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Read Summary of '''[[Purity and Purification Summary|Purity and Purification]]'''

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Purity means freedom from soil or mixture. The divine Purity is that in which there is no mixture of the turbid ignorant movements of the lower nature. Ordinarily purity is used to mean (in the common language) freedom from vital passion and impulse. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity#p14 </ref>

This is purity, to accept no other influence but only the influence of the Divine. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p2 </ref>

Sri Aurobindo does not use the word purity in the ordinary moral sense. For him, "purity" means "exclusively under the influence of the Divine", expressing only the Divine. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-282#p2 </ref>

To be pure, what does it mean? One is truly perfectly pure only when the whole being, in all its elements and all its movements, adheres fully, exclusively, to the divine Will. This indeed is total purity. It does not depend on any moral or social law, any mental convention of any kind. It depends exclusively on this: when all the elements and all the movements of the being adhere exclusively and totally to the divine Will. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/22-december-1954#p18 </ref>

~~And yet for the sake of completeness it should be added that because~~ <center>~</center> ... man is a mental being, he must necessarily in the course of his evolution leave behind this unconscious and spontaneous purity, which is very similar to the purity of the animal, and after passing through an unavoidable period of mental perversion and impurity, rise beyond the mind into the higher and luminous purity of the divine consciousness. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-30#p6 </ref> <center>~</center>

Purity or impurity depends upon the consciousness; in the divine consciousness everything is pure, in the ignorance everything is subject to impurity, not the body only or part of the body, but mind and vital and all. Only the self and the psychic being remain always pure. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity#p16</ref>

Whatever may be the past, whatever may be the faults committed, whatever the ignorance in which one might have lived, one carries deep within oneself the supreme purity which can translate itself into a wonderful realisation. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/the-flowers#p20</ref>

If one lives only for the Divine and by the Divine, there follows a perfect purity. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p5</ref>

Perfect purity is to be, to be ever more and more, in a self-perfecting becoming. One must never pretend that one is: one must be, spontaneously. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/12-june-1957#p11 </ref>

Purity is perfect sincerity and one cannot have it unless the being is entirely consecrated to the Divine. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p6</ref>

On earth, true purity is to think as the Divine thinks, to will as the Divine wills, to feel as the Divine feels. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p3 </ref>

== ~~Not~~ How Purity is Different from == === Morality ~~but Spiritual Purity~~ ===

For example, if you take your stand on a moral viewpoint—which is itself altogether wrong from the spiritual point of view—there are people who apparently lead an altogether perfectly moral life, who conform to all the social laws, all the customs, the moral conventions, and who are a mass of impurity—from the spiritual point of view these beings are profoundly impure. On the other hand there are some poor people who do things... who are born, for instance, with a sense of freedom, and do things which are not considered very respectable from the social or moral point of view, and who can be in a state of inner aspiration and inner sincerity which makes them infinitely purer than the others. This is one of the big difficulties. As soon as one speaks of these things, there arises the deformation produced in the consciousness by all the social and moral conventions. As soon as you speak of purity, a moral monument comes in front of you which completely falsifies your notion. And note that it is infinitely easier to be moral from the social point of view than to be moral from the spiritual point of view. To be moral from the social viewpoint one has only to pay good attention to do nothing which is not approved of by others; this may be somewhat difficult, but still it is not impossible; and one may be, as I said, a monument of insincerity and impurity while doing this; whereas to be pure from the spiritual point of view means a vigilance, a consciousness, a sincerity that stand all tests. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/22-december-1954#p20</ref>

== ~~Not~~ = Ascetic Purity ===

Once and for all it swept away not only all the ordinary notions of morality, but everything that is considered here in India as necessary for the spiritual life. From this point of view it was very instructive First of all this kind of so-called ascetic purity. Ascetic purity is simply the rejection of all vital movements; instead of taking up these movements and turning them towards the Divine, that is to say, instead of seeing the supreme Presence in them and letting the Supreme act freely on them, you tell Him, "No, that is not your concern." He is not allowed to interfere with them. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-69#p8</ref>

Purity must be our aim, but not the purity of a void or of a bleak and rigid coldness. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-master-of-the-work#p7</ref

=== Transformation ===

Purification of the nature by the "influence" of the Spirit is not what I mean by transformation; purification is only part of a psychic change or a psycho-spiritual change—the word besides has many senses and is very often given a moral or ethical meaning which is foreign to my purpose. What I mean by the spiritual transformation is something dynamic (not merely liberation of the self, or realisation of the One which can very well be attained without any descent). It is a putting on of the spiritual consciousness dynamic as well as static in every part of the being down to the subconscient. That cannot be done by the influence of the Self leaving the consciousness fundamentally as it is with only purification, enlightenment of the mind and heart and quiescence of the vital. It means a bringing down of Divine Consciousness static and dynamic into all these parts and the entire replacement of the present consciousness by that. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/transformation-in-the-integral-yoga#p13</ref>

== Purity in Instruments ==

Mental purity: a mirror which does not distort. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p11</ref>

Perfect mental purity: a spotless mirror constantly turned towards the Divine. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p12 </ref>

Integral mental purity: silent, attentive, receptive, concentrated on the Divine―this is the path to purity. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p13 </ref>

Vital purity: it begins with the abolition of desire. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p14 </ref>

It is therefore no integral Yoga that kills these vital energies, forces them into a nerveless quiescence or roots them out as the source of noxious activities. Their purification, not their destruction,—their transformation, control and utilisation is the aim in view with which they have been created and developed in us. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-three-steps-of-nature#p6</ref>

The purification of the vital takes a long time because until all the parts are free, none is quite free and because they use a multitude of movements which have to be changed or enlightened,—and moreover there is a great habit of persistence and resistance in the habitual movements of the nature. One therefore easily thinks that one has made no progress, but all sincere and sustained effort of purification has its result and after a time the progress made will become evident. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/wrong-movements-of-the-vital#p31</ref>

Light in the cells: the first step towards purity in the cells. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/the-body-the-physical#p19</ref>

Purity in the cells cannot be obtained except through conquest of desires; it is the true condition for good health. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/the-body-the-physical#p20</ref>

== Integral Purity ==

*Integral purity: the whole being is purified of the ego. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p9</ref>

*Power of integral purity: the power to accept nothing but the divine influence. <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p10~~~</~~ref~~center>

*Power of integral purity: the power to accept nothing but the divine influence. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p10</ref> <center>~</center> The divine existence is of the nature not only of freedom, but of purity, beatitude and perfection. An integral purity which shall enable on the one hand the perfect reflection of the divine Being in ourselves and on the other the perfect outpouring of its Truth and Law in us in the terms of life and through the right functioning of the complex instrument we are in our outer parts, is the condition of an integral liberty. Its result is an integral beatitude, in which there becomes possible at once the Ananda of all that is in the world seen as symbols of the Divine and the Ananda of that which is not-world. And it prepares the integral perfection of our humanity as a type of the Divine in the conditions of the human manifestation, a perfection founded on a certain free universality of being, of love and joy, of play of knowledge and of play of will in power and will in unegoistic action. This integrality also can be attained by the integral Yoga. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-synthesis-of-the-systems#p19</ref>

== Divine Purity ==

The Divine Purity is a more wide and all-embracing experience than the psychic. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity#p15</ref>

Divine purity: it is happy just to be, in all simplicity. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/purity#p16</ref>

For it should be said, surely, that purity as conceived on earth has nothing to do with divine purity. At the best it is an approximation. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/14-april-1954#p19</ref>

It is like the word "purity"; one could hold forth interminably on the difference between divine purity and what people call purity. The divine purity, at the lowest, allows no influence other than the divine influence—at the lowest. But that is already very much distorted; the divine purity means that there is only the Divine, nothing else—it is perfectly pure, there is only the Divine, there is nothing other than Him. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-63-64-65#p31</ref>

We are the deforming intermediary between the purity of the animal and the divine purity of the gods. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/19-july-1958#p13</ref>

== Buddhist's view ==

That was the wisdom of the Buddha who spoke of "the Middle Way": neither too much of this nor too much of that, neither falling into this nor falling into that—a little of everything and a balanced way... but ''pure''. Purity and sincerity are the same thing. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-103-104-105-106-107#p77 </ref> <center>~</center>

So too the word "impurity". Pure, as it is understood morally, has not at all the meaning it is given in a truly spiritual teaching; and particularly from the Buddhist standpoint, purity is absence of ignorance, as I have already told you last time, and ignorance means ignoring the inner law, the truth of the being. And loyalty means not to take the illusion for the reality, the changing and fluctuating appearances for the inner and real permanence of the being. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/conjugate-verses#p62 </ref>

== ~~Impurities~~ Purity in Relation to other Qualities == ''' Perfection and Purity ''' It is only by a very persistent effort that one can succeed in overcoming his difficulties; and yet it seems impossible to cut oneself off completely from one's solidarity with the rest of the world. Therefore a perfect purity, a perfect perfection seem impossible so long as the world has not reached at least a certain degree of perfection. Even the ascetic, the solitary, who goes and sits in a cave or under a tree or in the jungle, cannot completely free himself from solidarity with the rest of the world. The air he breathes is full of all the vibrations of the world, the food he eats, whatever it may be, even if it is reduced to the minimum, contains the vibrations of the world; and so, it is enough for him to exist to be in solidarity with the difficulties of the world. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/29-december-1954#p5 </ref> ''' Aspiration and Purity ''' It is the most important for you. Particularly what you must aspire for is peace in all the being, complete equanimity, samata. The feeling that peace is not enough must go. Peace and purity and equanimity once established, all the rest must be the Mother's free gift, not a result of the demand from the being. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity#p5</ref>

~~===Impurities due to Evolution===~~''' Sincerity and Purification '''

… there are two forms of impurity which are at the root of the whole confusion. One is a defect born of the nature of our past evolution, which has been a nature of separative ignorance; this defect is a radically wrong and ignorant form given to the proper action of each part of our instrumental being. The other impurity is born of the successive process of an evolution, where life emerges in and depends on body, mind emerges in and depends on life in the body, supermind emerges in and lends itself to instead of governing mind, soul itself is apparent only as a circumstance of the bodily life of the mental being and veils up the spirit in the lower imperfections. This second defect of our nature Sincerity! Sincerity! How sweet is ~~caused by this dependence of the higher on~~ the ~~lower parts; it is an immixture~~ purity of functions by which the impure working of the lower instrument gets into the characteristic action of the higher function and gives to it an added imperfection of embarrassment, wrong direction and confusion. thy presence! <ref>http://incarnateword.in/~~cwsa~~cwm/2414/~~the-instruments-of-the-spirit~~sincerity#p3p23 </ref> <center>~</center>

~~===Ego===~~There is, besides, a marvellous joy in being sincere. Every act of sincerity carries in itself its own reward: the feeling of purification, of soaring upwards, of liberation one gets when one has rejected even one tiny particle of falsehood. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/19-december-1956#p31</ref>

