Kleshas Part 1: The causes of suffering
There are five sources of suffering or sources of pain that have been classified in yoga philosophy. They are called the 5 Kleshas:
Avidya (Ignorance)
Asmita (Ego)
Raga (Attachment)
Dvesha (Aversion) &
Abhinivesha (Fear)
Avidya, Ignorance:
All 5 Kleshas have ignorance within them , so ignorance is like the baseline source of suffering.
If you don't know something, then you don't know something, but once you've been told or learn something, then you know. We keep moving forward in life by continuing to learn - learning from education and learning from our own direct experiences from the past. If we don’t learn from the past, we replay scenarios in our mind and this is wasted energy.
There is nothing lost or wasted in life if we put effort in and learn from it, this is from the Bhagavad Gita.
If we want to progress and build as human beings, we have to really face these sources of suffering and try to accept what they are, work with them and then move away from them. If we ignore them then we are bound by them. Let’s get into the details of each Klesha:
Asmita is ego:
Our ego is our sense of I, of who we are. We have to have a sense of self & a sense of being distinctly separate from other people and other things so we can function in the world and stay alive and safe.
Sometimes we get too caught up in the ego and then we view the entire world from an egocentric attitude where everything is about “me”, “everything is here to make my life better and to serve me”. This obviously is not a great attitude to have, and although our ego/self identification keeps us separate from others, we are actually not separate from others and cannot function as individuals completely. If we live in an ego centric world it does cause us to suffer, and causes a lot of loneliness deep down, and outward projections of pain from the person who lives like this.
Yoga means union, to yoke or to join or to unite. When we practice yoga, we are joining all the parts of ourselves together; including our ego, and our true inner Self (everyone has the same Self, but our individual egos divide us from each others Self by telling us that we are separate from them). Yoga brings you closer to your Self, and then you start to recognise this Self in other people and see them as same, not separate. When you are separate from others (led by an egocentric point of view) it causes loneliness, pain and suffering. If you can see that we are all connected, truly, you will never be lonely.
We're also able to recognise that we are part of a bigger picture, we are connected with everything and everyone around us. The more we start to recognise that fact, the more that we start to respect other people and build compassion and respect for the environment and start to live more kindly and gently: because we see ourselves in them (same) and learn to first treat ourselves kindly, and then everyone/thing around us. This is something that naturally occurs when you are practicing yoga. You remove yourself from the ignorance that you are separate, and discover that we are all connected and that you are the same as me deep inside.
One of my yoga teachers said it really nicely: he said if you imagine that spark of life deep inside of you, that we call the Self (in yoga philosophy - some people say soul, you can call it whatever you want to) - that sense that keeps driving you forward and wanting to stay alive - that exists in everybody and everything that's alive (animals, plants, in the yoga scriptures its said that life force is in everything that contains matter). We start to see that we are all part of the same life force. If you imagine that life force is like the open air and like air, life force is all around - then you are just holding part of that life force in your body, but it's still all around you in the air.
What my teacher said was: if you built a house and you built different rooms in the house, they all are going to contain air. The only thing that's separating the air is the walls, but they still have the same air running through the house. That is what Self is, like the air. We all have the same Self but held in different containers. You can think of this as life force as well.
When we can think about ourself as belonging to a bigger picture, to a collective, we generally have more love, appreciation and respect for everything around us. If we're always living from an egocentric place, where we’re feeling hard done by, or the world's against us, we’re alone, we're on our own or that the world is here to serve us as individuals.
Our ego serves an important purpose, but we need to keep it in check - otherwise it causes us to suffer. When we think of ourselves only in the egocentric way, we're separating ourselves from everything/one around us and that causes us pain deep inside. If you’re not doing work on your Self, and creating a feeling of belonging, you’re for the most part going to try to control your emotions from external sources and create moments happiness, which are fleeting if they come from the external.
This leads into the next Klesha:
Raga, Attachment:
Think about addictions: alcohol, drug, shopping, sex addictions - the list goes on…. these things will give momentary pleasure - but afterwards they cause you to feel pain and to suffer, and there may be strong denial surrounding these things.
Working with our attachments is extremely hard work. Our addictions, our attachments to things/people/ anything outside of our own selves. The first step is recognising them and being honest with how they affect you. They are those things that we crave which will bring us momentary happiness. If we're always looking for those and becoming addicted to those, this is leading to greater and greater suffering. Why? Because you are relying on something outside of yourself to bring you happiness and joy. If you want real permeant happiness, peace and joy - it will only be found within you. Yoga allows us to look within and find that sense of true, unwavering, permanent joy.
