Cleanliness is Next to Godliness: Adopting the Divine Virtue

Introduction

In the list of human virtues, one thread stands out with divine significance that is cleanliness. Below quote is quite old and sophisticated.

“Cleanliness is next to godliness.”

This saying, rooted in centuries of wisdom, transcends cultural boundaries, encapsulating the essence of purity and spiritual well-being.

Though, to keep cleanliness action needs to be done. But there can also other kinds of extensions to it, like on mind and soul level purity.

In a chaotic world, cleanliness helps create a higher sense of order and peace.

The path to godliness begins with our immediate surroundings. A cluttered space often mirrors a cluttered mind. As Mahatma Gandhi once wisely remarked, “A clean body cannot reside in an unclean city.”

The idea is to think about the connection between personal hygiene and its impact on the environment.

Origin of “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”

If you are lazy about self-cleaning and keeping your surroundings clean. Then, you might already hear below saying.

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness”

– Modified verse of Sir Francis Bacon

Isn’t it an expression of profound enlightenment? The saying that “Cleanliness compared with Godliness” is quite captivating. Now let us understand Godliness which in short means devotional spirit.

Most people believed the saying came from verses of the Bible. But according to legit.ng, this verse is of Sir Francis Bacon, who was a scientist and a philosopher in 1605.

“Cleanness of body was ever deemed to proceed from a due reverence to God.”

– Sir Francis Bacon

The saying we are familiar with today is simply a modified form of an earlier expression.

Impact of Cleanliness

If we take a look at different cultures around the world, every religion accepts this saying. Cleanliness is a quality for maintaining hygiene. To keep the environment full of devoutness and yourself pure, one must need to acquire this quality.

Most probably people seem the meaning of cleanliness is limited to self-hygiene and keeping yourself clean.

However, cleanliness extends beyond just personal hygiene. It also includes keeping your surroundings clean and organized. Maintaining a clean environment not only promotes good health but also creates a sense of peace and well-being.

Consider for a moment whether someone took you to live in a house that is akin to a garbage dump.

Then, how can such people be entirely clean?

A person is considered clean when individuals keep their living space and themselves clean and free of dust.

In addition, being keeping self-hygiene and surrounding clean is a very basic necessity for every human being. Looking at cleaning methods, all cleaning methods are not that much effective.

To learn about effective cleaning methods for personal and environmental hygiene, please refer to the article below:

More to maintain healthy lifestyle the cleanliness and self-hygiene plays the significant role.

Benefits of Cleanliness

A healthy life is one of the common things that every person wants. Cleanliness is the first and most important habit that everyone should have to maintain. But, to keep that neat lifestyle is really hard without help of effective schedule.

Refer this to organize your cleaning schedule precisely: Effective cleaning schedule for 2020

Maintaining a healthy life undoubtedly results in your personality. In a sick condition, you would probably recover fast, if you maintain personal hygiene. According to business-standard.com, clean air can increase average life expectancy by 1.7 years.

Unfortunately, we can’t really make changes to the outside environment quickly. Only one thing that we can do is tree plantation. Each person should plant and grow at least one tree in his lifetime. It helps to balance the environment and you will feel great. So, be sure to try it, because it doesn’t take much time to plant a tree and take care of it.

In contrast, we have all controls inside the house and keep it neat, clean, dust-free. So, you should consider using methods to keep your house interior clean and fresh.

Moreover, people living in a clean environment reduces the risk of causing disease. Because dust and allergen surfaces prohibit the growth of viruses and bacteria. Therefore, make sure to clean your surroundings regularly.

With healthy body, healthy mindset is another important to live true life. Healthy mindset comes with feeding your brain with positive thoughts, brain foods, meditation, Pranayama, etc. But you will surprise when you know that living in clean environment actually impacts dramatically on your mental health.

Yes, you heard it right, according to vercida.com, cleanliness affects seriously on your mental health.

Mentally unstable people lost his thinking ability to great extent. Furthermore, those kinds of people also have a memorization problem. Clean surroundings are essential for maintaining focus during work. As a result, cleanliness of workspace eventually can increase your productivity. Here are some tips to keep your workspace clean.

If we take a look at cleanliness of countries and effect of cleanliness on those nations. Maximum productivity nations maintain high levels of productivity by consistently keeping their workspaces clean using a variety of cleaning methods.

Furthermore, the countries that don’t care about hygienic ambiance, those nations have more cases of sick people. Sickness either lowers the productivity or increases the number of absent days. Finally, it results in their overall productivity rate.