The ego seems to have been indispensable at one time for the formation of the individual consciousness, but with the ego were born all the obstacles, sufferings, difficulties, all that now appears to us as adverse ''' Concentration and anti-divine forces. But these forces themselves were a necessity for attaining an inner purification and the liberation from ego. The ego is at once the result of their action and the cause of their prolongation. When the ego disappears, the adverse forces will also disappear, having no longer any reason for their existence in the world. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/the-fool#p20 </ref>Purity '''

~~In human egoism~~ Along with purity and as a help to bring it about, concentration. Purity and concentration are indeed two aspects, feminine and ~~its satisfaction there can be no divine culmination~~ masculine, passive and ~~deliverance. A certain purification from egoism~~ active, of the same status of being; purity is the condition ~~even~~ in which concentration becomes entire, rightly effective, omnipotent; by concentration purity does its works and without it would only lead to a state of ~~ethical progress~~ peaceful quiescence and ~~elevation~~eternal repose. Their opposites are also closely connected; for we have seen that impurity is a confusion of dharmas, a lax, ~~for social good~~ mixed and ~~perfection~~mutually entangled action of the different parts of the being; ~~much more~~ and this confusion proceeds from an absence of right concentration of its knowledge on its energies in the embodied Soul. The fault of our nature is ~~it indispensable for inner peace~~first an inert subjection to the impacts of things as they come in upon the mind pell-mell without order or control and then a haphazard imperfect concentration managed fitfully, ~~purity and joy. But~~ irregularly with a ~~much~~ more ~~radical deliverance~~or less chance emphasis on this or on that object according as they happen to interest, not ~~only from egoism~~ the higher soul or the judging and discerning intellect, but ~~from ego-idea and ego-sense~~the restless, leaping, fickle, easily tired, easily distracted lower mind which is ~~needed if~~ the chief enemy of our ~~aim~~ progress. In such a condition purity, the right working of the functions, the clear, unstained and luminous order of the being is an impossibility; the various workings, given over to ~~raise~~ the chances of the environment and external influences, must necessarily run into each other and clog, divert, distract, pervert. Equally, without purity the complete, equal, flexible concentration of the being in right thought, right will, right feeling or secure status of spiritual experience is not possible. Therefore the two must proceed together, each helping the victory of the other, until we arrive at that eternal calm from which may proceed some partial image in the human ~~into divine nature~~being of the eternal, omnipotent and omniscient activity. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/~~the-release-from-the-ego~~concentration#p2 p1</ref>

~~===Insincerity===~~''' Instinct and Purity '''

~~Now~~For the purity of which Sri Aurobindo speaks here is the purity of instinct, ~~there are stages~~that obeys Nature's impulses spontaneously, ~~there are degrees. For example~~never calculating, ~~insincerity~~never questioning, ~~which~~ never asking whether it is good or bad, whether what one ~~of the greatest impurities~~does is right or wrong, ~~always arises from the fact that~~ whether it is a ~~movement~~ virtue or a ~~set of movements~~sin, ~~an element of~~ whether the ~~being or a number of elements, want to follow their own~~ outcome will ~~and not~~ be ~~the expression of the divine Will~~favourable or unfavourable. ~~So this produces in~~ All these notions come into play when the ~~being either~~ mental ego makes its appearance and begins to take a ~~revolt or a falsehood. I don't mean that one tells lies, but I mean that one is~~ dominant position in ~~a state of falsehood, of insincerity. And then,~~ the ~~consequences are more or less serious~~ consciousness and ~~more or less extensive according~~ to veil the ~~gravity of the movement itself and its importance. But these, if one sees from the point~~ spontaneity of ~~view of purity, these are~~ the ~~real impurities~~soul. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/0610/~~22-december~~aphorism-~~1954~~30#~~p19~~ p4</ref>

It is obvious that in the purity of its essence, only that which is perfectly divine can feel that suffering; but partially, momentarily, like flashes of lightning behind the dark clouds of egoism, it appears in all who have a vast ''' Faith and generous heart. However, most often, in the individual consciousness it is mixed with that mean and petty self-pity which is the cause of depression and weakness. Nevertheless, when one is vigilant enough to refuse this mixture or at least to reduce it to a minimum, one soon realises that this divine compassion is based on a sublime and eternal joy which alone has the strength and the power to deliver the world from its ignorance and misery. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/5-february-1956#p5 </ref>Purity '''

~~===Hidden Impulses~~ At every moment all the unforeseen, the unexpected, the unknown is before us―and what happens to us depends mostly on the intensity and ~~Desires===~~purity of our faith. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/faith#p19</ref>

~~There is another danger; it is in connection with the sex impulses. Yoga in its process of purification will lay bare~~ ''' Surrender and throw up all hidden impulses and desires in you. And you must learn not to hide things nor leave them aside, you have to face them and conquer and remould them. The first effect of Yoga, however, is to take away the mental control, and the hungers that lie dormant are suddenly set free, they rush up and invade the being. So long as this mental control has not been replaced by the Divine control, there is a period of transition when your sincerity and surrender will be put to the test. The strength of such impulses as those of sex lies usually in the fact that people take too much notice of them; they protest too vehemently and endeavour to control them by coercion, hold them within and sit upon them. But the more you think of a thing and say, "I donPurity ''~~t want it, I don~~'t want it", the more you are bound to it. What you should do is to keep the thing away from you, to dissociate from it, take as little notice of it as possible and, even if you happen to think of it, remain indifferent and unconcerned. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/14-april-1929#p6 </ref>

~~Ignorance is not a state~~ Detailed surrender means the surrender of ~~innocence or purity; that is an old blunder. Only a consciousness full~~ all the details of ~~light can be pure. For instance~~life, ~~when you are conscious, your mind is clear~~ even the smallest and ~~you have~~ the ~~right ideas about things and people; your mind is pure of ignorance~~most insignificant in appearance. ~~But when~~ And this means to remember the ~~mind is clouded by some impurity~~Divine in all circumstances; whatever we think,~~—say~~feel or do, ~~anger~~we must do it for Him as a way of coming close to Him, ~~jealousy or pride or some unreasonable desire~~to be more and more what He wants us to be,~~—you at once become ignorant~~ capable of manifesting His will in perfect sincerity and ~~mistake and misunderstand everything~~purity, to be the instruments of His Love. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/~~cwsa~~cwm/2914/~~purity~~surrender#~~p19~~ p7</ref>

~~===Focus on~~ ''' Receptivity and Purity ~~not Impurity===~~'''

~~Thinking too much about one's impurities does not help. It~~ If we call "perfect receptivity" the receptivity that receives only the Divine Influence and no other, it is ~~better to keep the thought fixed on~~ certain—and at the same time it is perfect purity~~, light and peace that one wants to acquire~~. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/1416/~~mistakes-no-torment-worry~~27-ornovember-~~sadness~~1968#p5 p2</ref>

~~===Disinterestedness===~~''' Truth and Purity '''

~~You must be good for~~ When we are in the ~~love~~ presence of ~~goodness~~hostile forces, ~~you must be just for~~ only the ~~love of justice, you must be pure for the love of~~ purity ~~and you must be disinterested for the love~~ of ~~disinterestedness; then you are sure to advance on the way~~an absolute truth can conquer them. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/0316/~~impurity~~20-july-1935#~~p32~~p7</ref>

== ''' Peace and Purity ~~in Relation to other Qualities ==~~'''

~~=== Perfection~~ Peace and ~~Purity ===~~purity of the consciousness are the very foundation of the necessary change in the nature. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace-the-basis-of-the-sadhana#p1</ref>

It is only by a very persistent effort that one can succeed in overcoming his difficulties; and yet it seems impossible to cut oneself off completely from one's solidarity with the rest of the world. Therefore a perfect purity, a perfect perfection seem impossible so long as the world has not reached at least a certain degree of perfection. Even the ascetic, the solitary, who goes and sits in a cave or under a tree or in the jungle, cannot completely free himself from solidarity with the rest of the world. The air he breathes is full of all the vibrations of the world, the food he eats, whatever it may be, even if it is reduced to the minimum, contains the vibrations of the world; and so, it is enough for him to exist to be in solidarity with the difficulties of the world. <~~ref~~center> ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/29-december-1954#p5~~ ~</~~ref~~center>

~~=== Aspiration~~ Peace is necessary for all; without peace and ~~Purity ===~~an increasing purity, even if one opens, one cannot receive perfectly all that comes down through the opening. Light too is necessary for all—without light one cannot take full advantage of all that comes down. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace-the-basis-of-the-sadhana#p2</ref>

It is the most important for you. Particularly what you must aspire for is peace in all the being, complete equanimity, samata. The feeling that peace is not enough must go. Peace and purity and equanimity once established, all the rest must be the Mother's free gift, not a result == Path of ~~the demand from the being. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity#p5</ref>~~Purity ==

~~=== Sincerity~~ Life is hard for the modest one who seeks purity, who is detached, unassuming and ~~Purification ===~~whose judgment is correct. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/impurity#p12 </ref>

~~Sincerity! Sincerity! How sweet is the purity of thy presence!~~ <~~ref~~center> ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/sincerity#p23~~ ~</~~ref~~center>

There iswas a third thing?... Yes, you must not cherish the illusion that if you want to follow the straight path, if you are modest, if you seek purity, ~~besides~~if you are disinterested, if you want to lead a solitary existence and have a ~~marvellous joy in being sincere~~clear judgment, things will become easy.... ~~Every act of sincerity carries in itself its own reward:~~ It is quite the ~~feeling of purification~~contrary! When you begin to advance towards inner and outer perfection, ~~of soaring upwards, of liberation one gets when one has rejected even one tiny particle of falsehood~~the difficulties start at the same time. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/0803/~~19-december-1956~~impurity#~~p31~~p29</ref>

~~=== Concentration and Purity ===~~<center>~</center>

~~Along with purity and as a help to bring it about, concentration. Purity and concentration are indeed two aspects, feminine and masculine, passive and active, of~~ Very often the ~~same status~~ earlier stage of ~~being; purity is~~ the condition in which concentration becomes entire, rightly effective, omnipotent; by concentration purity does its works and without it would only lead to a state of peaceful quiescence and eternal repose. Their opposites are also closely connected; for we have seen that impurity sadhana is ~~a confusion of dharmas~~successful, a lax, mixed and mutually entangled action of the different parts of the being; and this confusion proceeds from an absence of right concentration of its knowledge on its energies in the embodied Soul. The fault of our nature because there is ~~first~~ an ~~inert subjection to the impacts~~ opening of ~~things as they come in upon~~ the mind ~~pell-mell without order or control and then a haphazard imperfect concentration managed fitfully, irregularly with a more or less chance emphasis on this or on that object according as they happen~~ to ~~interest, not~~ first workings of the ~~higher soul or~~ Force—afterwards the ~~judging~~ lower vital consciousness and ~~discerning intellect, but~~ the ~~restless, leaping, fickle, easily tired, easily distracted lower mind which is the chief enemy of our progress. In such a condition purity, the right working of the functions, the clear, unstained~~ physical rise up and ~~luminous order of~~ if these are not ready or inclined for the ~~being is an impossibility; the various workings~~sadhana, ~~given over~~ it ceases. The sadhaka has first to ~~the chances of the environment~~ purify and ~~external influences, must necessarily run into each other~~ open them and ~~clog, divert, distract, pervert. Equally, without purity~~ call in the ~~complete, equal, flexible concentration of~~ Force to work there and make all ready until he can bring the ~~being in right thought, right will, right feeling or secure status of spiritual~~ true consciousness and experience ~~is not possible~~there. ~~Therefore the two~~ Yoga implies a long and difficult work and one must ~~proceed together, each helping~~ be ready to accept the ~~victory~~ necessity of ~~the other, until we arrive at that eternal calm from which may proceed some partial image in the human being~~ years of preparation and purification and increasing consecration before the ~~eternal, omnipotent and omniscient activity~~greater results can come. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/2329/~~concentration~~purity#p1p7</ref>

