.
