Question: Could you name some impurities? Do they affect us outwardly as well as inwardly?

Sri Chinmoy: Doubt, insincerity, fear, anxiety, jealousy, attachment and all other imperfections or limitations are impurities. But the worst impurity is doubt or a negative way of thinking. If you think: "I cannot do the right thing. I cannot think of God. I cannot meditate on God. I cannot tell the truth," you are cherishing the worst possible impurity. Always you have to see the light in a positive way. Right now I can say that I need light. I have light in infinitesimal measure; but if I say, "I don't have any light at all! I am all darkness," then I am doubting and blighting myself. Also, if I say this, I am expressing false modesty. False modesty is bad. You know at the back of your mind that you are quite a bit better than you say, but by being modest you are trying to gain some other's approval. Any type of insincerity will never lead us to God-realisation.

Every day we think and act. Action can never be separated from our inner way of understanding. When we have something inside we inevitably exhibit it outside in some way. If I have insincerity inside, I will show it outside; I will take shelter in the house of insincerity. But if I have sincerity inside, then I will take shelter in the house of sincerity. Impurity includes insincerity, doubt and all other negative ways of thinking and it is bound to affect both our outer behaviour and our inner progress.