Kleśa
Kleśa, “affliction”
Grammar: masculine noun, from the root kliś (to trouble, to afflict): “that which afflicts”. The five are also called citta-malas, the impurities of the citta.
Meaning: affliction, suffering; above all the five kleśas of the citta that bind the jīva: avidyā (ignorance of one’s own svarūpa), asmitā (I-ness, ahaṅkāra), rāga (attachment), dvesha (aversion) and abhiniveśa (clinging, the fear of death).
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa names the five kleśas again and again, tells how they arose and how they are destroyed.
How they arose. Maitreya Maharshi tells Vidura that Brahmā first created the five vikāras (modifications) of ajñāna: andhatāmisra, which is abhiniveśa, the fear of death; tāmisra, which is dvesha; mahāmoha, which is rāga; moha, which is ahaṅkāra or asmitā; and tamas, which is avidyā, not knowing one’s own svarūpa. Seeing this creation full of ajñāna, Brahmā was not satisfied, purified his mind by dhyāna on Bhagavān Vishṇu and made another creation (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 12). In the same way, from the shadow, which is ajñāna, Brahmā created avidyā in five divisions: tāmisra, andhatāmisra, tamas, moha and mahātamas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 20).
Where they have no place. In Vaikuṇṭha, which Śrī Hari showed to Brahmā, there is no place for the five impurities of the mind, avidyā, asmitā, rāga, dvesha and abhiniveśa, nor for delusion or fear (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 9). At Kurukshetra Nārada Maharshi tells the maharshis that none of these, avidyā, asmitā, rāga, dvesha and abhiniveśa (the fear of death), nor karmas of puṇya and pāpa, nor their fruits, nor the bodies made of the three guṇas, can break the knowledge of Īśvara, who has no second (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 84).
How they are destroyed. Maitreya tells Vidura: “In man’s citta there are the kleśas: avidyā, asmitā, rāga, dvesha and abhiniveśa. At the moment the senses turn back from saṃsāra and merge in Śrī Hari, the Paramātmā, the witness (drashṭā) who is the true form of the jīva, at that very moment man’s kleśas are destroyed, as in one who is in deep sleep. By singing and hearing the qualities of Murāri all the kleśas are calmed; if then the mind comes to love serving his lotus feet, what more need be said?” And Vidura answers that the cause of the kleśas is the māyā of Śrī Hari; only those who hang in doubt between the utter fool and the jñānī suffer them, and by serving Maitreya’s feet love for Śrī Hari will grow like a festival and the kleśas will go far away (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 7).
When Dhruva fitted the Nārāyaṇāstra to his bow, all the māyā of the yakshas vanished, as the five impurities of the citta, avidyā, asmitā, rāga, dvesha and abhiniveśa, vanish when ātmajñāna arises (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 11). Maitreya gives the phala of Dhruva’s account: those who hear it many times with śraddhā gain firm bhakti for Śrī Hari, and by that bhakti the five kleśas of the citta fall away (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 12). Sanatkumāra teaches Pṛthu that the liṅga-śarīra, with its five marks, avidyā, asmitā, rāga, dvesha and abhiniveśa, is the cause of the jīva’s bondage, and that it is burned by the fire of jñāna and vairāgya and does not arise again (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 22).
Parīkshit says to Śuka that in mahātmās whose fruits of karma are burnt up by ātmajñāna, the yoga-siddhis that come by the will of Īśvara cannot again produce the five kleśas of the mind: ajñāna, asmitā, rāga, dvesha and the fear of death (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 6). By tapas, svādhyāya and control of the senses, Mārkaṇḍeya destroyed the kleśas of the mind, avidyā, asmitā and the rest, and with a one-pointed mind meditated on Śrī Hari (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 8).
Kleśas of body, mind and the world. Maitreya says of Svāyambhuva Manu, who passed his manvantara hearing and telling the gāthās of Śrī Hari: fever and the like are kleśas of the body, grief and the like kleśas of the mind; drought and the like are ādhidaivika kleśas; enemies at times cause kleśas; snake-bite and the like are ādhibhautika kleśas. “How can any of these trouble one who has taken refuge in Śrī Hari?” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 22).
Rāga and dvesha. Bhagavān Kapila teaches his mother Devahūti that the seeker must give up rāga and dvesha, love everyone and have dayā for all (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 27), and that by dhyāna on Parameśvara the qualities such as rāga and dvesha that turn one away from Īśvara are removed (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 28). Brahmā praises Śrī Kṛshṇa: “Only so long as people are not yours are rāga and dvesha thieves that steal the highest good, the home a prison, and moha a fetter on the feet” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 14).
Related terms: Avidyā · Asmitā · Rāga · Dvesha · Abhiniveśa · Ajñāna · Tāpa
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 9; Skandha 3, Chapters 7, 12, 20, 22, 27–28; Skandha 4, Chapters 11–12, 22; Skandha 5, Chapter 6; Skandha 10, Chapters 14, 84; Skandha 12, Chapter 8