The impediments [to samādhi] are nescience, ego, desire, aversion, and clinging to life.

Bryant Commentary:

The kleśas have been referred to throughout the commentaries thus far, and implicitly referred to at the beginning of the text itself in I.5 where the vṛttis are stated as being kliṣṭa or akliṣṭa. Patañjali now formally introduces them here. As we have encountered elsewhere, Patañjali’s method when he presents a sūtra containing a list is to discuss each item subsequently in separate sūtras, so the five kleśas will be examined individually in the next sūtras. Kleśa is often used as a synonym for duḥkha, suffering, and, indeed, saṁsāric existence, which Patañjali will describe below as duḥkha, is perpetuated as a result of the kleśas.

When these kleśa impediments to samādhi are in full force, says Vyāsa, they strengthen the influence of the guṇas, produce karma, the law of cause and effect, and, by mutual interaction, bring forth the fruits of karma. Patañjali will later define these fruits as the type of birth, life duration, and life experience a person generates in accordance with the quality of actions he or she performs. By “mutual interaction,” elaborates Vijñānabhikṣu, anticipating the next sūtra, Vyāsa intends that the kleśa of ignorance breeds the remainder—attachment, ego, aversion, and clinging to life—and these produce further ignorance in a vicious cycle. Thus, when ignorance is destroyed, so are the other kleśas. In short, these five impediments, which are all located in the mind, trigger and perpetuate saṁsāra, the world of change, that is, of birth and death.

Recall that Patañjali stated in I.5 that the vṛttis can be kliṣṭa, that is, produced by these kleśas, or akliṣṭa. If we take the latter term literally, this seems to indicate that there can be vṛttis that are not produced by the kleśas, that is, not subject to ignorance, attachment, etc. This can point only to the notion of the jīvanmukta: someone who is still embodied and thus functioning with a citta, but a citta that generates vṛttis that are not subject to ignorance, ego, attachment, etc. Recent scholarship (Whicher, 1998, Chapple 2008) has consistently and persuasively argued that it is a misconception to consider Yoga to be a radical withdrawal from the world; rather, it entails enlightened engagement with the world, that is, action stemming from akliṣṭa–vṛttis. There are certainly solid grounds to support this position.

II.4

Avidya (Misapprehension About The Real Nature Of Things), Asmita (Egoism), Raga (Attachmant, Dvesa (Aversion) And Abhinivesa (Fear Of Death) Are The Five Klesas (Afflictions).

The causes of suffering are not seeing things as they are, the sense of ‘I’, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.

These practices cultivate an attitude conducive to being absorbed in Spirit and minimize the power  of the primal causes of suffering.

The lack of awareness of Reality, the sense of egoism or ‘I-am-ness’, attractions and repulsions towards objects and the strong desire for life are the great afflictions or causes of all miseries in life.

Taimini Commentary:

The philosophy of Klesas is really the foundation of the system of Yoga outlined by Patanjali. It is necessary to understand this philosophy thoroughly because it provides a satisfactory answer to the initial and pertinent question, ‘Why should we practise Yoga?’ The philosophy of Klesas is not peculiar to this system of Yoga. In its essential ideas it forms the substratum of all schools of Yoga in India though perhaps it has not been expounded as clearly and systematically as in the Samkhya and Yoga Darsanas.

Many Western scholars have not fully understood the real significance of the philosophy of Klesas and tend to regard it merely as an expression of the pessimism which they think characterizes Hindu philosophical thought. At best they take it in the light of an ingenious philosophical conception which provides the necessary foundation for certain systems of philosophy. That it is related to the hard facts of existence and is based upon a close and scientific analysis of the phenomena of human life, they would be hardly prepared to accept.

Purely academic philosophy has always been speculative and the essential task of the expounder of a new philosophical system is considered to be to provide a plausible explanation of the fundamental facts of life and existence. Some of these explanations which form the basis of certain philosophical systems are extraordinarily ingenious expositions and illustrations of reasoned thought, but they are purely speculative and are based on the superficial phenomena of life observed through the senses. Philosophy is considered to be a branch of learning concerned with evolving theories about life and the Universe. Whether these theories are correct and help in solving the real problems of life is not the concern of the philosopher. He has only to see that the theory which he puts forward is intellectually sound and provides an explanation of the observed facts of life with the maximum of plausibility. Its value lies in its rationality and ingeniousness and possibly intellectual brilliance, not in its capacity to provide a means of overcoming the miseries and sufferings incidental to human life. No wonder academic philosophy is considered barren and futile by the common man and treated with indifference, if not with veiled contempt.

