A coconut tree may consume any type of water from sweet ground water to salty sea water but the fruit which it bears always gives only sweet water. This is equivalent to that of life of an ascetic or a mother because only they give good things to their followers and children.
For this reason, pregnant ladies are not allowed to break open a coconut as it is equivalent to kill a life form and moreover the vibrations from breaking a coconut could harm the fetus in the womb.
In Tamil nadu, coconut tree is called as thennam pillai meaning coconut child and they never call it as a tree but only as child. Even cutting of a live coconut tree is considered a sin and equivalent to that of murdering their own child in Tamil culture.
PNN