Swabhav swachhata-sanskaar swachhata (purity and cleanliness in behaviour and culture) is the theme of this year’s swachhata his seva campaign of the Government of India. As a tribute to the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, the Government of India has been promoting a swachhata hi seva campaign every year. The aim of this campaign has been to motivate people across the country to come together and develop a citizen’s movement for sanitation and cleanliness (swachhata). This year the campaign starts from September 17 to October 2 (the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi).
The initiative to make India completely and holistically clean was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2014 when in his Independence speech from the ramparts of Red Fort he gave a clarion call to make swachhata a national priority. This effort to make sanitation and cleanliness a national mission can only be achieved through people’s participation, the Prime Minister had underlined. Ever since then as a run up to October 2 (Gandhi Jayanti), the swachhata hi seva campaign is taken up.
The aim to make swachhata an intrinsic part of the lives of the citizens of the country resonates with large number of people who see it as something which is directly linked to their well-being and happiness. While there are individuals who point out that swachhata has always been part of their tradition and culture, but this special campaign is helping in promoting greater awareness and highlighting the holistic nature of swachhata.
Talking of the theme of this year’s campaign, Divya Gyan, an advocate argues that cleanliness outside can only come as a product of cleanliness inside. He underlines, “Inner swachhta is the cornerstone of human development and any development, scientific or otherwise, can only come if humans first decide to embrace their own soul and work towards cleaning it.”
According to Gyan, “The first step of developing a society is to first improve yourself. Society is but a bigger picture of human structure, if we as small units first improve ourselves, the tapestry is sure to improve.” Without self-cleansing and self-purification, we can neither transform ourselves nor transform the society.
Divya Gyan describes how the theme of this year’s campaign reminds him of what Kabir said “bura jo Dekhan mai Chala, mujhse bura nai koi”. The process to first identify a shortcoming, still less working for it, is a gigantic task which requires great human effort and character, he stresses.
Meanwhile Manya Dudeja, a fifth year law student points out, “An anecdote which has often worked for me personally when I'm buried in work commitments is to tidy up my workspace.” She feels this has significant impact on her as it clears up her mind for any task she has at hand. It creates an illusion of structure and makes me trust that I've got this, she adds.
According to Manya, the first step towards making an outward effort to put things in place, to make the world a better place and to undo the outside dirt, is the effort towards moral cleanliness. One’s heart and head must be clean, she says so that we can strive for cleanliness outside.
Manya emphasizes that the transformation and change has to begin from within and we have to turn inwards for the inner cleansing. She underscores, “To strive for cleanliness (ethical and professional) outside, one must first strive for cleanliness within and this is only possible through our constant efforts. Some of the ways one might attain inner cleanliness is self-care activities, instilling a disciplined lifestyle and creating an emotional balance.”
Gunjan Saxena of Dev’s Handicrafts argues that cleanliness in one’s attitude and behaviour can be promoted by adopting eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle. This can lead to inner calmness and a propensity to adopt clean habits and behaviour, both at the inner and outer level, she stresses. “We must make it a habit to use natural and environmental-friendly products so that it aligns with our behaviour and attitude which should be nonviolent in nature,” Saxena notes. She has been conducting workshops in these areas to create greater awareness.
According to Saxena, if we use products which are harmful to nature, we are promoting polluted behaviour and culture. This has to change if we are to work on our inner transformation and do inner cleansing, she adds.
As the swachhata hi seva campaign is a tribute to the Father of the Nation, it would be apt to revisit his principles for self-purification. The Mahatma had said, “Identification with everything that lives is impossible without self-purification; without self-purification the observance of the law of Ahimsa must remain an empty dream; God can never be realized by one who is not pure of heart. Self-purification, therefore, must mean purification in all the walks of life. And purification being highly infectious, purification of oneself necessarily leads to the purification of one's surroundings.” (Mahatma Gandhi, My Experiments with Truth)
So, it is only through the process of inner cleansing and self-purification, we can strive to work for the real cleanliness of our surroundings. Let us all take this inherent message across the entire nook and corner of the country.
