Knowledge is Power
This is a common phrase you may have heard several times during your school or college days. It’s true, Knowledge is Power, but only when practically applied, and then it can further transcend into wisdom.
There are countless people in the world who have the basic knowledge that cleanliness is an essential aspect of everyday life. We all know how important it is to have a clean home, clean utensils, clean clothes, and a clean outer body.
The majority of us do make a practical application of this to ensure cleanliness in these areas and enjoy the relevant benefits accordingly.
When does knowledge transcend into wisdom? You may have all the knowledge that exists in the Universe about cleanliness, but it’s absolutely useless if you don’t make any practical application of it. You may continue to live in an unclean home, eat in unclean bowls, and wear unclean clothes; and that will become your way of life. You’ll never know the difference, nor will you be able to enjoy the benefits of the knowledge about cleanliness, until you make a practical application. Once you do that repeatedly and see the results, it will metamorphose into wisdom; and wise people do live in clean homes, eat in clean bowls, wear clean clothes, and take a bath daily to keep their outer bodies clean.
Although, a number of wise people live in clean homes, the emphasis is on inner cleaning. Generally, the areas that are used more often, such as the kitchen, dining, and bathrooms, will be cleaned perhaps daily, and certainly more often than the rest. Where the outside is concerned, the cleaning of the garden area and pavements may normally be left for the gardener or done on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. The focus is definitely more on inner cleaning and the reasons are not hard to find. If you don’t clean the kitchen, dining, and bathroom regularly, there could be an army of roaches, ants, and bacteria invading your home, resulting in unhygienic conditions, which almost always leads to sickness and disease.
Have you ever thought of your physical body as a home in which you live? A great number of philosophers and prophets of various religions spent a great deal of their lives getting to know themselves and the bodies they lived in. When they found out who they were, they utilized their remaining years in making practical applications of that knowledge to make others aware of the unique divine nature we possess as human beings.
They also discovered some simple truths about the human body, and realized, it was the real Temple of God. If you can relate to this reality and consider your physical body as a temple or a home in which you live, then who are you really? Would that not make you a unique entity, and would you not consider yourself responsible for the outer as well inner cleansing of the physical home you inhabit?
The sad fact of our existence on Earth is that the majority of us do not realize our true identity and the importance and need for inner cleanliness of the body we live in. Where the physical home made by man from bricks, stones, and cement is concerned, the need for inner cleanliness is well understood and practiced by most to avoid sickness, disease, and related discomfort. But for the other home made by God or Nature from flesh and blood, the importance of inner cleanliness is neither understood nor practiced by the multitude.
Have you ever wondered why sickness and disease are on the rise when trillions of dollars are being spent annually to find cures, and hospitals after hospitals are being built around the globe? The truth is indeed bitter, and the bitter truth is that no amount of money, doctors, or hospitals can be a substitute for inner cleanliness. If cracks keep on developing in a building due to a foundational fault, no amount of money on materials and labor can permanently fix them, until the basic fault is corrected. Year after year you may carry out repairs and spend billions into research to develop materials for a permanent fix, but they’ll continue to reappear at different times in different formats. The same holds true where the modern medical establishment is concerned. They keep on building new hospitals, training more and more doctors, and spending endlessly into research and development of new materials known as drugs to find a permanent cure, but the cracks in the form of sickness and continue to reappear.
Once there was a King whose kingdom had a serious problem of flooding every time it rained heavily. Businesses would suffer, homes, schools and virtually every building would be submerged in water for days, and a number of young and the aged would die. The council of Ministers met with the King and devised a plan to prevent any further deaths. A majestic forty-story ship was built, and the citizens were advised to come aboard at the first sign of rainfall.
Numerous hoardings were placed at various locations in the kingdom and a massive public-relations campaign was undertaken to make people aware about this ‘Miraculous Life-saver’, built at an exorbitant cost to save lives. The church and community leaders greatly applauded the efforts of the King and the ship was hailed as one of the biggest wonders of the Universe.
The very first day that water poured down from the skies, everyone left their work midway and rushed to take shelter on the ship. Businesses, schools and other institutions had to close abruptly, and all activities came to a halt. While the rain came down heavily, it lasted for a mere two hours, and soon after the clouds slowly disappeared and the sun resurfaced. The citizens of the kingdom waited for a while, and when there was no sign of any further rain, they gradually descended to return to their respective jobs and chores. The day was, however, over and wasted, as no productive work could be accomplished by anyone.
The next time it rained, everyone was back on the ship again, but this time the downpour lasted for 15 days.
Although the ship was built from the finest wood with the highest craftsmanship and safety standards, there was no suitable provision for sanitation. The emphasis had been on creating ample space to accommodate a larger number of people, while the crucial element of sanitation was completely ignored. From the third day onwards every floor was consumed with the foul smell of urine and feces that littered every corner. A number of young and old began falling sick, and with the first incident of Cholera, panic struck. As this disease spreads like wildfire when cleanliness and good sanitation are not available, the situation grew from bad to worse with each passing day. The number of people who were either vomiting or experiencing diarrhea kept increasing by the hour.
Before the rains eventually stopped and the citizens of the Kingdom could descend from the ship, seventy percent had perished, and the remaining were in a critical condition.
Even members of the Royal family who had the privilege to be in the comfort of their executive suites were not spared, as disease does not favor the rich and everyone gets affected equally. A good number of the top elite including the Ministers and the Clergy also perished. The ‘Miraculous Life-saver’ had turned into a ‘Tunnel of Death’, from which only a few escaped alive.
The King and his council of Ministers could have thought of some other ways to counter the effects of Nature and save people from dying due to floods. Many natural alternatives, like underground drainage, to direct the rainwaters into rivers or lakes could have been implemented at a fraction of the cost. Even the excessive water that caused flooding and deaths could have been used productively to generate electricity or for agriculture. But due to the shortsightedness of those in power responsible to protect lives, an enormous amount of money was wasted on the so called life-saver, which rather turned into a life-destroyer.
