The kleshas are the five root causes of suffering described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras: avidya (ignorance), asmita (ego), raga (attachment), dvesha (aversion), and abhinivesha (fear of death). According to this framework, laid out in the second chapter of the Yoga Sutras (the Sadhana Pada), every form of mental distress a person experiences can be traced back to one or more of these five afflictions, with avidya acting as the soil from which the other four grow. Understanding the kleshas is not an abstract philosophical exercise — it is a practical map for noticing why you react the way you do, and yoga practice, in Patanjali’s system, exists largely to thin these patterns out through steady, honest self-observation.
What Are the Kleshas in Yoga Philosophy?
“Klesha” is a Sanskrit word commonly translated as “affliction,” “poison,” “obstacle,” or “cause of suffering.” In the broader landscape of yogic philosophy, the kleshas occupy a foundational psychological role: they are the mechanisms by which the mind creates its own bondage. Patanjali introduces them in Yoga Sutra 2.3, describing five kleshas that color and distort every ordinary experience. This is distinct from the physical postures most people associate with the word “yoga” — the kleshas belong to the philosophical and contemplative branch of the tradition, closely tied to concepts like chitta vritti (the fluctuations of the mind) and the broader goal of samadhi, or liberated absorption.
Where Do the Kleshas Appear in the Yoga Sutras?
The kleshas are addressed directly in sutras 2.3 through 2.9 of the Yoga Sutras, within the Sadhana Pada (the “chapter on practice”). Sutra 2.3 names all five afflictions in sequence, and the following sutras each define one klesha in turn, building an increasingly precise psychological model. Patanjali’s broader argument in this chapter is that these five afflictions generate karma and keep the mind bound to repeated patterns of suffering, and that yoga practice — particularly kriya yoga, meaning disciplined effort, self-study, and surrender — exists specifically to weaken them. The kleshas are not framed as isolated moral flaws but as a working diagnostic system meant to be applied through practice rather than simply read.
Avidya: The Root Klesha of Ignorance
Avidya, usually translated as “ignorance” or “not-seeing,” is described as the root from which the other four kleshas grow — without it, the sutras suggest, the others could not exist. This is not ignorance in the sense of lacking facts or education. Avidya refers specifically to a fundamental misperception: mistaking the impermanent for the permanent, the impure for the pure, suffering for happiness, and the non-Self for the Self. In practical terms, avidya shows up as the unconscious belief that circumstances, possessions, relationships, or achievements are more solid and lasting than they actually are. Because this misperception operates beneath ordinary awareness, yoga philosophy treats it as the deepest of the five afflictions, one that requires sustained practices like pranayama and meditation to gradually bring into conscious view.
Asmita: How Ego-Identification Creates Suffering
Asmita is often translated as “egoism” or “I-am-ness,” and it refers to the klesha in which pure awareness (purusha) becomes falsely identified with the instruments of experience — the mind, intellect, body, and senses (prakriti). In simpler terms, asmita is the habitual conflation of “who I truly am” with “what I think, own, do, or look like.” This klesha is what makes a job title, physical appearance, opinions, or accomplishments feel like core components of identity rather than temporary roles being played. Many practitioners first notice asmita through svadhyaya, or self-study, one of the yamas and niyamas that forms the ethical foundation of yoga practice. Loosening asmita does not mean eliminating a sense of self — it means recognizing the difference between witnessing awareness and the ever-changing roles that awareness observes.
Raga: The Klesha of Attachment
Raga is attachment or clinging — the pull toward experiences, people, sensations, or objects that have previously brought pleasure, along with the compulsive desire to repeat or prolong them. Patanjali describes raga as arising directly from remembered pleasure; the mind, having tasted something enjoyable, builds a craving to recreate that exact experience again. This klesha is easy to underestimate because attachment often masquerades as love, ambition, or simple preference. The distinction yoga philosophy draws is between healthy enjoyment, which arises and passes without grasping, and raga, which insists a particular pleasure must be repeated for well-being to continue. Practices such as santosha (contentment) and non-attachment are traditionally recommended as direct counterweights to raga.
Dvesha: The Klesha of Aversion
Dvesha is the mirror image of raga: aversion, resistance, or hatred directed at anything associated with past pain or discomfort. Where raga pulls a person toward repeating pleasant experiences, dvesha pushes a person away from anything resembling a painful one. This klesha explains reactions that seem disproportionate to the present moment — a flash of irritation at a minor inconvenience, a strong dislike of a person or situation that echoes an old wound, or an outsized fear response to something only mildly uncomfortable. Because raga and dvesha are two sides of the same reactive coin, yoga philosophy generally treats them together: both are rooted in clinging to remembered experience rather than meeting the present moment directly. Cultivating equanimity, a central aim of many meditation practices, is considered the primary antidote to both.
