These kleśas are subtle; they are destroyed when [the mind] dissolves back into its original matrix.

Bryant Commentary:

Vyāsa’s only comment here is that when the mind of the yogī has fulfilled its purpose, that is, when the yogī has attained a permanent state of nirbīja–samādhi, it dissolves back into prakṛti. As Śaṅkara puts it, no fire is needed for something that has already been burnt, nor grinding mortar for what has already been ground. The mind, having fulfilled its objectives, becomes redundant. The five kleśas are lodged in the mind. Consequently, becoming like burnt seeds as discussed above, they too dissolve along with it. Patañjali in sūtra II.4 referred to only four possible states for the kleśas (dormant, weak, intermittent, or fully activated), but we recall that Vyāsa in his commentary for that sūtra mentioned that the burnt state constituted a fifth state. Vācaspati Miśra suggests that in this sūtra Patañjali is indirectly confirming that fifth state. This is a good example of how Vyāsa’s commentary has become almost as canonical as Patañjali’s original text: It is almost never questioned by all subsequent commentators, but reinforced. The task of the traditional exegete is not to probe if an authoritative text is true, but how it is true.

Like burnt seeds, kleśas do not disappear as long as the mind of the yogī is still active; they remain embedded there but in their burnt state, like an empty shell, with their potency to sprout or produce effects (unwanted vṛttis) terminated. Their total dissolution occurs only when the mind of the liberated yogī dissolves back into its original prākṛtic source upon the yogī’s death, pratiprasava. One might mention here that in the Yoga metaphysics of satkāryavāda, matter cannot be totally destroyed, it can only transform.

Hariharānanda states that the difference between the burnt seed state of the kleśas and their total dissolution along with the mind into prakṛti corresponds to the difference between samprajñāta and asamprajñāta-samādhis. In the former state, the mind is still active. Even the enlightened wisdom saṁskāra that “I am not this body” is nonetheless a thought of the mind. In this sense, it is a vṛtti and therefore has a form similar to any vṛtti, including its opposite, the unenlightened thought, “I am this body.” The difference between them is that the former is akliṣṭa, beneficial to the goal of yoga, and the latter kliṣṭa, detrimental (I.5). In the same way, a burnt or parched seed still has a form that is similar to a normal seed; the difference is that one produces fruit and the other does not. However, there is always the possibility of even a burnt or parched seed unexpectedly sprouting, says Vijñānabhikṣu, so it is not until after the death of the yogī who has attained asamprajñāta–samādhi that the mind completely dissolves along with the kleśas and thus completely ceases to function as a mind with no possibility of capturing the awareness of puruṣa and of again producing misidentification, rebirth, and saṁsāric existence. In samprajñāta-samādhi, says Hariharānanda, there is still the sense of I, a faint trace of personal ego, asmitā, and thus the mind, along with its kleśas, is still not ready to dissolve away completely.

The Subtle Klesas Are Forsaken (i.e. Destroyed) By The Cessation Of Productivity (i.e. Disappearance) Of The Mind.

In their subtle form, these causes of suffering are subdued by seeing where they come from.

When these primal causes of suffering exist in a subtle yet potential form, they are to be reduced, then destroyed by the process of involution, returning them to their source, the True Self.

10. These, the subtle ones, can be reduced by resolving them backward into their origin.

Taimini Commentary:

In II-10 and II-11 Patanjali gives the general principles of first attenuating the Klesas and finally destroying them. The Klesas can exist in two states, active and potential. In their active state they can be recognized easily by their outer expressions 140 and the definite awareness which they produce in the mind of the Sadhaka. In the case of a person who is in a fit of anger it is easy to see that Dvesa is in full operation. The same person when he subjects himself to a rigid self-discipline acquires the capacity to keep himself absolutely caJm and without repulsion towards any one and thus reduces this Klesa to a potential condition. Dvesa has ceased to function but its germs are still there and, given very favourable conditions, can be made active again. Their power has become potential but not completely destroyed. The transition from the fully active to the perfectly dormant condition takes place through a number of stages which have been pointed out in II-4. Through the practice of Kriya-Yoga they can be attenuated progressively until they become quite dormant, incapable of being aroused by ordinary stimuli from the external world. But given extraordinary conditions they can be made active again. So we have to deal with two problems in the complete elimination of the Klesas, first to reduce them to the inactive or Suksma state and then to destroy even their potential power. The first is referred to generally as reducing the Klesas to the form of ‘seeds’ which under favourable conditions have still the power to grow into a tree, and the second as ‘scorching the seeds’ so that while they may retain the outer form of the ‘seeds’ they have really become incapable of germinating and growing into a tree.

The problem of reducing the Klesas to the condition of ‘seeds’ is itself divisible under two sub-heads, that of reducing the fully active forms to the attenuated forms (Tanu) and then reducing the latter to the extremely inactive condition (Prasupta) from which they cannot be aroused easily. Since the first of these two problems is the more important and fundamental in its nature Patanjali has dealt with it first in II-10. The second problem of reducing the active forms of the Klesas to the partially latent condition, being comparatively easier, is dealt with in II-41, though in Sadhana it really precedes the first problem.

