Kleshas: The Five Root Afflictions of Belief

Patanjali identifies five kleshas or afflictions: avidya (ignorance), asmita (ego), raga (attachment), dvesha (aversion), and abhinivesha (fear of death). These are not moral failings but fundamental misunderstandings that generate all human suffering and limitation. These kleshas are the psychological soil from which all limiting beliefs grow. Ignorance of our true nature generates beliefs about insufficiency. Ego generates beliefs about separation and superiority. Attachment generates beliefs about what we need to be happy. Aversion generates beliefs about what threatens us. Fear generates beliefs about mortality and permanence. By understanding that our limiting beliefs are expressions of these five kleshas rather than truth, we fundamentally reframe them. They become symptoms to address rather than convictions to defend. The Yoga Sutras teach that liberation requires not fighting these kleshas but understanding their operation clearly. As we illuminate how ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion, and fear generate specific limiting beliefs, those beliefs naturally lose their binding power. This framework transforms belief work from intellectual debate into psychological healing of the root afflictions.