The Kleshas: Understanding the Root Causes of Suffering
Why do we repeat patterns we know aren’t serving us?
Why do we doom scroll even when it increases anxiety?
Why do we cling to identities that no longer fit?
Why do we fear change—even when we know it’s necessary?
More than 1,500 years ago, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras offered a framework for answering these questions. The answer lies in what are called the kleshas—the mental afflictions or root causes of suffering.
This teaching appears in Book Two of the Yoga Sutras (Sutras II.3–9), before the eight limbs of yoga are introduced. Patanjali first names the obstacles. Only then does he describe the path to liberation.
The word klesha means “affliction” or “mental poison.” They are not sins. They are not moral failures. They are human tendencies—patterns of misperception that create suffering (dukkha).
Understanding them isn’t about self-judgment. It’s about clarity and compassion.
Historical Context
The Yoga Sutras were compiled around 400 CE and are deeply influenced by Samkhya philosophy, a dualist system distinguishing between pure awareness (purusha) and material nature (prakriti).
In this framework, suffering arises from misidentification—confusing the transient with the eternal, the role with the self, the fluctuation with the truth.
While modern readers may not adopt a strict dualist worldview, the psychological insights of the kleshas remain strikingly relevant.
The Five Kleshas
Patanjali names five core afflictions:
Avidya – Ignorance or misperception
Asmita – Ego identification
Raga – Attachment
Dvesha – Aversion
Abhinivesha – Fear of death / clinging to life
Avidya is the root. The others grow from it.
Let’s explore them one by one.
1. Avidya: Misperception
Avidya is mistaking:
The impermanent for permanent
The impure for pure
The painful for pleasurable
The non-self for the self
In modern life, this might look like:
Believing your job title is your identity
Assuming your current emotional state will last forever
Confusing productivity with worth
Equating comfort with happiness
Mistaking an online persona for your true self
Avidya fuels consumer culture, comparison, polarization, and identity rigidity. It is forgetting who and what we actually are beneath roles and fluctuations.
2. Asmita: Ego Identification
Asmita is the “I am this” pattern.
It is not ego in the Freudian sense, but over-identification with roles, opinions, narratives.
Examples:
“I am my political party.”
“I am the strong one.”
“I am the wounded one.”
“I am the flexible yogi.”
When identity hardens, suffering increases. Social media often reinforces this loop—curated identity becomes something to defend and prove.
Yoga invites us to hold identity lightly. Roles are real, but they are not the entirety of who we are.
3 & 4. Raga and Dvesha: Attachment and Aversion
These two operate as a pair.
Raga is attachment—clinging to pleasure.
Dvesha is aversion—pushing away discomfort.
Modern examples of raga:
Addiction cycles
Seeking validation
Over-optimizing comfort
Consuming what feels good but isn’t nourishing
Modern examples of dvesha:
Avoiding conflict
Avoiding grief
Ghosting difficult conversations
Doom scrolling outrage
Avoiding meaningful engagement
Our culture often equates chasing pleasure and avoiding discomfort with freedom. Yoga suggests the opposite: when we are driven by attachment and aversion, we are not free—we are reactive.
5. Abhinivesha: Fear of Death
Abhinivesha is often described as fear of death, but it includes fear of:
Change
Aging
Loss of identity
Loss of relevance
Loss of control
Even the wise experience this klesha.
It can show up as:
Obsession with longevity or anti-aging
Clinging to career identity
Catastrophic thinking
Control patterns in parenting or relationships
Yoga does not eliminate fear. It creates perspective. It reminds us that change is inherent in life, and liberation includes acceptance of cycles—birth, growth, decay, death.
The Kleshas in Modern Life
These afflictions are not ancient relics. They operate through:
Politics – identity rigidity and polarization
Social media – persona attachment and dopamine cycles
Productivity culture – worth equated with output
Wellness industry – attachment disguised as healing
Relationships – avoidance and clinging
Parenting – control rooted in fear
If you see yourself in any of this, you are not failing at yoga. You are human.
Working With the Kleshas (Without Self-Judgment)
We do not eliminate the kleshas. We reduce their grip.
Here are practical ways to work with them:
1. Witness Consciousness (Svadhyaya)
Notice patterns without condemnation:
“That’s attachment.”
“That’s ego.”
“That’s fear.”
Awareness is the first shift.
2. Pause Before Reaction
Insert one breath between trigger and response.
Instead of reacting from conditioning, respond from regulation.
3. Practice Non-Attachment (Vairagya)
Allow things to be as they are.
Non-attachment does not mean passivity. It means acting without being fused to outcomes.
4. Gently Practice Discomfort
Take a cold shower
Have the hard conversation
Sit in silence
Resist the immediate dopamine hit
Small tolerances build resilience.
5. Meditation
Meditation reveals thoughts as fluctuations—not absolute truth.
You are not your thoughts.
You are not your attachments.
You are not your fear.
This shift loosens suffering’s grip.
Liberation Begins With Noticing
The kleshas are universal. They are not proof that you are failing at yoga. They are proof that you are alive.
Even the moment of recognition—
“That’s my ego.”
“That’s my attachment.”
“That’s fear.”
—that moment is liberation beginning.
You might reflect:
Where am I clinging?
Where am I resisting?
Where am I mistaking something temporary for permanent?
Freedom is not removing suffering from the world.
It is loosening the grip suffering has on perception.
And that is deeply relevant—today, as it was 1,500 years ago.
Om Shanti.