=== ~~Instinct and Purity~~ Dhammapada ===

~~For the purity of which Sri Aurobindo speaks here is the purity of instinct,~~ "All conditioned things are impermanent." When one has seen that ~~obeys Nature's impulses spontaneously~~by realisation, ~~never calculating, never questioning, never asking whether it~~ he is ~~good or bad, whether what one does is right or wrong, whether it~~ delivered from sorrow. That is ~~a virtue or a sin, whether the outcome will be favourable or unfavourable. All these notions come into play when the mental ego makes its appearance and begins to take a dominant position in~~ the ~~consciousness and to veil the spontaneity~~ Path of ~~the soul~~purity. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/1003/~~aphorism~~the-30path#p4p5</ref>

~~=== Faith and Purity ===~~<center>~</center>

~~At every moment all the unforeseen~~"All conditioned things are subject to suffering." When one has seen that by realisation, ~~the unexpected, the unknown~~ he is delivered from sorrow. That is ~~before us―and what happens to us depends mostly on~~ the ~~intensity and~~ Path of purity ~~of our faith~~. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/1403/~~faith~~the-path#~~p19~~p6</ref>

~~=== Surrender and Purity ===~~<center>~</center>

~~Detailed surrender means the surrender of all the details of life~~"All things are insubstantial." When one has seen that by realisation, ~~even the smallest and the most insignificant in appearance~~he is delivered from sorrow. ~~And this means to remember~~ That is the ~~Divine in all circumstances; whatever we think, feel or do, we must do it for Him as a way~~ Path of ~~coming close to Him, to be more and more what He wants us to be, capable of manifesting His will in perfect sincerity and~~ purity~~, to be the instruments of His Love~~. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/1403/~~surrender~~the-path#p7</ref>

=~~== Receptivity and Purity ==~~What is Impurity? =

If we call "perfect receptivity" the receptivity that receives only the Divine Influence and no other, it is certain—and at the same time it is perfect purity. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/27-november-1968#p2</ref>== Impurities due to Evolution ==

~~=== Truth~~ … there are two forms of impurity which are at the root of the whole confusion. One is a defect born of the nature of our past evolution, which has been a nature of separative ignorance; this defect is a radically wrong and ~~Purity ===~~ignorant form given to the proper action of each part of our instrumental being. The other impurity is born of the successive process of an evolution, where life emerges in and depends on body, mind emerges in and depends on life in the body, supermind emerges in and lends itself to instead of governing mind, soul itself is apparent only as a circumstance of the bodily life of the mental being and veils up the spirit in the lower imperfections. This second defect of our nature is caused by this dependence of the higher on the lower parts; it is an immixture of functions by which the impure working of the lower instrument gets into the characteristic action of the higher function and gives to it an added imperfection of embarrassment, wrong direction and confusion. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-instruments-of-the-spirit#p3</ref>

~~When we are in the presence of hostile forces, only the purity of an absolute truth can conquer them. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/20-july-1935#p7</ref>~~== Ego ==

~~=== Peace~~ The ego seems to have been indispensable at one time for the formation of the individual consciousness, but with the ego were born all the obstacles, sufferings, difficulties, all that now appears to us as adverse and ~~Purity ===~~anti-divine forces. But these forces themselves were a necessity for attaining an inner purification and the liberation from ego. The ego is at once the result of their action and the cause of their prolongation. When the ego disappears, the adverse forces will also disappear, having no longer any reason for their existence in the world. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/the-fool#p20 </ref>

~~Peace and purity of the consciousness are the very foundation of the necessary change in the nature.~~ <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace-the-basis-of-the-sadhana#p1~~~</~~ref~~center>

~~Peace~~ In human egoism and its satisfaction there can be no divine culmination and deliverance. A certain purification from egoism is ~~necessary~~ the condition even of ethical progress and elevation, for ~~all~~social good and perfection; ~~without~~ much more is it indispensable for inner peace , purity and ~~an increasing purity~~joy. But a much more radical deliverance, not only from egoism but from ego-idea and ego-sense, ~~even~~ is needed if ~~one opens, one cannot receive perfectly all that comes down through the opening. Light too~~ our aim is ~~necessary for all—without light one cannot take full advantage of all that comes down~~to raise human into divine nature. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/2923/~~peace-~~the-~~basis~~release-offrom-the-~~sadhana~~ego#p2</ref>

= ~~Symbols of Purity~~ = Insincerity ==

Now, there are stages, there are degrees. For example, insincerity, which is one of the greatest impurities, always arises from the fact that a movement or a set of movements, an element of the being or a number of elements, want to follow their own will and not be the expression of the divine Will. So this produces in the being either a revolt or a falsehood. I don'~~''Water'''~~t mean that one tells lies, but I mean that one is in a state of falsehood, of insincerity. And then, the consequences are more or less serious and more or less extensive according to the gravity of the movement itself and its importance. But these, if one sees from the point of view of purity, these are the real impurities. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/22-december-1954#p19 </ref>

~~The water is the symbol of the power of purification and no hostile being or force can resist this power handled with goodwill and sincerity.~~ <~~ref~~center> ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/arts#p151~~ ~</~~ref~~center>

~~'''Frankincense'''~~It is obvious that in the purity of its essence, only that which is perfectly divine can feel that suffering; but partially, momentarily, like flashes of lightning behind the dark clouds of egoism, it appears in all who have a vast and generous heart. However, most often, in the individual consciousness it is mixed with that mean and petty self-pity which is the cause of depression and weakness. Nevertheless, when one is vigilant enough to refuse this mixture or at least to reduce it to a minimum, one soon realises that this divine compassion is based on a sublime and eternal joy which alone has the strength and the power to deliver the world from its ignorance and misery. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/5-february-1956#p5 </ref>

~~Frankincense: purification of the vital. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/christmas-messages#p51</ref>~~== Hidden Impulses and Desires ==

There is another danger; it is in connection with the sex impulses. Yoga in its process of purification will lay bare and throw up all hidden impulses and desires in you. And you must learn not to hide things nor leave them aside, you have to face them and conquer and remould them. The first effect of Yoga, however, is to take away the mental control, and the hungers that lie dormant are suddenly set free, they rush up and invade the being. So long as this mental control has not been replaced by the Divine control, there is a period of transition when your sincerity and surrender will be put to the test. The strength of such impulses as those of sex lies usually in the fact that people take too much notice of them; they protest too vehemently and endeavour to control them by coercion, hold them within and sit upon them. But the more you think of a thing and say, "I don't want it, I don'~~'Agni '''~~t want it", the more you are bound to it. What you should do is to keep the thing away from you, to dissociate from it, take as little notice of it as possible and, even if you happen to think of it, remain indifferent and unconcerned. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/14-april-1929#p6 </ref>

~~Agni: the flame of purification which must precede all contact with the invisible worlds.~~ <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/will#p18~~~</~~ref~~center>

~~If you had understood and reacted in the right way, you would have passed the test and got rid~~ Ignorance is not ~~only~~ a state of ~~this special difficulty but probably~~ innocence or purity; that is an old blunder. Only a consciousness full of ~~this hostile's influence altogether~~light can be pure. ~~But~~ For instance, when you ~~failed~~ are conscious, your mind is clear and ~~got possessed. And only one thing was left to me to do, it was to flood~~ you ~~with~~ have the right ideas about things and people; your mind is pure ~~light, the white flame~~ of ~~purification to chase from inside you~~ ignorance. But when the ~~intruder. It~~ mind is ~~what you took probably for a cut in our relations~~clouded by some impurity, ~~a wall of separation between us; there was nothing of the kind; I was inside you~~—say, ~~penetrating you as usual~~anger, ~~but in the form of this supreme purity which is so foreign to all that is anti-divine~~ jealousy or pride or ~~even to all ordinary human movement~~some unreasonable desire,—you at once become ignorant and mistake and misunderstand everything. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/~~cwm~~cwsa/1529/~~adverse-forces~~purity#~~p35~~p19 </ref>

No wall at all—only the pure light, the white flame of purification penetrating right through, from outside inside, from inside outside. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/adverse-forces#p37 </ref>== Focus on Purity not Impurity ==

~~The fire~~ Thinking too much about one's impurities does not help. It is ~~always~~ better to keep the ~~fire of purification—it is very red when it is acting~~ thought fixed on the ~~vital; when the vital no longer covers the psychic~~purity, ~~then the rose colour of the psychic comes out more~~ light and ~~more~~peace that one wants to acquire. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/~~cwsa~~cwm/3014/~~sun~~mistakes-no-torment-~~moon~~worry-~~star~~or-~~fire~~sadness#~~p38~~p5 </ref>

~~It is the purification of the physical that is usually indicated in the symbol of burning.~~ <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/sun-moon-star-fire#p39~~~</~~ref~~center>

~~'''Lamb'''~~It is a mistake to dwell too much on the lower nature and its obstacles, which is the negative side of the sadhana. They have to be seen and purified, but preoccupation with them as the one important thing is not helpful. The positive side of experience of the descent is the more important thing. If one waits for the lower nature to be purified entirely and for all time before calling down the positive experience, one might have to wait for ever. It is true that the more the lower nature is purified, the easier is the descent of the higher Nature, but it is also and more true that the more the higher Nature descends, the more the lower is purified. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-danger-of-the-ego-and-the-need-of-purification#p35</ref>

~~It is a lamb, which means "purity". <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/symbols#p13</ref>~~== Disinterestedness ==

~~'''White'''~~You must be good for the love of goodness, you must be just for the love of justice, you must be pure for the love of purity and you must be disinterested for the love of disinterestedness; then you are sure to advance on the way. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/impurity#p32</ref>

~~White indicates a force of purity.~~ <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/colours#p13~~~</~~ref~~center>

~~The white sun indicates the~~ Doing evil, one harms oneself; avoiding evil, one purifies oneself; purity and ~~peace of the Divine Consciousness~~impurity depend on ourselves; no one can purify another. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/~~cwsa~~cwm/3003/~~sun-moon-star~~the-~~fire~~ego#~~p12~~p9</ref>

