Questioner: Namaskaram Sadhguru. What is the significance of aura cleansing process that takes place in Linga Bhairavi shrine, and why the use of Neem leaves and lamp?
Sadhguru: Aura is the subtle manifestation of everything that you are. If you look at one’s aura, you clearly know his physical health, his mental health, his karmic structure. In a way, his past and present. If he is stupid, even his future. Yes! Only if you are stupid, we can tell your future. Otherwise we can only tell your past. Yes!
If you look at one’s aura, you clearly know his physical health, his mental health, his karmic structure
So, aura is a certain manifestation of yourself. A subtler manifestation in the physical body. Keeping it clean is good. Is keeping your body clean good? Even if you don’t understand, somebody sitting next to you understands – that it’s good. It’s good to keep your body clean. It’s good to keep your mind clean. It’s good to keep everything that is you clean. Because, I’m not trying to teach you sanitation – what I’m saying is – if we want to do something with anything, first thing is we purify. If we want to take anything to a higher possibility, first thing is to purify. Without purification, you can not do anything better than the way it is right now. So, purifying your body, and your mind – for this we’ve taught you many methods. Practices, food, this, that, so many aspects – to keep your body and mind clean.
Aura is a manifestation, it’s not a presence by itself
Aura is a manifestation, it’s not a presence by itself. But, if you are doing Sadhana, if you are improving your system – what you manifested yesterday, or what you manifested 10 years ago, may be still hanging around you, and not allowing you to become what you want to be. So that can be cleansed. Have you noticed that when you have a shower, or a bath as we say in India, which is not a dip but pouring of water over your body. When you let water go over you, you’re not just cleaning the physical self, that is you’re not just cleaning the skin. Something else also gets cleaned. Let’s say you’re feeling very angry, agitated, and all kinds of things happening within you. You just go have a shower and come out. You feel [relief]. All the nonsense kind of washed off. So a shower is not just about cleaning the skin of your body. You can cleanse the aura to some extent, because what you call as body is a manifestation or a play of five elements. So you can give yourself a water bath.
You can similarly give yourself a wind bath. You must see this. Suppose there’s a gentle breeze flowing, you just went and stood like this. Suppose you wear thin clothes and simply stand like this. After some time you feel [relaxed]. Have you noticed that? Have you noticed this? You feel so clean and you want to feel like transparent and you want to fly away. Wind can do that. It should be just of the right velocity and feel and temperature and everything. If it’s right, you will see wind just cleanses you. Wind bath.
We can also give you a mud bath. You know if you go to the rejuvenation center, they’re giving you a mud bath.
Similarly we can give you a fire bath. So what’s being done in the temple is a fire bath. Because you know, she’s Bhairavi. You just give yourself a fire bath. Of course you can’t pour it over your body. You just touch the aura of your body in a certain way. There are certain patterns running in your aura. Along the tracks you run the fire, you will see suddenly you’ll feel bright and clear. You know this, people from Indian origin you clearly know this, in your homes your grandmothers were taking off ‘drishti’ for you – aura cleansing. Maybe some of your grandmothers knew how exactly to do it. Some of them didn’t know, with ignorance they did simply something. If it’s properly done, it will work wonderfully well. If it’s simply done somehow, still works partially.
Any number of times people might have noticed – children are sick, they just do little fire bath, suddenly they are fine. Have you noticed this? Because, it’s just a fire bath, and it does things to the system.
So, what is being given in the temple as ‘klesha nashana kriya’ is a process which destroys impurities – is in English, aura cleansing. Is to take away the impurities from the aura, so that the body breathes better, feels better – in terms of health, wellbeing, mental balance, everything. The Neem – they used only the leaves on you… I think they should have used the stick! The Neem stick is good, you know. It awakens lot of people. In India if you are acting little funny, and possessed, they can beat the devil out of you with a Neem stick.
Neem is a very cleansing thing. If you are eating the morning ball, you know your stomach will be clean. If you have any infection stuff, in this country they would always put you on a bed of Neem leaf. Because it’s a great cleanser of the system. And, a great energiser. So, the leaf has tremendous medicinal properties, and very strong pranic reverberations that… and it is bitter enough to get the devil out of you.
