The 5 Kleshas — Patanjali's yogic afflictions
Yoga Sutra II.3-II.9. The five obstacles the eight limbs were designed to dissolve. Where the yamas + niyamas are what you practice, the kleshas are what you see — the suffering-patterns the practice meets.
How to read this map
One root, four branches. Patanjali names avidya — ignorance, the seeing of the impermanent as permanent — as the field (kshetra) from which the other four kleshas grow as crops. Soften avidya and all five soften together.
The four branches. Asmita (ego, the I-am-ness that mistakes the witness for the witnessed), raga (the pull that follows pleasure), dvesha (the push that follows pain), abhinivesha (the cellular clinging to continued existence — the fifth and deepest, present even in the wise).
How to use this funnel. Read the klesha most loud in your life right now. Each page names the source-sutra, what the klesha looks like in daily life, in love, in work — the gift, the shadow, and the direct ethical antidote from the yamas + niyamas funnel.
Avidya अविद्या
Root klesha · the master ignorance
The root klesha. Mistaking the impermanent for the permanent, the body for the self, the surface for the truth. The master ignorance from which the other four afflictions grow.
Asmita अस्मिता
Branch klesha · the I-am-ness
The ego-klesha. Confusing the witness (the seer) with the thoughts, feelings, body, and mind it observes (the instrument). The I-thought taken as the I.
Raga राग
Branch klesha · the pull of pleasure
The attachment-klesha. The mind's reflex to chase, hoard, and recreate what once gave pleasure. Not desire itself — the *clinging* to remembered pleasure.
Dvesha द्वेष
Branch klesha · the push of pain
The aversion-klesha. The mind's reflex to flee, push away, and avoid whatever caused pain. The mirror-twin of raga: same clinging, opposite vector.
Abhinivesha अभिनिवेश
Branch klesha · the clinging to life
The fear-of-death klesha. The fifth and deepest affliction — the cellular clinging to continued existence that persists even after the other four have softened, even in the realized practitioner.
Want your chart read through the kleshas?
A $9 personal reading names the klesha currently most active in your chapter alongside sun/moon/rising. Get yours →