Upma's Upma

At the workshop with Joan recently, Joan noted that one of our colleagues and friends, named Upma, has a name that matches that of a breakfast cereal she enjoys when she goes to India. Upma and upma.  Upma agreed, adding that in the north of India Upma is a name and in the south it is that delicious breakfast food.

The next day, our Upma brought a container filled with upma, and two spoons, for Joan and I to enjoy.  Short story: we did.  So much so that I had to ask for the recipe and ask to post it here, for your enjoyment.  Herewith, the generous Upma's splendid upma recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup fine sooji /cream of wheat *(Indian stores carry it )
2- 3 teaspoons of ghee— you can be generous if you like with this
10 curry leaves*
1&1/2 teasp of mustard seeds*
pinch of asafoetida
10 pieces of broken cashew nuts*
2 cut- up Kashmiri chilies- dried kind *
optional mixed vegetables/peas

For taste— lemon juice, salt and sugar.

Method:

Heat ghee.  Add mustard seeds.  After they pop add asafoetida, curry leaves, cashew nuts, and the kashmiri chilies.

After the cashews brown, add sooji and let it roast in the pan. 

Keep the  fire on low to medium heat-always.

Keep a close eye so it does not burn, keep mixing with a spatula.

After sooji turns a light brown color—add 2 cups of hot water, mix well. 

After water absorbs (about 2-3 mins), add lemon juice, salt and sugar in the still watery upma. 

Mix again.

After 5 more mins it will stiffen, bring the pan off the fire, as it sits it will get more stiff. 

Garnish with cilantro.

Voila— enjoy……

------

Thanks, Upma.  Off to the Indian Market.  I even like the sound of "Sooji".

Notes from Anatomy of the Pelvis Class

Anatomy of Asana: The Pelvis and the Leg

Homework review or practice for Sunday:  do some poses from the anatomy of the leg/asana class

The Pelvis
[you should look at a picture of a skeleton for a bit, or a real one if you can manage it (legally, I mean), and get the larger picture of the many functions the pelvis has in our bodies.]

1. Assists and anchors the leg in stable positions and in locomotion. Yogically, the leg is considered one of the karmendriyas, the karma + indriya = karma organs, or organs of doing or action, in this case, the organ of locomotion.

The pelvis anchors and supports the trunk, arms and head in all positions and movements.  The pelvis is an anchor of the muscles that support the trunk all around its border, and some of those muscles also directly support the other organs of action, the arms.  These are the organs of giving and receiving.

The pelvis is the location of the reproductive karmendriyas and the eliminative karmendriyas.

We have noted the shape of the female pelvis is different from the male pelvis in order to allow room for the fetus to grow into a full little person (a wide, open upper border and shorter wider pelvic shape in general), and to deliver that one into the world safely (a deeper and wider pelvic floor and mobile pubic symphysis and sacroiliac joints to accommodate the skull of a full-term infant.  Regarding the organs of elimination, the pelvic floor also provides exit ways for solid waste from the intestinal tract and liquid waste from the kidney-bladder filter.

And even though it is seemingly a stretch to say this, the pelvis, particularly the groins, are the anchor points for the last karmendriya, the organ of speech. An important musician to us Austin Yogis is Pandit Mukesh Desai, who has accompanied our beloved Ramanand Patel in teaching us about Yoga and Sound.  He has taught us that the free voice originates in the groins, and nowhere else.  Like the root of all our action in the world is from the base, the root of us, the root of the voice is in the anchored, grounded, pelvis.    And an ungrounded pelvis weakens the breath and the voice, or an incomplete connection from base to voice weakens the voice.

So from the above we see that the pelvis anchors all the karmendriyas, the organs of action.  It is the Grand Central Station of all the physical forces at play in any movements or stabilization of the body, pretty much anywhere, anytime.

The pelvis has a bone in it—the sacrum—that is part of the spine which contains and protects the Central Nervous System.  The mind and the five senses are the jnanendriyas, and the spinal cord and it's protector, the bony spinal column is part of that system.  The stability and health of the pelvis affects everything from the transmission of nerve signals to and from the lower body to the stability and even the nature of the thoughts that arise in the mind of the individual. 