Now, in the East, though many ingenious and purely speculative philosophies have been expounded from time to time, philosophy has been considered, on the whole, as a means of expounding the real and deeper problems of human life and providing clear-cut and effective means for their solution. There is not much demand for purely speculative systems of philosophy and such as exist are treated with a kind of amused tolerance as intellectual curiosities—nothing more. The great problem of human life is too urgent, too serious, too profound, too awful to leave any room for the consideration of mere intellectual theories, however brilliant these might be. If your house is on fire you want a means of escape and are not in a mood to sit down and read a brilliant thesis on architecture at that time. Those who can remain satisfied with purely speculative philosophies have not really understood the great and urgent problem of human life and its deeper significance. If they see this problem as it really is then they can be interested only in such philosophies as offer effective means for its solution.

Although the perception of the inner significance of the real problem of human life is dependent upon an inner change in consciousness and awakening of our spiritual faculties and cannot be brought about by an intellectual process of reasoning imposed from without, still, let us consider man in time and space and see whether his circumstances justify the extraordinary complacency which we find out only among the common people but also among the so-called philosophers.

Let us first consider man in space. In giving us a true picture of man in the physical Universe of which he is a part nothing has helped us so much as the discoveries of modern Science. Even before man could use a telescope the vision of the sky at night filled him with awe and wonder at the immensity of the Universe of which he was an insignificant part. But the researches of astronomers have shown that the physical Universe is almost unbelievably larger than what it appears to the naked eye. The 6,000 stars that are within the range of our unaided vision form, according to Science, a group which is only one among at least a billion other groups which stretch out to infinity in every direction. Astronomers have made a rough calculation of the number of stars that are within the range of the high-powered telescopes available these days and think there may be as many as 100 billion stars in our galaxy alone, some smaller than our sun and others very much bigger. This galaxy which is only one of 100,000 already definitely known to astronomers is so vast that light with a speed of 186,000 miles per second takes about 100,000 years to travel from one side to the other. In this vast ‘known’ Universe even our Solar system with its maximum orbital (of planets) diameter of 7 billion miles occupies an insignificant place by comparison. Narrowing down our vision to the Solar system we again find that the earth occupies only an insignificant place in the huge distances that are involved. It has a diameter of 8,000 miles compared with 865,000 miles of the sun and moves slowly in its orbit round the sun at an approximate distance of 93 million miles. Coining down still further to our earth we find man occupying an insignificant position as far as his physical body is considered. A microbe moving over the surface of a big school globe is physically a formidable object in comparison with man moving over the surface of the earth.

This is the awful picture that Science gives of man in the physical Universe, but so great is the illusion of Maya and the complacence which it engenders that we not only do not wonder about human life and tremble at our destiny but go through life engrossed in our petty pursuits, and sometimes even obsessed with a sense of selfimportance. Even the scientists who scan this vast Universe every night with their telescopes remain unaware of the profound significance of what they see. 

The picture which Science presents of our physical world in its infinitesimal aspect is no less disconcerting. That physical matter constituting our bodies consisted of atoms and molecules has been known for quite a long time. But the recent researches of Science in this field have led to some startling discoveries. The hard and indestructible atoms which constituted the bed-rock of modern scientific materialism have been found to be nothing more than different permutations and combinations of two fundamental types of positive and negative charged particles—protons and electrons. The protons form the core of the atom with electrons in varying numbers revolving round it in different orbits with tremendous speed, an atom being thus a Solar system in miniature. And what is still more startling, it has been found that these electrons may be nothing but charges of electricity with no material basis because mass and energy become indistinguishable at the high speed at which electrons move in their orbits. In fact, the conversion of matter into energy which has now become an accomplished fact shows that matter may be nothing more than an expression of locked-up energy. This conclusion which really means that matter disappears into energy has been arrived at, by an irony of fate, by the efforts of materialistic science which was responsible for giving a tremendous materialistic bias to our thinking and living. This hard fact means—and let the reader ponder carefully over this problem—that the well-known and so-called real world which we cognize with our sense-organs, a world of forms, colour, sound, etc., is based upon a phantom world containing nothing more than protons and electrons. These facts have become matters of common knowledge but how many of us, even scientists who work on these problems, seem to grasp the significance of these facts? How many are led to ask the question which should so naturally arise in the light of these facts ‘What is man?’ Is there any further proof needed that the mere intellect is blind and is incapable of seeing even the obvious truths of life, much less the Truth of truths?

