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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.
One day all the five Pandav came to Narayan Lord Shri Krishna and requested him to accompany them on a pilgrimage. Shri Krishna declined to do so for some unknown reason. Then the Pandav urged him to send his some representative to keep company with them. The Lord refused for this as well. The Pandav 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 Pandav, Shri Krishna picked up a gourd lying near by and gave it to the Pandav. The Pandav 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 Narayan Shri Krishna replied with a 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." It has been said in the Mahabharat':
Atma nadi sanyamtoypurna, satyvha shiltata dyarmi Tatravagahm kuru Panduputra, Na varina shudhyati chantratma
I.e., O Pandav! This soul is a stream full of water of self-restraint, truth is its current, chastity is its bank and mercy and compassion are its waves. The inner self becomes clean and pure only by bathing in this stream of soul, not by bathing in water.
While laying stress on the significance of internal purity Maharishi Vyas has also said, "Be he a house-holder or a renounced soul; be he a scholar of the Vedas or the Shrimad Bhagwat Geeta, internal purity is essential for all." Thus not only external cleanliness but internal purity is also a must for perfect cleanliness. They both are complementary to each other.
It has been clearly stated in the 'Niyam Saar' - 'If there exists even an atom of passions like greed, vanity and conceit in the internal soul, there can be no purity; such a Man cannot be called endowed with Perfect Belief.' A precept is given in the 'Samaysaar':
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