Why do we break the coconut?

Why do we Hindus break the coconut when we’re starting or inaugarating something new or travelling? Here’s the tea.

This practice says that Shri Adishankaracharya from the South introduced it as a replacement to the practice of bali, which needed human & animal sacrifice as the coconut looks like a human skull that can be broken & also has flesh & blood i.e. water inside.

But like many Hindu practices, if you look at the symbolism behind it, it means that we’re breaking our hard external outer ego & negativity, surrendering our inner soft pure souls to God, reminding ourselves that all obstacles can be broken, so like prayers, it’s a smart way of spiritually humbling ourselves before we do something new.

From a scientific lens, coconut as a food is highly sattvic, meaning it has pure positive energy so that’s why it’s called as the sriphala & sprinkling coconut water & drinking it does cleanse your body & the environment, which is proven by research. Whereas eating it gives you fibre & healthy fats to control blood pressure, improve cholestrol & also prevent cancer to some extent.

Some folks even interpret the 3 dots on the coconut as the Hindu BMV, Bhrama Vishnu & Mahesh trilogy or if you’re looking from a Vedic Science perspective, the 3 nadis which carry energies, something we’ll explore in another Reel.

So all in all, the breaking of coconuts at temples or inaugrations is just a practical way of remembering God without creating waste because we can use its husk & outer shell in the agni i.e. fire and it’s water & flesh to feed the poor.