Leaving the world of space let us glance for a while at the world of time. Here again we are faced with tremendous immensities of a different nature. An infinite succession of changes seems to extend on both sides into the past and the future. Of this endless expanse of time a period of a few thousand years just behind us is all that is reliably known to us while we have only a vague and hazy conception of what lies in the lap of the uncertain future. For aught we know the sun may explode the very next moment and destroy all life in the Solar system before we know what has happened. We are almost certain that millions and millions of years lie behind us but what has happened in those years we cannot know except by inference from what we observe in the visible Universe of stars around us. The past is like a huge tidal wave advancing and devouring everything in its path. Magnificent civilizations on our earth of which only traces are left and even planets and solar systems have disappeared in this tidal wave never to appear again and a similar relentless fate awaits everything from a grain of dust to a Solar system. Time, the instrument of the Great Illusion devours everything. And yet, look at puny man, whose achievements and glories are also to disappear in this void, how he struts about on the world stage clothed with brief authority or glory in the few moments which have been allotted to him. Surely, this awful panorama of ceaseless change which is unfolding before his eyes should make him pause and at least wonder what is all this about. But does it?

The above picture of man in time and space is not at all over-drawn. A man has only to isolate himself for a while from his engrossing environment and ponder over these facts of life to realize the illusory nature of his life and to feel the so-called zest of life melt away. But few of us have the eyes to look at this awful vision, and if by any chance our eyes open accidently for a while, we find the prospect too terrifying and shut them again, and completely oblivious and unaware of the real nature of life continue to live with our joys and sorrows until the flame of life is snuffed out by the hand of Death.

Now, the above picture of man in space and time has been given not with a view to provide entertainment for the intellectually curious, or even food for thought for the thoughtful, but to prepare the ground for the consideration of the philosophy of Klesas which forms the foundation of the Yogic philosophy. For the philosophy of Yoga is based on the hard realities of life, harder than the realities of Nature given to us by Science. Those who are not aware of these realities, or are aware only superficially in their intellectual aspects can hardly appreciate the goal or the technique of Yoga. They may find Yoga a very interesting subject for study, even fascinating in some of its aspects, but they cannot have the determination to go through the tremendous labour and ordeals which are required to rend asunder the veils of illusion created by Time and Space, and to contact the Reality which is hidden behind these veils.

With this brief introduction let us now turn to consider the philosophy of Klesas as it is outlined in the Yoga-Sutras. Let us first take the Samskrta word Klesa. It means pain, affliction or misery but gradually it came to acquire the meaning of what causes pain, affliction or misery. The philosophy of Klesas is thus an analysis of the underlying and fundamental cause of human misery and suffering and the way in which this cause can be removed effectively. This analysis is not based upon a consideration of the superficial facts of life as observed through the senses. The Rsis who expounded this philosophy were great Adepts who combined in themselves the qualifications of a religious teacher, scientist and philosopher. With this triple qualification and synthetic vision they attacked the great problem of life, determined to find a solution of the riddle which Time and Space have created for the illusion-bound man. They observed the phenomena of life not only with the help of their senses and the mind, but in the full conviction that the solution lay beyond even the intellect; they dived deeper and deeper into their own consciousness, tearing aside veil after veil, until they discovered the ultimate cause of the Great Illusion and the misery and suffering which are its inevitable results. They discovered, incidentally, in their search other subtler worlds of entrancing beauty hidden beneath the visible physical world. They discovered new faculties and powers within themselves—faculties and powers which could be utilized for studying these subtler worlds and pursuing their enquiry into still deeper layers of their own consciousness. But they did not allow themselves to be entangled by these subtler worlds and did not rest content until they had penetrated deep enough within their consciousness to find an effective and permanent solution of the great problem of life. They discovered in this way not only the ultimate cause of human misery and suffering but also the only effective means of destroying these afflictions permanently.