 2. The pelvis is a sort of Grand Central Station of physical forces at play in movement or stabilization of our body,  where the different energies and forces of the body meet (pelvis/spine joining) and divide (pelvis / legs), changing lines to move either up- or down- or even crosstown (laterally and diagonally).  The sacrum is a key player in the pelvis.

3.  Forms a basket-shaped container for the pelvic vital organs, which will be covered in further anatomy lessons, but we need to know a few connected ideas.   

5. At its lower end, it provides of entry and exit ways for reproduction and digestion products.  We will discuss the reproductive and digestive systems in further anatomy lessons, but this clearly figures in the discussion of structures and functions of the pelvis.

6. energetically, it is the root and ground of our beings.  1st chakra primarily and above that the 2nd chakra-- muladhara and svadisthana-- are in this pelvic region, the vayu apana governs here, the earth element primarily and above that the water element rule here, and all this yogic anatomy part is for another lesson too. 

We won’t get into this too much.  But just looking at a skeleton, remember that chakras open in a forward-facing direction.

From Kapandji:

The acetabulum (hip socket) in the pelvis has a surface consisting of the three pelvis bones joined: pubis, ilium, ischium, entirely fused in the acetabulum/hip socket itself.).   Note this joining of bones is not considered a joint in any conventional sense.  There is no movement there.  

The only joints with any mobility at all in the pelvis are the two sacroiliac joints in the back, and the pubic symphysis in front.  And we are not talking all that much movement over all, though a total of a centimeter tipping or spreading of the pubic symph and SI joints happens all the time in childbirth and is really quite uncomfortable.  That is a huge amount of movement, really.  Go ahead and you try to move your own …no, please don’t.

This is a key point: the pelvis structure is the most stable and hard to move even where it is built to move, than any other structure in the body. 

Just some more yogic perspective here:  the central core of the body, the pelvic region, is as we have noted, a very strongly fortified region, with the walls of the pelvis surrounding several vital organs, and also new lives in the early stages.  It is fortified and not very mobile, and the further away from this dense and bony core, the more mobile we become.  The arms and legs are less bulky and dense and can move relatively quickly; the feet and hands are the lightest and most mobile of all; and let’s not forget the head, which while heavily fortified in bone, contains the brain, which hosts the mind, most etheric of all). We go from light and mobile in the head and extremities, to heavily fortified and stable at the core/base.

So the pelvis transfers the weight of the trunk into the legs efficiently.  And compared to the shoulder ball-and-socket joint, the hip joint has relatively less mobility and relatively greater stability.  But relative to the pelvis, the hip socket has great mobility.  And as compared to cervical vertebrae, the 5th lumbar has very little mobility, but relative to the sacrum, it has lots. 

PALPATION OF PELVIC STRUCTURES

1.  Lie on your back and locate:
Anterior Superior Iliac Spine, pubis, pubic symphysis,  the line of the iliac crest with its thicker and narrower areas.

Note: the vertebra level with the very top of the ilii is L4.  L5 is below that, and most lower lumbar vertebrae in most people are so deep-set into a bed of muscle and ligament that only the outer tip of the large posterior process are palpable.  You have to flex your hips a lot, drawing your knees toward your chest, to feel much of the L4 and L5 vertebrae.

2.   Turn to your side and feel
Posterior superior iliac spine level with S2 and centers on the SI joint.
The ischial tuberosity.

If you feel between the ischial tuberosity and the outer thigh bone (greater trochanter), that is the section of the lower pelvis where the sciatic nerve passes into the thigh from the pelvis. 