In II-10 the method of reducing the Klesas which have been attenuated to the dormant stage has been hinted at. The phraseology used by Patanjali is extremely apt and expressive but many people find it difficult to understand the meaning of this pregnant Sutra. The phrase Pratiprasava means involution or re-absorption of effect into cause or reversing the process of Prasava or evolution. If a number of things are derived in a series from a primary thing by a process of evolution they can all be reduced to the original thing by a counter-process of involution and such a counter proc 141 ess is called Pratiprasava. Let us consider the underlying significance of this phrase in the present context.

We have seen already that the five Klesas mentioned in II-3 are not independent of each other but form a series beginning with Avidya and ending with Abhinivesa. The process of the development of Avidya into its final expression Ahhinivesa is a causal process, one stage naturally and inevitably leading to the next one. It is therefore inevitable that if we want to remove the final element of this fivefold series we must reverse the process whereby each effect is absorbed in its immediate cause and the whole series disappears. It is a question of removing all or none. This means that Abhinivesa should be traced back to Raga-Dvesa, Raga-Dvesa to Asmita, Asmita to Avidya, and Avidya to Enlightenment. This tracing backward is not merely an intellectual recognition but a realization which nullifies the power of the Klesas to affect the mind of the Yogi. This realization can come to a certain extent on the physical plane but is attained in its fullness on the higher planes when the Yogi can rise in Samadhi to those planes. It will, therefore, be seen from what has been said above that there is no short-cut to the attenuation and final destruction of the Klesas. It involves the whole technique of Yogic discipline.

The fact that the subtle forms of Klesas remain in their ‘seed’ form even after they have been attenuated to the extreme limit is of great significance. It means that the Sadhaka is not free from danger until he has crossed the threshold of Kaivalya and reached the final goal. As long as these ‘seeds’ lurk within him there is no knowing when he may become their victim. It is these unscorched ‘seeds’ of Klesas which account for the sudden and unexpected fall of Yogis after they have reached great heights of illumination and power. This shows the necessity of exercising the utmost discrimination right up to the very end of the Path.

When the latent forms of Klesas have been attenuated to the utmost limit and the resulting tendencies have been made extremely feeble—brought almost to the zero level—the question arises, ‘How to destroy the potentiality of these tendencies so that there may be no possibility of their revival under any circumstances?’ How to scorch the ‘seeds’ of Klesas so that they cannot germinate again? This is a very important question for the advanced Yogi because his work has not been completed until this has been done. The answer to this question follows from the very nature of the Klesas which has been discussed previously. If the Klesas are rooted in Avidya they cannot be destroyed until Avidya is destroyed. This means that no freedom from the subtlest 142 forms of the Klesas is possible until full Enlightenment of Kaivalya is attained through the practice of Dharma-Megha-Samadhi. This conclusion is confirmed by IV-30 according to which freedom from Klesas and Karmas is obtained only after DharmaMegha-Samadhi which precedes the attainment of Kaivalya.

Subtle afflictions are to be minimized and eradicated by a process of involution.

Iyengar Commentary:

Afflictions may be gross or subtle; both must be counteracted and eliminated, silenced at their very source.

The five afflictions – ignorance, egoism, lust, malice and attachment to life (11.3) appear gross (sthula) on the surface, but their subtle nature may be either dormant or highly active, or may alternate between the two (11.4). Meditation helps to eradicate them (II.2, 11).

The subtle afflictions begin with attachment to life, move in the reverse order, contrary to spiritual evolution of II.3 and end with the gross affliction, ignorance. Subtle afflictions should be overcome before they lead to worse trouble.

How does one overcome them? If a seed becomes parched, it cannot germinate; so one must render an affliction sterile by tracing it back to its source. The father of subtle afflictions is the mind, whose movements should be directed towards the seer by the yogic process of involution (prati prasava). (See the detailed explanation given under pratyahara, II.54.) In this way, subtle afflictions are vanquished and an unpolarized state of pure knowledge is attained (II.48).

In subtle form, these obstacles can be destroyed by resolving them back into their primal cause [the ego].

By meditation, their modifications are to be rejected.

SV Commentary:

How are these fine Samskaras to be controlled? We have to begin with the big waves, and come down and down. For instance, when a big wave of anger has come into the mind, how are we to control that? Just by raising a big opposing wave. Think of love. Sometimes a mother is very angry with her husband, and while in that state the baby comes in, and she kisses the baby; the old wave dies out, and a new wave arises, love for the child. That suppresses the other one. Love is opposite to anger. So we find that by raising the opposite waves we can conquer those which we want to reject. Then, if we can raise in our fine nature those fine opposing waves, they will check the fine workings of anger beneath the conscious surface. We have seen now that all these instinctive actions first began as conscious actions, and became finer and finer. So, if good waves in the conscious Chitta be constantly raised, they will go down, become subtle, and oppose the Samskara forms of evil thoughts.

These five afflictions, when their seed -power has, as it were, been burnt up, disappear of themselves along with that Yogi’s mind, when having fulfilled the purpose of its existence, it becomes latent.

~ Rāma Prasāda translation.