A big part of practice is to 1. identify and 2. let go of those things that you are attached or addicted to. This will require you to be brutally honest with yourself about what they are.
Once you start to put attachments in the frame of mind where you can see that they are not making your life better, and they're not making you feel better much past the moment, you can start to get rid of them. Slowly over time. How do you work with them? By 1. Noticing when the attachment/thought occurs 2. Consciously deciding not to give in to the desire 3. Not punishing yourself on those occasions when the desire wins (because it will sometimes). Slowly over time you will be able to get rid of the attachment permanently, to the point when the desired object no longer is that noticeable. It’s a gradual process of recognition - letting go - recognition - giving in - recognition - letting go - giving in - letting go - letting go - letting go - gone.
This is really, really hard work. Being honest with yourself about those things in your mind that might make you feel really uncomfortable. We all have them. I certainly have them. I can 100% vouch for the reality of being able to let go of thoughts/desires/things that would have at one point in my life caused a lot of stress and constant mental chatter until I had them. I used to be addicted to buying shoes, clothes and purses; and this really did cause a great deal of stress and pain in my life - because the item decided my happiness level at the time (instantly - I had to have it), and I suffered a lot of post buying guilt because I had racked up my credit card AGAIN.
Now I can hardly be bothered to go shopping unless I actually need something, and it will take me quite a long time to decide on something worth while of buying (although Lululemon may still be a partial guilty pleasure). I shop there about once or twice a year now - but tbh honest I don’t really care that much about the purchases, they don’t make my life better - hence it’s not an addictive behaviour anymore and instead one that I enjoy and do actually need so I don’t show up to work in raggedy clothes. Also another part of this is not having the credit card debt anymore - I pay my card every month and try not to put too much on it past what I need to buy. Debt causes a lot of stress and worry and if you can take care of that then you will have less weight on your mind. Set aside an amount per month you’re comfortable to spend on “extras” and try to stick to that, if you’re constantly running over you create a scarcity mindset, which affects your cognition and mental state quite significantly.
If we do not work with and recognise these sources of suffering, then we're bound by them. If you want to let them go to find true joy inside, you can, because you're allowed to - and it’s actually our natural way of being.
Somehow in our society we’ve lost this way of being - it has to do with capitalistic thinking where it’s ‘every man for themselves’ and we’re in competition with each other, and that there’s a shortage of “stuff/money” to go around - instead of helping each other all live in abundance.
Marketing has a lot to do with it: making us feel like we need to have something …and then our life will be better. It's not real. It's a perception that we have placed on ourselves because it's projected on us daily, day in and day out…. You need to be like this, have this, look like this…. or you're less than everyone else… this is just not true.
It's all bullshit, and it’s keeping a large percentage of our society bound to the external and to appearances instead of looking inside for the real stuff that they’re all looking for outside: validation, acceptance, peace, security, love and joy. If you want these things, work with the Kleshas and you will find them - they are already within you and nothing outside of yourself can buy these, we were born with everything we need and we need to look within to find our way back to our true nature. Really truly understand your sources of suffering and then you can let them go over time.
Dvesha, Aversion:
We also need to recognise what we are afraid of alongside what our attachments are. Our fears may not be logical, they may be deep rooted from childhood, and we need to 1. recognise what we are afraid of or avoidant of and 2. start to question why they exist.
I’ll group Dvesha with the last Kelsha:
Abhinivesha, Fear:
The fear of change, and ultimately this is associated with the fear of dying.
We all know those things that we naturally don't want to do. Can you start to notice them and explain them to yourself and maybe even try them? Cause when you try something and you have an opportunity to understand it, the fear of unknowing is taken away (ignorance) and once you’re more familiar with something it becomes comfortable, you’re not so afraid.
This is something you can learn directly in your asana (physical) yoga practice. Think about those postures that cause you to feel panic and fear - when you feel that in your practice notice it! Notice it and try to soften into trying something that may cause you fear (not pain). Lots of people are scared to try headstand because the fear of being on your head and falling over is very real. BUT when you try over and over, you are taking the fear/aversion away from headstand by making it more familiar and comfortable. The more relaxed you are when trying an asana, the more accessible it will be (not totally floppy physically but relaxed mentally). You learn that by being relaxed when trying something new allows you to approach something unknown with a sense of open-mindedness and curiosity/play instead of panic/fear.