George Bernard Shaw said, “Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.”
Cleanliness is important for your life and for people around you. The term cleanliness has more of an external connotation than internal. However, it is important to be clean from within and not just keep your surroundings clean. We need to adopt the word, ‘Bahyaabhyantarah’. ‘Bahya’ means outside and ‘abhyantarah’ means inside and stands for the process of inward and outward cleanliness.
Harmonious living
Cleanliness brings harmony to your living space and the mind, body, and soul occupy the most vital spaces requiring daily cleaning. The Earth is under our protection but we renege on our commitment, Nature, on the other hand, undertakes regular cleansing. The changing seasons, the cycle of birth and death, and other shifts we are unaware of shows nature shedding old skin and embarking on a new journey, each day. We need to do the same.
What is cleanliness?
Cleanliness implies letting go of things, people, emotions, baggage, ties, and troubles, that are not good for you. Discarding these unnecessary impediments will unburden you and leave you feeling light. You will soar like a bird in the sky.
Cleanliness is associated with hygiene, which necessitates good health. It is important to bathe, eat well, get enough rest, avoid consuming toxic substances and not overindulge.
Keeping homes beautiful and clean by dusting the dirt, de-cluttering and keeping things orderly is important to keep your environment clean and taking care of your space.
This external mechanical process is essential to keep away distractions and surround you with positive energy.
A spiritual cleansing
Real cleanliness means cleaning your mind, body, and soul. This requires you to tread a spiritual path where you submit yourself to keeping out vices and inviting virtues. Your environment saps your energy by trapping you in a network of anger, lust, attachment, greed, toxic emotions, laziness, envy, ego etc. It is easy to succumb to these negative emotions and more difficult to stay detached. If you can avoid these pitfalls, you will embark on a more peaceful journey in life. These emotions are quite common but it is essential to acknowledge they block your progress. God can guide you in your journey but it is your job to ensure the blocks of your life are placed in the right order. Take the environment as an example where human greed has caused its destruction. Pollution created by humans has ushered a more harmful and less sustainable future.
Be the change
It is never too late to reflect on your actions and begin making a positive change. First, practice staying away from negative impulses. Follow the example of spiritual leaders or people who have overcome shortcomings without hampering society. Refresh your mind avoiding attachments, thus, preventing confusion and contradictions. This aids unbiased decision making. An alert and active mind is important but your intellect should not be used to exploit systems because eventually, you will suffer. Regular self-analysis is mandatory to keep yourself in check.
Until you declutter your mind and channel it to more positive thoughts using tools such as meditation, you will be lost without a destination. Bring transformation in yourself by becoming more self-aware. Your purity of thought, action, morals, love, speech and intellect count for a lot in changing the quality of your life.
There is an entire universe within you. Your thoughts are capable of uplifting your world, and preparing you for any sort of combat. The revolution of cleaning your mind, body, and soul is for your greater good but requires your effort. Make time to practice cleansing and see how it will bring positive and peaceful change to your life.
Swacchta hi seva hai.
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