Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha,
Perfectly said Vikram Swami. To bridge the missing detail “Only problem we cannot wash our legs”, Adiyen would like to share an idea.
There is a Sanskrit word called “स्थिर कल्प प्रत्यावर्तन
(sthIrA kalpA pratyAvartana)“,
Definition : If we applied a fixed solution to one of past problem, and if we face a different similar problem, then Rollback the Idea/solution/lesson learned that was applied in previous problem into this similar problem for betterment.
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So whenever we use bathroom/restroom/kazhivu arai outside our home, there is no opportunity to wash legs in most times, since there is no facilty for leg wash and we are wearing Shoes.
Below background is real, but Adiyen has no choice except to share it and provide some solutions that is practically applicable. So adiyen request the readers to pardon adiyen if it is overwhelming.
In traditional days, men go bare foot and SIT and urinate (“Jala Sparshanam” is actual paribhashai word) in open bushy spaces or in bathrooms. So there is high possibility of legs getting dirty due to spills. If legs are not washed with water, then the same person gets diseases due to the bacterias/viruses. So BhagavAn due to HIS Karunai made leg washing as a Mandatory Karma Anushtanam to help us to prevent from diseases.
In past few decades & present days, the story is different,
Bathrooms are built standing type and it is covered type till the thighs, so no spills on legs. However, we wear shoes and walk inside a place where there are already spills though cleaning crews do their job. So now the question is “DO WE CLEAN OUR SHOES“, since legs were already protected by shoes.
We also walk on roads over others mouth spits like chewing gum, cough spits etc.., walk over stagnant waters, walk over foul smell food trash on road. So in these present days, so it’s BhagavAn’s karunai that HE gave us SHOES, other wise we have to walk over on these trashes with bare foot, and getting our feet washed every moment is not that easy when the streets are not clean, unless we get dropped off or we drive from home to the destination without necessity of going through these hurdles.
Though we will definitely wash our bare legs and take bath when reach home after taking off the Shoes/Chappals, but still what we forget to think about is that our shoes/chappals never got chance to get washed/cleaned with water. So the virus/bacterias accumulated from the road stays in our shoes and securely inside our home, since people don’t want to leave there shoes outside, as it is costly to offord if it gets lost. Moreover we are wearing same dirty shoes on next day after a clean bath. So the mere leg wash even at home will not help us unless the shoe/chappal wash/cleaning is done to prevents us from getting diseases. Moreover the bacteria/virus spreads from our shoes to other areas of home, since we kept the dirty shoes inside home.
So if we urinate in the bathroom inside home, we clearly do hand wash and leg wash Mandatory to prevent us from diseases. Many people even don’t do these hand and leg wash in their home. For the m it’s their fate to deal with Yama kinkaraas agents when they give them diseases.
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So if we urinate in the bathroom outside home, try to follow these tips that are currently being followed by few people.
‘1) after hand wash in bathroom, we use paper towel to wipe the water. “Re-use the same dampened paper towel” and wipe from your pants hip to bottom front side, the use the same dampened paper to clean the shoes back side and all around first, then secondly underneath the shoes. If more cleaning is needed pull more paper towels and dampen it (don’t soak too much water on the paper, you will make it messy, so just dampen it) and do the same to the uncleaned areas of your shoes.
‘2) what happens if there is no paper towel in bathroom, then always keep few thick paper towels handy on your shoulder bag and then just take your own paper towel (few pieces) in your pocket when you go to bathroom and do the same as in 1).
‘3) Always keep a little spray bottle in your shoulder bag other than the drinking water bottle. It is much easier to spray water on back of shoes and around shoes, if you even don’t have a dampened paper towel to wipe it off. The spray bottle will not make the floor watery since the water is sprayed onto your shoes only.
‘4) If you wear Chappals and use outside bathroom, this is little more complicated, since we have to wipe both Chappals and legs now. So try wearing shoes only when going out rather than Chappals, unless we have provision to wash legs thoroughly.
‘5) Now the question is., When we get back home, can we leave the shoes in the shoe rack just like that. May be ‘Yes’, if we need diseases, & may be ‘No’, if we don’t need diseases. So clean the shoes with spray bottle water and wipe it off or use dampened paper towel to wipe off. Then put it in rack.
‘6) So what happens if a person’s comes to our home, we don’t where and all they went wearing shoes/chappals. So if they were wearing Chappals, then we should tell them to get legs washed in our bathroom if we are in apartments, or if we are living in separate homes, always keep a small bucket of water with mug outside and tell them to wash their legs before entering your home, since we don’t want dirty viruses inside our home. We should not be hesitant in asking them to do leg wash. In olden days, there is always a small சோம்பு outside our grandparents by home for leg wash for visitor’s to do leg wash. We have to follow that procedure using available bucket/mug now.
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These type of स्थिर कल्प प्रत्यावर्तन (sthIrA kalpA pratyAvartana)”, can be applied for any purpose and it is being widely applied by Japanese in Lean Manufacturing Industry. They named this Sanskrit word in their language as “Yokoten“, since they were also Santana Dharmis (Bharata Desam) once upon age old times untill they were also affected by Kali devata.
ご理解いただきありがとうございます
Gorikai Itadaki Arigatō Gozaimasu
(Thank You for your understanding)
Adiyen Srinivasa (DhoddayAcharyar) Dasan