23
b. Psychological significance of the modifications
The innumerable mental modifications that take place moment to moment can be put into any of the five categories enumerated by
Pātānjali . These include ‘the cognitive conditions, mental, emotive and affective content, processes and activities, in fact any act or content of consciousness,
self-identity, or mode of consciousness operating in the mind itself’
51
These activities in the citta are
all highly significant for the practice of Yoga as they contribute to the continued entanglement of the purușa with prakŗiti and generate the mistaken identity with the prakŗiti instruments of the body,
mind and intellect which keeps the yogin bound. These modifications are of an afflicted klișța
nature. However, there are modifications which are of the non-afflicted kind aklișța which take the
yogin towards liberation
52
The normal range of psychological functioning is comprised in the five types of vŗttis consisting of
‘three modes of everyday transactions’, including things pramāņa, mental content and objects
which are remembered, conceptualised, erroneous or absent as in sleep .
53
c. Kleśa, Klișța, Aklișța
. All these are related to the sense of self identity which becomes the possessor of the modifications. When this happens, the
purușa or the pure consciousness or the knower of the modification, is forgotten, veiled or concealed and there arises the afflicted condition of the individual resulting in suffering.
These three related concepts are central to Yoga psychology and are derivatives of the root ‘ kliș’
meaning ‘to torment, be troubled’. K leśa means the ‘cause of affliction’ which Zimmer states as
‘anything which, adhering to man’s nature, restricts or impairs its manifestation of its true essence’
54
51
I. Whicher, The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana, p120
. Koelman offers another explanation of kleśa:
52
Liberation in Classical Yoga refers to the freedom from the false notion of oneself as the ego-identity
53
I. Whicher, The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana, p.119
54
H. Zimmer, Philosophies of India, Princeton University Press, USA, 1969
24 ‘Man is born with certain psychological habits, congenital psychical passions that bind him to
cosmic conditions. They blind him, prevent him from discovering what his genuine Self is, make him attached to cosmic life and its allurements, afflict his existence with an endless
chain of woes, enmesh him more and more in the net of conditioned existence, and hinder his liberation’
55
Pātānjali distinguishes five types of kleśa: nescience avidyā, ‘I-am-ness’ asmitā, attachment rāga, aversion dveșa, and the will-to-live abhinivesa
.
56
. Ignorance of one’s true nature, nescience is the ‘nurturing ground of all other types of
kleśa’
57
. The kleśa principle in Pātānjali ’s Science of
Mind is described by Feuerstein as that which is said to ‘circumscribe the fact that every organism, on attaining self-consciousness, finds itself in the existential situation where it has become aware of
its own self-awareness but has become confused as to the true nature of this awareness, and the organism is, as it were, compelled to act out a false identity’
58
55
G. Koelman, Patanjali Yoga: From Related Ego to Absolute Self, Papal Anthenaeum, Poona, 1970
. This false identity resulting from asmitā, the affliction of individuation, leads to the ongoing misidentifications of the selfhood and the
modifications of the mind. The primary affliction of ignorance is the root of the other three kleśa-s.
The attachment rāga and aversion dveșa, the ‘emotive core’ of the kleśa, signify the affective
dimension of the vŗtti. The impressions created by pleasurable experiences give rise to a state of
attachment which leads to efforts towards attainment of the object of pleasure or desire. The aversion or
dveșa is produced with a recollection of painful experiences, as a result of such past impressions. In general, there is a movement towards attainment of
sukha pleasure and away from du
ḥ
kha sufferingpain.
56
Hariharananda Aranya, Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali, YS II.3,
57
G. Feuerstein, The Philosophy of Yoga, p 64
58
Ibid., p64
25 The Science of Mind lays down the causes of afflictions,
kleśa, which govern the mind of the individual and these compulsive forces of attachment and aversion cannot be removed unless
asmitā is subdued. For the yogin, the bringing into awareness of these kleśa and their effects in terms of the self-identity and modifications and their attenuation through Yoga practice, is the
objective. The principle of the kleśa is an important foundation in the psychological understanding of
the system of thought in Pātānjali ’s Yoga as it points out the frame within which the mistaken
phenomenal identity arises with accompanying attachments, aversions and the desire for perpetuation of life or fear of extinction.