3.  Roll to your back again and

Locate the femoral triangle by placing R foot on L thigh above knee and externally rotating R leg to expose the groin area passively:  femoral triangle borders are Adductor longus, Sartorius and the inguinal ligament between pubis and ant sup iliac spine.  You can feel the artery, lymph nodes closest to pubis, you can feel the psoas bursa if it is inflamed.  If you dig you can palpate other adductor muscles, carefully.  The hip joint lies deep to the center of the upper, inguinal, line of the triangle, but cannot be palpated. The hip joint cannot be felt because of the tendon and fibers of the psoas muscle cover it in this position first, and then the very thick anterior joint capsule.

4.  Roll to your side again and find the
 Greater trochanter/outer pelvis:
The soft tissues that cross the bony posterior portion of the trochanter are protected by a bursa.  Feel for ‘bogginess’ due to the irritation or inflammation of the trochanteric bursa (bursitis).  Can’t feel bursa unless it is inflamed. 
Gluteus medius attachment.

5. Sciatic nerve:
Midway between greater trochanter and ischial tuberosity.  When the hip is extended, the gluteus max covers it; when hip flexed, glut max moves out of the way. Find midpoint between the ischial tuberosity and the trochanter and press to maybe feel nerve.  This is how you figure out if it’s sciatica or bursitis—palpate directly to find out which is the tender part.  You will know it’s the bursa if the soreness and maybe even swelling is on the trochanter of the femur rather than the sciatic nerve pathway.

6.  Iliac crest again:
On the superior border, Gluteus medius and Gluteus minimus muscles originate just below the border, and Sartorius and Rectus femoris attach right at the Anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS).  
Note:  gluteus maximus attaches to the sacral border of the ilium joint mainly and attaches at the outer trochanter and shaft of the femur.  So the gluteus maximus has a bit of a diagonal axis, from sacrum to femur

REVIEW OF PELVIS-LEG MUSCLES FROM LAST SESSION
(please relieve the tedium and skip this if you already learned it.  Scroll to the next section below, “ Even More Pelvic Muscles”.)

Remember these quadrants:
anterior surface = Flexor Muscles attached to Pelvis:
Note all these muscles run more or less parallel to the axis of flexion and extension of the legs and lower spine. 

Psoas and Iliacus: share common tendon inserting into the lesser trochanter. Psoas is the most powerful of the flexors and has the longest range (lesser trochanter of femur to 12th thoracic vertebra.) Psoas also produces lateral rotation.  We treat the psoas with great respect and think of it as a powerful stabilizer of both spine and pelvis. It is the most powerful of this group and one of the most powerful and influential muscles in the body.
Sartorius: mainly hip flexor; secondarily abduction and lateral rotation.  Also acts on knee in flexion and medial rotation.  It is very strong in flexion.  It helps keep the pelvis upright. Connects the pelvic movement directly to the knee (crosses both joints)
Rectus femoris: powerful flexor, especially so when the knee is flexed, as is walking/running.  Connects the pelvic movement directly to the knee (crosses both joints)
Tensor fasciae latae:  hip flexor and pelvic stabilizer.
Pectineus: primarily an adductor, a very short muscle close to pelvis.
Adductor longus: primarily an adductor but also partially flexor
Gracilis
Glutei minimus and medius, only most anterior fibers do the flexion.

Medial quadrant = adductor grouping
gracilis
pectineus, closest to pelvis, attached to pubis and upper shaft of femur
adductor longus, most superficial and longest
adductor brevis  mid level adductor
adductor magnus.  Big flat muscle, lower adductor

Note: these are only pelvis-to-femur connections.  There are no connections directly to the knee joint.

Lateral quadrant = abductor grouping   
gluteus medius, most superficial and most imptortant abductor. Inserts into anterior and
lateral aspects of trochanter.
gluteus minimus

Note on the lateral side of the femur connecting from pelvis to the knee, is the Ilio-tibial band, (IT band), a major player in stabilizing the pelvis and leg structures, that is not a muscle but rather lots of fascial tissue, and which gives us humans lots of trouble when it is relatively tight.

posterior quadrant = extensor grouping
Two main groups, one inserted into femur and the other around the knee joint.

