A Few Main Points Can Be Derived from This Sutta:
1. The act of bathing regardless of where, how, or what the source of the water may be, is but a neutral action. There is no merit or demerit attached to the act. It can only cleanse the body, but it cannot cleanse the mind.
2. If water can wash away one's sin, then all the aquatic animals would have all been cleansed and purified and could all go to the Celestial Realm. But the fact remains that aquatic animals subsist by eating each other as food.
3. Sin or demerit is inherent in the mind. It is a mental factor and cannot be washed away by using a physical substance like water. Only the Dhamma which deals with the mind can cleanse such mental factor as sin or demerit. The mind can be cleansed by practicing charity, keeping the Precepts, and practicing meditation. The more these practices are earnestly performed, the purer one's mind will become.
4. Individuals who are still committing misdeeds, who are still harming others, can bathe themselves in the so-called holy water all they want and they will never become clean. Their bodies are still unclean because they are still committing physical dishonesty. Their words are still unclean because they are still committing verbal dishonesty. Their minds are still unclean because they still harbor greed, ill-will, and Wrong View. When an individual abstains from all misdeeds and regularly accumulates merit, he is clean even though he does not bathe in any holy water.
The Lord Buddha did not mention the concept directly but His Teachings are about purifying the mind until such time that all defilements can be removed from it.
