(Srinivasaraghava Sridharan)

S Sridharan was until recently the Managing Trustee, Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai.  During his long association with KYM, he had the privilege of learning the nuances of Yoga Sastra directly under Yogi TKV Desikachar.  Sridharan is now an expert Yogi and a Yogic teacher.  In this series on Yogasutra, Yogi S Sridharan elucidates every aspect of YOGA.

 
Klesas (contd)
 
How do the Klesas operate in us so as to be a cause of suffering?

All our actions emanate from our mind.  When Klesas is at the base of the mind, the actions are affected by the Klesas.  Every action has a fruit or result immediately experienced and also leaves a residue.  Suppose we get hit somewhere in the body, we get pain, an experience, and also leaves a scar in that place.  Similarly all our actions have a fruit and a residue which forms the basis of future action.

Klesas----Karma (action) ----Vipaka (operates) -----Asaya (residue/reservoir)

It is very difficult, almost impossible, to link the cause of our action.  Often we come across questions like ‘why do I get angry when I see this person?” or “Why did I get into this muddle?” or “Why do I suffer?’, etc.  Also we get questions like “Why did I act like this at the first instance which is the cause of my problem?”  The link between the Klesas and the action (karma), the fruits and the residue (asaya) can be immediately established or seen (drsta janma) or often can be at a distant future (adrsta janma)  
 
Yoga Sutra says “klesa mulaha karma asayo drsta adrsta janma vedaneyah” (2.12)

The residue thus left by the klesas affects the action and fruits in its character (jati), time span (ayur) and experience (bhoga).  That is the character of our action (the way we operate) and the length of time it takes for the action to fructify and the experience we get by the action is affected by the Kleasas acting as the base. The character of our action is based our own character.

Yoga Sutra puts this as “sati mule tat vipako jati ayur bhogaha” (2.13)

Do all our actions result in suffering only?  Sometimes we have pleasure as a result of our action and thus it is a mixture of pleasure and pain. We will see how.
 
(more to come)