Pure & Impure

Om apavitrah pavitro va, sarvavastham gato-pi va,
yah smaret pundarikaksam, sa bahya-bhyantarah sucih

"Whether pure or impure, whether full of purities or impurities,
one who gazes on the lotus-eyed Lord gains inner and outer purity!"

~Vedic mantra

Freedom is undivided breathing, undivided seeing. May we breathe in the chaos of the world, all that stresses us, all from which we would cleanse ourselves, all from which we would escape. And without the slightest resistance, welcome it into the core of our hearts.

We often visualize breathing in a taintless transcendental light. We try to cleanse ourselves with holy white purity. Yet this very attempt to cleanse creates division between the pure and impure, darkness and light, God and matter. And the division is our conflict. The distinction causes the very stress we seek to dissolve.
Can we relax our vision and see the seamless undivided whole? See the world's impurity as it truly is: a mirage in brilliant clarity? This radical vision purifies both the world and the seer, because they are a single continuum of energy, one end of the spectrum vibrating as consciousness and the opposite end as matter. Purity of seeing relieves the stress on what is seen. Thus Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Into your bold and boundless heart, breathe in the chaos of creation, the poignant terrible lovely broken earth. Breathe in the mirage, along with the pure, still, empty desert air.

शिवोऽहम् शिवॊऽहम्
Shivo'ham, Shivo'ham!