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Philosophy of Klesas

How we all love our toys, our possessions, the loves we become attached to. On a clear night we stand in awe of the night sky, brilliant with its starry jewels. We can never own them - yet there is such a beauty in the seeing of it.

Klesa - literally 'pain,' but philosophically 'that love of pleasure or of worldly enjoyment, good or evil,' which is the cause of the pain and suffering experienced by man.

The word is derived from the verb root klis - to suffer. According to Yoga philosophy there are five Klesas: ignorance, egotism, desire, aversion, and tenacity of worldly existence. According to Buddhism there are ten Klesas: three sins of the body, four of speech, and three of the mind. In order to progress on the spiritual path, it is essential to remove these Klesas.

Imagine if you will, standing on a clear evening, looking at the sky, seeing with the naked eye some 6 or 7000 suns shining brightly. At one time we thought that was the end of our universe - until the advent of the telescope, when the boundaries were pushed further and further back into space, until now we envision millions of light years distances. Recently with the placement of large telescopes in space, those horizons will be extended even further and so on it goes without end.

The problem is, we have been brought up and conditioned to believe in beginnings and endings, and find it difficult to conceive of this timeless state. Imagine also if you will, a circle with a center "everywhere" and a circumference "nowhere". It stretches the imagination doesn't it?

We have been told by the Yogis and more recently by our scientists that our entire universe is comprised of self-willed atomic energy. As energy can't be destroyed, but only changed, then we have the transmutation of energy into matter and visa versa. This is none other than the Yogi's Shakti (energy) and Prakritti (matter). This interchangeable quality of the Purusha (self) to flip from one side of the coin to the other has brought about the unique concept of Maya (illusion), into making us believe that in fact, that one shape or manifested form had a beginning and ultimately an end, when all the time the underlying nature - the Purusha hasn't changed at all.

Think of it this way. There are a few gold objects on a table, a ring, a man's watch and a bracelet. A child sees the objects as articles to juggle around and play with. A young person who has developed discrimination will choose the watch for his wrist. A metallurgist on the other hand will see the 'base' gold and take an interest in how that base has been crafted, while a thief will see only "gold". He will still know what the objects are but pays very little attention to that aspect of them.

If our view of consciousness has been raised to the point where we are able to use its illuminating quality, then objects in themselves become of little or no importance. As with the coin, its existence at any given time, in space and time, has not really changed, but only the form has been changed. The form then is transient and depending on our attachment to it will determine the amount of repulsion and attraction accompanies its gain or loss.

This multiplistic myriad of duplicities is what is called Maya. Maya gives rise to Karma, that illusory and really non existent law of cause and effect.

Cause and effect in Christian teaching is stipulated as, "as you sow, so also you reap". The printed photograph is a direct imprint of the negative - the cause and the effect. On the atomic level we know of this law of cause and effect, but wonder just what it has to do with our consciousness. Our levels of consciousness on the physical plane (Kosa) are quite easily understood, but until one discovers and experiences the various other planes - of existence - astral, causal, and ethereal or ideational, he is then still bound by the gross atomic law, and what one puts into "cause" with one's thinking and actions, will have a direct "effect" on their life."

How many times have you heard someone cry, "Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve it?" Friends sitting back and less attached know the why and the wherefores, and can say "They deserved it. It was coming to them."

One who is too tied up to his own ego is apt to believe the face in the mirror he sees is really himself. The closer he gets to the mirror, the less separation there is. Ego is the quality that creates attachment. It is the seed of "me" and "mine".

In developing along the path of Yoga with all its disciplines and practice of pratyahara (withdrawing in of the senses) there arrives a state where one is taken back to the "base" gold of consciousness and sees with 'choiceless awareness' this life of shadow pictures in which he is placed.

A two fold occurrence takes place. While pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) is practiced, Samadhi (union with self) is slowly attained; consequently Sat Chit Ananda (being of infinite existence, consciousness and bliss) is achieved, and through choiceless awareness a transformation happens - total annihilation of the chitti vritti (mental fluctuations) and thus freedom from attachment.

Like the thief in the night, it is the pure gold we now possess and transient "things" which have been modified from it, now have no real interest for us; thus our attachment to them causes neither pain nor pleasure nor does their loss cause pain.

That then is the Philosophy of Klesas. With that knowledge a Yogi learns to look at the base of lives existence, which is nothing more than pure consciousness. Consciousness without attributes.

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