The 5 Kleshas (Poisons) | Yoga Philosophy Explained

Transcript

Namaste dear friends today I am going to be speaking about a foundational yogic concept known as the clashas the clashas are referred to as the root causes of suffering and pain in yoga philosophy the word claesha literally means poison in Sanskrit there are five clashas avidya ignorance asmita ego Raga attachment duesha aversion and abhivinessa fear of death so coming to avidya ignorance the first one the word avidya is referring to the ignorance of being caught up in everything else but the present moment life is considered to be just a string of multiple present moments strung together in each of these present moments we are caught up on planning or thinking about the future or ruminating about the past we do this incessantly to the extent that we are never really even aware of the present moments themselves every new present moment we again fixate on a future which has not yet come and which once it arrives we hardly pay heat too this spiritual ignorance is the root cause for all the other glacias as well all we really have is the present moment and we readily keep exchanging it for a future or a past that doesn't exist the second Kalisha asmita or ego the ego is fundamental to our survival here thus we are not trying to rid ourselves of the ego we are only trying to transform the ego the ego creates a sense of separation between us and the world around us this sense of Separation enables us to survive however to cement this sense of Separation the ego creates identity the identification process is twofold first we identify with our body thoughts emotions and so on this allows us to Define ourselves as an individual entity secondly we also identify with shared beliefs communities Nations tribes religions and so on this allows us to feel a sense of belonging though the ego has made us feel that we are separate from the world around us we haven't lost the primary urge to regain that connection it is worth mentioning here that we are not trying to stop thinking or stop having beliefs we must have these as they are fundamental to our survival however we must not strongly identify with these for instance we might belong to a community with a particular dietary preference we have this dietary preference because we believe in a shared belief it is fine to have this belief but it becomes problematic when we begin to identify strongly with it our sense of self becomes entangled or embroiled in the shared belief and the dietary preference itself if someone says something negative about the dietary preference we see it as an attack on us because our sense of self is now wrapped around the the belief of the dietary preference our self is much more than the beliefs we carry the stories we find ourselves in and the thoughts we think identifying with that aspect of the self that is beyond these limitations and definitions Atman or soul is the path to avoiding suffering the third cliche Raga or attachment Raga is understood not only as attachment to things that we currently possess but also as Cravings to things that we don't have we either fear losing what we currently have or want that which we don't possess this process takes us into the future where we either imagine situations of Ruin and loss or a desire for that which we currently don't have our Cravings are projected into the future based on our past experiences for instance I can be craving chocolate in the immediate future this craving is based on a memory of having had chocolate in the past its taste how it makes me feel what Sensations it brings up and so on in yoga philosophy the Insight is we can't really fulfill our Cravings by objects things and people that are external to us the greatest fulfillment can only emerge from within and the best part is that our inner cells are completely within our control coming to the fourth clay shot duesha or aversion dweshara version is the act or impulse of rejecting or battling against that which is present right now aversion to discomfort difficult emotions and pain only pushes us to distract ourselves from the situation this in turn causes more suffering as the situation doesn't go away aversion lies in our reaction to an external pain and not in the situation itself for instance imagine two individuals that go through a similar physical loss and pain they both have severe accidents and lose the capacity to walk and use their legs after the physical pain subsides they will still have a mixture of Raga attachment to their old way of being and duesha aversion to adapting and accepting their current situation the first individual might give in to Raga and dwesha and might feel helpless depressed and low unable to live out his or her dreams one feels dejected and loses hope the second individual rises above Raga and duesha and sees the injury as an opportunity to focus on another aspect of life this individual becomes grateful for still being alive and is full of joy and life force or Prana moving on to the fifth class fear of death the last clacia is the fear of dying this stems from a belief that life is finite that we only live one life the recognition of Atman or Soul or Consciousness within us will free us from the fear of death we see life itself as infinite with no beginning or end our physical body and the situations we go through are just part of a longer Journey that began long before this birth and will end long after our death in India traditionally one would be encouraged to speak about death and the fear of dying as one approached old age one would discuss and think about death and what comes after unlike in the west where the subject of death is seen as a taboo something that is best left unspoken like life death is to be welcomed and embraced that's all for this video that was a brief introduction to the five claesars each of these can be spoken for more than an hour but it is I think enough for the moment if you have any questions about the same do write to me do write in the comments and do stay tuned for more videos like this thank you for watching namaste