Complete Chanakya Neeti

by R.P. Jain

11.7 Chanakya considers the purity of mind over the purity of body. In this context, he says that if a man's thoughts are filled with sins and impurities, then even after taking several dips in religious places, his soul cannot be purified. Like even after putting a liquor container through fire, it does not lose the smell, similarly, even after taking bath in holy water, a man's impurities are not washed away. So, according to Chanakya, a man should purify his mind rather than his body. His welfare lies in it.