Physical cleanliness for spiritual people
Over the years and during my travels I have come across many people all over the world of all cultures, races and backgrounds. Concerning cleanliness, I have found that it matters not where you come from, how much money you make, what your race is, who your parents are, what part of the city you live in or if you live in the country or even how spiritual you are that decides how physically clean or dirty someone will be.
Preconceptions I had when I was younger was that usually people who make a lot money and can afford maids or cleaners would be cleaner – but after working in a 5 star luxury hotel resort for a few months, I found this to be quite the contrary. People that easily spent 500 dollars a night were rather quite dirty and perhaps expected others to clean up after them.
And after traveling to many poor areas of the world, I had found that some people in places like India or Central America were actually quite clean for the space they had. They were organized; every object had a place; shoes were taken off in the dwelling area; waste and feces were segregated from cooking or sleeping areas; animals had their own place in the living area.
So I determined that cleanliness had nothing to do with how much money one made, where one resided or which culture, sex or race they were.
Another preconception I had was specifically about spiritually “enlightened” people. I figured they would be some of the physically cleanest people in the world, based on the fact that their body is their temple and they seem to be conscious of all their actions. Nope. I was again, wrong. In fact, some of these people, too, seem to be some of the dirtiest people I have met. It may be that they are spending too much time living in the higher chakras and not being “grounded” or coming down long enough to the physical plane to take care of necessary things, like bathing or cleaning the toilet.
However, meditation should not be an excuse for not showering for 10 days. We are all spiritual beings having a human experience and our bodies and homes still need to be tended to.
Here are some things that “US” spiritually enlightened people should be “coming down to earth” more often to take care of. You can feel free to check them off as you go along. These things should be checked on daily; in some cases every couple days is OK.
1.) Bathing. This really isn’t something that I should even be stressing since it should be common sense, but yet so many people neglect to bathe daily. I can understand if you are traveling or don’t have access to a shower. In that case, you may need to rinse every other day. Bathing daily not only cleanses bacteria and germs from our skin; it rejuvenates us spiritually. It cleanses our aura and washes away any negative energy that has attached to our energy body. And if you are “au naturel” and avoid soaps or shampoos, that is OK, but an even more important reason to wash up every day. Especially bacteria zones like armpits and our bottoms. Not keeping clean causes skin rashes and odor, which are not fun for the people around you.
2. Pay attention to your eating / dining and kitchen area. I have met many people that are vegan and spiritual. I would have assumed that automatically being vegan would mean that one would be more conscious and aware of their surroundings, since vegans are usually associated with eating healthy, having compassion for animals and awareness of environmental concerns. However, I met vegans that had refrigerators full of rotting, stinking food and counter tops that were left crusted over with old food. I didn’t understand it. How could someone be so concerned with what they put into their body, but then let food sit out to rot creating a buildup of bacteria and germs in the kitchen where new, fresh food is being prepared? How can someone let the rice milk sit in the fridge for 15 days after being open, so much that the container becomes bloated and stinking and the food becomes black and fuzzy with mold? This, however, is not to single out vegans. I have met non-vegans that do the same thing.
The point is that what is around us also goes into us. We are not only our bodies, but our external environment is also a reflection of ourselves. Would we hang out with negative, “rotting” people? Then why do we allow rotting foods to be unconsciously absorbed by our bodies? We need to pay attention to things like cross contamination not only in places like restaurants that serve non plant-based items, but also in our own homes dealing with plant-based items. If we have rotting food in the fridge or old moldy food that needs to be tossed, we need to take care of this to avoid absorbing “stinking” energy into our body.
Remember also that if the fridge is too full air cannot pass and things may not cool as they need to. You could be risking the chance that the food does not stay fresh and it will rot quicker. I like this photo because everything has a place; foods are sealed and although the fridge is full, there are no open containers or half eaten vegetables laying open. The light is able to pass through so you can see everything, which means you can check periodically on fruits and veggies.
