Cleanliness & Purity - How ?

Cleanliness Concept

Cleanliness has great significance in Hinduism. Heaven (swarg) is a pure realm. The earth (bhu) and the mid-region (bhuva) are mixed worlds, and the underworld (patala) is an impure place. They only can reach the heaven (svah) who are pure like the heavenly beings. Therefore, Hindu scriptures emphasize the importance of cleanliness and purity in the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of humans upon earth, and prescribe self-purification for salvation.

Mortal life is an impure life. The mortal world is an impure world. Hence, whoever lives upon the earth and suffers from births and deaths is not free from impurities. In the mortal world, beings accumulate impurities for various reasons. They may arise due to one’s own actions, the actions of others or the acts of God. 

In Hinduism, cleanliness is an important virtue and the Bhagavad Gita describes it as one of the divine qualities which one must practice. The Sanskrit word for cleanliness is shauch. The importance of shauch can be clearly ascertained by the fact that Bhagavad Gita repeats this word in five slokas. 

But what is it that makes house cleaning a compulsory practice during Diwali? According to popular Hindu belief, Goddess Laxmi resides in cleanliness. So, the cleaner the house is, the greater are the chances for the deity to shower blessings on your house. Besides, Goddess Laxmi is also considered the goddess of wealth – and we all want to welcome her in our houses.

The Scientific Reason? It is not Diwali when people start cleaning or renovating the house. As soon as Chaumasa (Rainy Season) ends, several Indians starts cleaning the house. India is a tropical country where most of the dust is generated from heat and side by side, the rainy season produced several insects/germs. It was an old tradition that once the rainy season is over and humidity reached too low then we Indians starts cleaning the house either whitewash or applying cow-dung (old house) which was used as a disinfectant. This removed/killed germs/insects from houses. Further, a cleaned house is always good to maintain a healthy life.

How to Approach Cleaning the House
1. Some of these tips shared by Marie Kondo come in handy home light and bright.
2. Keep only those objects which bring out the excitement in us.
3. When we start organizing our things, rather than going room by room, or space by space, we attempt to do item by item, like books first, then utensils then clothes etc.
4. It's important to finish a task that we started to ensure that we reach a sense of completeness.
5. The drawer or the box where we keep all extra is a good place, to begin with. generally, these are the places where we keep our extras, which never come in use.
6. While beginning it's difficult to even imagine myself doing this. So I begin with the simple stuff which I can finish easily and fast. Can look at the order to be: clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous, and, finally, memories.
7. Arranging clothes by type will help in easy arrangement and finding as per need.
8. A certain way of keeping clothes comes in handy in identifying as they become visually appealing. it's called Vertical Folding of items.

Marie Kondo shared with us the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing - We have so many things in our house which we do not use in years. We bought them in anticipation that we like them and may come in handy at some point in time. To make our surroundings lighter and more congenial for us to stay, we need to get rid of things which are not useful. Easier said than done. Only because we have no idea how to choose the things we need from those which we do not.
Simple, discard what does not make us happy.

Cleaning in Business

We cleaned our House – How to clean our workplace? Everything I Have is important – after all – I MEAN BUSINESS!

Red tags are a simple, but critical, tool used in the first step of 5S which is an integral part of the Lean and KAIZEN™ process. A red tag system is simply a communication tool used to identify items that a person has flagged for removal from a work area. While the tagging is most frequently done during kaizen events, it can be done at any time.

In a nutshell, when a person finds an item that they either don’t know what it is or is not needed in a process, they tag it. The red tag acts as a signal to everyone else in the area that someone intends to move the item out of the work area at some point in the near future. This leads to a discussion about the item, and ultimately, a decision about whether or not the item stays or goes.

Cleaning Body & Soul – How to?

Shuddi Kriyas are detoxifying/cleansing practises that remove dietary/ emotional/ environmental toxins as well as waste by-products of metabolic processes, to cleanse, detox and make pristine your body, mind, spirit, soul and energy. This is a great way to wellness and prevents a host of diseases. 

Sometimes however yogic practices alone may not suffice, especially in chronic conditions or if a diseased state is already in an advanced stage - in which case one would have to undergo a much deeper, more comprehensive cleansing in the form of Ayurvedic Panchakarma.

The six cleansing processes are Neti, Kapal Bhati, Dhauti, Basti (Enema), Nauli and Trataka. These kriyas clean the eyes, respiratory system, food pipe and tone up the abdominal viscera and the intestines. They also build up resistance to diseases, sharpen the mind and wash the colon.

The Sudarshan Kriya of the Art of Living school of yoga is for cleansing negative emotions and stress that gathers within the body.

CONCLUSION

The body is cleansed by water, the internal organ is purified by truthfulness, the individual soul by sacred learning and austerities, and the intellect by (true) knowledge. Manu Smriti (1.109)

 

The Purity of  Karma is brought by Seva, Dhan By Daan, Mann By Saadhna.

Let us take up something for each of the aspects of our life – HOME – BUSINESS – BODY & SOUL to succeed in our aspirations. Cleanliness / Shuddhi holds a special place as the civilizations have grown and become established. It becomes more important when godliness is unlikely.  

