Aversion stems from [experiences] of pain.

Bryant Commentary:

Vyāsa explains aversion, dveṣaḥ, the fourth kleśa, in a parallel manner to the previous kleśa of attachment: The feeling of resistance, anger, frustration, and resentment toward pain and its causes, by one who remembers past experiences of similar pain, is aversion. The commentators state that this sūtra is to be understood along the same lines as the last one: Aversion, dveṣaḥ, after all, is the flip side of the same coin as attachment. When we resist or resent something, or are angry or frustrated over something, it is because of a remembrance that this thing caused us pain in the past.

Aversion Is That (Modification) Which Results From Misery.

Aversion is a residue of suffering.

Aversion is the dwelling upon pain.

That repulsion which accompanies pain is Dvesa.

Taimini Commentary:

Dvesa is the natural repulsion felt towards any person or object which is a source of pain or unhappiness to us. The essential nature of the Self is blissful’ and therefore anything which brings pain or unhappiness in the outer world makes the outer vehicles recoil from that thing. What has been said about Raga is applicable to Dvesa in an opposite sense because Dvesa is only Raga in the negative, the two together forming a pair of opposites. As these two Klesas form the most prominent part of the fivefold tree which provides the innumerable fruits of human misery and suffering it is worthwhile taking note of a few facts concerning them.

(1) The attractions and repulsions which bind us to innumerable persons and things, in the manner indicated above, condition our life to an unbelievable extent. Unconsciously or consciously we think, feel and act according to hundreds of these biases produced by these invisible bonds and there is hardly any freedom left for the individual to act, feel and think freely. The conditioning of the mind which takes place when we are under the domination of any overpowering attraction or repulsion is recognized, but few people have any idea of the distortion produced in our life by the less prominent attractions and repulsions or the extent to which our life is conditioned by them.

(2) These attractions and repulsions bind us down to the lower levels of consciousness because it is only in these levels that they can have free play. It is a fundamental law of life that we find ourselves sooner or later where our conscious or unconscious desires can be satisfied. Since these attractions and repulsions are really the 137 breeders of desires pertaining to the lower life they naturally keep us tied down to the lower worlds where consciousness is under the greatest limitations.

(3) The repulsions bind us as much as the attractions. Many people are vaguely aware of the binding nature of the attractions but few can understand why repulsions should bind an individual. But repulsions bind as much as the attractions because they also are the expression of a force connecting the two components which are repelled from each other. We are tied to the person we hate perhaps more firmly than to the person we love, because the personal love can be transformed into impersonal love easily and then loses its binding power. But it is not so easy to transmute the force of hatred and the poison generated by it is removed from one’s nature with great difficulty. As Raga and Dvesa form a pair of opposites we cannot transcend one without transcending the other. They are like two sides of a coin. In the light of what is said above it will be seen that Vairagya is not only freedom from Raga but also freedom from Dvesa. A free and unconditioned mind does not oscillate from side to side. It remains stationary at the centre.

(4) Attractions and repulsions really belong to the vehicles but owing to the identification of consciousness with its vehicles we feel that we are being attracted or repelled. When we begin to control and eliminate these attractions and repulsions we gradually become aware of this fact and this knowledge then enables us to control and eliminate them more effectively.

(5) That Raga and Dvesa in their gross form are responsible for much of human misery and suffering will become apparent to anyone who can view life dispassionately and can trace causes and effects intelligently. But only those who systematically try to attenuate the Klesas by means of Kriya-Yoga can see the subtler workings of these Klesas, how they permeate the whole fabric of our worldly life and prevent us from having any peace of mind.

Unhappiness leads to hatred.

Iyengar Commentary:

Pain, sorrow and misery trigger a chain of hate or aversion. Recollecting lost pleasures, tormented by desires unfulfilled, man is led to sorrow. In extreme distress he comes to hate himself, his family, neighbours and surroundings, and feels a sense of worthlessness.

A discriminating person strives to acquire knowledge so that he may strike a balance between sukha and duhkha and live at the mercy of neither pleasure nor pain.

Aversion is that which follows identification with painful experiences.

Satchidananda Commentary:

Attachment to pleasure, or rāga, is another pain-bearing obstacle. We attach ourselves to pleasure because we expect happiness from it, forgetting that happiness is always in us as the true Self. When we expect joy from outside things, we become attached to those things. If we find these things make us unhappy, we create an aversion toward them (dveṣa). So rāga and dveṣa, likes and dislikes, are impediments on the spiritual path. One we like because it seems to bring happiness; the other we dislike because it seems to bring unhappiness.

Everyone wants to be happy. Is there anything we can think of that doesn’t? Even a small worm put in the sun immediately rolls toward the shade. If we put a plant indoors, it will slowly turn its face toward the light, because it too wants to be happy. Happiness seems to be the basic need of everything in this world; yet rarely does anybody find it. Why? Because happiness is like the musk deer. The ancient scriptures have a fable about this animal which has a scented spot above its forehead that gives off the musk fragrance. This deer runs here and there in search of the scent, not knowing the scent comes from its own forehead.

Just like that, happiness is already in us. Wherever we go we reflect our happiness onto people and things. When we see a smiling face and feel happy, it is because the smiling face reflects our happiness. Just as a pure, clean mirror reflects our face beautifully, certain pure, clean faces reflect our happiness. Then we say, “This person gives me happiness.” In other faces, our happiness reflects in a distorted way and we say, “I don’t like that person.” It’s absolute nonsense. No one can ever give us happiness or unhappiness but can only reflect or distort our own inner happiness.

Aversion is that which dwells on pain.

SV Commentary:

That, which gives us pain we immediately seek to get away from.

The repulsion, the anxiety, the wish for removal and the anger at pain and the means thereof, which stick in the mind in consequence of the feeling of pain, in the case of him who has felt the pain, preceded by a remembrance of the pain, is aversion. 

~ Rāma Prasāda translation.