Bathing the Lord

When I was offering the ritual bathing water (snāna) during the worship some time ago, a thought came to my mind. Water can be seen as representing matter (since its potentiality is identified with one of the five primal elements) and the offering of snāna, besides being water for bathing, represents also a material sheath to cover the Spiritual Being, who is of the nature of pure consciousness. Only when clothed in matter can God become tangible and accessible to the human mind and senses.

Let philosophers and theologians worry about whether such material-covering is real or projected. What is undeniable—since it is a matter of direct experience—is that the worshiper is able to establish instant connection with God with such creative thinking. Once that connection is established, everything else automatically becomes secondary.

Thich Nhat Hanh, the well-known Buddhist monk, has often said that doing the dishes can be an enjoyable task (and not a mundane chore to be endured somehow) if one washes each dish mindfully, thinking that one is, in fact, bathing a baby Buddha.

Creative thinking leads to tangible results.