850
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 4, Ch. 21]
TEXT 31
यत्पादसेवामिरुचिस्तपस्विना-
मरोषजन्मोपचितं मलं धियः।
सद्यः क्षिणोत्यन्वहमेधती सती
यथा पदाङ्गुष्ठविनिःसृता सरित् ॥३१॥
yat-pāda-sevābhirucis tapasvinām
aśeṣa-janmopacitam malam dhiyaḥ
sadyaḥ kṣiṇoty anvaham edhatī satī
yathā padānguṣṭha-viniḥsṛtā sarit
yat-pāda —whose lotus feet;  sevā —service;  abhiruciḥ —inclination;  tapasvinām —persons undergoing severe penances;  aśeṣa —innumerable;  janma —birth;  upacitam —acquire;  malam —dirtiness;  dhiyaḥ —mind;  sadyaḥ —immediately;  kṣiṇoti —destroys;  anvaham —day after day;  edhatī —increasing;  satī —being;  yathā —as;  padānguṣṭha —the toes of His lotus feet;  viniḥsṛtā —emanating from;  sarit —water.
TRANSLATION
By the inclination to serve the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, suffering humanity can immediately cleanse the dirt which has accumulated in their minds during innumerable births. Like the Ganges water which emanates from the toes of the lotus feet of the Lord, such a process immediately cleanses the mind, and thus spiritual or Kṛṣṇa consciousness gradually increases.
PURPORT
In India, one can actually see that a person who takes a bath in the Ganges waters daily is almost free from all kinds of diseases. A very respectable  brāhmaṇa  in Calcutta never took a doctor's medicine. Even though he sometimes felt sick, he would not accept medicine from the physician but would simply drink Ganges water, and he was always cured within a very short time. The glories of Ganges water are known to Indians and to ourselves also. The River Ganges flows by Calcutta. Sometimes within the water there are many stools and other dirty things which are washed away from neighboring mills and factories, but still thousands of men take baths in the Ganges water, and they are very healthy as well as spiritually inclined. That is the effect of Ganges water. The Ganges is glorified because it emanates from the toes of the lotus feet of the Lord.