Health and hygiene are a basic personal need for all.

The radiant humanitarian and Miss World 2017, Manushi Chhillar, once declared a truth simple yet profound: “Health and hygiene are a basic personal need for all.” Though her words are born of the modern world, they carry the timeless wisdom of every civilization that has ever sought to rise above disease, despair, and disorder. In this short sentence lies a universal law—that health is not a privilege of the fortunate, but the birthright of every human being; and that hygiene, the humble act of cleanliness, is not mere habit, but an act of respect—for oneself, for others, and for the sacred gift of life itself.

To say that health and hygiene are “a basic personal need” is to remind humanity that without these foundations, no higher pursuit can stand. The body is the vessel of the soul, and when that vessel is neglected, the spirit within falters. Great nations are built upon strong and healthy people; great thoughts are born from clear minds housed in well-kept bodies. Chhillar’s words do not speak of vanity or luxury, but of dignity—the inherent right of every man, woman, and child to live free from the chains of preventable illness. She speaks as one who understands that cleanliness is not merely external, but spiritual—it is the order of life made visible.

From the ancient world comes the echo of this same truth. In India’s Vedic traditions, purity was a form of worship: “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” the sages said, for the body was considered the temple of the soul. In Rome, the great public baths were not merely places of leisure, but symbols of civic pride and discipline, a sign that the health of the citizen was the strength of the empire. Even in times of plague, when darkness covered the earth, it was those who understood the power of hygiene—of clean water, fresh air, and ordered living—who survived to rebuild what was lost. Thus, from every age and land, the wise have known that health and hygiene are not adornments of civilization—they are its foundation.

Chhillar’s insight is born not from theory but from compassion. As an advocate for women’s health and hygiene, she has worked to break the silence around issues too long neglected—especially the lack of access to sanitary care in many parts of the world. In her campaigns, she has seen how the absence of basic hygiene can imprison women in shame, sickness, and exclusion. Yet, she has also witnessed the miracle that occurs when awareness awakens: when education spreads, when clean water flows, when dignity is restored. Her words are not the speech of a queen adorned with jewels, but the voice of a healer carrying truth to her generation—that every life deserves care, and that the first step toward equality is the assurance of cleanliness and well-being.

Consider the story of Florence Nightingale, the Lady with the Lamp, who during the Crimean War walked through the corridors of disease and death armed with nothing more than soap, water, and the will to save. She understood, as Chhillar does, that hygiene is not a small act, but a sacred one. When she introduced sanitation to the filthy camps of soldiers, the death rate fell from forty percent to two. Her revolution was not of guns or politics, but of cleanliness—proof eternal that the greatest acts of compassion are often the simplest. The same light that guided Nightingale’s lamp burns within Chhillar’s message: that to heal the world, one must first cleanse it.

The lesson, then, is both ancient and urgent: care for your health as you would guard your soul, and keep your surroundings clean as you would keep your conscience pure. Do not think of hygiene as duty alone, but as devotion—a daily offering to life itself. Eat clean food, breathe pure air, and let your environment reflect the order of your inner being. If each person were to uphold this sacred responsibility, no plague, no despair, no decay could long endure. The strength of a people begins with the purity of their habits.

So, children of the modern world, remember Manushi Chhillar’s truth. In the age of machines and marvels, when we dream of conquering planets and stars, let us not forget the simple sanctity of health and hygiene. For in caring for the body, we honor the miracle of existence; and in cleansing our homes, we cleanse the earth itself. Let every hand that washes, every act that heals, become a prayer for humanity—a reminder that the path to greatness begins not in power, but in purity.

And thus, let these words be your guide: cherish your health as your wealth, protect your hygiene as your honor, and see in every act of cleanliness the reflection of the divine order that sustains all life. For those who live in harmony with this truth shall not only endure but flourish—radiant, strong, and ever worthy of the gift of being alive.