Ignorance is the breeding ground of the other kleśas, whether they are in a dormant, weak, intermittent, or fully activated state.

Bryant Commentary:

Patañjali gives the important information here, in resonance with all Indic soteriological thought, that ignorance, avidyā, is the foundation of all the other kleśas, the field, kṣetra, within which they grow, and hence the ultimate cause of saṁsāra. Like a piece of land is the substratum for bushes, creepers, grass, plants, etc., says Śaṅkara, so ignorance supports the other kleśas; when ignorance is dispelled, the other kleśas disappear.

Adopting what one might nowadays consider a psychoanalytical tone, Patañjali also differentiates among four different states in which the five kleśas manifest. Vyāsa defines these as the dormant state, prasupta, when the kleśas reside in the mind in potential form as seeds. Śaṅkara qualifies this by noting that only the kleśas other than ignorance can be found in a dormant state. Ignorance is never dormant, since it is the cause and support of the others and thus is always manifest. Otherwise, according to “Vijñānabhikṣu, a kleśa may be dormant for a long time, even two or three births, before reactivating. These dormant seeds eventually germinate when a person encounters particular situations or contexts that serve as triggers. They then develop into the fully activated, udāra, kleśas mentioned in this sūtra—kleśas that are actually exerting their influence on the mind at a given time.

When the kleśas are continually interrupted—appearing and then fading away—they are described as intermittent, vicchinna, the third state listed in this sūtra. For example, says Vyāsa, when the kleśa of attachment for something is present, aversion for it is absent. Aversion may succeed attachment, but the two do not occur simultaneously. In other words, clarifies Vijñānabhikṣu, aversion is not totally absent from a person when some other emotion like attachment is present; it is just in abeyance or latent (and, of course, vice versa). Therefore, it can be considered intermittent. Or, continues Vyāsa with a rare touch of humor, just because Caitra is attracted to one particular woman at one point in time does not mean he is disinterested in other women. He happens to be interested in one particular woman in the present, but he may become interested in some other woman in the future. These future attachment kleśas featuring other women remain either in dormant, weak, or interrupted states while the present kleśa is running its course. Intermittent kleśas differ from dormant kleśas, the first item on the list, insofar as they remain inactive for shorter periods of latency, according to Vijñānabhikṣu.

When, according to Vyāsa, one consciously cultivates a state of mind that is the opposite of the kleśas, they become weak, tanu, the second state noted by Patañjali. Indeed, Vācaspati Miśra and Vijñānabhikṣu note that one desiring liberation should actively counteract these kleśas. One can accomplish this by the practice of kriyā-yoga, which Patañjali has indicated weakens the kleśas, tanū-karaṇa (I.2). The practice of cultivating their opposites and pondering their consequences, which we will encounter in II.34, also weakens the kleśas: Thus, right knowledge dispels its opposite, the kleśa of ignorance; discrimination of the difference between puruṣa, the real self, and prakṛti dispels its opposite, the kleśa of ego, the false self; detachment dispels its opposites of both the kleśas of attachment and aversion, since they are two sides of the same coin; and the realization of the eternality of the soul dispels the kleśa of clinging to life. More than being weakened, Vyāsa continues, ultimately these kleśas can be burnt by yogīs who have cultivated deep meditation, and they then completely lose their power to activate even when the yogī encounters situations that would under normal circumstances trigger their activation. Such yogīs are said to have had their last birth.

The kleśas therefore can actually be found in five states, according to Vyāsa. Since they continue to exist when they have been burnt, but have lost their power to produce effects, the burnt or impotent state can be added to the list of four mentioned in the sūtra, making a total of five. Śaṅkara says this burnt state was not included by Patañjali in this sūtra because burnt seeds are not common to all living beings as is the case with the other four states, and this sūtra concerns itself with the kleśas as generally found present among embodied beings. Only in the yogī is a burnt category to be found.

Avidya Is The Breeding Ground For The Others Whether They Be Dormant, Attenuated, Interrupted Or Active.

Not seeing things as they are is the field where the other causes of suffering germinate, whether dormant, activated, intercepted, or weakened.

Ignorance is the fertile soil, and, as a consequence, all other obstacles persist. They may exist in any state— dormant, feeble, intermittent, or fully operative.

Avidya is the source of those that are mentioned after it, whether they be in the dormant, attenuated, alternating or expanded condition.

Taimini Commentary:

This Sutra gives two important facts concerning the nature of the Klesas. The first is their mutual relationship. Avidya is the root-cause of the other four Klesas which in their turn produce all the miseries of human life. A closer study of the nature of the other four Klesas will show not only that they can grow only on the soil of Avidya but also that the five Klesas form a connected series of causes and effects. The relation existing between the five Klesas may be likened to the relation of root, trunk, branches, leaves and fruit in a tree. The conclusion that the five Klesas are related to one another in this manner is further strengthened by but we shall discuss this question in dealing with that Sutra.

