Obscurations. How to Become Pure — and Why?

A fragment from the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra:
When the breath is completely outside (above) and stops on its own, or completely inside (below) and stops — in this cosmic pause the small human “I” disappears. This is difficult only for the impure.

For the uninitiated — whether religious or atheist — the phrase “impure person” carries countless meanings, and all of them are incorrect. We are automatons raised by automatons, adjusted by kindergarten, school, perhaps even university. And this entire chain is aimed at making us more automatic, unable to decide, choose, or most importantly — see.

Remove all familiar meanings of the word “impure” as applied to a human being. Try to restrain your inner automaton — find a new meaning, one that has never occurred to you before. Then compare it with what was meant in the quote above. Do not be lazy — this is for you. This may help you notice the automatons that control you.

So obscuration, or impurity, refers to the mind — and it has nothing to do with religion or morality, even though the text is about spiritual growth. Obscurations of the mind are all human emotions — not only negative ones, but also positive ones. We move toward things for two reasons: we desire something, or we want to avoid something. Even when we do not move at all because we “want nothing” — this, too, is movement, or rather, following the obscurations of the mind.

If you do not train your mind, you live following these obscurations. All your conclusions are the conclusions of a blind person who has been taught what is right and wrong, what is allowed and not allowed. And armed with this knowledge, science has given us the internet — full of couch experts, haters, info‑merchants, influencers — and no space left for an actual human being.

If you want to see the world in all its colors, find the moment when the breath stops — those instants of silence when your mind whispers nothing and your emotions pull you nowhere. In that moment of stillness, you can see everything — and more. For a brief instant the obscurations fall away; you become pure. Inhale — and the breath freezes before silence; exhale — and again the breath freezes before silence.

If you cannot find a way out, if you do not know what to do, if everything around seems false — this silence will give you an incredible state of clarity and understanding. Find a way to use it. Let this silence become your rest and your source of new ideas. After a few seconds of this magical stillness your mind will calm down, the pace of life will slow, and you will begin to notice beauty where you had never seen it: in moss, in cracks, in the work of an ant, in the rustle of leaves, in raindrops — anywhere.

This magic is accessible to everyone and very easy to reach. You have already done it once, long ago, in another life — you just need to remember.