Abhinivesha: The Klesha of Fear and Clinging to Life
Abhinivesha is typically translated as the fear of death, or more broadly, the instinctive will to cling to life and continuity. Patanjali notes that this klesha is present even in the wise, suggesting it is not merely an intellectual fear but something woven into embodied existence itself — a self-preserving instinct shared across living beings. In modern life, abhinivesha rarely shows up as a literal fear of dying. More often it appears as resistance to change, difficulty tolerating uncertainty, anxiety about loss of control, or an underlying unease about impermanence. Some commentators connect abhinivesha to the broader understanding that clinging to continuity — wanting things, including oneself, to remain fixed — is itself a significant source of psychological suffering.
How Do the Kleshas Relate to Each Other?
Patanjali describes the kleshas as existing in four states: dormant (prasupta), attenuated or thinned (tanu), interrupted (vicchinna), and fully active (udara). This layered model matters because it means the kleshas are not simply present or absent — they exist on a spectrum of intensity that shifts moment to moment and can be worked with gradually rather than needing to be eliminated all at once. Avidya is considered the field in which the other four take root, meaning asmita, raga, dvesha, and abhinivesha are all, in a sense, expressions or by-products of the same fundamental ignorance. This is closely connected to the concept of the three gunas (sattva, rajas, and tamas), the qualities of nature that yoga philosophy uses to describe how the mind’s clarity, activity, and inertia shift and interact — the gunas describe the texture of mental states, while the kleshas describe the specific afflictive patterns that arise within them.
What Is the Difference Between Kleshas and Chitta Vritti?
The kleshas and chitta vritti (fluctuations or modifications of the mind) are related but distinct concepts within Patanjali’s system. Chitta vritti refers to the general activity of the mind — thoughts, perceptions, memories, and mental patterns that constantly arise and pass. The kleshas are the specific afflictive coloring that distorts these mental fluctuations, causing them to generate suffering rather than simply arising and dissolving neutrally. Put another way, chitta vritti describes the raw movement of the mind, while the kleshas describe why that movement so often causes pain rather than passing through cleanly. Yoga Sutra 1.2 famously defines yoga itself as “chitta vritti nirodha” — the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind — and the kleshas are the primary obstacles that make this stilling difficult.
Can Yoga Practice Actually Reduce the Kleshas?
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras propose that the kleshas can be progressively thinned through consistent practice, particularly through what is called kriya yoga: tapas (disciplined effort), svadhyaya (self-study), and ishvara pranidhana (surrender to something greater than the individual ego). The sutras also describe meditation and cultivated discernment (viveka) as tools for recognizing the kleshas as they arise, rather than being swept along by them unconsciously. This is a gradual process rather than a single breakthrough — the text describes the kleshas moving from an active, dominant state toward a thinned, weakened state through sustained practice over time. Many practitioners find that combining seated meditation with movement-based practice, such as vinyasa yoga or hatha yoga, builds the steady attention needed to notice these patterns as they surface, since the physical discipline of asana practice trains the same quality of sustained, non-reactive awareness that the kleshas ask us to bring to the mind.
How Do the Kleshas Show Up in Everyday Life?
Outside of formal philosophical study, the kleshas tend to appear in recognizable, everyday patterns:
- Avidya — assuming a difficult mood will last forever, when in fact moods are famously impermanent.
- Asmita — taking a piece of feedback at work as an attack on your entire worth as a person, rather than as commentary on one specific task.
- Raga — an inability to feel settled unless a particular condition, such as a relationship, a substance, or a scroll through social media, is present.
- Dvesha — outsized irritation toward minor annoyances that echo old frustrations.
- Abhinivesha — resisting any change to routine, even positive change, simply because the unfamiliar feels threatening.
Recognizing these patterns without judgment is often the first practical step recommended by teachers working within this framework, and it pairs naturally with yoga for anxiety and other stress-focused practices.
How Do the Kleshas Connect to the Eight Limbs of Yoga?
The kleshas sit within the larger architecture of Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga (Ashtanga), which move from ethical observances (yama and niyama) through physical postures (asana), breath control (pranayama), sense withdrawal (pratyahara), concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and finally absorption (samadhi). The yamas and niyamas are, in many respects, direct practical responses to the kleshas: non-attachment (aparigraha) addresses raga, contentment (santosha) addresses both raga and dvesha, and surrender (ishvara pranidhana) addresses asmita and abhinivesha by loosening the grip of individual ego-control. As practice deepens through the later limbs — particularly sustained meditation — the kleshas are described as becoming progressively easier to observe and less automatic in their influence over behavior.
What Role Does Viveka (Discernment) Play in Working With the Kleshas?
