“Ahimsā Satyam Asteyam Saucham Indriya-nigrahah,
Etam sāmāsikam Dharmam chaturvarnye abravīn Manuh.”
(Manu Smriti 10.63)
In the series of “Sanatan Dharma”, we have already discussed in our previous articles about the introduction of Sanatan Dharma, and it’s two basic principles i.e., Ahimsā (Non- violence) and Satyam (Truth). In this article, the other two basic principle i.e., Asteyam (abstinence from corruption) and Saucham (Purity) will be discussed which are as follows:
Asteyam:
According to the above-mentioned
shloka of Manu Smriti, the third principle of Sanatan Dharma is Asteyam,
meaning, abstention from taking others’ property. This isn’t limited to
stealing others’ money or things, but expands to acts of fraud or dishonesty in
general. For example:
1.1. Accepting or giving
bribe
1.2. Overpricing goods in the
name of business
1.3. Not paying the
deserved fees to a worker
1.4. Overworking a worker
without paying him aptly
1.5. Taking payment for a
work but not doing the work properly
1.6. Destroying or using
other’s property without permission
1.7. Not worshipping God,
the Creator of infinite universes etc.,
While the first six examples
are related to the mundane world, the 7th example is spiritual in
nature. Regardless of which form of God one has faith in, one should be grateful
to the Creator of the infinite universes for everything He has given to us.
First of all, we have
received this human body that is the only medium for spiritual enlightenment and
salvation from the cycle of birth and death.
Besides that, God has given
us air to breathe, water to drink, all kinds of food to relish or maintain the
body, medicines & herbs to protect the body from diseases and so on. Each
one of us take so much from the Nature free of cost and utilize the resources
for our survival and comfort. God never differentiates between those who
worship Him and those who don’t, while providing us everything we need to
survive.
God doesn’t need anything
from us. He is omnipotent and ever-content in His own eternal bliss. But if we could only be grateful
to Him and worship Him a little, we could break free from this repetitive cycle
of suffering and attain eternal bliss. Since every Jivatma is a part and parcel
of God, the spiritual enlightenment of a Jivatma gives immense pleasure to God.
And if such a Jivatma engages in His divine Bhakti, then there are no words to
describe His pleasure.
If one doesn’t worship God,
it makes no difference to God. But the Jivatma will lose an incredible
opportunity to find eternal bliss and divine love.
What is the meaning of worshipping
God? Does it mean going to the temple, prostrating before the deities, chanting
mantras, etc? No, although all these activities are parts of Bhakti, they are
merely external activities. The basic sentiment of Bhakti is ‘I belong to
God and only God belongs to me’. If one can just remember this and always
chant Harinaam, he can please God very quickly.
But one who doesn’t worship
God is a thief since he takes from Nature but does nothing to please the
Creator.
Abstention from all such
fraudulent activities is one of the basic principles of Sanatan Dharma.
Saucham:
Saucham means purity. There are two types of
purity: Antah Saucham (mental purity) and Bahir Saucham (bodily purity).
Antah Saucham:
Purity of mind. What makes
the mind impure? The six enemies of mind –
·
desire,
·
anger,
·
greed,
·
illusion,
·
pride
and
·
jealousy
are the roots of all kinds of
evil and impure thoughts. Attachment and hatred are also products of these six enemies
of mind. When such negative emotions engulf the mind, we must understand that
the mind has become impure.
One must strive to keep such
negative emotions at bay. But regardless of relentless practice, our mind gets
engulfed in such negative thoughts due to the Samskaras of infinite previous
lives. It is only natural to develop such thoughts sometimes. (One must
neither stop striving for purity of mind, nor despair on failure to do so. With
practice, the mind can be controlled gradually.)
At that time, one must chant
Harinaam in solitude and pray to God for the purification of mind. He should
read and contemplate on the teachings of the scriptures to eradicate those
negative thoughts. Even after trying all these, if his mind is not free from
such negative thoughts, then he must visit and associate with enlightened
Sadhus. He must honestly describe the impure state of his mind, listen
carefully to the teachings of such Sadhus and try his best to follow them in
his life. The words of enlightened Sadhus have such power that they can
enable even lowly people to overcome great obstacles in the path of
spirituality. In this way, one can gradually but surely, purify his mind.
Bahir Saucham: Purity of body. It is the
basic duty of a person to maintain cleanliness of body. But cleanliness doesn’t
refer to just lack of dirt to the naked eye. These are some basic rules of
purity that every follower of Sanatan Dharma must oblige:
2.1.
One must wash hands on touching any of the nine openings in the human body: two
eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the mouth, the genitalia and the anus. (This must be followed while worshipping.)
For
all the openings above the waist, one must wash their hands using just water. But
for the openings below the waist, one must wash their hands with soil or soap.
2.2.
One must bath and wash the clothes that one wore while relieving their bowels
immediately after it. Those clothes carry germs and bacteria invisible to the
naked eye. Therefore, one must not touch anything before bathing and washing
those clothes.
2.3. One
must wash his hands before and after a meal. While eating, as soon as the food
touches the lips, the food becomes “Uchhista”, meaning food made impure
due to one’s saliva. One must never touch anything with the impure hand while
eating. Also, the vessels containing Uchhista should not be placed on clothes,
bed, etc. The Vedic rule is to place the vessel on ground, stone, metal or wood,
which has to be purified later.
2.4. The
Vedas forbid a person to eat the remnants of another person’s food. (Only in
case of Guru and Vaishnavas, the remnants of Their food is considered highly spiritual
that enhance one’s Bhakti).
2.5. One
must always use the right hand for eating and auspicious activities, while the
left hand for impure activities.
2.6. One
must always wash the respective body parts if something impure is touched and wash
the clothes if something impure falls on them.
2.7.
(For spiritual seekers) One must always bath before sunrise, preferably during
Brahma muhurta, wear fresh & clean clothes, purify his senses through the
auspicious markings of Tilak and chant Harinaam before engaging in daily sacred
rituals.
2.8.
One must not engage in any unlawful sense enjoyments according to the rules of
Vedas. For example, accompaniment with one’s own wife is lawful for a Grihastha
but unlawful for a Sannyasi.
Purity of body and mind are
correlated. Without following the rules
of purity of body, one can never achieve purity of mind. Especially, when one
engages in sense enjoyments apart from what is required to survive or perform
their respective Varnāshrama duties, the mind becomes engulfed in desire,
anger, lust, hatred, etc again and again.
For example, when one eats healthy and Satvik food to nourish the body, the tongue automatically relishes good taste. But if someone eats food only to please his taste buds, it will cause the development of desire, greed, anger, etc. Lack of purity of food and overeating can also cause a number of diseases.
Likewise, lack of purity of body will cause diseases, not only to the person, but also to other people surrounding him. On the other hand, impurity of mind will cause negative emotions and thoughts in society. Therefore, it is the duty of every human being to strive for bodily and mental purity.
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