Kleshas and Kriya Yoga in the Yogic Tradition

These essay was taken from our Yoga Sutras Course with Dr. H. V. Nagaraj Rao

Avidya- 

What is impermanent is seen as permanent 

What is unclean is thought of as clean

What is painful is seen as pleasurable 

What is not the soul or atman is seen as the soul. 

Asmita- we see our instruments as ourselves. The body mind and intellect are not the real self. We identify with them though. A telescope itself cannot see. Only the person looking through it. Similarly the soul is not the body as the person looking through the telescope is not the same as the telescope. We identify ourselves particularly with the intellect and the mind. This is the second affliction. 

Raga- attachment to outer things. House, bank account, property, money, sense pleasure. All of these things pertain to the physical body but not the soul. When our ignorance allows to identify with the body so naturally we become attached to the things the body enjoys. To conquer raga is the greatest accomplishment in life. The attachment in us that grows in us is our bondage to the external world. 

Dvesha- avoidance or hatred for unpleasant things. Wherever we experience misery we will avoid that place. Whatever causes suffering we avoid whether it is a person, object, country object etc. 

We enter into action because of this attachment and aversion and it creates our karma. 

Abinivesha- phobias of all kinds evolve out of this clinging. Fear of death is fundamental to all creatures. Out of this fear evolves phobia. All creatures have this fundamental quality. To the extent that our fears and phobias rule our mind, we become bound by them. 

The starting point is ignorance or avidya and all other kleshas unfold from there. 

Kriya yoga is put forth by Patanjali to thin the kleshas. When yoga gets stronger, kleshas get weaker. 

When the kleshas are ruling us our behaviour is unbalanced. When we become liberated through samadhi or kaivalya the kleshas are destroyed. 

The vrtis are the thoughts in the mind. When they are active the kleshas rule. In meditation the aspirant must detach from the vrtis in the mind. These have to be abandoned and destroyed by Gyana or meditation. Meditation is the medicine that frees the mind from ignorance and attachment etc. 

The origin of all kleshas is because of karma. The karmas produce the kleshas. The samskaras are the mental patterns that create the attachment and attraction, avoidances etc 

Karma initiates and kleshas and kleshas create more karmas in a vicious cycle that leads deeper into affliction and bondage. 

In this life we can see the causes of some of our behaviours, likes, dislikes, mental patterns etc. but not all. Previous births are said to be the causes of some of our conditioning and behaviour. We all have very inborn gifts as well as defects. How is it that some people are so gifted and extraordinary? Past life experiences. Both good and bad qualities that do not fit with the current life on an individual are associated with past life experience by Patanjali. 

If the root is there then the fruit of the plant will ripen in time. As the karmas ripen we experience the pain and pleasure of the previous actions. When we plant a seed we have to wait for it to enjoy the fruit of that plant. In the same way our actions and thoughts bear karmic fruit in the future. These karmic fruits ripen at various times and various rates of speed. 

If we uproot the plant we can be sure that it will not bear fruit. Similarly the karmas that we have done have roots in our psyche. When those roots are destroyed the karma stops. Its root has been destroyed and all its processes are arrested. 

There are 84,000 kinds of creatures in the world the Indian texts state. These are the results of karmas ripening and manifesting as different forms etc. Ayu means life in Sanskrit. The length of life is also determined by karma. 

We are all bound by the karmas of the past. It is always a mixture of positive and negative. How long we live, where we are born, how much we enjoy life, all these things are the fruits of karma. When the roots of this karma are eradicated one gets liberated. 

Sutra 13 or Chapter 2 was our last verse. 

In samprajnata samadhi all previous Karmas are destroyed by the fire of knowledge. Only the correct knowledge of prakriti and purusha can burn down the giant heap of karma that we all have. 

Our desire for liberation is also a desire. At the time of attainment even this desire is annihilated. Kaivalya is that state that supersedes all desires. 

Animals and plants do not have logic and discernment. Only human beings have this. Animals are ruled by karma and cannot escape. Only human beings have the free choices and capacity to reach divine thinking and to evolve beyond karma.