Those Mental Land Mines

Swami Satchidananda was once asked by a student, “There are times when I feel very deep loneliness that no friend, family member or lover can seem to satisfy. Do you ever get lonely like that?”
 
Satchidananda replied, “If you depend on anything or anybody outside you to be a companion, it is impossible to have that companion always with you. Even if another person wants to be with you always, he or she cannot. We come alone, and we go alone. Don’t depend on outside company. Even as you are coming and going, there is always another there—your own spirit, your own Self or the God within you.”
When we rely on things, people, or experiences outside of ourselves to make us happy, we are seting ourselves up for failure.  True equanimity comes from being independent of the comings and goings of the outside world.  The minute we cling to something or someone we create little mind fluctuations that cause suffering. The key to gaining control over those fluctuations is to understand what lies underneath those thoughts.

Our thoughts may be pure, positive, and virtuous, and move us toward enlightenment.
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Or, as is the case for most of us mere mortals, our thoughts can impede our path toward enlightenment by creating a mental field of suffering caused by the Kleshas (obstacles or afflictions of the mind).

So What Are The Kleshas?

The five Kleshas are:

• Avidya-thinking something is true when it’s not.
• Asmita-identifying the Self with the mind; thinking that you are your thoughts.
• Raga-having to have something. 
• Dvesha-avoiding something.
• Abhinivesha-fear of death or fear of letting go.

Some of the Kleshas afflict us on a daily basis at a subtle level and others can be overwhelming and cause great suffering.  The Kleshas stop us from fully enjoying life, from being truly present in the now, and from having a sense of freedom. Unlike pain—an uncomfortable physical, mental, or emotional experience—suffering is the state of being caught up in your situation and identifying with it as an aspect of your being. Therefore, pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. 

All of human suffering can be attributed to one of the five Kleshas.   All causes of suffering are contained within the first Klesha (Avidya). When you remember your true identity as pure spirit (and not as the physical body):

• Your ego no longer dominates your awareness, giving and taking offense, or seeking the approval of others.
• You let go of your attachments, understanding that in an impermanent material universe everything has a beginning, a middle, and end.
• You no longer avoid those things you fear, knowing that those things are impermanent and illusory, and cannot cause harm to your true self.
• You are liberated from your fear of death in the realization that death is merely a transition between one expression of your spirit and another, and that your life is like a flash of lightning across the summer sky, a parenthesis in eternity.

How Do We Overcome the Kleshas?

This is where meditation comes in.  In meditation, the mind can be fixed on one thought. That concentration on one thought or one point literally transforms the mind by allowing it to flow undisturbed from thought to thought. Once the mechanism that produces the detrimental, harmful or damaging activities of the mind is eliminated, your thoughts are no longer afflicted. The underlying obstacles, the Kleshas, are removed and we realize our true nature.

To transcend the first Klesha and, thus, the remaining four, the Yoga Sutras give this guidance.  
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Sutra 2.10 states, “In their subtle form, these obstacles can be destroyed by resolving them back into their original cause.”  This means if we eradicate the first Klesha (Avidya) we can become self-realized/liberated. Through yoga the Kleshas become less and less active until they reach the subtle form.  However, remember even the subtle form can be triggered back to the active state-think about all the fallen gurus in recent memory whose Kleshas came back roaring.

Sutra 2.11 states, “In the active state, they can be destroyed by meditation.”  Think of it this way-Sutra 2.10 is for the already “advanced” meditating yogi and Sutra 2.11 is for the rest of us-the yogis that are embarking on the path to liberation.  Meditation is moving away from a life of suffering and is the key that unlocks this prison by returning you to the state of knowledge of who you are. 

Everything in the physical world is impermanent and ever changing. Friends are not permanent.  Our physical body isn’t permanent.  A job isn’t permanent. Money isn’t permanent…and the list goes on.

What is permanent…your True Self.

• Think of the pros and cons of your depending on other things and other people for your happiness. 
• Try meditating for 10 minutes a day.  After a week, notice if those fluctuations of the mind have decreased. 
• What Klesha brings you the most suffering?  How can you work with that Klesha to bring greater clarity to your life?

Swami Satchidananda. The Golden Present. 1987. Integral Yoga Publications.