Cleanliness

[wcrow]

I am wondering what the views of cleanliness are in hinduism. For instance in many religions it is seen as appropriate to bathe or clean oneself before commencing in religious activities - like the wudu for islam ect.

Is there something similar in hinduism?

Thanks in advance,

Wilfred

[Eastern Mind]

wcrow: As far as I know, all Hindus without exception would take a shower before going to temple or doing sadhana. It rids the body of odic (worldly) forces.

Aum Namasivaya

[LALKAR]

Nahaste,

Cleanliness is for shuddhta, Hinduism teachs shuddhta of body and soul

doby needs bath and soul need divine deeds

[wcrow]

Thanks. It is interesting to know this, because there are so many religions that have a special ritual for cleanliness that should be done before religious activity.

[sanjaya]

In my family, we don't go into the puja room before bathing. For some reason children are exempt from this. But apparently this is a fairly widely practiced cleanliness tradition among Hindus.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namast�


Let me ask our esteemed HDF members the following... does cleanliness = purity? i.e. does śauca (cleanliness) contribute to one's overall progress? Is it a practice ?

If we are purifed on the outside by snāna ( ritual bath) or āpa (a quantity of water) what is there to purifiy us on the inside ( mind, heart, intellect) ? We can recall that śauca is considered one of the five niyama-s� .

praṇām

1. more on niyama-s here if there is interest: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2970

[ScottMalaysia]

One should generally bathe and wear clean (i.e. freshly washed) clothes before worship.

However, the Catechism of Hindu Dharma states that if a person is prevented from bathing before worship, he doesn't have to abstain from it. The book quotes the Mahanirvana (which I think is one of the Tantras) as saying "Whether a man has bathed or has not bathed, has taken his food or is with empty stomach, he may worship the Supreme Self always with a pure heart" (Mahanirvana, III, 78)

The only thing required is a pure heart:

"The only condition in this practice is that he should possess a pure heart, and the only resolution that he should form is a mental resolution or thought control." (Ibid. III, 120)

However, if you're going to be entering the sacred areas in a temple (the area in front of the altar in a North Indian temple or the shrines in a South Indian temple) then more rigorous conditions are required (but as you're not a priest you don't need to worry about those.)

[Eastern Mind]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namast�


Let me ask our esteemed HDF members the following... does cleanliness = purity? i.e. does śauca (cleanliness) contribute to one's overall progress? Is it a practice ?

If we are purifed on the outside by snāna ( ritual bath) or āpa (a quantity of water) what is there to purifiy us on the inside ( mind, heart, intellect) ? We can recall that śauca is considered one of the five niyama-s� .

praṇām

1. more on niyama-s here if there is interest: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2970

Yajvan: IMO, cleanliness does not EQUAL purity. Cleanliness usually only refers to the external body, although it can mean the inside. Purity is more all encompassing, including mind, action, soul, etc. I remember one day when I was young a wise woman observed how even in this regard, people could only see the external. Somebody would spend twenty minutes bathing, and then proceed in ten seconds to eat a slab of meat, basically undoing the bath. We put 'poisons' of all kinds into our bodies each day without realising it: chemicals, undue amounts of sugar, caffeine, etc. Of course many of these are debatable.

Just some ideas.
Aum Namasivaya

[TatTvamAsi]

Sauca is conducive to positive energy flow and thus is conducive to prayer which includes ritual, meditation, yogasana etc. To achieve a sattvic state of mind, mental AND physical purity is a must. Every prayer starts with sankalpa and for many orthodox Hindus, with the SataRudriya as a purification of the mind.

Physical cleanliness is usually a prerequisite to inner cleanliness and thus they are bound. A person who is filthy outside will usually be filthy in other matters as well. As always, there are exceptions (a la Raikva) but that doesn't imply anything.

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté


Let me ask our esteemed HDF members the following... does cleanliness = purity? i.e. does śauca (cleanliness) contribute to one's overall progress? Is it a practice ?

If we are purifed on the outside by snāna ( ritual bath) or āpa (a quantity of water) what is there to purifiy us on the inside ( mind, heart, intellect) ? We can recall that śauca is considered one of the five niyama-s¹ .

praṇām

1. more on niyama-s here if there is interest: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2970

[Eastern Mind]

Sauca is conducive to positive energy flow and thus is conducive to prayer which includes ritual, meditation, yogasana etc.

Vannakam: I like this wording, especially 'conducive to' . It implies nothing hard and fast, yet indicates the truth. I would think that most people who even have an inkling to the 'feeling' of this would have discovered by accident or purposeful experimentation. Often people who work in the world will take a quick shower when reentering the sanctuary of the home just to remove the worldly dross, especially on those days when such dross was stronger. The bigger the onion, the bigger the stink.

Aum Namasivaya