Inner cleanliness should be your first aim

Inner cleanliness should be your first aim. You may have fine vegetables, excellent spices, salt and the best of pulses; the cook may be a master of the art. The oven you use may be the best one can get. But if the copper vessel used for cooking is not tinned, the sambar (soup) will turn into something dangerous; that which cannot be consumed. The dish prepared becomes poisonous if the interior of the vessel is unfit for cooking. So too, you must cleanse your inner being. Sathkarma (virtuous deeds) and Sadachara (good habits) along with prayers act as lining for the vessel of your heart (hridaya pathra), where emotions, impulses and instincts are cooking. Prayer will tame all the instincts like a wild elephant is trained to perform tricks in a circus ring.

Bagavan Sri Sri Sri Sathya Sai Baba