Pātānjali gives the prescription to overcome these kleśa in verse II.10, ‘These causes of affliction, in their subtle form are to be overcome by the process-of –
involution’. This process is described by Feuerstein as dissolving the consciousness through the prolonged practice of the various stages of meditation
59
.
Pātānjali classifies the vŗtti, or modifications, as either ‘afflicted’ klișța or ‘nonafflicted’ aklișța. This is an important classification which points to the soteriological function of the
vŗtti. Those modifications which result in entrenching the mistaken identity further and continuation of
kleśa are the afflicted modifications. The law of karma applies to the individual ‘if and only if the modifications
of the mind are rooted in afflictions’
60
. According to Whicher, ‘ klișța-vŗtti refer to mental activity that
helps maintain the power and influence of the kleśa; and the aklișța refers to mental activity that
facilitates the dissolution of the kleśa’
61
59
G Feuerstein, The Yoga-sutra of Patanjali, p65
. An example of the non-afflicted type of vŗtti is a valid
cognition of the pratyakśa type which leads to the higher perception of the true nature of both
purușa and prakŗiti .
60
I. Whicher, The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana, p121 YS II.12; The law of karma basically states that each
action has a reaction and if the actions are carried out with an ego sense, these will create further impressions leading to strengthening of ego identity and continuation of the cycle of birth and death
61
Ibid., p127
26 In summary we can see that the key concepts of
citta , vŗtti and kleśa describe the principles of operating processes of the mind in the mistaken phenomenal ego identity of the individual which
results in du
ḥ
kha or suffering.
III. CAUSES, CONDITIONS and CONSEQUENCES
Pātānjali ’s Yogasūtra is a systematic exposition of the Science of Mind, its definitions, principles and the basis of practice. The nature of the mind,
citta , its functioning and the modifications of the mind, the different types of modifications and their causes were examined in the previous sections.
We now consider the deeper layer of the mind, where the ‘subliminal-activators’ are located and which shape the modifications as they occur in the mind.
a. Karman
The word karman or karma means action in general and corresponds to the ‘deterministic forces or
fate as determined by the quality of one’s being, including past lives and one’s present embodiment’
62
. The accumulated karma is often spoken of as ‘storehouse’ consisting of both good and bad karma which combine and mature in one’s life
63
In Pātānjali ’s Yogasūtra, the mind is the receptacle for the effects of karma and the dynamics of
karma and its fruits are set out in verses II.12-14. The principle is that as long as karma is under the influence of ignorance
avidyā, it is associated with affliction kleśa including a mistaken ego identity. The five afflictions outlined in the section above provide the ‘motivational framework’ for
. Karma is thought of as a mechanism that
maintains the worldly existence samsāra arising from spiritual ignorance of the immortal, true Self
and which leads to a mistaken ego-identity resulting in repeated births of suffering and dissatisfaction
du
ḥ
kha.
62
I. Whicher, The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana, p97
63
In the Hindu traditions, karma consists of three types: samcita karma or already accumulated karmic residue or deposit asya awaiting fruition; prarabdha karma or those which have begun to mature in this life; and
agamin karma or those that are acquired in this life which will bear fruit in the future.
27 the person in the ordinary conditional existence
samsāra living with a mistaken identity. These kleśa are the root of the residue of karma, the karma-asaya action-deposit in the subconscious
mind. The effects of this deposit are not only felt in this life but also in the future lives. As long as the actions are rooted in the ignorance of one’s true nature, they are considered as afflicted actions
which cause repeated consequences in situations or births. When the actions carried out are meritorious
puņya, they produce joyful results, otherwise unmeritorious apuņya actions result in painful or distressing experiences. Every action leaves an impression or
samskāra in the deeper layer of the mind where it awaits expression in more volitional activity.
b. Samskāra