Our India is a beautiful country and is often visualised as a salad bowl of culture, colour, craft and chaos! The prime minister’s ‘Swacch Bharat’ campaign to clean India is a call to us all to realise the relevance and significance of swacchta or cleanliness in our culture. If we are aware of this concept,why is there so much filth all around?
Shauch or cleanliness, is one of the niyams, disciplines, on the path of ashtanga yoga of Patanjali, for yoga or ‘union’with divine consciousness. It involves not only physical cleanliness but also mental awareness that nothing detrimental to the path of evolution should enter one’s being, consciously or unconsciously. The Bhagwad Gita specifies purity of thought, word and deed as the basis of divine life.The intention is transformation and evolution, as the whole universal mechanism is based on bhaav or feel. Many rituals support cleanliness. Hawans are meant to purify us from inside and outside. Mantras are recited to purify the limbs and senses before we chant special hymns to ignite energies. Deities themselves are bathed,cleaned and adorned in elaborate rituals and then worshipped.
Cleanliness is next to godliness, said M K Gandhi,because becoming unsullied and chaste are essential prerequisites for spiritual evolution. His act of cleaning toilets was to drive home the point that cleanliness of the environment is essential for a harmonious society. Cleanliness is not a choice; it is essential for a healthy mindset. It is next to progressiveness.
Nature has its own system of ensuring the same.One never sees a filthy animal, bird or for that matter, insect. They all are constantly grooming themselves, more on the physical level, while humans are the only species that have the capacity to deprogramme and clean themselves for further evolution. Plants are nurtured by the elements themselves.The wind breaks dried and dull leaves,water washes off dust,the earth ignites new growth after decomposing waste and fire burns to replenish the soil.It is a system that is selfsupporting. The planets offer their purest energies, the sunrays are never contaminated, moonbeams remain their soothing best, offering their re-generative and creative powers to the whole universe.
Shani or Saturn is said to be malefic to rusted iron and unused items. So iron products are periodically oiled and households cleaned of waste. Saturdays are specifically assigned to this task. On the highest pedestal are the supreme ‘cleaning agents,’ the avatars, who cleanse society of all evil.When adharma is at its peak, the avatar descends in human form, showing us the path for further evolution,from one yuga to the next, and so there is this cycle of eternal ‘spring cleaning’! Krishna jumped into the Yamuna to kill Kaalia, the deadly serpent that resided in its waters. He instilled new love for the humble cow and with Govardhan puja imparted the message of maximum use and recycling of natural resources.
All evolved souls gave the message of selfless service and cleanliness.People have to be aware, act and adopt cleanliness as a cause and leave the spaces they occupy neat and clean with absolute seva bhaav, feel of service. As Kabir sang: Das Kabir jatan se orhi Jyon ki tyon dhar deeni chadariya…. “The body cloth, received after great effort is to be used carefully and offered back as received”. It is clear,therefore,that swacch bharat is not a new term; it is a reminder for reawakening the essence of ancient Indic culture that gives prime importance to internal and external cleanliness.
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