Group 1 (the ones broadly attached to the upper border of the pelvis):

Extensors broadly attached to ilium: 

Gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus (note g med and g min are mainly abductors but act as helpers in extension. )
Gluteus maximus: by far the strongest  muscle in the body and also the biggest. Attaches to both the sacrum and the ilium.  Makes a big fan of muscle.  Assisted by posterior glutei medius and minimus. Also lateral rotators help with extension some, though that is not their main function.

Group 2 (the ones attached to the base of the pelvis):
Extensors narrowly attached to sit bones: hamstring muscles:

Biceps femoris (outer knee/fibula attachment),
Semimembranosus and Semitendinosus. Together, they are 2/3 the strength of g.maximus.  These are biarticular muscles (cross both hip ad knee joints), and their efficiency depends on the position of the knee.  Locking the knee in extension helps extension at hip.  There is a synergism between quads also, especially rectus femoris.  Note also that these hamstrings directly relate pelvic movement and position to the knee.  Group also includes adductor magnus, an accessory extensor of the hip.

Note all these muscles above attach to the pelvis and are there essentially to operate the leg to transport and support the trunk.  It’s a lot of muscle with a lot of complex, three-dimensional actions that require robust bone to assist strength of robust muscle.

But now…

EVEN MORE PELVIC MUSCLES

Now we look at what we didn't cover last month: an array of smaller pelvis-to-femur muscles, and those of the pelvic floor.

 Muscles that assist rotation of the femur
Piriformis
Superior Gamellus
Obturator externus
Inferior Gamellus

Muscles that Stabilize the Hip
The transverse pelvic/femoral muscles are the muscles of apposition of the hip (they put the femur head/ball in the acetabulum /socket):
piriformis
obturator externus
gluteus minimus and medius

On the other hand, the longitudinal muscles like
the adductors, especially the long ones
tend to push and loosen the femoral head in an upward direction.

Make a note of this last part:  Adducting the leg does not stabilize the hip joint, but is more likely to destabilize it.  We tell those who have had hip replacements not to cross the legs (an adduction action) precisely because it will lever the femur laterally away from the socket.  Hip replacement folks must not cross the legs standing in Garudasana or sitting in Ardha Matsyendrasana. They must use the piriformis, obturator externus, and the gluteus medius and minimus – the outer hip – to do the work.

These transverse muscles are also part of the structure that supports and helps to lift the pelvic floor, literally keeping your innards from falling or leaking out. 

So we like people with weakness and misalignment in the hip joints to work in tadasana with the feet apart at first, so the leg is in an advantageous position and the hip joint and pelvic musculature is relatively stable and balanced.

Pelvic Floor Muscles:
   Coccygeus
   Levator ani, iliococcygeal portion (lateral-medial fibers)
  Obturator internus anterior-posterior fibers, lateral border of pelvic floor
   Levator ani, pubococcygeal portion (anterior-posterior fibers)

Sacroiliac Ligaments:
From the top Posteriorly:
Iliolumbar ligaments
Intermediate plane of SI ligaments (5 in number) going from iliac crest to S-1 through S-4.
Anterior plane of SI ligaments going from the posterior edge of the iliac bone to the articular tubercules of the sacrum.

The sacrospinous and sacrotuberous ligaments run from the lower pelvis—the ischial spine to the lateral border of the sacrum and coccyx. These ligaments frame the greater sciatic foramen (passageway) allowing exit of the piriformis muscle, and the lesser sciatic foramen through which passes the tendon of the obturator internus.

Anteriorly:
Anterior sacroiliac ligaments, one superior and one inferior.

These ligaments wrap (the lines of force actually spiral) around the SI joint structure and run oblique courses, to stabilize the sacrum and ilii in almost all ranges of movement: rotational, anterior-posterior, lateral and vertical.  But it can still move in all those directions.  The forces at work on the pelvis are enormous.

A SPECIAL JOINT MOVEMENT UNIQUE TO THE SACRUM
Nutation and counternutation:
The movement of the sacrum in relation to the ilii in forward and backward extensions.
Nutation is the forward-tipping of the sacrum around the axis of the SI joint.  When this forward tipping occurs, the ilii broaden at their inferior ends and narrow at their superior ends. 

