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After trying to understand the upāṅgas of the yama, now we shall try to understand the sutras connected to the niyama. What are the benefits or signs of practice of niyama? The sutra number 40 and 41, these two sutras deal with the śauca, the first upāṅga of the niyama. The sutra number 40 is
शौ॒चात् स्वा॒ङ्गजु॒गु॒प्सा प॒रैर॑संस॒र्गः ॥ २.४०॥
Śaucāt svāṅga jugupsā parair asaṁsargaḥ
Śaucāt - the result of śauca, observance of śauca, cleanliness, by the practice of cleanliness, śaucāt. Svāṅga sva is one's own aṅga is body one's own body. Jugupsā disgust. Paraiḥ others. Asaṁsargaḥ - disinclination to physically contacting, not interested, not inclined in touching others. How beautiful word it is! - asaṁsargaḥ, parair asaṁsargaḥ and svāṅga jugupsā two symbols, two benefits, two results or two purposes of the practice of śauca is given. The two signs of practice of śauca, by the practice of śauca one develops disgust on one's own body and disinclined, not interested and refuses towards touched by others or in touching others the physical body contact. Parair asaṁsargaḥ - so two benefits two results śauca brings that śauca is cleanliness and the next sutra of course also handles with the śauca.
Generally it is said that this first sutra is the physical, bodily and the second sutra is connected to the mental, the psychological, internal, mānasika, manas śauca or āntas śauca and this is bāhya or śarīra kī śauca.
And this parair asaṁsargaḥ comes out because one by cleaning oneself and understanding the so much of dirt in the body, so much of crudeness in the body, the condition of the body full of saptadhātu and a lot of wastage, the muscles, the blood, the pus, the urine, the mala, the mudrā and the various bones and the various activities going on inside and if you really see our own body inside or anybody's body inside, it is so fearful so disgusting and all the skeleton inside and all the flesh, the bones, the secretions, excretions, the whole body is full of mala and lot of explanations we can have lot of understanding can be there and the dirty body if you don't take bath for a day or two smells and if one or two days the food is not digested properly the foul smell comes to the mouth indigestion and regularly the dirt and the dust is excreted through the eyes, through the nose through the ears through the skin in the form of sweat and the whole body has as if so much of dirt, so much of dust, unclean, impure like a dustbin and a drainage but funnily surprisingly we have an attachment to it, we like it, we maintain it and we clean it and we have to keep it clean. We have seen earlier the fact that we have to keep it clean itself shows that it is full of dirt. The fact it needs to be maintained shows that it is impure.
In one beautiful śloka Śaṅkarācārya wonderfully says that the whole body is a moulding of flesh and blood nothing special in this, no need to have any moha towards it. And really if you see our body inside we develop a sense of jugupsā towards it. That's why especially a dead body a post-mortem body is fearful, fearsome. And that is how this jugupsā comes out of śaucam. A sense of detachment towards the body, a sense of disinterestedness in maintaining the beauty of the body, our attachment in beautifying the body, our attachment towards beauty care, our attachment towards presenting our body as a presentable object that interest will be lost, jugupsā comes. And once this jugupsā on the body comes, understands, parair saṁsargaḥ - this other body also is like that and coming in touch with that, that coming in touch with the other dirt and once he maintains his clearness, purity coming in touch with the unclean body, coming in touch with the dirty body, coming in touch with the aśauca body aśuddha śarīra that will be avoided exactly this is the meaning of the sutra śaucāt svāṅga jugupsā parair asaṁsargaḥ.
That's why in our culture in our tradition when the body or the hands are sanitized clean hands not to touch unclean things ,unclean body anything which is not clean dust and dirt. And if any dust and dirt were touched with the hands it is to be cleaned, oh there are hundreds of śauca niyama are there rules of maintaining cleanliness, washing the hands and legs when we enter into our room from outside, not to take any food everywhere and anywhere not to drink any water anywhere and everywhere, not to mix with people anywhere and anywhere whatever types and whenever we go to meet a sick person, sick people deceased people we return back to the home and maintain śauca, all these rules and regulations are formulated for the maintenance of the cleanliness of the body. And this physical cleanliness is very very important. And by that these two results and these two important dimensions, phala fruits are explained, one fruit one result is jugupsā - svāṅga jugupsā and other is parair asaṁsargaḥ - not interested not disinclined to touch the other body. See how best it is useful for the practice of brahmacarya and not to touch not only inappropriately, even appropriately that is importance of the practice of śauca. Very much relevant, very much necessary and very much needed and most important to maintain cleanliness and to allow others to be clean and neat.
Let us see the other sutra about the internal - mānasika śauca. forty first sutra.
Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः||
To Be Continued.. ---------------------------------------
These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji.
Audio Link - https://youtu.be/0KLVWwVX7Sc?si=U_D87JDe8GajXOpg
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
