Spiritual or Ritual Bathing for Purification?

The Buddha said,

"What is the use of bathing in the river Bahuka?

"What does the river Bahuka matter, Brahmin? What (good) does it do?"

"Truly, Master Gotama, many people believe that the Bahuka River gives purification, many people believe that the Bahuka River gives merit. For in the Bahuka River many people wash away the evil deeds they have done."

Then the (Buddha) Blessed One addressed the brahman Sundarika Bharadvaja in these stanzas:

Bahuka and Adhikakka, Gaya and Sundarika, Payaga and Sarassati, And the stream Bahumati —

A fool may there forever bathe, Yet will not purify his black deeds.

They cannot purify an evil-doer, A man performing brutal and cruel acts. One pure in heart has evermore The Feast of Cleansing and the Holy Day; One pure in heart who does good deeds has his observances perfect for all times. It is here, O brahman, that you should bathe to make yourself a safe refuge for all beings. And if you speak no untruth, Nor work any harm for breathing things, Nor take what is not offered, with faith and with no avarice, to Gaya gone, what would it do for you? Let any well your Gaya be! 

                                  (Vatthupama Sutta, MajjhimaNikaya)

(မွတ္ခ်က္၊  ၊ ျမန္မာႏွစ္သစ္ကူးကို ပိုျပီးလွပေစခ်င္သည့္ ရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္နဲ႔ ေဖာ္ျပလိုက္တာပါ)

                                                  

Hindu worshipers bathe in the Ganges at dawn during the Kumbh Mela Festival March 29, 2010 in Haridwar, India 

 

 

A ritual bath is one of the main events of the festival in Hinduism.

Myanmar New Year Water Festival