Sadhguru answers a question on aura cleansing, and explains why it could be necessary in certain situations.

Sadhguru: Haven’t we spoken about this any number of times? No? So, the aura. 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. (Laughs) 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 (Laughter) 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 we are not... I am not trying to teach you sanitation. What I am saying is if we want to do something with anything, first thing is we purify. If you want to take anything to a higher possibility, first thing is to purify. Without purification you cannot do anything better than the way it is right now.

So purifying your body and your mind – for this we have 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 but if you’re doing sadhana and if you’re improving your system, what you manifested yesterday or what you manifested ten 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 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 are 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 (Gestures) all the nonsense kind of washed off.

Time 47:03

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 is a gentle breeze blowing you just went and stood like this (Gestures), suppose you wear thin clothes and simply stand like this, after some time you feel hooooo. 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 at 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, (Laughs) you know if you go to the rejuvenation center they’re giving you a mud bath; similarly we can give you a fire bath. (Laughter)

So what's being done in the temple is a fire bath because you know she is Bhairavi. You… 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 will 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 do it... to do it. Some of them didn’t know, with ignorance they did simply something. If it's properly done it’ll work wonderfully well; if it's simply done somehow still works partially. Any number of times people might have noticed children are sick, if 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.

Time 49:53

So what is being given in the temple as Klesha nashana Kriya, that means 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 and feels better in terms of health, well-being, mental balance, everything. The neem – they used only the leaf on you? I think they should have used the stick. (Laughter) The neem stick is good you know, it awakens lots of people. In India if you are acting little funny and possessed they can beat the devil out of you (Laughter) with the neem stick. (Laughs) Neem is a very cleansing thing. If you’re eating the morning ball, you know your stomach will be clean. If you... if you have any kind of 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 energizer. So the leaf has tremendous medicinal properties and very strong pranic reverberations that… and it's bitter enough to get the devil out of you. (Laughs)