pavit

 Pavitram means “pure.”  Knowledge of devotion is supremely pure because it is untainted by petty selfishness.  It inspires sacrifice of the self at the altar of divine love for the Supreme Lord.  Bhakti also purifies the devotee by destroying pāp, bīja, and avidyā.  Pāp is the stockpile of past sins of endless lifetimes of the individual soul.  Bhakti burns them up as a fire burns up a bundle of straw.  Bīja refers to impurities of the heart, which are the seeds of sinful activities.  If the seeds exist, then destroying the results of past sins will not suffice, for the propensity to sin will remain in the heart and one will sin again.  Bhakti purifies the heart and destroys the seeds of sin, which are lust, anger, and greed.  However, even the destruction of the seeds is not enough.  The reason why the heart becomes impure is that there is avidyā (ignorance), because of which we identify with the body.  Because of this misidentification, we think of the body as the self, and hence create bodily desires thinking they will give happiness to the self.  Fulfillment of such material desires further leads to lust, anger, greed, and all the other impurities of the heart.  As long as the ignorance remains, even if the heart is cleansed, it will again become impure.  Devotion ultimately results in realized knowledge of the soul and God, which in turn destroys the ignorance of material existence.  The benefits of bhakti are described in the Bhakti Rasāmṛit Sindhu as follows:  kleśhas tu pāpaṁ tadbījam avidyā cheti te tridhā  (1.1.18)  “Bhakti destroys the three poisons—pāp (sins), bīja (the seed of sins), avidyā (the ignorance in the heart).”  Only when the three are completely destroyed, does the heart become truly and permanently pure.