Counternutation is involved in backward bending or spinal extension actions.  As the pelvis moves in a backbend shape the top of the sacrum moves posteriorly and the tailbone moves anteriorly.  This causes the anterior superior ilii to widen away from each other, and the buttock bones to narrow closer to each other. 

We will approach the trunk muscles attached to the pelvis in another section.  This is certainly plenty as it is.

An Asana Class to Observe the Pelvis

( Skip the poses you are unable to do, but keep the sequence otherwise in this order.)

 Make this practice one where you focus your attention on the pelvis and legs, how every part of the leg and foot—including bones, muscle and connective tissues not directly attached to the pelvis—directly influences the position and mobility of the pelvis.  Notice how even small position and activation changes immediately register in the pelvis, and from there throughout the rest of the body.  Learn to be sensitive to the nuance of leg movement and action. It makes all the difference.] 

Adho mukha virasana
Baddha konasana

Samasthiti (feet hip width or at least apart) and tadasana (feet joined)
Urdhva Hastasana
Adho mukha svanasana

Hasta padasana, Parsva hasta padasana
Trikonasana.
Ardha chandrasana
Parsvakonasana
Parsvottanasana
Parivrtta parsvakonasana,  kneeling on back knee to make the rotation of the spine easier and to make the leg actions more tangible and balance less of an issue,
then straightening the back leg.
Prasarita padottanasana

Virasana
Dandasana lift hips and abdomen up as in Tolasana, but leave the feet on the floor.
Tolasana
Navasana
Ardha navasana

Adho mukha vrksasana as possible, including kicking up with two legs, bent or straight
Salamba sirsasana
Variations as possible:  eka pada, parsvaikapada, baddha konasana, urdhva padmasana

EITHER A FORWARD BEND SEGMENT (or see below, a backbending segment):
Malasana
Upavistha konasana
Parsva upavistha konasana, both upright and folded over L and R legs
Parivrtta upavistha kona with chair or on floor
Padmasana or what is possible in this way, including Siddhasana
Paschimottanasana, lifting a concave spine up, and then extending forward in full pose
Parivrtta paschimottanasana
Paschimottanasana

OR A BACK BENDING SEGMENT:
Chair dwi pada viparita dandasana, first knees bent and then legs straight
Chair backbend variations as possible
Urdhva dhanurasana pushing up as possible

Urdhva dhanurasana walking feet in as much as possible

Urdhva dhanura pushing up hands on floor, feet on the edge of a chair for high pelvis lift and lovely open lines of extension in bone, muscle and organs.  Note: extra strong pose.  Arm strength required for this one. 

Adho mukha svanasana to normalize the spine after many backbends.

Salamba sarvangasana

Eka pada Sarvangasana

Parsvaikapada Sarvangasana

Urdhva Padmasana in sarvangasana, or what is possible in this way, including strapping the feet/knees in urdhva swastikasana.

Halasana

Supta konasana

Setu bandha sarvangasana knees bent with hips on block or legs straight, as possible. Be easy with this; it’s for recovery, balancing, and cooling, not more backbends. 

Supta virasana
Supta baddha konasana
Soft bharadvajasana without clasp
Savasana knees bent, then knees straight full pose

Notes from Philosophy and Asana: Klesha and Karma

Klesha and Karma:  Yoga and Philosophy October 18 2014

Klesha (the causes of suffering)
Karma (the results of action)

By the way, you can make the reading of this post shorter by 1) only taking one translation of each sutra, instead of the three or five I offer; 2) or skipping them altogether and just reading my synopsis and notes.  However, anyone really interested in the philosophy would do well to actually read the sutra instead of relying on my "translation" and my thoughts alone.  And the truly interested will take up and read for yourself at least one authoritative translation and commentary.  The ones used and quoted here are translations and commentaries by BKS Iyengar, Edwin Bryant, Swami Hariharananda Aranya, Rama Prasada, and Stephen Phillips, including both Hariharananda's and Rama Prasada's translation and commentary on Vyasa's work.)

