Integral Purification of All Parts of the Being Is a First Preparation for the Integral Yoga

In the context of the practice of yoga, purification is not the enforcement of some kind of moral code or precepts. This is a common perception based on religious tenets that have abounded through the ages that set forth a moral code and try to both control the actions of people and judge them based on their adherence to that moral code. Purification in a yogic context is the creation of a calm, clear light of awareness in the being. Swami Vivekananda, in his lectures on Raja Yoga, stresses the importance of bringing the mind-stuff to a state of quiescence and stillness as a preliminary for the deeper practices of yoga.

Because of the inter-connections between all the different parts of the being, the process of achieving purification is one that involves considerable awareness and subtle view of the operations of the mind, the emotions, the life-energy and the body. In particular, the vital life-force has a way of justifying its desires and actions to the mind and getting the mind to find excuses to support them. The body, when it gets out of sorts, also clouds the view and disturbs the quiet awareness in the being. Inflamed emotions make rational observation virtually impossible. The mind itself, when it gets a particular bias or creed tends to see and analyze everything through that colored lens.

At the simplest level, if we are at peace, non-reactive to impulses that impinge upon us, and have a quiet, calm view of things we can expect that progress towards purification can be made; while if we re upset, frustrated, angry, enraged, passionate, fearful or overwhelmed by any other action which “ripples” the “mind-stuff” we can observe where work toward purification can be fruitful. A clear mind can be a great help in the purification of the other members of the being, which is why the idea of routing around in the subconscious or the unconscious and raising up all kinds of dark ‘stuff’ that resides there is not the recommended approach. Once the higher aspects of the being are strong and calm, they can more easily address the lower impulses that we bring with us from our sub-human past evolutionary stage.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “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. Here also there is an interdependence; for the purification of each member of our being profits by the clarifying of every other, the progressive tranquillisation of the emotional heart helping for instance the purification of the understanding while equally a purified understanding imposes calm and light on the turbid and darkened workings of the yet impure emotions. It may even be said that while each member of our being has its own proper principles of purification, yet it is the purified understanding that in man is the most potent cleanser of his turbid and disordered being and most sovereignly imposes their right working on his other members. Knowledge, says the Gita, is the sovereign purity; light is the source of all clearness and harmony even as the darkness of ignorance is the cause of all our stumblings.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Growing Within: The Psychology of Inner Development, Chapter IV Growth of Consciousness First Steps and Foundation, pg. 63