Viveka, often translated as discriminative discernment, is the capacity to distinguish between the eternal, unchanging witness-awareness (purusha) and the ever-changing world of thoughts, sensations, and circumstances (prakriti). Patanjali presents viveka as the direct antidote to avidya, the root klesha: where avidya confuses the temporary for the permanent, viveka clearly sees the difference. This is described less as a single flash of insight and more as a discernment that sharpens gradually through consistent practice, self-observation, and study. In contemporary practice, this might look like pausing during a strong emotional reaction and asking whether the intensity of the feeling matches the actual size of the present situation, or whether an older, more habitual pattern has been triggered — a practical technique that overlaps significantly with modern mindfulness approaches and with yoga nidra as a tool for cultivating this quieter, more discerning attention.
How Is Working With the Kleshas Different From Modern Therapy or CBT?
The klesha framework and modern cognitive behavioral approaches share some structural similarities — both propose that suffering often comes from distorted patterns of perception rather than external circumstances, and both emphasize noticing these patterns as a first step toward change. However, the kleshas originate from a philosophical and contemplative tradition commonly dated to roughly two thousand years ago, embedded within a broader system involving concepts like purusha, prakriti, and samadhi, whereas modern therapeutic approaches are grounded in contemporary clinical research. Many practitioners find the two approaches complementary: yoga philosophy offers a contemplative lens for self-observation, while therapy offers structured, evidence-based tools — and neither replaces professional mental health care when it’s needed.
Practical Ways to Begin Working With the Kleshas
A few concrete starting points can turn this philosophy into a daily practice:
- Name the klesha. Simply naming which klesha might be active in a given reaction, without trying to immediately fix or suppress it — awareness itself, in this framework, is considered the first meaningful step.
- Build a short daily seated practice. Even five to ten minutes builds the kind of steady attention needed to catch these patterns as they arise, rather than after they have already driven a reaction.
- Journal after strong emotional moments. Asking “was this raga, dvesha, asmita, or fear of loss and change?” can turn an abstract philosophical list into a genuinely useful daily tool.
- Pair reflection with movement. A grounding restorative yoga session or a more energizing power yoga class helps translate insight from the mat into steadier responses off it.
Over time, many practitioners report that simply having language for these patterns — a poison with a name — makes them noticeably easier to work with.
Questions People Ask About Kleshas
What are the five kleshas in order?
The five kleshas, as listed in Yoga Sutra 2.3, are avidya (ignorance), asmita (egoism or false identification), raga (attachment to pleasure), dvesha (aversion to pain), and abhinivesha (fear of death or clinging to continuity). Avidya is considered the root from which the other four grow, meaning it underlies and enables the other kleshas rather than existing independently alongside them.
Is avidya the same as ignorance in the everyday sense?
No. Avidya does not mean lacking facts or education. It refers to a deeper, largely unconscious misperception — mistaking the impermanent for the permanent, and mistaking the ever-changing sense of self for the unchanging witnessing awareness. This distinction is central to how Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras use the term throughout the text.
Can the kleshas ever be fully eliminated?
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras describe the kleshas as existing on a spectrum — dormant, thinned, interrupted, or fully active — rather than as something simply present or absent. Through sustained practice, the sutras suggest the kleshas can be progressively weakened and their grip loosened, though this is generally described as a gradual, ongoing process rather than a single fixed endpoint.
How are raga and dvesha related to each other?
Raga (attachment to pleasure) and dvesha (aversion to pain) are described as two expressions of the same underlying reactive mechanism: clinging to remembered experience rather than meeting the present moment as it is. Raga pulls toward repeating pleasant experiences, while dvesha pushes away from anything resembling a remembered painful one.
Do I need to follow a particular religion to work with the kleshas?
No. While the kleshas originate within the Yoga Sutras, a text with roots in Indian philosophical tradition, the framework is widely taught today as a practical psychological model that does not require adherence to any specific religious belief. Many secular meditation and mindfulness teachers use the klesha framework simply as a way to describe common patterns of human suffering.
How do the kleshas relate to samadhi?
Samadhi, the eighth and final limb of yoga, is described as a state of absorption in which the sense of separate, ego-driven self dissolves. Because the kleshas depend on exactly this sense of separate self to operate, progress toward samadhi is closely tied to the gradual thinning of the kleshas — the two are described as moving in tandem, with reduced affliction supporting deeper absorption, and deeper absorption further loosening the kleshas’ grip.
Try This for Yourself
Reading about the kleshas is a useful starting point, but the framework only becomes meaningful through direct practice — noticing your own patterns of attachment, aversion, and fear as they arise in real time. If you’d like guided support in building that kind of steady, self-observant practice, consider joining a live online yoga class designed to build both the physical steadiness and the quiet attention that this kind of inner work asks for.
Related reading: The Bhagavad Gita and Yoga, Samadhi: The Eighth Limb of Yoga, The Three Gunas in Yoga, Chitta Vritti Explained, and explore FitStrot’s online yoga classes to begin your own practice.