 Klesha and Karma are closely related to each other in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. The part that we are reading about today is mainly where the term klesha is defined and its five elements explained, in the very first part of Chapter 2.  We also begin to look at the concept of Karma, at least to note its relation to Klesha.

 First, Some Definitions:

Monier-Williams Dictionary of Sanskrit defines “klesha” as “pain, affliction, distress, pain from disease, anguish”.  
Karma is defined in Monier-Williams:
kR, root of karma:  To do, make, perform, accomplish, cause, effect, prepare, undertake.  And many more nuances of the same. Much more...

These are simple definitions, but they give context for the use of the term.  But the two words have also acquired philosophical significance.  Let's explore that.  The concept of karma defined above is that on the face of it, any action or any doing is karma.  The deeper significance is that the yogis understand that only Prakriti, or material existence, can do anything.  Purusha, the soul, the witness and the true Seer of all the interaction and doing of Prakriti, itself does nothing. Prakriti consists of all substances and all doings of all substances.  It is all of physical existence, from electric impulse of thought in a synapse to those boiling-sulphur lava beds kicking out new parts of our planet in Iceland, is the product of the infinite interaction of the Gunas, the energetic principles of rajas or activity/movement, tamas or inertia/stability, and sattva or illumination/lucidity.  All your citta vrttis and all the doing that comes from them are at their root the interaction of Prakriti with itself.  Karma is what Prakriti does.  Purusha does not do anything.

 A Little More Background.

Now let’s go to the beginning of the Sutra, way back at the first Philosophy Soup Kitchen.  Yoga is defined as the stopping of the movements of the mind, the citta vrttis (YS 1.2).  And remember what we said above, that the citta vrttis are all at their root the interaction of the Gunas sattva, rajas and tamas. It means citta vrtti nirodhah is the stopping of the interaction of the gunas in the mind.

We have our first mention of the notion of Klesha in YS 1.5

1.5       vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭākliṣṭāḥ
Bryant translation:  There are five kinds of changing states of the mind, and they are either detrimental or nondetrimental [to the practice of yoga].
Iyengar transl.:  The movements of consciousness are fivefold.  They may be cognizable or non-cognizable, painful or non-painful.
Hariharananda transl. :  They fall into five varieties of which some are kliṣṭa and the rest akliṣṭa. [kliṣṭa: mental process which has its base in Kleśas such as avidyā, etc., and are the sources of all latencies.
Rama Prasada transl:  The modifications are five-fold, painful and not-painful.
Phillips transl. :  Fluctuations are of five types, and are detrimental or non-detrimental (to the practices of yoga)

And in Vyasa’s earliest authoritative commentary that precedes all these others, he shows a direct causal relation between the Kleshas and the turning of the Wheel of Karma:

“The painful are those that cause the afflictions and become the field for the growth of the vehicle of actions (karmashaya).  The not-painful are those that have discrimination for their object and which oppose the functioning of the ‘qualities’ [gunas].  They remain not painful even though fallen into the stream of the painful.  They are not painful even in the intervals of the painful.  The painful also remain in the intervals of the not painful.”

Vyasa goes on and gets even more detailed, but I wanted to point this part out.  First, he says it is only the afflictive sorts of mind activities, the ones that cause or are based in some suffering, that set in motion what we call the wheel of karma. Secondly, he explains by contrast what non-afflictive thoughts are like.  It is these non-afflictive movements of mind that Yogis are working to cultivate.

Which brings us to the Yoga Sutras we will focus on today:  We look at Chapter 2, the Chapter on Practice.  We are skipping over the very first sutra of the chapter because it is action packed and we discussed it in last month’s Yoga and Philosophy session on Kriya Yoga.  But the very second sutra takes us to Patanjali’s first statement on the relation between yoga practice and those causes of suffering, the Kleshas.