= What is Purification ? =

Purification—rejecting from one's nature all that is egoistic or of the nature of rajasic desire. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity#p2 </ref>

Thus purification, liberation, perfection, delight of being are four constituent elements of the Yoga,—śuddhi, mukti, siddhi, bhukti. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-perfection-of-the-mental-being#p12 </ref>

An integral purification is a long and slow labour. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/17/21-june-1935#p2</ref>

All purification is a release, a delivery; for it is a throwing away of limiting, binding, obscuring imperfections and confusions: purification from desire brings the freedom of the psychic prana, purification from wrong emotions and troubling reactions the freedom of the heart, purification from the obscuring limited thought of the sense mind the freedom of the intelligence, purification from mere intellectuality the freedom of the gnosis. But all this is an instrumental liberation. The freedom of the soul, mukti, is of a larger and more essential character; it is an opening out of mortal limitation into the illimitable immortality of the Spirit. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-liberation-of-the-spirit#p1 </ref>

In other words, purification must not be understood in any limited sense of a selection of certain outward kinetic movements, their regulation, the inhibition of other action or a liberation of certain forms of character or particular mental and moral capacities. These things are secondary signs of our derivative being, not essential powers and first forces. We have to take a wider psychological view of the primary forces of our nature. We have to distinguish the formed parts of our being, find out their basic defect of impurity or wrong action and correct that, sure that the rest will then come right naturally. We have not to doctor symptoms of impurity, or that only secondarily, as a minor help, but to strike at its roots after a deeper diagnosis. <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-instruments-of-the-spirit#p2</ref>~~ To rid the prana of desire and incidentally to reverse the ordinary poise of our nature and turn the vital being from a troublesomely dominant power into the obedient instrument of a free and unattached mind, is then the first step in purification. As this deformation of the psychical prana is corrected, the purification of the rest of the intermediary parts of the antaḥkaraṇa is facilitated, and when that correction is completed, their purification too can be easily made absolute. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/purification-the-lower-mentality#p7~</~~ref~~center>

The systematic purification of the whole being for an integral reflection and taking in of the divine reality can only be done by the special methods of Yoga. Its absolute concentration has to take the place of the dispersed concentrations of the lower knowledge; the vague and ineffective identification which is all the lower knowledge can bring, has to be replaced by the complete, intimate, imperative and living union which Yoga brings. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-higher-and-the-lower-knowledge#p9</ref>

It is the inner offering of the heart's adoration, the soul of it in the symbol, the spirit of it in the act, that is the very life of the sacrifice. If this offering is to be complete and universal, then a turning of all our emotions to the Divine is imperative. This is the intensest way of purification for the human heart, more powerful than any ethical or aesthetic catharsis could ever be by its half-power and superficial pressure. A psychic fire within must be lit into which all is thrown with the Divine Name upon it. In that fire all the emotions are compelled to cast off their grosser elements and those that are undivine perversions are burned away and the others discard their insufficiencies, till a spirit of largest love and a stainless divine delight arises out of the flame and smoke and frankincense. It is the divine love which so emerges that, extended in inward feeling to the Divine in man and all creatures in an active universal equality, will be more potent for the perfectibility of life and a more real instrument than the ineffective mental ideal of brotherhood can ever be. It is this poured out into acts that could alone create a harmony in the world and a true unity between all its creatures; all else strives in vain towards that end so long as Divine Love has not disclosed itself as the heart of the delivered manifestation in terrestrial Nature. <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-ascent-of-the-sacrifice-ii#p14</ref>~~ It has been seen that a most effective way of purification is for the mental Purusha to draw back, to stand as the passive witness and observe and know himself and the workings of Nature in the lower, the normal being; but this must be combined, for perfection, with a will to raise the purified nature into the higher spiritual being. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-action-of-the-divine-shakti#p7~</~~ref~~center>

...you must add the Force of spiritual purification which is such an absolutely perfectly constructive force that nothing that's in the least destructive can survive there. If you have this Force at your disposal or if you can ask for it and get it, you direct it on the spot and the adverse force usually runs away immediately, for if it happens to be in the midst of this Force it gets dissolved, it disappears; for no force of disintegration can survive within this Force; therefore disintegration disappears and with it that also disappears. It can be changed into a constructive force, that is possible, or it may be simply dissolved and reduced to nothing. And with that not only is the illness cured, but all possibility of its return is also eliminated. You are cured of the illness once for all, it never comes back. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/05/22-july-1953#p62</ref>

*purification from depression which is the result of disappointed desires.

It is the most important for you. Particularly what you must aspire for is peace in all the being, complete equanimity, samata. The feeling that peace is not enough must go. Peace and purity and equanimity once established, all the rest must be the Mother’s free gift, not a result of the demand from the being.

<ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity#p5</ref>

== Object of Purification ==

The object of purification is to make the whole mental being a clear mirror in which the divine reality can be reflected, a clear vessel and an unobstructing channel into which the divine presence and through which the divine influence can be poured, a subtilised stuff which the divine nature can take possession of, new-shape and use to divine issues. For the mental being at present reflects only the confusions created by the mental and physical view of the world, is a channel only for the disorders of the ignorant lower nature and full of obstructions and impurities which prevent the higher from acting; therefore the whole shape of our being is deformed and imperfect, indocile to the highest influences and turned in its action to ignorant and inferior utilities. It reflects even the world falsely; it is incapable of reflecting the Divine. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-higher-and-the-lower-knowledge#p6 </ref>

A certain amount of purification is necessary before there can be any realisation of the Divine and that is what has been going on in you. It is after all not a very long time since the real purification began and it is never an easy work. So the impatience may be natural, but it is not exactly reasonable. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity#p1</ref>

As is said in the Upanishads, our whole mind-consciousness is shot through with the threads and currents of this Prana, this Life-energy that strives and limits, grasps and misses, desires and suffers, and only by its purification can we know and possess our real and eternal self. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p4</ref>

= Why Purification is Important? =

No protection, no Grace can save those who refuse the indispensable purification. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/15-august-1956#p6</ref>

With the inner liberation, with a total sincerity and perfect purity, all suffering will disappear, because it will no longer be necessary for the progress of the consciousness towards its final goal. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/the-fool#p21</ref>

=== Beauty ===

Pure sense of beauty can be acquired only through a great purification. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/beauty#p14</ref>

The preoccupation with universal beauty even in its aesthetic forms has an intense power for refining and subtilising the nature, and at its highest it is a great force for purification. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-higher-and-the-lower-knowledge#p8</ref>

=== Calm ===

Purification and calm are the first needs in the Yoga. One may have a great wealth of experiences of that kind (worlds, visions, voices etc.) without them, but these experiences occurring in an unpurified and troubled consciousness are usually full of disorder and mixture. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-danger-of-the-ego-and-the-need-of-purification#p50</ref>

In your nature there are many obstacles, chiefly a great activity of the outward-going mind and a thick crust of the impure lower Prakriti that covers the heart and the vital being. Quieting of the mind and purification of the nature are what you must have before you can fulfil your aim. Aspire for these two things first; ask for them constantly from above. You will not be able to achieve them by your own unaided effort. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity#p9</ref>

=== Perfection === As you pursue this labour of purification and unification, you must at the same time take great care to perfect the external and instrumental part of your being. When the higher truth manifests, it must find in you a mind that is supple and rich enough to be able to give the idea that seeks to express itself a form of thought which preserves its force and clarity. This thought, again, when it seeks to clothe itself in words, must find in you a sufficient power of expression so that the words reveal the thought and do not deform it. And the formula in which you embody the truth should be manifested in all your feelings, all your acts of will, all your actions, in all the movements of your being. Finally, these movements themselves should, by constant effort, attain their highest perfection. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/the-science-of-living#p6 </ref> <center>~</center> If there is to be an active perfection of our being, the first necessity is a purification of the working of the instruments which it now uses for a music of discords. The being itself, the spirit, the divine Reality in man stands in no need of purification; it is for ever pure, not affected by the faults of its instrumentation or the stumblings of mind and heart and body in their work, as the sun, says the Upanishad, is not touched or stained by the faults of the eye of vision. Mind, heart, the soul of vital desire, the life in the body are the seats of impurity; it is they that must be set right if the working of the spirit is to be a perfect working and not marked by its present greater or less concession to the devious pleasure of the lower nature. What is ordinarily called purity of the being, is either a negative whiteness, a freedom from sin gained by a constant inhibition of whatever action, feeling, idea or will we think to be wrong, or else, the highest negative or passive purity, the entire God-content, inaction, the complete stilling of the vibrant mind and the soul of desire, which in quietistic disciplines leads to a supreme peace; for then the spirit appears in all the eternal purity of its immaculate essence. That gained, there would be nothing farther to be enjoyed or done. But here we have the more difficult problem of a total, unabated, even an increased and more powerful action founded on perfect bliss of the being, the purity of the soul's instrumental as well as the spirit's essential nature. Mind, heart, life, body are to do the works of the Divine, all the works which they do now and yet more, but to do them divinely, as now they do not do them. This is the first appearance of the problem before him on which the seeker of perfection has to lay hold, that it is not a negative, prohibitory, passive or quietistic, but a positive, affirmative, active purity which is his object. A divine quietism discovers the immaculate eternity of the Spirit, a divine kinetism adds to it the right pure undeviating action of the soul, mind and body. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-instruments-of-the-spirit#p1</ref> <center>~</center> Moreover, it is a total purification of all the complex instrumentality in all the parts of each instrument that is demanded of us by the integral perfection. It is not, ultimately, the narrower moral purification of the ethical nature. Ethics deals only with the desire-soul and the active outward dynamical part of our being; its field is confined to character and action. It prohibits and inhibits certain actions, certain desires, impulses, propensities,—it inculcates certain qualities in the act, such as truthfulness, love, charity, compassion, chastity. When it has got this done and assured a base of virtue, the possession of a purified will and blameless habit of action, its work is finished. But the Siddha of the integral perfection has to dwell in a larger plane of the Spirit' s eternal purity beyond good and evil… it is meant that the Siddha of the active integral perfection will live dynamically in the working of the transcendent power of the divine Spirit as a universal will through the supermind individualised in him for action. His works will therefore be the works of an eternal Knowledge, an eternal Truth, an eternal Might, an eternal Love, an eternal Ananda; but the truth, knowledge, force, love, delight will be the whole essential spirit of whatever work he will do and will not depend on its form; they will determine his action from the spirit within and the action will not determine the spirit or subject it to a fixed standard or rigid mould of working. He will have no dominant mere habit of character, but only a spiritual being and will with at the most a free and flexible temperamental mould for the action. His life will be a direct stream from the eternal fountains, not a form cut to some temporary human pattern. His perfection will not be a sattwic purity, but a thing uplifted beyond the gunas of Nature, a perfection of spiritual knowledge, spiritual power, spiritual delight, unity and harmony of unity; the outward perfection of his works will be freely shaped as the self-expression of this inner spiritual transcendence and universality. For this change he must make conscient in him that power of spirit and supermind which is now superconscient to our mentality. But that cannot work in him so long as his present mental, vital, physical being is not liberated from its actual inferior working. This purification is the first necessity. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-instruments-of-the-spirit#p2</ref> === Manifestation ~~and Purification '''~~===