So please, keep the fridge clean and take everything out every couple weeks for a complete wipe down; toss old foods; wipe down the counter tops; do the dishes regularly and sweep the kitchen floors of any debris or food crumbs that have fallen to the floor. This will also help your food budget, since you will not have to throw away food that has gone bad.
3. Clean the clutter. Some very spiritual people I have met is what others may call “hoarders”. This is something I could not quite grasp. In the Baghavad Gita it says we should be clean both internally and externally. And Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga deals with Yama and Niyama, that is, the steps necessary for both internal and external purity. So why do some people keep clothes piled on the floor, trash piling up, dirty dishes in the sink and a general sense of clutter? First off, material possessions should not be important, therefore, we should not worry about collecting things that do not serve us. Secondly, the more clutter we have around us, the less we are able to relax and calm our minds. Our external world reflects our internal world so how can we be spiritually enlightened by having 40 pounds of laundry lying on the floor and a collection of plastic recyclables and paper build-up?
4. Keep the bathroom clean. I should not even need to say this, but the bathroom is usually the least maintained space out of most people I have met, vegan or non vegan, spiritual or non spiritual. And I cannot figure out why. If you poop, clean it up. Why is it OK to clean your dog poop off the sidewalk, but then not clean your own poop off the underneath of the toilet seat? Toilets should be cleaned every couple days with some kind of cleaner, whether it be water and lemon juice, water and vinegar or even just hot water and soap if you are anti-chemical. In any case, many natural cleaning solutions exist, so there is no excuse why there should be mold and dirt underneath the toilet seat. The shower and sink should also be tended to. Once a week usually does the trick. If the sink is black and has a soapy film like residue on it, it means that it has long been overdue for a good cleaning. And don’t forget the bathroom floor.
5. Bed sheets and laundry. Rule of thumb? Wash bed linens once a week. If you have only one set, buy another. And I know most of you can afford it because if there is money to buy the highest quality coconut oil in the supermarket, there is money to purchase another set of sheets. If you need to go to the laundromat to wash, you can get away with twice a month. Just remember, that you are sleeping in dust mites and dead skin. How long would you like to sleep in that stuff before washing? Would you like to sleep in other people’s dead skin? So make sure your guests have clean sheets to give them the service you would like to receive. Clothes? Same thing. The longer you go without washing the more you are continuing to wear dust mites and dead skin. Your skin will develop a rash if you go long enough without washing. And if your clothing stinks, that is already an indication you need to wash it.
6. Sweep floors and clear out cobwebs. I sometimes find it irksome when I go to people’s homes and there is no hard and fast rule about shoes on or shoes off. This means that when necessary, the shoes come off. But when not necessary, shoes stay on. Hmmm. That means that every so often mud, dust, pollution, gasoline, dirt, poo, bugs — pretty much anything outside has the possibility to be brought inside where we go around with our bare feet or socks. This means that before we go to bed at night, we have the possibility of sleeping in whatever we brought into the house. Kind of like camping — except we are not camping. Not only that, we bring in whatever energy was outside. For spiritual people this should be very important. We all know how many negative influences are out there. Would we really want to have that stuff attach to our shoes that we wear all over the house, contaminating our private environment with whatever goes on outside our walls?
And what about cobwebs? If there is a spider there, leave it. I can understand not wanting to upset the spider. But cobwebs means that the spider has moved on. There is no one living there. So just get a broom and take them down. While you’re at it, you can also clean the dust out from under the bed. No need to encourage allergies by keeping balls of dust hanging around the house. If you have cobwebs in the corners of your ceilings what kind of cobwebs do you have in the corner of your mental thinking??
In general, whatever or wherever we come from or whoever we are, we have no excuses why we cannot be tidier, neater, more organized and more attentive to dust, bacteria, germs and other things that like to inhabit our spaces. It is not that these things are terrible, it is just that sometimes they can wreak havoc in our own lives in the forms of rashes, allergies, infections or even diseases, if for example we live in conditions that favor rats or mice.
Being physically clean is a reflection of our inner cleanliness and if we claim to be spiritual people, searching for truth and enlightenment, it makes sense that our inner purity should be reflected on the outside.
Namaste.