2.2          samādhi-bhāvanārthaḥ kleśa-tanū-karaṇārthaś ca
Iyengar: The practice of yoga reduces afflictions and leads to samadhi.
Bryant:  [The yoga of action] is for bringing about Samadhi and for weakening the impediments [to yoga].
Hariharananda: That Kriyā-yoga (should be practiced) for bringing about Samādhi and minimizing the Kleśas.

By practicing yoga all the way through to the last limb, Samadhi, you can reduce the Kleshas.  It’s a long row to hoe and you already know that, but yoga practice can do the job.  Yoga, or something very like it from any of a number of different traditions, is the only way to reduce the Kleshas.  

What Exactly are these Kleshas?

The kleshas are also (like the citta vrttis) five in number, and the order of their listing is important.  From the first and primary klesha is born the second, from the second come the third and fourth, and then the fifth as its own special, culminating category.  Here is the explanation of all five:

2.3         avidya asmitā rāga dveṣa abhiniveśāḥ kleśāḥ
Iyengar:  The five afflictions which can disturb the equilibrium of consciousness are: ignorance or lack of wisdom, ego, pride of the ego or the sense of “I”, attachment to pleasure, aversion to pain, fear of death and clinging to life.
Bryant:  The impediments [to Samadhi] are nescience, ego, desire, aversion, and clinging to life.
Hariharananda:  Avidyā (misapprehension about the real nature of things), Asmitā (egoism), Rāga (attachment), Dveṣa (aversion), and Abhiniveśa (fear of death) are the five Kleśas (afflictions).

This next sutra explains the primacy of avidya, or ignorance, among the five kleshas.

2.4. avidyā kṣetram uttareṣāṁ prasupta-tanu-vicchinnodārānām
 Iyengar:  Lack of true knowledge is the source of all pains and sorrows whether dormant, attenuated, interrupted or fully active.
Bryant:  Ignorance is the breeding ground of the other klesas, whether they are in a dormant, weak, intermittent, or fully activated state.
Hariharananda:  Avidyā is the breeding ground for the others whether they be dormant, attenuated, interrupted or active.

 Here is a significant insight:  Vyasa (our original, "benchmark" commentator on Patanjali) adds that the ignorance of Avidya is very different than, for instance, the citta vrtti called “wrong knowledge or understanding” (see YS 1.8).  Viparyaya, or wrong knowledge, is a mistaken idea about a single thing, easy to fix with the application of Pramana, or right knowledge.  But Avidya is an underlying condition of fundamental ignorance—we have the wrong idea of everything—it is a state of such profound ignorance that it affects all thoughts and actions that arise.  This ignorance is a state of being. 

Changing one’s state of being is a much larger project than just learning to spot and fix the errors in your parsvakonasana. 

 Now Patanjali gives the list of Kleshas in detail in the next several sutras:

2.5           anityāśuci-duḥkhānātmasu nitya-śuci-sukhātma-khyātir avidyā
Iyengar:  Mistaking the transient for the permanent, the impure for the pure, pain for pleasure, and that which is not the self for the self: all this is called lack of spiritual knowledge, avidya.
Bryant:  Ignorance is the notion that takes the self, which is joyful, pure, and eternal, to be the nonself, which is painful, unclean, and temporary.
Hariharananda:  Avidyā consists in regarding a transient object as everlasting, an impure object as pure, misery as happiness and the non-self as self.

 If you do not know the difference between what is permanent and what is not, you can be drawn into thinking your perception of your self is a permanent thing.  If you don’t know the limits of your senses, you will think that what you perceive to exist is in fact the totality of your existence, and that your view is the only, or the most clear and clean.

 2.6       dṛg–darśana–śaktyor ekātmatevāsmitā
Iyengar:  Egoism is the identification of the seer with the instrumental power of seeing.
Bryant:  Ego is [to consider] the nature of the seer and the nature of the instrumental power of seeing to be the same thing.
Hariharananda: Asmitā is tantamount to the identification of Puruṣa or pure Consciousness with Buddhi.