Alternative Therapies - An Option to Explore !

    

    Modern medicine has progressed exponentially. Multiple illnesses are treatable in the current times which were not treatable 100 years back. Penicillin the antibiotic, Organ transplants, stem cell therapy, immunotherapy are just to name a few. That's the achievement modern science has made in the past 100 years.  

It's easy to say that it is only modern science that has done wonders and no other therapy will be able to cure ailments. But we may not know the entire truth. I heard in a video documentary that our human civilization is about 30, 000 years old. We have been masters in living like a civilization. Our history about our ancient gods and kings tells us many stories about how humans have mastered special arts in curing themselves.

Certain examples are exemplary and modern science has nowhere reached close to them even today. When Lord Shiva cut off the head of Ganesha, he had to attach the head of a baby elephant to Ganesha's body to bring him back to life. That is one of the marvels of ancient advancement. We all know about the stories of ancient Chinese travellers who used to travel to India from far and wide to learn cosmetic surgery. This kind of surgery has been detailed in our Ayurveda books like the Charak Samhita. 

There are more than one therapies that are prevalent in every part of the world in today's times. With the advent of communication across the world, it has been easier for these therapies to make their way across the world to other corners reaching far and wide. Not every therapy is effective on all ailments but you will definitely be able to find more than one therapy being impactful on ailments where modern medicine has no reach. 

Recently when Malay had an attack of cervical spondylitis, he was bedridden for two weeks. If that was not enough, modern medicine specialists gave him nerve relaxants to relieve him of the pain. We approached a Neuro Surgeon to take an opinion on what options we had.  He simple told us that he will cut across the throat and screw the ribs which had been displaced. I was flabbergasted. Something so minuscule could be treated in such a grave manner was beyond my imagination.

I promised myself, I will not let them insert even a needle into Malay, leave alone slitting his throat off ! And then began my journey of searching for alternative therapies for him.

On the top of my list was Ayurveda. The panchkarma treatments have been beneficial to many in similar ailments and we gave it a shot.

Cranio Sacharal therapy was next on my list. This therapy stimulates the cranial joints and helps in self healing of the body. 

Malay was keener to try out a Chiropractor specialising in multi-dimensional therapies, including CST, physiotherapy, and needles.

Someone recommended Accupressure. Accupressure and Accupuncture provide stimulation to the corresponding nerves of the regions of the body where pressure is applied.

I being Reiki and Pranik healing practitioner also started giving energy to him to relieve him of his stress.

Stress. This is one of the biggest culprits in the cause of any ailment in the body. These days, auto immune diseases have been very prevalent. This happens because of the stress that gets accumulated in the body because we are unable to get rid of it. Stress can come in any firm. Someone said something to me and I couldn't take it, some event that happened in my life that triggered stress and so on. To live a healthy life, it is important to get rid of this stress. The body collects stress in itself and can be relieved through Yog, Pranayam and Meditation. Luckily for us, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar has our back and with practice and his blessings, we will sail thru soon!

My Forced Experience on Minimalism

I was visiting a client and then to my inlaws place for a total of the 5-day trip. And then things started to change. The one-day trial lockdown happened and then a few days and then indefinite. I didn't know my fate as I got stuck in a place without resources or even clothes!

I had watched a documentary on minimalism. It looked like those who adopt minimalism are renouncing the world. That was never an option for me. With at least 50 odd dresses in my closet, I thrive on the colour of life. Yet, here I was, stuck in another town, with 4 sets of clothes in my suitcase, one nightsuit, a toothbrush and nothing else. Oh Yes, thank god for small mercies. I had my laptop and phone with me too!

Minimalism is not about having fewer things. It's about having only the things I need. Sometimes I think, what is the only thing I may need for survival. Maybe 2 sets of clothes ( one to wear and the other to wash) a pair of footwear and food to eat. Is there anything else I may need for survival? yet there is so much ruckus in the world, a rat race to achieve so much in life and why?

In routine, I use only very few things on a regular basis, such as clothes, shoes, mobile and wallet. Just the thought of not having other things with you makes me go crazy. When the lockdown was announced, the first thing I realized was that I had a roof above my head, but without any of the daily resources that I use. I thanked God, that I was not in the midst of a natural calamity, which would have made it really bad and the best thing was I had my hubby n my daughter around. I needn't worry about anything. Then I thought to myself, at max what I need is my wallet and my phone. rest all can be managed. 

So, off I went, to the store, to buy the daily needs items and food supplies to last us for some time. That was it. Four months on the basics of life, made me appreciate the little things in life.  The sunlight, the fresh air, the flowers, yoga, meditation and food to eat. These became my companions. I felt like a yogi. A Sadhu. These little things, which actually are needed for living life comfortably were with me. The rest were just fancy items that we barely use. To tell you the fact, I never missed any other items. I never missed my dresses, my decorations, my electronic appliances. 

This made me think, minimalism isn't all that difficult. Although my last encounter with it was forced, it made me appreciate the little things of life.