5 Simple Ways to Manage Garbage

1. One of the simple ways to organize your garbage is to separate dry and wet garbage in different dustbins.
2. Use recyclable dust bin bags to avoid washing dustbins frequently.
3. Ensure that you dispose of the wet garbage every day. Otherwise, it would result in a bad odor, and it may also cause disease, if you kept it for longer. On the contrary, you can store dry garbage for 3–4 days.
4. Always get a dustbin that has a lid, so that it avoids flies from being attracted. Additionally, having a lid also prevents possible infections that may happen via trash can.
5. Dustbins with pedals make it easier to use the trash can without touching the garbage directly.

Management of Dustbins

Dustbin is the dirtiest place in home, workplace wherever it is. In that place, you may find enormous numbers of viruses, germs, bacteria, etc. Because the reason is simple: unclean, filthy places attract more microorganisms, as those places are more suitable for their growth. So, before they cause you harm, it becomes necessary to empty and clean the dustbin periodically.

Storing garbage in a dustbin for longer can increase the chances of infection. Hence, it is better to get rid of it as soon as possible.

You may not need to clean the trash can more often, if you are using garbage bags. Though, I would suggest to wash dustbins thoroughly with water and detergent.

Additionally, the location of the dustbin in the house plays a critical role. Ideally, it should be isolated from living area & hustle places.

Effect of Dust on humans

Reasons to Prevent Dust in House

1. Dust is very irritating for eyes and can cause eye problems.
2. It can also affect the skin and cause itching, skin darkening, etc.
3. Furthermore, dust is the main reason behind hair dandruff. It can also cause hair-fall in the worst cases.
4. Especially in Indian food culture, it can easily get stuck into nails and get into the stomach through food.
5. One of the primary reasons for respiratory problems like asthma is microscopic dust.

Preventing Dust to Enter into your House or Office

House or office workspace that you need to take care of during cleaning. Dust is the common thing that deteriorates your house. Firstly, it is important to prevent the dust that is coming from a cleft of windows, doors. It is not a problem for you, if you have well-fitted doors and windows.

Use sliding windows for the gallery, otherwise you would end up filling your house with an enormous amount of dust.

If you are buying a new house in the apartment and location is in a crowded area or industry area. Then, I suggest selecting the house at least above the fifth floor. Because it reduces the amount of dust directly coming into your house.

You are free to select anywhere you like, if your apartment is located in a clean and natural place.

Make sure there are no chances of air pollution near your apartment. If so, you can complain against the respective industry to the local authority in order to stop those practices.

Benefits of Regular Dusting of the House OR Office

• Regular dusting prevents the spider to create spider-webs in the corners, clefts, between crowded stuffs, etc. Removing cobwebs and dust time to time can make your house look better.
• Dusting regularly keeps away the unusual effects of dust on human beings as I mentioned in reasons to prevent dust.
• Cleaning the dirtiest place in the house is even more essential. Otherwise, it can actually cause infections in case of careless cleaning.

  Toilets and bathrooms are the dirtiest places in the house, which need to be clean. I suggest cleaning those places at least once every 3–4 days. It should be cleaned thoroughly, scrubbing with quality disinfectants.

Personal Hygiene

Maintaining self-cleanliness is an important part of cleaning at a personal level. Daily bath, cutting nails, brushing the teeth and cleaning tong, cleaning private body parts, taking care of hairs, etc.

These are the common cleaning that everyone should do attentively. It is important to use body-safe soap for cleansing your body and shampoo specifically designed for cleaning your hair.

Nails are the most secure home for viruses and bacteria, so make sure you get rid of them weekly. Oral hygiene should be maintained with flossing teeth and brushing them twice daily.

Undergarments, dirty clothes, socks, stockings should be washed daily as it sucks the sweat. Leaving them as it is or using them without washing leads to bad odor and fungal or bacterial infection.

Finally, cleanliness is a vital factor we take care for a healthy and happy life. It is considered as the kick-start for developing a strong and healthy body. All religions describe the importance of cleanliness, so you can consider it a religion-like commitment.

History of verse: “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”

Though this saying came out in the 19th century, cleanliness is not the new, and it is important for people since ancient times.

We can see since ancient times, bathing was really important as it was directly related to cleanliness. In the excavations of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, we can see the large bathing tank was found. Furthermore, Roman historical sites exhibit significant advancements in indoor plumbing. From ancient to Middle Ages, we can see the people had public bathrooms.

During the 19th century, the social reformers of time began the campaign for cleanliness awareness. During that time, people compare cleanliness with godliness.

Livia Gershon told the narrative using God to market soap and released in the JSTOR daily.

JSTOR gives entry to scholarly journals online. JSTOR Daily is like a newsletter that notifies subscribers about interesting articles. (See the entrance for bathing from Wikipedia.)

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness in Holy Bible

This campaign belonged to a branch of Christianity called mainline Protestantism. They focused on improving society over time, instead of just focusing on people going to heaven.