Neither the complete purification nor the permanent and perfect manifestation can come all at once, it is a matter of time and patient progress. The two (purification and manifestation) go on progressing side by side and become more and more strong to play into each other's hands—that is the usual course of the sadhana. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-danger-of-the-ego-and-the-need-of-purification#p35</ref>

~~'''~~ === Knowledge ~~and Purification '''~~===

For all this movement of knowledge which we are describing is a method of purification and liberation whereby entire and final self-knowledge becomes possible, a progressive self-knowledge being itself the instrument of the purification and liberation. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p9</ref>

=What to Purify and How? = ~~Object~~ In other words, purification must not be understood in any limited sense of a selection of certain outward kinetic movements, their regulation, the inhibition of other action or a liberation of certain forms of character or particular mental and moral capacities. These things are secondary signs of our derivative being, not essential powers and first forces. We have to take a wider psychological view of the primary forces of our nature. We have to distinguish the formed parts of our being, find out their basic defect of impurity or wrong action and correct that, sure that the rest will then come right naturally. We have not to doctor symptoms of impurity, or that only secondarily, as a minor help, but to strike at its roots after a deeper diagnosis. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-instruments-of-the-spirit#p2</ref> <center>~</center> ... the main need is a certain preparation of the consciousness so that it may be able to respond more and more freely to the higher Force. In this preparation many things are useful—the poetry and music you are doing can help, for it acts as a sort of śravaṇa and manana, even, if the feeling roused is intense, a sort of natural nididhyāsana. Psychic preparation, clearing out of the grosser forms of mental and vital ego, opening mind and heart to the Guru and many other things help greatly—it is not perfection or a complete freedom from the dualities or ego that is the indispensable preliminary, but preparedness, a fineness of the inner being which makes spiritual responses and receiving possible. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-danger-of-the-ego-and-the-need-of-purification#p37</ref> == Purification of Understanding == The first necessity of preparation is the purifying of all the members of our being; especially, for the path of knowledge, the purification of the understanding, the key that shall open the door of Truth; and a purified understanding is hardly possible without the purification of the other members. An unpurified heart, an unpurified sense, an unpurified life confuse the understanding, disturb its data, distort its conclusions, darken its seeing, misapply its knowledge; an unpurified physical system clogs or chokes up its action. There must be an integral purity. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-purified-understanding#p3</ref> <center>~</center> By the understanding we mean that which at once perceives, judges and discriminates, the true reason of the human being not subservient to the senses, to desire or to the blind force of habit, but working in its own right for mastery, for knowledge. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-purified-understanding#p5</ref> === Causes and Remedy of Impurity in Understanding === '''''Intermiscence of Desire''''' - The ﬁrst cause of impurity in the understanding is the intermiscence of desire in the thinking functions, and desire itself is an impurity of the Will involved in the vital and emotional parts of our being. When the vital and emotional desires interfere with the pure will-to-know, the thought-function becomes subservient to them, pursues ends other than those proper to itself and its perceptions are clogged and deranged. The understanding must lift itself beyond the siege of desire and emotion and, in order that it may have perfect immunity, it must get the vital parts and the emotions themselves puriﬁed. The will to enjoy is proper to the vital being but not the choice or the reaching after the enjoyment which must be determined and acquired by higher functions; therefore the vital being must be trained to accept whatever gain or enjoyment comes to it in the right functioning of the life in obedience to the working of the divine Will and to rid itself of craving and attachment. Similarly the heart must be freed from subjection to the cravings of the life principle and the senses and thus rid itself of the false emotions of fear, wrath, hatred, lust, etc. which constitute the chief impurity of the heart. The will to love is proper to the heart, but here also the choice and reaching after love have to be foregone or tranquillised and the heart taught to love with depth and intensity indeed, but with a calm depth and a settled and equal, not a troubled and disordered intensity.The tranquillisation and mastery (sama and dama) of these members is a ﬁrst condition for the immunity of the understanding from error, ignorance and perversion. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-purified-understanding#p9</ref> '''''Intermiscence of the Sense-mind''''' - The second cause of impurity in the understanding is the illusion of the senses and the intermiscence of the sense-mind in the thinking functions. No knowledge can be true knowledge which subjects itself to the senses or uses them otherwise than as ﬁrst indices whose data have constantly to be corrected and overpassed. …the beginning of philosophy is the examination of the principles of things which the senses mistranslate to us; the beginning of spiritual knowledge is the refusal to accept the limitations of the sense-life or to take the visible and sensible as anything more than phenomenon of the Reality. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-purified-understanding#p10</ref> <center>~</center> Equally must the sense-mind be stilled and taught to leave the function of thought to the mind that judges and understands. When the understanding in us stands back from the action of the sense-mind and repels its intermiscence, the latter detaches itself from the understanding and can be watched in its separate action. It then reveals itself as a constantly swirling and eddying undercurrent of habitual concepts, associations, perceptions, desires without any real sequence, order or principle of light. It is a constant repetition in a circle unintelligent and unfruitful. There is nothing to be done with this fickle, restless, violent and disturbing factor but to get rid of it whether by detaching it and then reducing it to stillness or by giving a concentration and singleness to the thought by which it will of itself reject this alien and confusing element. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-purified- understanding#p11</ref> <center>~</center> '''''Improper Action of the Will to Know''''' - A third cause of impurity has its source in the understanding itself and consists in an improper action of the will to know. That will is proper to the understanding, but here again choice and unequal reaching after knowledge clog and distort. They lead to a partiality and attachment which makes the intellect cling to certain ideas and opinions with a more or less obstinate will to ignore the truth in other ideas and opinions, cling to certain fragments of a truth and shy against the admission of other parts which are yet necessary to its fullness, cling to certain predilections of knowledge and repel all knowledge that does not agree with the personal temperament of thought which has been acquired by the past of the thinker. The remedy lies in a perfect equality of the mind, in the cultivation of an entire intellectual rectitude and in the perfection of mental disinterestedness. The purified understanding as it will not lend itself to any desire or craving, so will not lend itself either to any predilection or distaste for any particular idea or truth, and will refuse to be attached even to those ideas of which it is the most certain or to lay on them such an undue stress as is likely to disturb the balance of truth and depreciate the values of other elements of a complete and perfect knowledge. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-purified-understanding#p12</ref> <center>~</center> An understanding thus purified would be a perfectly flexible, entire and faultless instrument of intellectual thought and being free from the inferior sources of obstruction and distortion would be capable of as true and complete a perception of the truths of the Self and the universe as the intellect can attain. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-purified-understanding#p13</ref> == Purification of Heart == The purification of the heart is the central necessity, but a purification of the mind, vital and physical is also called for. But the most important thing for purification of the heart is an absolute sincerity. *No pretence with oneself *No concealment from the Divine or oneself or the Guru*A straight look at one's nature and one's movements*A straight will to make them straight. It does not so much matter if it takes time; one must be prepared to make it one's whole life-task to seek the Divine. Purifying the heart means after all a pretty considerable achievement and it is no use getting despondent, despairful etc. because one finds things in oneself that still need to be changed. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-danger-of-the-ego-and-the-need-of-purification#p42</ref> <center>~</center> It is the inner offering of the heart's adoration, the soul of it in the symbol, the spirit of it in the act, that is the very life of the sacrifice. If this offering is to be complete and universal, then a turning of all our emotions to the Divine is imperative. This is the intensest way of purification for the human heart, more powerful than any ethical or aesthetic catharsis could ever be by its half-power and superficial pressure. A psychic fire within must be lit into which all is thrown with the Divine Name upon it. In that fire all the emotions are compelled to cast off their grosser elements and those that are undivine perversions are burned away and the others discard their insufficiencies, till a spirit of largest love and a stainless divine delight arises out of the flame and smoke and frankincense. It is the divine love which so emerges that, extended in inward feeling to the Divine in man and all creatures in an active universal equality, will be more potent for the perfectibility of life and a more real instrument than the ineffective mental ideal of brotherhood can ever be. It is this poured out into acts that could alone create a harmony in the world and a true unity between all its creatures; all else strives in vain towards that end so long as Divine Love has not disclosed itself as the heart of the delivered manifestation in terrestrial Nature. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-ascent-of-the-sacrifice-ii#p14</ref> == Purification of Mind == === Release from Subjection to the Body === We say then to the mind “This is a working of Prakriti, this is neither thyself nor myself; stand back from it.” We shall find, if we try, that the mind has this power of detachment and can stand back from the body not only in idea, but in act and as it were physically or rather vitally. This detachment of the mind must be strengthened by a certain attitudeof indifference to the things of the body; we must not care essentially about its sleep or its waking, its movement or its rest, its pain or its pleasure, its health or ill-health, its vigour or its fatigue, its comfort or its discomfort, or what it eats or drinks. This does not mean that we shall not keep the body in right order so far as we can; we have not to fall into violent asceticisms or a positive neglect of the physical frame. But we have not either to be affected in mind by hunger or thirst or discomfort or ill-health or attach the importance which the physical and vital man attaches to the things of the body, or indeed any but a quite subordinate and purely instrumental importance. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-subjection-to-the-body#p2</ref> <center>~</center> Thus disciplined the mind will gradually learn to take up towards the body the true attitude of the Purusha. First of all, it will know the mental Purusha as the upholder of the body and not in any way the body itself; for it is quite other than the physical existence which it upholds by the mind through the agency of the vital force. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-subjection-to-the-body#p3</ref> <center>~</center> Secondly, with regard to the movements and experiences of the body the mind will come to know the Purusha seated within it as, first, the witness or observer of the movements and, secondly, the knower or perceiver of the experiences. It will cease to consider in thought or feel in sensation these movements and experiences as its own but rather consider and feel them as not its own, as operations of Nature governed by the qualities of Nature and their interaction upon each other. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-subjection-to-the-body#p4</ref> <center>~</center> Finally, the mind will come to know the Purusha in the mind as the master of Nature whose sanction is necessary to her movements. It will find that as the giver of the sanction he can withdraw the original fiat from the previous habits of Nature and that eventually the habit will cease or change in the direction indicated by the will of the Purusha; not at once, for the old sanction persists as an obstinate consequence of the past Karma of Nature until that is exhausted, and a good deal also depends on the force of the habit and the idea of fundamental necessity which the mind had previously attached to it; but if it is not one of the fundamental habits Nature has established for the relation of the mind, life and body and if the old sanction is not renewed by the mind or the habit willingly indulged, then eventually the change will come. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-subjection-to-the-body#p5</ref> === Release from the Heart and the Mind === ... the ascending soul has to separate itself not only from the life in the body but from the action of the life-energy in the mind; it has to make the mind say as the representative of the Purusha “I am not the Life; the Life is not the self of the Purusha, it is only a working and only one working of Prakriti.” The characteristics of Life are action and movement, a reaching out to absorb and assimilate what is external to the individual and a principle of satisfaction or dissatisfaction in what it seizes upon or what comes to it, which is associated with the all-pervading phenomenon of attraction and repulsion. These three things are everywhere in Nature because Life is everywhere in Nature. But in us mental beings they are all given a mental value according to the mind which perceives and accepts them. They take the form of action, of desire and of liking and disliking, pleasure and pain. The Prana is everywhere in us supporting not only the action of our body, but of our sense-mind, our emotional mind, our thought-mind; and bringing its own law or dharma into all these, it confuses, it limits, it throws into discord their right action and creates that impurity of misplacement and that tangled confusion which is the whole evil of our psychological existence. In that confusion one law seems to reign, the law of desire. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p1</ref> <center>~</center> Therefore the mental Purusha has to separate himself from association and self-identification with this desire-mind. He has to say “I am not this thing that struggles and suffers, grieves and rejoices, loves and hates, hopes and is baffled, is angry and afraid and cheerful and depressed, a thing of vital moods and emotional passions. All these are merely workings and habits of Prakriti in the sensational and emotional mind.” The mind then draws back from its emotions and becomes with these, as with the bodily movements and experiences, the observer or witness. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p6</ref> <center>~</center> As with action and inaction, so it is with this dual possibility of indifference and calm on the one side and active joy and love on the other. Equality, not indifference is the basis. Equal endurance, impartial indifference, calm submission to the causes of joy and grief without any reaction of either grief or joy are the preparation and negative basis of equality; but equality is not fulfilled till it takes its positive form of love and delight. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p8</ref> '''''Emotional Mind''''' ... the emotional mind compelled to take note of all these discords and subject itself to their emotional reactions becomes a hurtling field of joy and grief, love and hatred, wrath, fear, struggle, aspiration, disgust, likes, dislikes, indifferences, content, discontent, hopes, disappointments, gratitude, revenge and all the stupendous play of passion which is the drama of life in the world. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p3</ref> <center>~</center> There is this emotional mind in which these moods and passions continue to occur according to the habit of the modes of Nature and there is the observing mind which sees them, studies and understands but is detached from them. It observes them as if in a sort of action and play on a mental stage of personages other than itself, at first with interest and a habit of relapse into identification, then with entire calm and detachment, and, finally, attaining not only to calm but to the pure delight of its own silent existence, with a smile at their unreality as at the imaginary joys and sorrows of a child who is playing and loses himself in the play. Secondly, it becomes aware of itself as master of the sanction who by his withdrawal of sanction can make this play to cease. When the sanction is withdrawn, another significant phenomenon takes place; the emotional mind becomes normally calm and pure and free from these reactions, and even when they come, they no longer rise from within but seem to fall on it as impressions from outside to which its fibres are still able to respond; but this habit of response dies away and the emotional mind is in time entirely liberated from the passions which it has renounced. Hope and fear, joy and grief, liking and disliking, attraction and repulsion, content and discontent, gladness and depression, horror and wrath and fear and disgust and shame and the passions of love and hatred fall away from the liberated psychic being. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p6</ref> '''''Sense Mind''''' Desire is at once the motive of our actions, our lever of accomplishment and the bane of our existence. If our sense-mind, emotional mind, thought-mind could act free from the intrusions and importations of the life-energy, if that energy could be made to obey their right action instead of imposing its own yoke on our existence, all human problems would move harmoniously to their right solution. The proper function of the life-energy is to do what it is bidden by the divine principle in us, to reach to and enjoy what is given to it by that indwelling Divine and not to desire at all. The proper function of the sense-mind is to lie open passively, luminously to the contacts of Life and transmit their sensations and the rasa or right taste and principle of delight in them to the higher function; <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p2</ref> <center>~</center> The desire-mind must also be rejected from the instrument of thought and this is best done by the detachment of the Purusha from thought and opinion itself. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p9</ref> '''''Thought Mind'''''

