Klesha – Affliction of the Mind

The path to realizing bliss is the path of understanding your mind. In other words, to learn its tendencies and to train it to be in a state of equanimity, where the mind does not go into an auto mode of reactions. Your mind can be more clear and free of conditioning.  It can see reality more for what it is and be more clearly in touch with your true self. Understanding each Klesha is essential on this path. 

Patanjali describes each Klesha that keeps distracting us. Understanding each of the five Klesha and working through them will lead us to see our minds more clearly.  It can give us the ability to go beyond our minds.

Understanding each klesha happens through the tools of the eight limbs.

Patanjali explains the Kleshas in the Yoga Sutras at the beginning of book 2.1, 2.2, 2.4:

The Five Kleshas

Avidya – Ignorance

We might mistake our reality with our interpretation of reality. Often this happens when our perceptions may be based on preconceived notions. For example, we may imagine a certain person will always be the same – having a fixed idea of how this person makes it difficult to see today that she may be different from yesterday.

This could be compared to the practice of emptiness in Buddhism. If I place a writing pen on the floor, a dog may come by and see it as a chew toy. If this pen was now in a prison cell, it may appear to the prisoner as a weapon. We need to use words and labeling in order to communicate. The problem with this is that we get attached to the form they hold or the idea we have about what they represent. When this happens we become ignorant of what is real.

Lao Tzu says:

The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao

The name that can be named is not the eternal name

If you can speak of the Tao, the way, the path, enlightenment, complete Samadhi, then you are not talking about the true essence of it, as that can only be realized, experienced on a level that is beyond body and mind, and especially beyond words.

Asmita – Ego attachment

When we mistake ourselves as individual existences, suffering occurs. Ahamkara, or ego, the “I” maker, is a form of mind creation. It creates an identity through attachment to ideas about us through names and definitions, and that is very natural and well-promoted in our society. It is very hard to go about the world without identifying yourself as a doctor, mother, student or yoga teacher. But the question is: Do you know who you REALLY are?

As long as you don’t know your true nature, the real you, it creates an identification with a limited existence, which will always lead to suffering as it is incomplete and changing.

This creates a division of “me” and “not me”, or “mine” and “not mine”.

Even in the spiritual world, we can see attachments to identity; “I teach this type of yoga”, or “This is the true yoga!”, or “I am a yogi”, etc. Some people change their names to more “spiritual names or wear clothes that identify them as belonging to a specific Buddhist sect. However, there is nothing wrong with that, unless we get attached to it.

Raga – Attraction, likes, and desires

We want and like to feel good. Many of us seek things that will give us the feel-good effect including knowledge, recognition, things that give us pleasure, sensations, relationships, etc. We keep looking for more of these, acquiring and collecting them. Expecting and wanting them to last forever. Since change is inevitable, it is not guaranteed that we will retain any of them. And the moment something is lost – whether a feeling, a status or an actual thing – suffering may arrive. Raga is the suffering that arrives when we cling to these things.  It is the suffering that arrives from the expectation that these things, and/or the feel-good feelings they produce will last. 

Allow your desires to have more intention. The intention may be to better yourself through yoga practice or to grow your business so that you can help more people.

Focusing on the intention rather than the thing prevents suffering.

If you can’t practice yoga, you can still better yourself. If you lose your business you can still help more people. It can be any intention that brings benefits to you and the world.  Be present with whatever unfolds, and if needed, take the right action according to the new present situation.

Dvesha – Aversions, dislikes

We try to stay away from what does not feel good: from pain, from the things we do not like and from unpleasant feelings. Even before we experience any of these discomforts we may already fear them and worry about them. This constant search to avoid suffering, to protect us from any unwanted happenings creates more suffering. Even when we realize enlightenment, life still happens, and as long as we try to avoid experiencing life, suffering will occur.

As a practice, notice where in life you are adding pain to pain; where are you suffering more than you need to, just because your mind is adding a story or an emotion. Our minds might be attached to different things. See if instead of being stuck in the mind you can just experience whatever is happening. Take the best action you can to move on, or not repeat anything you would rather not experience. Move softly and gracefully, so that you are not in an escape mode, but rather in being present mode. 

Abhinivesha – Clinging to life, fear of death

Many of us believe that our body and mind is all there is. As our own existence, a separate existence, that terminates with the termination of our body. Given that we have a limited lifespan this creates a constant fear (whether conscious or subconscious) that our time is running out. Some live their life in constant search of immortality, a way to live longer to be remembered after they die. There is a desire to create a name for themselves or to leave a mark so that their identity is not lost. This fear of death is the fifth klesha.

When you live the present moment fully, there is no tomorrow, and fear of death fades away.

For those who meditate, you may begin to experience states of being that are beyond your thinking mind. These states of awareness and consciousness are at a level beyond space and time. Once we experience this, it is possible to realize that who we think we are is not who we really are. All clinging to our life, as it is, drops. This is not to say we lose interest in life, but rather we understand the true essence of life.

Share the Spirit

How do you overcome each Klesha in your life, leave us a comment with any tips you have! Share this article with a friend who is suffering and see if it can help them move through it.

Join us for a yoga retreat or yoga teacher training at Doron Yoga & Zen Center in beautiful Guatemala.

For more information and guidance on yogic philosophy, check out the Doron Yoga Manual. A clear, concise text on how you can apply these ideas into your daily life.

Blissful Living,

Doron