The word 'Shauch' is a compound word derived by adding the suffix 'anr' with the word 'shuchi' to mean 'shucherbhav shauchanam'. It means sacredness, cleanliness, to be pure,to be spotless and non-greedy. Satya comes from the word Sat, whose one of the meaning is "existence". Existence is a quality of the soul. Recognizing the soul’s true nature as it really exists and taking shelter in the soul is practicing Nischay Satya Dharma.
If talking is not required, then do not talk. If it is required then only use the minimum of words, and all must all be absolutely true. Talking disturbs the stillness of the mind. Consider the person who lies and lives in fear of being exposed. To support one lie he has to utter a hundred more. He becomes caught up in a tangled web of lies and is seen as untrustworthy and unreliable. Lying leads to an influx of karma.
Contentment or happiness, derived from material objects, is only perceived to be so by a soul in a state of false belief. The fact is that material objects do not have a quality of happiness and therefore happiness cannot be obtained from them. The perception of ‘enjoying’ material objects is only a perception. This perception rewards the soul with only misery and nothing else. Real happiness comes from within, as it is the soul that possesses the quality of happiness.
Just as color gives out its full luster only on a neat and clean sheet of canvas; likewise virtues like contentment enter only a clean, pure and upright mind. Only when the impurity of greed is washed away by way of holy living, purity may come to the forefront. From the above it becomes clear that 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness'. According to one view point cleanliness is of two types - external and internal; but according to another viewpoint it is of three types - bodily, mental and pertaining to speech. All these are supplementary and complementary to one another. Perfect purity cannot be achieved in the absence in the absence of one of these.
If someone says that external i.e., bodily cleanliness is the real cleanliness, the question arises as to why the water animals like frogs and fish that always live in ponds, rivers and seas cannot acquire the virtue of purity. Water path has been assigned the fifth place among baths. There are four other baths in addition to it. The water bath accompanied by those four baths is the real bath. This is the only means of self-purification i.e., soul purification. Internal cleanliness cannot be attained by mere making the body clean through water bath or by arraying the body with ornaments and wearing neat and clean or costly costumes. In the absence of internal cleanliness, all other sources of cleanliness are futile.
The following example explains this:
One day all the five Pandavs came to Lord Shri Krishna and requested him to accompany them on a pilgrimage. Shri Krishna declined to do so for some unknown reason. Then the Pandavs urged him to send his some representative to keep company with them. The Lord refused this as well. The Pandavs again appealed, "At least give us something, which we may take on pilgrimage with us and bathing which we may again hand it over to you on our return." On the repeated requests of Pandavs, Shri Krishna picked up a gourd lying nearby and gave it to the Pandavs.And advised them to bathe the gourd in the holy rivers everyplace they themselves did. Upon return from the pilgrimage they went to LoardLord Krishna with the gourd. Lord Krishna smiled and asked now please cut open the gourd and everyone take a piece in their mouth.When the Pandavs placed the pieces of gourd into their mouths, they all started vomiting with signs of distress on their faces. One by one they began to complain "I am feeling stomach ache; I am feeling headache; I am feeling giddy" and so on. Seeing all this Lord Shri Krishna asked them, "Well brothers!
Why this distress on your faces?"
All replied, "The gourd pieces taste very bitter." Then Shri Krishna replied with another smile, "See, even after a thousand baths, the gourd has not shed its bitterness and acrid taste. Likewise, no good comes out of simply having an outward bath. Internal cleanliness is essential along with external cleanliness.