~~The object~~ So too the proper function of ~~purification~~ the thought-mind is to ~~make the whole mental being~~ observe, understand, judge with a ~~clear mirror~~ dispassionate delight in ~~which the divine reality can~~ knowledge and open itself to messages and illuminations playing upon all that it observes and upon all that is yet hidden from it but must progressively be ~~reflected~~revealed, ~~a clear vessel~~ messages and ~~an unobstructing channel into which~~ illuminations that secretly flash down to us from the divine ~~presence and~~ Oracle concealed in light above our mentality whether they seem to descend through ~~which~~ the ~~divine influence can be poured, a subtilised stuff which~~ intuitive mind or arise from the ~~divine nature can take possession of, new-shape and use~~ seeing heart. But this it cannot do rightly because it is pinned to ~~divine issues. For~~ the ~~mental being at present reflects only~~ limitations of the ~~confusions created by the mental and physical view of~~ life-energy in the ~~world~~senses, ~~is a channel only for~~ to the ~~disorders~~ discords of ~~the ignorant lower nature~~ sensation and ~~full of obstructions~~ emotion, and ~~impurities which prevent the higher from acting; therefore the whole shape~~ to its own limitations of ~~our being is deformed and imperfect~~intellectual preference, inertia, straining, ~~indocile to~~ self-will which are the ~~highest influences and turned~~ form taken in ~~its action to ignorant and inferior utilities. It reflects even~~ it by the ~~world falsely; it is incapable~~ interference of ~~reflecting the Divine~~this desire-mind, this psychic Prana. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-~~higher~~release-from-the-heart-and-the-~~lower-knowledge~~mind#p6 p4</ref>

A certain amount of purification is necessary before there can be any realisation of the Divine and that is what has been going on in you. It is after all not a very long time since the real purification began and it is never an easy work. So the impatience may be natural, but it is not exactly reasonable. <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/purity#p1~~~</~~ref~~center>

~~As is said in~~ The method with the thought-mind will be the same as with all the rest of the ~~Upanishads~~being. The Purusha, ~~our whole~~ having used the thought-mind~~-consciousness is shot through~~ for release from identification with the life and body and with the ~~threads~~ mind of desire and sensations and ~~currents~~ emotions, will turn round upon the thought-mind itself and will say “This too I am not; I am not the thought or the thinker; all these ideas, opinions, speculations, strivings of ~~this Prana~~the intellect, its predilections, preferences, dogmas, doubts, self-corrections are not myself; all this ~~Life~~is only a working of Prakriti which takes place in the thought-~~energy~~ mind.” Thus a division is created between the mind that ~~strives~~ thinks and ~~limits, grasps~~ wills and the mind that observes and ~~misses~~the Purusha becomes the witness only; he sees, ~~desires~~ he understands the process and ~~suffers~~laws of his thought, but detaches himself from it. Then as the master of the sanction he withdraws his past sanction from the tangle of the mental undercurrent and ~~only by its purification can we know~~ the reasoning intellect and ~~possess our real~~ causes both to cease from their importunities. He becomes liberated from subjection to the thinking mind and ~~eternal self~~capable of the utter silence. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p4p9</ref>

== ~~What to Purify?~~ = Release from Ego ===

~~=== Purification~~ In human egoism and its satisfaction there can be no divine culmination and deliverance. A certain purification from egoism is the condition even of ~~Heart ===~~ethical progress and elevation, for social good and perfection; much more is it indispensable for inner peace, purity and joy. But a much more radical deliverance, not only from egoism but from ego-idea and ego-sense, is needed if our aim is to raise human into divine nature.

The ~~purification~~ ego is by its nature a smallness of being; it brings contraction of the ~~heart is~~ consciousness and with the ~~central necessity~~contraction limitation of knowledge, ~~but~~ disabling ignorance,—confinement and a ~~purification~~ diminution of power and by that diminution incapacity and weakness,—scission of oneness and by that scission disharmony and failure of ~~the mind~~sympathy and love and understanding, ~~vital~~ —inhibition or fragmentation of delight of being and by that fragmentation pain and ~~physical~~ sorrow. To recover what is ~~also called for. But~~ lost we must break out of the ~~most important thing for purification~~ walls of ~~the heart is an absolute sincerity~~ego. ~~No pretence with oneself, no concealment from the Divine or oneself~~ The ego must either disappear in impersonality or ~~the Guru,~~ fuse into a ~~straight look at one's nature and one's movements, a straight will to make them straight. It does not so much matter if~~ larger I: it ~~takes time; one~~ must ~~be prepared to make it one's whole life-task to seek~~ fuse into the wider cosmic “I” which comprehends all these smaller selves or the ~~Divine. Purifying~~ transcendent of which even the ~~heart means after all~~ cosmic self is a ~~pretty considerable achievement and it is no use getting despondent, despairful etc. because one finds things in oneself that still need to be changed~~diminished image. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/3023/the-~~danger~~release-offrom-the-ego~~-and-the-need-of-purification~~#~~p42~~p2</ref>

~~=== Purification of Mind ===~~'''''Cosmic self is not Collective Existence'''''

~~These adverse forces are connected~~ But this cosmic self is spiritual in essence and in experience; it must not be confused with ~~sexual desire. They live on~~ the ~~energy wasted when~~ collective existence, with any group soul or the ~~act takes place. And even a thought,~~ life and body of a ~~mental~~ human society or ~~vital desire is sufficient~~ even of all mankind. The subordination of the ego to ~~let them come in~~ the progress and ~~settle in~~ happiness of the ~~atmosphere. Thus it~~ human race is now a governing idea in the ~~mind itself~~ world’s thought and ethics; but this is a mental and moral and not a spiritual ideal. For that progress is a series of constant mental, vital and physical vicissitudes, it has no firm spiritual content, and offers no sure standing-ground to the ~~purification must take place~~soul of man. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/~~cwm~~cwsa/1523/~~adverse~~the-release-from-the-~~forces~~ego#~~p20~~p3</ref>

~~=== Purification~~ '''''Elimination of ~~Experience ===~~Ego'''''

~~And so~~In the ancient way of knowledge we arrive at the elimination of the ego-sense which attaches itself to the body, to the life, ~~purification of experience means~~ to ~~make~~ the ~~experience sincere~~ mind and ~~motiveless. To take away~~ says of all ~~one's motives~~ or any of ~~ambition and vanity~~them, “This is I”. Not only do we, as in the way of ~~desire~~works, get rid of the “I” of the worker and see the Lord alone as the true source of all works and sanction of works and His executive Nature-power~~, etc. This is called purifying~~ or else His supreme Shakti as the ~~experience, making it sincere, spontaneous and not mixing it with desires~~ sole agent and ~~ambitions. There are spiritual ambitions~~worker, ~~he speaks~~ —but we get rid also of ~~them,~~ the ego-sense which mistakes the instruments or the expressions of our being for our true self and ~~these are even the most dangerous. <ref>http://incarnateword~~spirit.~~in/cwm/07/12-january-1955#p34</ref>~~

~~===Purification of Understanding===~~'''''Release also from Elusive Ego'''''

