The fifth sutra is a description of avidyā. Patanjali makes us to understand what is avidyā, which is the field, root, seed of all other four kleśas. They germinate in the field of avidyā. And once avidyā is removed, all kleśas will be lost. So this particular sutra discusses about the avidyā. And avidyā has been described by Patanjali as:
अ॒नि॒त्या॒शु॒चिदुः॒खा॒ना॒त्मसु नि॒त्यशु॒चिसु॒खात्मख्याति॑र॒वि॒द्या ॥ २.५॥
Anityāśucirduḥkhānātmasu nityaśuci sukhātmakhyātir avidyā
The words are anitya, aśuci, duḥkha, anātma, nitya, śuci, sukha, ātma, khyāti, avidyā. Khyāti is knowledge. All other words are quite easily understandable. Anitya is not eternal, impermanent, temporary, which is not nitya. Anitya is temporary. Aśuci is not pure. Śuci is pure. Aśuci is impure. Duḥkha is misery, sorrow, pain. Anātma is not ātman, not self — exactly opposite words.Nitya is permanent. Śuci is pure. Sukha is pleasure. Ātma is self. Khyāti is the nowledge.
And avidyā is the word which is to be understood.
In the ordinary sense, in all translations we see that avidyā is translated as ignorance or nescience. But a little deeper understanding will show that avidyā is not just ignorance or non-ignorance, but it is lack of knowledge. In the ordinary sense, what we feel and what is exactly — that is the criterion in understanding these words.
So avidyā is the conviction of permanence, purity, happiness and self in what are really impermanent, impure, painful and not the self.Means a conviction that impermanence is permanent, impurity is purity, the painful is happiness, and the not-self is the self. This is avidyā. That is, it is taking the non-eternal, impermanent, impure, evil and non-Ātman to be eternal, pure, good and Ātman — what is not, but is taken as it is. And this is very very, that is why it is the base, it is the root, it is the seed, it is the field for all other kleśas. We see anitya — the whole world is changing. Nothing is permanent, transformations, permutations, combinations, changes and alterations, there are continuously, we see that what is there will disappear later; what is there will vanish later. But with this changing, with this temporariness, there must be something permanent based on which these changes are happening. Even for this temporariness, there must be a platform — an unchanging one — on which changes are happening, but we take it for granted that changes are permanent, change is permanent, temporariness is permanent, this is avidyā. Similarly, aśuci is taken as pure. See the body — our own body — so much impurity; it is so impure. The fat, the necessity and the need to keep it clean, need to keep it pure, the necessity itself show that it is impure. It is not that it is just unclean, the fact that we have to maintain it, the fact that it is necessary to keep it clean, itself it is fact, conviction, confirmation that it is impure. So much perspiration, sweating, and inside the body so much reactions going on, transformation is going on, changes going on, various alterations are going on. A doctor who cuts the body, opens the body, and looks at the whole thing with all the gauges— what does it mean? It is impurity. And that maintenance of this body is also necessary to understand that it by birth, by nature it is impure. But we take it for granted as a pure body, that is avidyā. Similarly, duḥkha is taken for granted as sukha. Anātma is taken as ātma. What is not self is taken as for the self. A person gets angry and says, "I am angry; I am anger." He identifies with anger. "I hate somebody" — identifying with hatred. Even otherwise, love and affection — all these are all avidyās, out of avidyā, because of wrongly identify it. And we should remember everything empirical is avidyā. A man may be a great scholar, a walking encyclopedia, a living library, and yet may be so completely immersed in the illusions created by the mind that he may stand much below a simple-minded sādhaka who is partially aware of the great illusions of the intellect and life in these phenomenal worlds.
The avidyā of the latter is much less than that of the former, in spite of the tremendous difference in knowledge pretending to the intellect. This absence of awareness of our true nature results in the inability to distinguish between the nitya and anitya, aśuci and śuci, duḥkha and sukha, ātma and the anātma.
Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ.
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः||
To Be Continued.. ---------------------------------------- These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji. Audio Link - https://youtu.be/yYKPlqvy8nM?si=-tu8U2aKPOLdqZyVRead n Get Articles, Magazines, Books @ http://prakashan.vivekanandakendra.org
मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
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