Hygiene
Hygiene or saucham
is given primary importance in Srimad Bhagvat Geetha. Cleanliness is important not
only for making advancement in spiritual life but also everyday life. There are
two kinds of cleanliness .One is external wherein its scope includes social,
physical and mental cleanliness. The other is internal cleanliness.
Hygiene refers to a set of practices associated
with the preservation of health and healthy living.
The term Hygiene
is derived from ‘’Hygeneia’’, the Greek Goddess of health, cleanliness and
sanitation. Hygiene is given great importance in Islam too. Other than ritual
cleanliness for the five times daily prayers, there is other large number of
related rules in Islam.
In Europe until shortly after Renaissance, bathing did not
loose its importance. After that bathing was replaced with perfumes as there
was a misconception that water could carry diseases in the body through the skin.
Contrary to Hindu belief that water washes away all the sins and that is why
bathing in Ganges is considered an ambulation
According to
Bhagvat Geetha external .saucham includes our interaction with other people. If
in our peer group a person has negative thoughts all the time then it affects
our mental hygiene. After talking to persons
who are vein with contempt for other’s view one may feel exhausted or depressed.
So it is advised to keep away from such company. If external hygiene affects
our internal hygiene then we must guard ourselves from it. One would have
observed that in the presence of a spiritual teacher, one can easily be
emotionally mentally and spiritually uplifted if one is receptive.
Bhagavt Geetha
also mentions saucham to be observed in food. Food should be handled by persons
in good health, mental and physical. The good or bad energies get transmitted
to food,
What is internal hygiene? It means keeping our
mind pure by carrying positive thoughts. Negative thoughts cause great damage
to our body. Harboring negative feeling for a long period may manifest as
ailment like hyperthyroid, sinusitis, epilepsy, hypertension, kidney problem, skin
ailment, rheumatoid arthritis etc.
Proper diet,
exercise, emotions, thoughts, relationship, livelihood, lifestyle and law of
karma is explained in
Bhagvat Geetha specially
in chapter 13 for attaining Saucham.[cleanliness].
We all know that
emotions affect our inner hygiene but do not know how to cleanse it. A fly went
and sat on honey to lap it up. After lapping it up, it wanted to fly off. But its
wing got stuck in the honey. We are also like the fly hankering after acquiring.
Avarice is the root cause of all evils. How to stop avarice? This is where the
great epic by Sri Krishna comes to our rescue.
Chanting of lord’s name washes off our past karma. Therefore a reading
of Bhagvat Getha with purport is a must for all.
Contentment enters
only a pure, clean and upright mind. In the absence of internal hygiene all other
hygiene are futile.
As milk kept in a
dirty pot gets contaminated, so a person with wrong beliefs, worldly
attachment, malice, ill will and greed is sure to get into problems.
Human mind is the supreme power that governs our
entire action .only calm and contented mind will lead us to a life of bliss.
The great English
poet Oliver Goldsmith after traveling the European countries in search of peace
said,
‘’ Vain, very vain! My weary search to find
that bliss which centers in the mind.’’
This verse
emphasizes the point that internal purity
is of primary importance for a good life.
