Question: Today, we are constantly exposed to so many external influences. Is there any efficient way to cleanse ourselves from all that?
Sadhguru: Your body does not stop at the physical boundaries – it extends itself. Probably women are more sensitive to this than men. If someone comes a bit too close – they do not even have to touch you – there is a feeling that you want some distance. Leaving aside the psychological and emotional aspects, there is a disturbance. Because the body does not end at the physical boundaries; the energy is a little beyond that. How much beyond depends on how exuberant your life energies are. If your life energies are truly exuberant, you can fill a hall with it. Otherwise, for most human beings, it could be anywhere between three to nine inches outside of their body.
I become younger every time I ride a motorcycle because if I ride for four to five hours and come back, people say, “Sadhguru, your beard has turned black.” Full of black carbon. As you gather material on your body, you are gathering other kinds of material upon your energetic system. Just by coming in touch with people, situations, atmospheres, and so many things, the body picks up memory.
When your body picks up physical memory from other human beings or substances beyond a certain point, it will cause a certain level of confusion, which is not mental but physical in nature. If the body is confused, it cannot be at ease. You may have noticed sometimes that wherever you are, whatever you do – you somehow feel uncomfortable; your body seems to be confused. That is why we created various methods to cleanse the system from these types of memories. If you have a spiritual process within you, if you are doing some kriya or meditative processes, you know how to wash yourself from within. If you do not have that, things like drishti, or fire wash, become very significant.
This body is made fundamentally of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space. Just as you do water wash every day, you can also do air wash, and you can do a fire wash. We can do a substance wash with grains and other things as well. Yogis were always smearing themselves with earth, but today that has become a mud bath in the spa.
Water Wash
Recently I was speaking with a prominent group of people, and one government official said, “All these rich people are having a shower every day.” I said, “Where do you come from? In southern India, without having a shower, we do not step out of our home, no matter what. Even if you do not drink water, you will shower first. Do not start this new culture where the government tells us to now have a shower once in… Thank God, it’s Friday! ”
When you wash your body with water, it is not just about removing the dirt. Even if you do not have any dirt, after a day’s work, if you pick up a lot of stuff during the day and then you come and have a shower, it is like new life has come. Have you seen this? It is not just about cleansing the body; it is not the soap but the water running over your body. If you take a dip in a river, stay there for ten minutes and come out, it feels like you are born again. So this is a water wash.
At a time in my life when I was into a lot of sadhana, or spiritual practice, I would have somewhere between five and seven showers a day, because your system becomes so sensitive. For example, if you sit on a particular cushion, and you are conscious of what this cushion is doing to you, you want to wash it off by at least letting water run over your body. I did not calculate that I must take a shower five or seven times a day; I had one whenever I felt like it. Most Yogis bathe at least twice a day, at the minimum.
Fire Wash
The fire wash is what people call drishti. In India, our grandmothers and the old ladies used to do it. Water can touch our skin without a problem. But fire cannot touch your skin, so it needs to be done in a certain way. A few generations earlier, people knew exactly how to do it, but today only a few of them really know what to do – they are just burning something and doing something. But if you do it the right way, it does certain things. Many times when I came home from somewhere outside as a little kid, my mother would look at me and say, “I think you must take drishti.” I would say, “Come on, rubbish. I do not want any drishti,” and I would be running around, but she would still be doing something. I did not know whether it worked or not – I was too against all those things, mentally. But today there is a proper record that it is doing tremendous things to people.
We have a whole scientific process of how to do this. We offer what is called Klesha Nashana Kriya – that means a kriya which destroys impurities. This kriya is like a fire wash. We have relieved people of various chronic ailments just by this fire wash. One surprise element that we found out recently is that many children who were suffering from ADHD and other learning disabilities, within a matter of six to eight weeks of this fire wash, have changed dramatically. We never expected this. After 21 Klesha Nashana Kriyas in 21 days, they came out clean, completely free of medication. There was no other kind of treatment, and they were fine after that. So if your mother gave you a fire-wash, knowingly or unknowingly, it may have given you some learning ability.
Air Wash
If you have your fan set at the right kind of speed and you just sit under it for some time, you will see something within you lift up. Have you noticed this? It is a little air wash. One simple process that people can do is to stand in the wind so that you get a proper air wash. It will do wonders for you. Try this – when there is a strong breeze, just wear something loose and simply stand there for half an hour, with your eyes closed, being conscious of it; turn both ways, so that the breeze flows over you from front and back. You will feel so much lighter and better.
Earth Wash
The earth that you walk upon has a sense of intelligence and memory. Even if you live in a concrete jungle, it is important to keep in touch with the earth. Those who are doing intense sadhana must either wash their clothes separately or coat their clothes with some soil material every time they wash them, so that the only physical contact that they have is with the earth – not with people or things around them. Sadhus and sanyasis always use finely sieved red earth to dye their clothes. The clothes are originally white, but because they are constantly washed with filtered earth, they turn into a mud color. Apart from that, if you wear clothes that are dipped in red earth, in some way, it is a reminder for the body as to where it comes from and where it will go. Similarly, the buildings in the Isha Yoga Center are painted with soil and a certain adhesive so that it sticks like paint.
Another way of doing it is to have a mud bath – the idea of this is to clear everything. In our Yoga Center, if someone is sick, the first thing we do is take off their shoes; they must walk barefoot in the garden. And they must put their hands into the earth and do some work. If they are not capable of that, we give them a mud bath, a layer of mud on the body. If people are willing, you can even create a mud pit and bury them till the neck. You can leave them in sunlight and pour water with certain herbs over their head every few hours. You will see they will come out like they were born again!
Distancing Yourself from Physical Memory
Whatever you come in contact with will leave a certain memory in the body. If you do not distance yourself from it, it will lead to physical discomfort, which, over a period of time, can destroy your ability to be exuberant. When the exuberance is gone, you cannot laugh fully, you cannot cry fully – in a way, you become a veteran of life. You should not become a veteran before you die. “Oh, I have seen this before” – this lack of freshness and spontaneity comes from excessive contact.
So, there is sadhana to wash this memory away. Or you could take to chanting to create a certain reverberation in the body. Or, as mentioned, you could go through different washes. There are many ways to fix this.
by Sadhguru/ Isha Foundation
Photo by Dibakar-ray
Comments