Beyond The Five Kleshas

The Five Kleshas are: Ignorance, Ego, Attachment, Repulsion and Clinging to Life.

I used to have the opinion that dealing with these one at a time would be sensible, and naturally lead towards Yoga. After all, these are the chief obstructions in Yoga. And most things are best dealt one at a time in this plane of existence.

Interestingly this turns out to be quite impractical…

Let’s take attachment for instance. Trying to cultivate an attitude free from attachment in the day to day existence either requires some serious and sincere renunciation, which is antithetical to a path of enjoyment and liberation, or it will yield a ton of frustration due to the myriad attachments trying to garner our attention. Ignorant to our Union with the Cosmic Spirit, and under the pressure of the Ego, attachment is bound to manifest, along with repulsion and clinging to life.

The point is that, without dealing with all the other obstructions, control of one can only be limited, short lived, and perhaps even insincere. Here, I don’t mean insincere in the sense of phony, but more like incongruent. How can someone claim to be free of attachment? After all, the human condition itself is one of attachment to countless things, starting with the breath!

There is a mode of being where attachment, repulsion, clinging to life, etc. – all these naturally and effortlessly disappear. They stop being obstructions all together as their true nature gets revealed in the light of undifferentiated consciousness.

From this vantage point, fighting the Kleshas with a disciplined, yet ordinary mind, reminds me of trying to run an electric fan by manually spinning it’s blades. It’s better to plug the beast into the wall socket and turn on the switch…

I am starting to think that the Kleshas, just like Asanas, are a tool created to explain the ineffable to ordinary people in hopes of guiding them. And just like the Asanas which have proliferated into very complex modes of expression, there is a humongous fractal of philosophies emerging from the seed of “overcoming the Kleshas” which is also missing the point…

Perhaps it is a good litmus test for Yoga, I am not sure. Perhaps it is useful to some, I don’t know. Either way, I think focusing too much on these obstructions can become an obstruction onto itself.

But here’s a last thought to ponder: If you had never been taught about the Kleshas, would they ever become a problem towards your Yoga?