~~The first necessity of preparation is the purifying of~~ But even if all ~~the members of our being~~this has been done, something remains still; ~~especially, for the path~~ there remains a substratum of ~~knowledge~~all these, ~~the purification~~ a general sense of the ~~understanding~~separate I. This substratum ego is something vague, indefinable, elusive; it does not or need not attach itself to anything in particular as the ~~key that shall open the door of Truth~~self; it does not identify itself with anything collective; ~~and~~ it is a ~~purified understanding is hardly possible without~~ sort of fundamental form or power of the ~~purification of~~ mind which compels the ~~other members. An unpurified heart~~mental being to feel himself as a perhaps indefinable but still a limited being which is not mind, ~~an unpurified sense, an unpurified~~ life ~~confuse the understanding~~or body, ~~disturb its data, distort its conclusions, darken its seeing, misapply its knowledge; an unpurified physical system clogs or chokes up its action~~but under which their activities proceed in Nature. ~~There must~~ And because it seems to be ~~an integral purity. Here also there is an interdependence; for~~ above or behind the ~~purification of each member of our being profits by~~ play and not in it, because it does not say “I am the ~~clarifying of every other~~mind, life or body, ~~the progressive tranquillisation of the emotional heart helping for instance the purification of the understanding while equally~~ ” but “I am a ~~purified understanding imposes calm and light~~ being on whom the ~~turbid and darkened workings~~ action of ~~the yet impure emotions. It may even be said that while each member of our being has its own proper principles of purification~~mind, ~~yet it is the purified understanding that in man is the most potent cleanser of his turbid~~ life and ~~disordered being~~ body depends,” many think themselves released and ~~most sovereignly imposes their right working on his other members. Knowledge~~mistake this elusive Ego for the One, ~~says~~ the ~~Gita~~Divine, is the ~~sovereign purity; light is~~ true Purusha or at the very least for the ~~source of all clearness and harmony even as~~ true Person within them,—mistaking the ~~darkness of ignorance is~~ indefinable for the ~~cause of all our stumblings~~Infinite. ~~Love~~But so long as this fundamental ego-sense remains, ~~for example, is the purifier of the heart and by reducing all our emotions into terms of divine love the heart~~ there is ~~perfected and fulfilled; yet love itself needs to be clarified by divine knowledge~~no absolute release. The ~~heart's love of God may be blind, narrow and ignorant and lead to fanaticism and obscurantism; it may~~egoistic life, even ~~when otherwise pure, limit our perfection by refusing to see Him except~~ if diminished in ~~a limited personality and by recoiling from the true and infinite vision. The heart's love of man may equally lead to distortions~~ force and ~~exaggerations in feeling~~intensity, ~~action and knowledge which have to be corrected and prevented by the purification of the understanding~~can still continue well enough with this support. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-~~purified~~release-from-the-~~understanding~~ego#p3p5</ref>

We must, however, consider deeply and clearly what we mean by the understanding and by its purification. We use the word as the nearest equivalent we can get in the English tongue to the Sanskrit philosophical term buddhi; therefore we exclude from it the action of the sense mind which merely consists of the recording of perceptions of all kinds without distinction whether they be right or wrong, true or mere illusory phenomena, penetrating or superficial. We exclude that mass of confused conception which is merely a rendering of these perceptions and is equally void of the higher principle of judgment and discrimination. Nor can we include that constant leaping current of habitual thought which does duty for understanding in the mind of the average unthinking man, but is only a constant repetition of habitual associations, desires, prejudices, prejudgments, received or inherited preferences, even though it may constantly enrich itself by a fresh stock of concepts streaming in from the environment and admitted without the challenge of the sovereign discriminating reason. Undoubtedly this is a sort of understanding which has been very useful in the development of man from the animal; but it is only one remove above the animal mind; it is a half-animal reason subservient to habit, to desire and the senses and is of no avail in the search whether for scientific or philosophical or spiritual knowledge. We have to go beyond it; its purification can only be effected either by dismissing or silencing it altogether or by transmuting it into the true understanding. <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-purified-understanding#p4~~~</~~ref~~center>

~~== Importance~~ It is imperative to go farther, to get rid of ~~Purification ==~~this indefinable but fundamental ego-sense also and get back to the Purusha on whom it is supporting itself, of whom it is a shadow; the shadow has to disappear and by its disappearance reveal the spirit’s unclouded substance. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-ego#p5</ref>

~~=== Beauty ===~~'''''True Self, The Jiva'''''

~~Pure~~ That substance is the self of the man called in European thought the Monad, in Indian philosophy, Jiva or Jivatman, the living entity, the self of the living creature. This Jiva is not the mental ego-sense constructed by the workings of Nature for her temporary purpose. It is not a thing bound, as the mental being, the vital, the physical are bound, by her habits, laws or processes. The Jiva is a spirit and self, superior to Nature. It is true that it consents to her acts, reflects her moods and upholds the triple medium of ~~beauty can be acquired only~~ mind, life and body through which she casts them upon the soul’s consciousness; but it is itself a ~~great purification~~living reflection or a soul-form or a self-creation of the Spirit universal and transcendent. The One Spirit who has mirrored some of His modes of being in the world and in the soul, is multiple in the Jiva. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/~~cwm~~cwsa/1523/~~beauty~~the-release-from-the-ego#~~p14~~p6</ref>

~~The preoccupation with universal beauty even in its aesthetic forms has an intense power~~ '''''Goal for ~~refining and subtilising~~ the ~~nature, and at its highest it is a great force for purification. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-higher-and-the-lower-knowledge#p8</ref>~~seeker of Integral Knowledge'''''

~~=== Calm ===~~For the disciple of an integral Yoga there can be no hesitation; as a seeker of knowledge it is the integral knowledge and not anything either half-way and attractive or high-pinnacled and exclusive he must seek. He must soar to the utmost height, but also circle and spread to the most all-embracing wideness, not binding himself to any rigid structure of metaphysical thought, but free to admit and combine all the soul’s highest and greatest and fullest and most numerous experiences. If the highest height of spiritual experience, the sheer summit of all realisation is the absolute union of the soul with the Transcendent who exceeds the individual and the universe, the widest scope of that union is the discovery of that very Transcendent as the source, support, continent, informing and constituent spirit and substance of both these manifesting powers of the divine Essence and the divine Nature. Whatever the path, this must be for him the goal.

~~Purification~~ One he must be with the Divine both in his highest and inmost and in his widest being and ~~calm are the first needs~~ consciousness, in ~~the Yoga. One may have a great wealth~~ his work, his will, his power of ~~experiences of that kind (worlds~~action, his mind, ~~visions~~body, ~~voices etc~~life.~~) without them~~Otherwise he is only released from the illusion of individual works, but ~~these experiences occurring in an unpurified and troubled consciousness are usually full~~ not released from the illusion of ~~disorder~~ separate being and ~~mixture~~instrumentality. ~~<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-danger-of-the-ego-and-the-need-of-purification#p50</ref>~~

~~In your~~ Obeying the necessity to withdraw successively from the practical egoism of our triple nature ~~there are many obstacles~~and its fundamental ego-sense, ~~chiefly a great activity~~ we come to the realisation of the ~~outward-going mind and a thick crust~~ spirit, the self, lord of this individual human manifestation, but our knowledge is not integral if we do not make this self in the ~~impure lower Prakriti that covers~~ individual one with the ~~heart~~ cosmic spirit and find their greater reality above in an inexpressible but not unknowable Transcendence. The Jiva, possessed of himself, must give himself up into the ~~vital~~ beingof the Divine. ~~Quieting~~ The self of the ~~mind and purification~~ man must be made one with the Self of all; the self of the ~~nature are what you~~ finite individual must pour itself into the boundless finite and that cosmic spirit too must ~~have before you can fulfil your aim. Aspire for these two things first; ask for them constantly from above. You will not~~ be ~~able to achieve them by your own unaided effort~~exceeded in the transcendent Infinite. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/2923/~~purity~~the-release-from-the-ego#p9p7</ref>

~~=== Transformation ===~~<center>~</center>

~~Purification of the nature by the "influence" of the Spirit~~ The ego-sense is not ~~what I mean by transformation; purification is only part of a psychic change or a psycho~~indispensable to the world-~~spiritual change—the word besides has many senses and is very often given a moral or ethical meaning~~ play in which it is ~~foreign to my purpose. What I mean by~~ so active and so falsifies the ~~spiritual transformation is something dynamic (not merely liberation~~ truth of things; the ~~self, or realisation of~~ truth is always the One ~~which can very well be attained without any descent)~~at work on itself, at play with itself, infinite in unity, infinite in multiplicity. ~~It is a putting on of~~ When the ~~spiritual~~ individualised consciousness ~~dynamic as well as static~~ rises to and lives in ~~every part~~ that truth of the ~~being down to the subconscient. That cannot be done by the influence~~ cosmic play, then even in full action, even in possession of the ~~Self leaving~~ lower being the ~~consciousness fundamentally as it is~~ Jiva remains still one with ~~only purification~~the Lord, ~~enlightenment of the mind~~ and ~~heart~~ there is no bondage and ~~quiescence of the vital~~no delusion. ~~It means a bringing down~~ He is in possession of ~~Divine Consciousness static and dynamic into all these parts~~ Self and released from the ~~entire replacement of the present consciousness by that~~ego. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/2923/~~transformation~~the-release-infrom-the-~~integral-yoga~~ego#~~p13~~p11</ref>

==~~= Perfection =~~Purification of Experience ==

~~As you pursue this labour~~ And so, purification of ~~purification and unification, you must at the same time take great care~~ experience means to ~~perfect~~ make the ~~external~~ experience sincere and ~~instrumental part~~ motiveless. To take away all one's motives of ~~your being. When the higher truth manifests~~ambition and vanity, ~~it must find in you a mind that is supple and rich enough to be able to give the idea that seeks to express itself a form~~ of ~~thought which preserves its force and clarity~~desire, power, etc. This ~~thought, again~~is called purifying the experience, ~~when~~ making it ~~seeks to clothe itself in words~~sincere, ~~must find in you a sufficient power of expression so that the words reveal the thought~~ spontaneous and do not ~~deform~~ mixing itwith desires and ambitions. ~~And the formula in which you embody the truth should be manifested in all your feelings~~There are spiritual ambitions, ~~all your acts~~ he speaks of ~~will~~them, ~~all your actions, in all~~ and these are even the ~~movements of your being. Finally, these movements themselves should, by constant effort, attain their highest perfection~~most dangerous. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/12~~/the~~-~~science-of~~january-~~living~~1955#p6 p34</ref>

