scientifically explains why menstruating women should not enter Hindu temples

Indian-American cardiologist scientifically explains why menstruating women should not enter Hindu temples

Hindu organizations in south India have launched massive protests against the Indian supreme court’s decision to allow women to visit the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. Traditionally women aged 10 to 50 were prevented from entering the temple because Lord Ayyappa, the deity of the Sabarimala temple, is a bachelor (naishtika brahmachari), and the presence of young women would disturb the deity. Hindu women devotees have expressed anger at the court decision, and insisted that they do not wish to enter the Sabarimala temple violating the ancient traditions of the temple.

In this context, Indian-American cardiologist Dr. Nisha Pillai’s video explaining why menstruating women should not enter Hindu temples has become a viral hit. Dr. Pillai, who was born in Kerala and obtained her medical degree from Kottayam Medical College, completed her medical residency and fellowship in New York, and is a cardiologist at the reputed Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York. Using her extensive scientific knowledge and expertise in modern medicine, Dr. Pillai explains very clearly the scientific reasons why women are not allowed to enter Hindu temples, and she also points out the deficiencies of modern science and modern medicine. Dr. Nisha Pillai’s video was uploaded to Youtube by “Kerala Media”, and is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ22LBrFBm4.

Below are the key scientific principles highlighted by Dr. Pillai in her video. The numbers show the timestamp in the video or the minutes and seconds where Dr. Pillai speaks this text.

0:45 “As someone working in the medical field for 25-30 years I wanted to give a scientific explanation on why women should not enter the temple during menstruation.”

1:07 - “Unlike other religions' places of worship which are prayer halls, Hindu temples are situated within a magnetic field.”

1:35 - "We construct (consecrate) the Hindu temple in an area with high magnetic field.”

1:55 - “When a priest (thanthri) consecrates a Hindu temple, a life force is transferred from the priest to the idol in the temple, and this life force is expanded and the place becomes an ethereal environment.”

2:55 - “I will give a scientific explanation on why women should not visit the Hindu temple during their menstruation period.”

3:20 - "The body has different levels of existence, which modern science has not understood, and that has caused several misconceptions in society.

3:35 "Just as this mobile phone has hardware, software, and battery, we also have a body, we have our mind, and we have an energy body".

4.00 - "The biggest deficiency of modern medicine is that it is a structural science. Its understanding is limited to the hardware of the body. If you ask physicians like me who practice modern medicine, we don't have a good explanation to how the mind works."

5:20 - "Prana or life force is an energy body that works through the 72,000 nerves (nadi) in our body which go parallel to our nervous system.”

5:35 - “There are 7 plexus in our body or “chakras” similar to the neural plexus. In every person, there is a basic life force that resides in our “mooladhaara” or anal plexus.”

6:00 - “If you go above it (anal plexus), that’s where our survival or fighting instinct is based. Above that near the celiac plexus is where our business instinct is based.”

6:55 - “The life force in each person is at a different level.”

7:05 - “We go to the temple (Hindu) so that we can raise our energy from its lower level to progressively higher levels to universal awareness. This is the concept of spirituality in Hinduism (sanatana dharma).”

6:55 - “Spirituality is the process by which we raise the energy in our lower level to the next level, step by step, to grow into universal awareness.”

7.35  "Temples (Hindu) move our life force in an upward direction."

8:01 - "There are five "prana vayu" (life forces or vital air) in the body. These are prana, samana, apana, vyana, and udana. There are also upa-vayu (sub-life forces) like prasuti vayu (vital air that is responsible for child birth)."

8:50 -"Prasuti vayu" (the sub-life force or vital air that is responsible for child birth) is situated in the uterus and the female genital organs. It creates a negative force, a downward force, when a woman is menstruating."

9:10 - "The downward force of the “prasuti vayu" (the sub-life force or vital air that is responsible for child birth) is very strong when a woman is pregnant, that is why the head of the baby in the womb comes down by the 8th month of pregnancy.”

9:20 - “Menstruating women should not go to temples because they experience a downward force in their body, while the temple pulls our life force upwards. So it may cause the menstrual blood to go back into the body in the opposite direction, or may cause the tubes in the uterus to become closed, which could lead to infertility or endometriosis.”

11:00 - “Lord Ayyappa (deity of the Sabarimala temple), a form of Sastha, is a celibate, and in the Sabarimala temple his idol is seated in the yoga pose called Yogapattasana, which is favorable to celibacy.”

11:35 - “In everyone of us there is a male form (bhava) and a female form. Every person is partly male and partly female in our thinking and in our existential level.”

12:20 - “In this twentieth century whatever is needed for our spiritual development is provided by Lord Ayyappa (deity of Sabarimala temple).”

12:50 - “We have to observe 41 days of “mandala kalam” (vow of austerity) before we go to Sabarimala temple. This is because our body needs 21 days to complete a cell renewal cycle. When we take a vow of austerity during the 41 days of “mandala kalam”, our body goes through two complete cell regeneration cycles, which changes our thoughts and mind.”

13:45 - “Women are not able to observe the vow of austerity for 41 days because it is not good for them to experience positive energy or northward energy when they also have “prasuti vayu” (the sub-life force or vital air that is responsible for child birth, which creates a negative or downward force), so women were excluded from observing penance.”

14:30 - “Lord Ayyappa does not think that it is impure for women to come to the Sabarimala temple. Women are asked to stay away from the Ayyappa temple to protect their own health”.

15:25 - “A devotee’s body and mind need to be pure if you are to step on the srichakra and go to the Sabarimala temple, for which you need to undergo penance for the 41 days of the “mandala kalam”. Women are asked not to go to the temple because we cannot do the 41 days penance, so we have no right to step on the srichakra in the temple. Will you knowingly step on a buried time bomb?”

16:35 - “A 16-year girl said on TV that she went to the temple during her menstruation as a form of protest… The prana vayu (life form) active in your body will take its negative form and hurt you. Our problem is that many people don’t have this information. All this is very scientific.”