Whatever you possess can only be as unadulterated as your own mind.

The last time I cruised the supermarket aisles, I couldn’t help but notice the endless stream of messages from products like toothpaste, shampoo, cereal and toilet paper. The advertising for each of these products spoke the language of salvation, renewal, and purity.

Think about the last ad you saw for spring water. The image probably showed a clear mountain stream with sunshine glinting off the trickling water. Maybe the stream is surrounded by a canopy of pine trees and a brilliant blue sky is visible beyond the treetops. Words like Natural, Better, Proud, Perfect, Redeem and Pure appear in bold letters, invoking an idealized existence. From spring water. Or it could be soap, or a vitamin supplement, or whatever else was being sold.

But when we consume advertising campaigns promising purity, we are also consuming a silent, insidious message about our current state. It is implied by these advertisements that we are currently impure, unclean and contaminated. It is asserted that something external is required to correct the status of our inner world.

Frequently ads offer a directive to purchase some item with the implied promise that this purchase will wipe away what is smudging your existence and provide access to a righteous path.

But what happens when you ask yourself, “What is really leaving a residue in my life?” If you could take a picture of your internal environment, would it show countertops full of discarded papers and unread books? Is unfinished business taking up space like unwashed dishes in your mental sink? Does navigating your internal space require you to step over uncomfortable thoughts that lie in crumpled piles?

It could be said that cleaning your internal space does not depend on concepts that can be packaged in advertising. Some companies would have you believe that your internal state depends on being entirely free from the vague threat of chemical influence. But perhaps purity does not mean that something is free from chemicals. After all, our earthly bodies are entirely composed of chemicals, we rely on chemicals for survival and our experience of the world is derived from chemical reactions. Instead maybe purity arises from that part of us that is not of this material world.

In the war for your attention, advertisers often weaponize the concepts of cleanliness and purity. But this concept hinges on the lie that purity can be purchased. Modern marketing often rests on a subtle assumption that the transformation we all crave is a commodity. But the unglamorous truth is this:

We are the transformation, the transformation is coming from inside the house.

Ancient yogic philosophers conceptualized purity as cleanliness that allows for clarity of thought. The yogic sage Patanjali placed Saucha, or purity, as the first of the personal observances that prepare the body, mind and spirit for the pathway to enlightenment. He referred to these observances as the Niyamas and they form the second limb of the eight-limbed yogic lifestyle.

The Niyamas assert that purity and cleanliness are a daily practice that opens the internal environment to mental and spiritual clarity. The yogic philosophers constructed their theories of the enlightened path from a view of the world that was both layered and interdependent. They believed that spiritual wholeness began with a clean external environment that was free from debris and clutter.

Current science supports the assertion that clutter in the environment negatively impacts both mental and emotional states. The presence of clutter has been correlated with increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This implies that people in cluttered environments exist in a constant low grade “fight or flight” state that is counterproductive to relaxation and clarity of mind. In addition, sleep experts have demonstrated that individuals that sleep in messy or cluttered bedrooms report greater difficulty falling asleep and remaining asleep. Inadequate sleep has serious health ramifications and negatively affects cognitive function over time.

Thus it can be understood that maintaining a clean environment, free from extraneous material objects can transform overall health and well being. All of this can be achieved by the removal of objects rather than by their accumulation.

When you find yourself purchasing cleaning products, of course it is preferable to choose substances that are not harmful to our bodies or to the environment. But not being harmful, not causing disease or destruction is not the same thing as purity. A lit match is pure, but it can also cause extreme harm. When at the store, free yourself from the moral judgment of the cleaning product aisle. Choose products for the safety and efficacy of the materials that they contain rather than for what is absent from them.

However, cleaning our mental residue is far more difficult than wiping away physical dust. Mental clutter accumulates quietly through comparison, resentment, unfinished conversations, and fills the mind. Applying Saucha as a mental practice means observing and releasing those persistent negative thoughts, comparisons, and judgments. These thoughts comprise our mental clutter and create a clanging distraction from thoughts of gratitude and abundance. The burden of resentment, regrets and worry are a heavy load for the mental body to carry. Practices like journaling, meditation and mindfulness can be a way of transforming this mental clutter and purifying our internal environment.

Another great component of clutter in our internal world is the almost constant input we receive from nearby screens. The all encompassing digital landscape is the unplugged drain of our mental energy. Notifications, social media likes, reels, mindless scrolling, pop-up ads and constantly updating news stories tether our attention to the external world where the loudest and most persistent influence is the most successful. Maintaining mental Saucha or purity cuts our minds loose from these external tethers and transforms our perspective, allowing it to soar beyond the demands of consumerist culture and its vested interest in perpetuating our anxiety.

Modern marketing has become remarkably adept at assigning moral value to every aspect of our lives, including the food we consume. Ingredients, labels, and diets are all run through the gauntlet of the purity appraisal. But to engage in Saucha is to transform the question. Rather than, “Is this food pure?” Saucha asks, “What is driving this hunger?” Sometimes we nourish the body. Sometimes we ask food to be a comfort in our grief, to quiet our anxiety, or to fill our loneliness. Those that seek Saucha are compelled to notice the difference.

The final and possibly the most difficult act of Saucha is in maintaining the purity of our words. The intentions and needs that we choose to state out loud should be structured clearly and honestly and free from ulterior motivations. When we make a promise or a vow, those words should be acted upon in good faith. Unsupported words and unkind conversations are verbal detritus that trips us up in our relationships. In conversations within ourselves and with others our words are foundational to our peace.

The practice of Saucha can not be purchased. The clarity of thought derived from cultivating pure intentions is not a commodity. Whatever you possess can only be as unadulterated as your own mind.

Advertising tells us to cleanse our external world. Saucha invites us to clean the lens through which we see that world, to wipe away the smudges on our thoughts and clear our way on our spiritual path.

Every morning we wipe fingerprints from our glasses or our phone screens before stepping into the day. Saucha asks us to do the same with our minds. Remove resentment, comparison, fear, and craving until the world itself comes back into focus. That clarity cannot be bought. It can only be practiced.