‘Avidya ‘ (ignorance) is one kind of suffering. what is this ignorance? In the scriptures, the question is asked: Who is a fool (murkha)? The answer is given: One who identifies himself with the body. By this kind of identification the foolish one forgets his true nature. The day he realises that he is not the body but the external Indwelling Spirit, that day he experiences true bliss. The body, the mind and intellect are all instruments. These are called ‘Karanas.’ It is a sign of ignorance to identify one’s Self with these instruments. ‘Avidya Klesha’ is the suffering arising out of ignorance. As long as man has a body, he experiences various kinds of sorrow. What is the stage of this body? ‘In childhood, the young lad sports with his companions. In youth he falls a prey to sensuous enjoyment. In middle age he is lost in the pursuit of wealth. Unable to give up attachments, he is caught up in the cage of karma, and at the end he returns to the dust’. This is the real truth about the body. Man is thus pursued by a myriad sorrows because of his identification with the body.
The second ‘Klesha’ is ‘Abhinava Klesha’. For all kinds of desires and pains, the cause is the mind. All desires arise in the mind. When desires are not fulfilled, hatred arises. If the desires are realised, the man loses his mental balance. Failing to realise how the mind is the cause of sorrow and giving a free rein to desires is ‘Abhinava Klesha’ suffering due to mental infirmity). Only when man is able to give up desires and disregard the mind, which is the cause of desires, will he be able to experience ananda (bliss).
The third is, ‘Asthita Klesha’ (suffering due to unsteadiness). This suffering arises from an insatiable appetite for all kinds of things. It is the result of one being immersed in the vagaries of the senses. To regard as enduring the sensous pleasures which are impermanent is the cause of this type of suffering.
‘Raga Klesha’ refers to the suffering arising out of attachment (of all kinds). All other evil tendencies in man like hatred, envy, etc., have their root in ‘Raga’. It is this attachment which ruins the entire life of man. There should be a limit to one’s attachment (to persons and things). Excessive attachment is the cause of sorrow. Man is unable to derive happiness from excessive possessions.
‘Dvesha Klesha’ (the suffering caused by hatred) arises when a man fails to obtain what he seeks from some one. This is the result of selfishness and self seeking. (SSS Vol.25, pp. 28-29)