Off course, the 19th century Christian reformers, most of them was gospel did most of the better resisting slavery, upgrading situations in the slums, struggle against child labor, educating deficient children, etc.

As the mystical aspect of their cult diminished, the campaigner began to primarily attract self-interested individuals with a strong devotion to a non-moral issue, such as prohibition or cleanliness.

It will not be a mistake if the Bible says more about cleanliness and washing. Priest also taught that Christian communities should be personally clean. However, it is the theological feedback and Biblical consent that we typically need to be cleansed of our offenses.

Scripture on Cleanliness

According to biblehub.com, in the New International Version, found, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

David, the repentant psalmist, offers a heartfelt prayer through this magnificent composition.

God will cleanse not only the filth from our bodies, but also the stains of sin from our souls. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” sets up two distinct types, praising what Ivory soap can do to our bodies into a morality subordinate only to our devotion. But in actual Christianity, real godliness arrived from a realization that the Supreme personality really cleanses us.

He consistently performs this miraculous act through life, death, Christ’s resurrection, and the power of the Holy Spirit, inspiring us to have faith. And yet, he presents all of this to us in a tangible way as human beings through the physical act of purification, the “divine cleansing” that uses ordinary water as a conduit to connect us to the divine realm of God.

Nevertheless, when the dignity and loving gentleness of Supreme, our liberator, appeared, he rescued us, not because of the task finished by us in goodness. But according to his own compassion, with the cleansing of renewal and regeneration of the Holy Spirit, via whom he discharged out on us lavishly via Jesus Christ, our rescuer. (Titus 3:4-6)

Christian church ceremony, called Baptism, corresponds to the absolution of God of Noah via holy water. It would now rescue you, not for cleaning of body’s dirt but as an evoked to Supreme personality for a better conscience, via the renascence of Christ. (1 Peter 3:21)

FAQs on Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

How does cleanliness impact productivity positively on nations?

Absolutely! Keeping things clean and taking care of our health is super important for feeling good and living well. It’s great to prioritize hygiene and sanitation to stay healthy and happy.

So, keeping ambience and personal hygiene leads to lesser chances to fall sick. A low number of absences often correlate with high productivity.

Can you describe a personal hygiene practice?

Mouth Hygiene

Flossing and brushing teeth twice a day will help in maintaining good mouth hygiene. It would also keep one away from an unpleasant odor.

Hair Hygiene

For healthy hair, a good daily hair care routine is essential. Because it will be a tough job to keep hygiene of long hairs. So, for men, cutting hair at least once a week is recommended.

As I previously said, long hair always needs more attention. So, women need to be very caring about their hair care routine. Apply shampoo and conditioner twice or thrice a week. Otherwise, you may face a dandruff issue, which is just a result of an unhygienic condition of hair.

Overall Personal hygiene

Cutting nails of hands and legs once a week is good to avoid growing bacteria and viruses under the nail. Washing hands before and after meals, as well as after using the toilet, is part of daily personal hygiene.

Taking a bath at least once a day helps to remove the dead cells from your skin. Also, you will feel fresh and encouraging.

How can holy water do such extraordinary things?

The Catechism (Set of questions and answers in the Church for persuasion) explains:

Holy water isn’t the only thing that can cleanse or bless someone. Believing that God’s words are in the water can make it holy.

Without God’s words, holy water is just regular water. Baptism, a special ceremony with water, shows a fresh start with God.

It seems like people in the past were interested in this kind of cleaning, too. A book “American homes and gardens” (1905) on page 266 said “cleanliness is next to godliness,” but back then, taking baths wasn’t always easy or safe. Only strong people can endure a cold bathroom without risking their health!

Conclusion

Keeping our surrounding beauty intact, neat and clean is as necessary as maintaining our personal hygiene. But while keeping our personal hygiene, it might be jumbling for some people. Also, garbage organization might be difficult while handling other tasks.

There are different types of vacuums that can help you while cleaning the floor. Though in the market a lot of variants are available, but not all of those are handy.

The latest robot vacuum cleaners will fully automate your floor cleaning tasks. Top end bots are also capable to throw garbage in the dustbin. So, these types also include garbage management.

Moreover, it will help you to save a lot of time spent while cleaning the floor. There are a lot of benefits of using robot vacuums. So make sure to go through it and understand how it can help you in household cleaning.

The statement “Cleanliness is next to godliness” covers timeless wisdom that transcends cultural, personal, and environmental boundaries.

It is a call to action to embrace cleanliness in every aspect of our lives. Keeping our homes clean and taking care of the environment is important for our well-being, society, and the Earth.

Let us remember the words of Anne Frank:

“The final form of a character of a person lies in their own hands.”

We value cleanliness as a way to show respect for ourselves and the world we live in. Embracing this virtue, we enter on a journey towards a brighter, cleaner, and more harmonious future.

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