“Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (II Corinthians 6:17). The yogi is not intended to be a pharisee or a snob, nevertheless he is called out from the delusions of samsara, much of which are part of ordinary daily life. The yoga life is separation on all levels, for body, mind and soul are in constant interchange in a kind of “chicken or the egg?” situation. And as Saint John has told us: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (I John 3:1,2).
Purity is a matter of vibration, and so also is impurity. It is a matter of magnetism: when we encounter or touch an object, its vibrations begin to influence our own vibrations. Objects, places, and persons can elevate or degrade our personal vibrations.
***
It is significant that in the Bible the Hebrew word for pure is taher, which means “to be bright.” Purity is that which reveals and conveys the divine light. The Greek word katharos used in the New Testament means “to be clear” like a crystal. Here, too, is the idea of receiving and even magnifying light. By this we can see that purity is a state of being, which includes vibrations of spiritual, divine Light.
The two major factors for purity are meditation and diet. That is obvious. People are a third very major factor. Just being in their aura affects us. Therefore we have to be careful of all associations, even casual ones.
To keep this simple, I will just list here the impure things that must be carefully avoided by us. This is part of the successful yoga life.
Money from an impure source:
given us by a negative person,
earned by working for a negative person or business,
earned by not purely honest or moral means.
Employment by a negative, corrupt, or dishonest person or business, or that necessitates close contact with people of low vibrations.
Things given us by morally corrupt people, or received undeservingly.
Anything, including clothing, made of impure elements such as leather, fur, bone (bone china, for example), etc.
Anything given us dishonestly or with the intention to influence us in any way.
Food prepared by an impure or negative person. Cooked food especially picks up the vibrations around it as well as those of the cooks.
Water is extremely susceptible to vibrations. We must be very careful about the water we wash with and drink. It is absolutely unclean to swim in swimming pools with other people.
Anything derived from animal sources, especially those that entail the death, suffering or imprisonment of the animals.
Music written or performed by impure or ignorant people, especially “pop” music of all kinds. Music is vibration, and directly goes into our subtle bodies and mind and shapes them. Music is an effective tool for both negative and positive influence.
Books written by or about impure persons or subjects. Books embody the mind-vibrations of the authors, therefore a person who reads a book takes into himself the mental vibration of the author. Books on occultism can particularly be sources of negative vibrations. There are some books that simply have to go–and not into a used book store to infect others, but into the garbage and on to the dump.
The touch of living beings imparts their biomagnetic energies directly into our physical and subtle bodies. Be extremely careful whom you touch and whom you allow to touch you–even slightly. Assiduously avoid chronic huggers, touchers and kissers. They are psychic invaders and vampires.
***
We are profoundly affected by what we see, because the experience of sight shapes our mental energies into the visual impressions we are receiving. All visual images are inside us, even if the objects are outside us. We psychically touch whatever we look at fixedly. Pictures and visual images directly influence us. Motion pictures and television broadcasts directly feed into our mind the underlying vibrations of the producers, the actors and the sound tracks.
***
Not only do we not touch or keep the unclean–unbalanced or negative–thing, we do not allow it to touch us.
***
Most of the things listed above have positive counterparts that will be uplifting to the yogi. Consequently we should be sure to surround ourselves with such beneficial influences.
It is like this: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away” (Matthew 13:47-48). We need to go through the net of our life and keep the good and toss away the bad. Then we will make spiritual progress unhindered by any outside influences.
Next in Living the Yoga Life: The Gita Speaks To The Yogi