If there is to be an active perfection of our being, the first necessity is a purification of the working of the instruments which it now uses for a music of discords. The being itself, the spirit, the divine Reality in man stands in no need of purification; it is for ever pure, not affected by the faults of its instrumentation or the stumblings of mind and heart and body in their work, as the sun, says the Upanishad, is not touched or stained by the faults of the eye of vision. Mind, heart, the soul of vital desire, the life in the body are the seats of impurity; it is they that must be set right if the working of the spirit is to be a perfect working and not marked by its present greater or less concession to the devious pleasure of the lower nature. What is ordinarily called purity of the being, is either a negative whiteness, a freedom from sin gained by a constant inhibition of whatever action, feeling, idea or will we think to be wrong, or else, the highest negative or passive purity, the entire God-content, inaction, the complete stilling of the vibrant mind and the soul of desire, which in quietistic disciplines leads to a supreme peace; for then the spirit appears in all the eternal purity of its immaculate essence. That gained, there would be nothing farther to be enjoyed or done. But here we have the more difficult problem of a total, unabated, even an increased and more powerful action founded on perfect bliss of the being, the purity of the soul's instrumental as well as the spirit's essential nature. Mind, heart, life, body are to do the works of the Divine, all the works which they do now and yet more, but to do them divinely, as now they do not do them. This is the first appearance of the problem before him on which the seeker of perfection has to lay hold, that it is not a negative, prohibitory, passive or quietistic, but a positive, affirmative, active purity which is his object. A divine quietism discovers the immaculate eternity of the Spirit, a divine kinetism adds to it the right pure undeviating action of the soul, mind and body. <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-instruments-of-the-spirit#p1~~~</~~ref~~center>

~~Moreover, it is a total purification of all the complex instrumentality~~ ... experiences can be intense and yet be very mixed in ~~all the parts of each instrument that is demanded of us by the integral perfection~~their truth and their character. ~~It is not~~In your experience your own subjectivity, ~~ultimately, the narrower moral purification of the ethical nature. Ethics deals only with the desire~~sometimes your ego-~~soul~~ pushes interfere very much and give them their form and the ~~active outward dynamical part of our being; its field is confined to character and action~~impression they create on you. It ~~prohibits and inhibits certain actions, certain desires, impulses, propensities,—it inculcates certain qualities in~~ is only if there is a pure psychic response that the ~~act, such as truthfulness, love, charity, compassion, chastity. When it has got this done and assured a base of virtue,~~ form given to the ~~possession of a purified will and blameless habit of action, its work~~ experience is ~~finished. But the Siddha of the integral perfection has~~ likely to ~~dwell in a larger plane of~~ be the ~~Spirit's eternal purity beyond good~~ right one and ~~evil… it is meant that~~ the ~~Siddha of the active integral perfection~~ mental and vital movements will ~~live dynamically~~ then present themselves in ~~the working of the transcendent power of the divine Spirit as a universal will through the supermind individualised in him for action~~their true nature. ~~His works will therefore be~~ Otherwise the ~~works of an eternal Knowledge, an eternal Truth, an eternal Might, an eternal Love~~mind, ~~an eternal Ananda; but~~ the ~~truth, knowledge, force, love~~vital, ~~delight will be the whole essential spirit of whatever work he will do and will not depend on its form; they will determine his action from the spirit within and~~ the ~~action will not determine the spirit or subject it~~ ego give their own colour to ~~a fixed standard or rigid mould of working. He will have no dominant mere habit of character~~what happens, ~~but only a spiritual being and will with at the most a free and flexible temperamental mould for the action. His life will be a direct stream from the eternal fountains~~their own turn, ~~not a form cut to some temporary human pattern~~very usually their own deformation. ~~His perfection will~~ Intensity is not be a ~~sattwic purity, but a thing uplifted beyond the gunas~~ guarantee of ~~Nature, a perfection of spiritual knowledge, spiritual power, spiritual delight, unity~~ entire truth and ~~harmony of unity~~correctness in an experience; ~~the outward perfection~~ it is only purity of ~~his works will be freely shaped as~~ the ~~self-expression of this inner spiritual transcendence and universality. For this change he must make conscient in him~~ consciousness that ~~power of spirit~~ can give an entire truth and supermind which is now superconscient to our mentality. But that cannot work in him so long as his present mental, vital, physical being is not liberated from its actual inferior working. This purification is the first necessitycorrectness. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/2430/the-~~instruments~~danger-of-the-~~spirit~~ego-and-the-need-of-purification#p2p42</ref>

== Key to Purification ==

In this way it is not necessary to introduce the principle of love into the explanation. But if you want to know or understand the nature of the Force or the Power that enables or brings about this transformation—particularly where evil is concerned, but also with ugliness to a certain extent—you see that love is obviously the most potent and integral of all powers—integral in the sense that it applies in all cases. It is even more powerful than the power of purification which dissolves all bad will and which is, as it were, the master of the adverse forces, but which has not the direct power of transformation. The power of purification first dissolves in order to allow the transformation afterwards. It destroys one form in order to be able to create a better one, whereas love need not dissolve in order to transform; it possesses the direct power of transformation. Love is like a flame that changes what is hard into something malleable and even sublimates this malleable thing into a kind of purified vapour—it does not destroy, it transforms. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-49#p12 </ref>

The love that one contains in silence acts within oneself for purification and transformation. The love that one turns outwards—if one does it in a pure and disinterested way—may occasionally help others. But most often they receive it wrongly... So you must do as your instinct guides you. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/17/24-july-1934#p3</ref>

=== Surrender ===

There are two possibilities, one of purification by personal effort, which takes a long time, another by a direct intervention of the Divine Grace which is usually rapid in its action. For the latter there must be a complete surrender and self-giving and for that again usually it is necessary to have a mind that can remain quite quiet and allow the Divine Force to act supporting it with its complete adhesion at every step, but otherwise remaining still and quiet. This last condition which resembles the baby cat attitude spoken of by Ramakrishna, is difficult to have. Those who are accustomed to a very active movement of their thought and will in all they do, find it difficult to still the activity and adopt the quietude of mental self-giving. This does not mean that they cannot do the Yoga or cannot arrive at self-giving—only the purification and the self-giving take a long time to accomplish and one must have the patience and steady perseverance and resolution to go through. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/surrender#p78</ref> == Few Helpful Practices ==

Even if you were the only person in the whole world to give himself entirely and in all purity to the Divine—and thus being alone, misunderstood naturally by everyone upon earth—even if it were so, there is no reason why you should not do it. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/opinions-of-others#p24</ref> '''Writing''' Sometimes it is easier when you write it down; you imagine that I am there and then take a paper and write on it what you wanted to tell me. Then just the very fact of formulating it clearly sometimes gives you the true picture of the situation and you can have the answer more easily. It depends, sometimes it is necessary, sometimes not, but if you are in a confusion, a kind of whirlwind, above all, if there is a vital upsurge, the fact of compelling yourself to put it on paper already quietens you, it begins the work of purification. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/30-march-1955#p38 </ref> '''Instrument for Purification''' Self-denial is a mighty instrument for purification; it is not an end in itself nor a final law of living. Not to mortify thyself but to satisfy God in the world must be thy object. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-352-353-354-355-356#p7</ref> =~~= Path~~ Symbols of Purity == '''Water''' The water is the symbol of the power of purification and no hostile being or force can resist this power handled with goodwill and sincerity. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/arts#p151 </ref> '''Frankincense''' Frankincense: purification of the vital. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/christmas-messages#p51</ref> '''Agni ''' Agni: the flame of purification which must precede all contact with the invisible worlds. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/will#p18</ref> If you had understood and reacted in the right way, you would have passed the test and got rid not only of this special difficulty but probably of this hostile's influence altogether. But you failed and got possessed. And only one thing was left to me to do, it was to flood you with the pure light, the white flame of purification to chase from inside you the intruder. It is what you took probably for a cut in our relations, a wall of separation between us; there was nothing of the kind; I was inside you, penetrating you as usual, but in the form of this supreme purity which is so foreign to all that is anti-divine or even to all ordinary human movement. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/adverse-forces#p35</ref> <center>~</center>

~~Life is hard for~~ No wall at all—only the ~~modest one who seeks purity~~pure light, ~~who is detached~~the white flame of purification penetrating right through, from outside inside, ~~unassuming and whose judgment is correct~~from inside outside. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/0315/~~impurity~~adverse-forces#~~p12~~ p37 </ref>

~~Purity must be our aim, but not the purity of a void or of a bleak and rigid coldness.~~ <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-master-of-the-work#p7~~~</~~ref~~center>

~~There was a third thing?... Yes, you must not cherish~~ The fire is always the fire of purification—it is very red when it is acting on the ~~illusion that if you want to follow~~ vital; when the ~~straight path, if you are modest, if you seek purity, if you are disinterested, if you want to lead a solitary existence and have a clear judgment, things will become easy.... It is quite~~ vital no longer covers the ~~contrary! When you begin to advance towards inner and outer perfection~~psychic, then the ~~difficulties start at~~ rose colour of the ~~same time~~psychic comes out more and more. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/~~cwm~~cwsa/0330/~~impurity~~sun-moon-star-fire#~~p29~~p38</ref>

~~Doing evil, one harms oneself; avoiding evil, one purifies oneself; purity and impurity depend on ourselves; no one can purify another.~~ <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/the-ego#p9~~~</~~ref~~center>

~~No protection, no Grace can save those who refuse~~ It is the ~~indispensable~~ purificationof the physical that is usually indicated in the symbol of burning. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/~~cwm~~cwsa/0830/15sun-moon-~~august~~star-~~1956~~fire#p6p39</ref>

~~=== Dhammapada ===~~

~~"All conditioned things are impermanent." When one has seen that by realisation, he is delivered from sorrow. That is the Path of purity. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/the-path#p5</ref>~~'''Lamb'''

It is a lamb, which means "~~All conditioned things are subject to suffering.~~purity" ~~When one has seen that by realisation, he is delivered from sorrow. That is the Path of purity~~. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/0315/~~the-path~~symbols#p6p13</ref>

~~"All things are insubstantial." When one has seen that by realisation, he is delivered from sorrow. That is the Path of purity. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/the-path#p7</ref>~~'''White'''

~~= Recommended practices =~~White indicates a force of purity. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/colours#p13</ref>

Even if you were the only person in the whole world to give himself entirely and in all purity to the Divine—and thus being alone, misunderstood naturally by everyone upon earth—even if it were so, there is no reason why you should not do it. <~~ref~~center>~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/opinions-of-others#p24~~~</~~ref~~center>

~~'''Writing'''~~The white sun indicates the purity and peace of the Divine Consciousness. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/sun-moon-star-fire#p12</ref>

Sometimes it is easier when you write it down; you imagine that I am there and then take a paper and write on it what you wanted to tell me. Then just the very fact of formulating it clearly sometimes gives you the true picture of the situation and you can have the answer more easily. It depends, sometimes it is necessary, sometimes not, but if you are in a confusion, a kind of whirlwind, above all, if there is a vital upsurge, the fact of compelling yourself to put it on paper already quietens you, it begins the work of purification. <ref> http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/30-march-1955#p38 </ref>

'''~~Instrument for Purification~~Content curated by Aditi Nayan'''

Self-denial is a mighty instrument for purification; it is not an end in itself nor a final law of living. Not to mortify thyself but to satisfy God in the world must be thy object. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-352-353-354-355-356#p7</ref>

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