The other idea in this Sutra is the classification of the states or conditions in which these Klesas may exist. These four states are defined as (1) dormant, (2) attenuated (3) alternating, (4) expanded. The dormant condition is that in which the Klesa is present but in a latent form. It cannot find expression for lack of proper conditions for its expression and its kinetic energy has become potential. The attenuated condition is that in which the Klesa is present in a very feeble or tenuous condition. It is not active but can become active in a mild degree on a stimulus being applied. In the fully expanded condition the Klesa is fully operative and its activity is all too apparent like the waves on the surface of the sea in a storm. The alternating condition is that in which two opposite tendencies overpower each other alternately as in the case of two lovers who sometimes become angry and affectionate alternately. The feelings of attraction and repulsion alternate, though fundamentally they are based on attachment.

Lack of true knowledge is the source of all pains and sorrows whether dormant, attenuated, interrupted or fully active.

Iyengar Commentary:

Avidya, spiritual ignorance, is the source of all the other obstacles: arrogance, desire, aversion and thirst to survive. These afflictions, whether dormant, attenuated or alternating between hidden and fully active, are hindrances to self-enlightenment, Patañjali designates avidya as the breeding-ground of all affliction, whatever its nature.

Ignorance is the field for the others mentioned after it, whether they be dormant, feeble, intercepted or sustained.

Satchidananda Commentary:

In a baby we see an example of the first category. The baby’s obstacles are completely dormant. When you see a baby, you feel, “How innocent it is!” That seems to be so, but as the baby matures, the inborn disposition will emerge; it will not remain innocent. Ignorance and the other obstacles dormant in the mind will come to the surface at the proper time.

The mind of an advanced Yoga practitioner is an example of the second type: the feeble, or attenuated, stage. Such a person is not completely free of the kleśas, but they are there in his or her mind in very subtle trace form. They have sunk to the bottom of the mental lake and out of disuse have become very weak.

The third state of intercepted development is seen in the mind of a beginning practitioner. The obstacles are temporarily pushed down by the constant practice of virtuous qualities such as love, truthfulness, discipline, cheerfulness, etc. If such a seeker is not careful to cultivate these qualities, even for a few days, the obstacles will immediately come to the surface.

The fourth type is seen in the case of average people. The kleśas constantly manifest. Every minute their minds are affected by the obstructions. They have no say over them because they are not exerting any force to control them.

By analyzing our minds we can probably see, “Do I have completely dormant kleśas? Do traces remain, but buried? Am I controlling them by the cultivation of good qualities? Or am I completely ruled by them?”

Here is an example of the different stages in operation. Imagine there is a nice performance at a nightclub. A friend is going and invites you to come. Let’s say you feel drawn to go, but finally you decide, “I have seen hundreds of shows like that; what can I gain by another one? No, I’m going to a Rāja Yoga lecture instead.” The obstacle is there but you overpower it. That is the “intercepted”

Ignorance is the productive field of all them that follow, whether they are dormant, attenuated, overpowered, or expanded

SV Commentary:

Impressions are the cause of these, and these impressions exist in different degrees. There are the dormant. You often hear the expression “innocent as a baby,” yet in the baby may be the state of a demon or of a god which will come out by and by. In the Yogi these impressions, the Samskaras left by past actions, are attenuated; that is, in a very fine state, and he can control them, and not allow them to become manifest. Overpowered means that sometimes one set of impressions is held down for a while by those that are stronger, but they will come out when that repressing cause is removed. The last state is the expanded, when the Samskaras, having helpful surroundings, have attained to great activity, either as good or evil.

Of these, Nescience is the field, the breeding ground for the others that follow, the Egoism, &c., having a four-fold possible mode of their existence, as the dormant, the tenuous, the alternated and the fully operative.

What is dormancy? It is the existence in the mind as power alone in the germinal state. It is awake when it turns its face towards its objects. In the case of him who possesses discriminative knowledge, the germs of the afflictions are singed, and therefore even on the object coming in front, they do not come into operation. How can the burned up seed sprout? Hence, the wise man whose afflictions are gone, is

said to have had his last birth. It is in him alone that the afflictions pass into the fifth state, that of the seed being burnt up; inasmuch as the afflictions do exist in that state, although their seed-power has been burnt up. It is for this reason that they do not awaken even when an object comes in front of them. This is the dormancy of those whose seedpower has been burnt up.

Tenuity is now described. The afflictions become tenuous on being cut down by habituation to contrarie.

And they are alternated, inasmuch as they disappear and appear over and over again in the same condition. Anger is not observed to be in operation at the time of attachment. Anger does not arise when attachment has its play. Nor does it happen that attachment, while manifesting with reference to one object, has ceased to exist altogether with reference to another object. Because Chaitra is attached to one woman, it does not follow that he is averse to others. The fact is that in the one his attachment has manifested itself, while in others it can be active in the future. It is this that becomes either dormant, tenuous or alternated.

The fully operative is that which has found manifestation in the object.

All these do not pass beyond the sphere of affliction. What is it 

then that is called an affliction, whether it be the dormant, the alternated or the fully operative ? This is true- But they become either alternated or any one else, only when they appear as so qualified. As all are removed by habituation to contraries, all are manifested by the operation of competent causes. .

All these afflictions are the modifications of Nescience only. How? It is Nescience alone that is the quickness of their life. The afflictions appear only in the form which is put upon an object by Nescience. They are found existing simultaneously with the cognition of the unreal ; and they disappear when Nescience disappears

~ Rāma Prasāda translation.