It is very necessary for the student to realize the experimental nature of this philosophy of Klesas and the greater philosophy of Yoga of which it is an integral part. These are not the results of speculation or reasoned thought as many systems of philosophy are. The philosophy of Yoga claims to be derived from the results of scientific experiments, guided by the spirit of philosophic enquiry, inspired by religious devotion. We cannot, obviously, verify this essentially scientific system by the ordinary methods of Science and say to the sceptic: ‘Come I will prove it before your eyes.’ We cannot judge it by the ordinary academic standards of philosophers who apply purely intellectual criteria for judging these things. The only way in which it can be verified is to follow the path which was taken by the original discoverers and which is outlined in this system of Yoga. The sceptic might feel that it is unfair to ask him to assume the validity of what he wants to get proved, but this, from the very nature of things, cannot be helped. Those who have seen the fundamental problem of life in its true aspects will consider the gamble worth taking, for that provides the only way out of the Great Illusion For others it does not matter whether they do or do not believe in the teachings of Yoga. They are not yet ready for the Divine Adventure. 

The five afflictions which disturb the equilibrium of consciousness are: ignorance or lack of wisdom, ego, pride of the ego or the sense of ‘I’, attachment to pleasure, aversion to pain, fear of death and clinging to life.

Iyengar Commentary:

Afflictions are of three levels, intellectual, emotional and instinctive. Avidya and asmita belong to the field of intelligence; here lack of spiritual knowledge combined with pride or arrogance inflates the ego, causing conceit and the loss of one’s sense of balance. Raga and dvesa belong to emotions and feelings. Raga is desire and attachment, dvesa is hatred and aversion. Succumbing to excessive desires and attachments or allowing oneself to be carried away by expressions of hatred, creates disharmony between body and mind, which may lead to psychosomatic disorders. Abhinivesa is instinctive: the desire to prolong one’s life, and concern for one’s own survival. Clinging to life makes one suspicious in dealings with others, and causes one to become selfish and self-centred.

The root causes of these five afflictions are the behavioural functions and thoughts of the various spheres of the brain. Avidya and asmita are connected with the conscious front brain, and the top brain is considered the seat of the ‘I’ consciousness. Raga and dvesa are connected with the base of the brain, the hypothalamus. Abhinivesa is connected with the ‘old’ brain or back brain which is also known as the unconscious brain, as it retains past subliminal impressions, samskaras.

Ignorance, egoism, attachment, hatred, and clinging to bodily life are the five obstacles.

Satchidananda Commentary: 

Here he gives the obstacles (kleśas) which will then be explained one by one in the following sūtras. The order is also significant: because of ignorance of the Self, egoism comes. Because of egoism, there is attachment to things for the ego’s selfish pleasure. Because sometimes the things we are attached to do not come or are taken away, hatred for those who get in our way comes in. And, finally, because we are attached to things and afraid of death, there is clinging to life in the body.

The pain-bearing obstructions are — ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion and clinging to life. 

SV Commentary

The pain-bearing obstructions are – ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life. These are the five pains, the fivefold tie that binds us down. Of course ignorance is the mother of all the rest. She is the only cause of all our misery. What else can make us miserable? The nature of the Soul is eternal bliss. What can make it sorrowful except ignorance, hallucination, delusion; all this pain of the soul is simply delusion. 

What then are the afflictions and how many? ‘The afflictions are Nescience, Egoism, Attachment, Aversion and love of Life.’

The afflictions are the five forms of Unreal Cognition. When quick with life, they render the rule of the gunas firm, establish change, send out the stream of cause and effect, bring about the fructification of action by coming to depend upon one another for mutual support.

~ Rāma Prasāda translation.