Page:Hatha yoga - or the yogi philosophy of physical well-being, with numberous excercises.djvu/213



should not be necessary to devote a chapter of this book to the importance of bathing. But even in this, the twentieth, century a great mass of the people understand practically nothing about this subject. In the large cities the easy access to the bath-tub has, in a measure, educated the people up to at least a partial use of water on the outer surface of the body, but in the country, and even in many homes in the cities, bathing is not given the place it should occupy in the daily life of the people. And so we think it well to call the attention of our readers to the subject and explain to them why the Yogis set so much store upon a clean body.

In the state of nature man did not need the frequent use of the bath, for, his body being uncovered, the rains beat upon him, and the bushes and trees brushed against his skin, keeping it free from the gathered-up waste matter which the skin is continuously throwing off. And, then, the primitive man, like the animals, always had streams handy, and followed his natural instinct, which impelled him to take a plunge once in a while. But the use of clothing has changed all this, and man to-day, although his skin is still at work throwing off waste matter, is unable to get rid of the waste in the old way, and instead he allows it to pile up on his