Patanjali says here that in our misunderstanding, we think the organ of perception IS the perceiver.  We do not understand the nature of the Seer (Purusha, the soul) and we think the instrument of perception is precisely that one who sees.  Whereas the eye, the optic nerve, the visual cortex of the central nervous system, and the mind that is interpreting all that complex information the eye transmits, are all entirely Prakriti.  They just interact with other bits of Prakriti to create visual imagery and categorization of it, but it is the Purusha in us who is the true Seer of all that Prakriti does.  Thus, we wind up considering this physical, limited, prakritic instrument to be the only thing there is, and we call it our “self”.  This is a demonstrably false and limited perception and concept, and Patanjali calls it Egoism. 

If you are engaged by this (limited) self, you will try to preserve it by giving it things it likes or ‘needs,’ in order to maintain the status quo.  Satisfying the needs of the mutable instrument never works for long if at all, but we always try.  We become attached to and even proud of the things that give pleasure and reinforcement to our sense of our self.  [See Ozymandias.]

II.7      sukhānuśayī rāgaḥ
I:  Pleasure leads to desire and emotional attachment.
B:  Attachment stems from [experiences] of happiness.
H:  Attachment is that (modification) which follows remembrance of pleasure.

And you will try to avoid, or even wish evil upon, those things that might damage your idea or experience of your self.  This too, never works for long.  [see Ozymandias.]

2.8       duḥkhānuśayī dveṣaḥ
I:  Unhappiness leads to hatred.
B:  Aversion stems from [experiences] of pain.
H:  Aversion is that (modification) which results from misery.

 And if you think this body and mind are your ultimate reality you will be very averse to losing them.  [see Ozymandias.]

 2.9          svarasa-vāhī viduṣo ‘pi tathārūḍho ‘bhiniveśaḥ
I:  Self-preservation or attachment to life is the subtlest of all afflictions.  It is found even in wise men.
B: [The tendency of] clinging to life affects even the wise; it is an inherent tendency.
H:  As in the ignorant so in the learned, the firmly established inborn fear of annihilation is the affliction called Abhiniveśa.

This aversion occurs from the conscious surface of our thoughts on down to the unconscious, cellular, neurochemical, and even the genetic level.  It is pervasive and no body, no mind, is immune to it.  Prakriti likes playing with prakriti in the same way moths are drawn to light, so it will keep trying to do that.

The practice of going inward (to discover and to integrate with who you really are) is the way to minimize this fundamental misunderstanding and the afflictions it brings.

 II.10       te pratiprasava-heyāḥ sūkṣmāḥ
 I:  Subtle afflictions are to be minimized and eradicated by a process of involution.
B:  These kleśas are subtle; they are destroyed when [the mind] dissolves back into its original matrix.
H:  The subtle Kleśas are forsaken (i.e., destroyed) by the cessation of productivity (i.e., disappearance) of the mind.

 Meditation will silence these kleshas and their offshoots.

 II.11        dhyāna-heyās tad-vṛttayaḥ
I:  The fluctuations of consciousness created by gross and subtle afflictions are to be silenced through meditation.
B: The states of mind produced by these kleśas are eliminated by meditation.
H:  Their means of subsistence or their gross states are avoidable by meditation. 

 There you go then.  Meditation will eliminate the causes of suffering. 

Last Part, if you haven't figured it out:  So where does Karma fit in? 

Now let us examine Karma again and how Kleshotic influences shape our actions.
Remember Vyasa’s statement that comes waay early in the sutra, after YS I.5:

"The painful are those that cause the afflictions and become the field for the growth of the vehicle of actions (karmashaya)." 

How do the Kleshas cause us to act?
 If we fundamentally do not understand that what we look at in the mirror is not our true selves, we see that transitory thing as separate from other things; and because it’s all we think we’ve got, we try to preserve it. 

Ignorance leads to the sense of “I”-ness, a separate self made of transient materials, that somehow needs to be preserved.

And because all sorts of wonderful and joyful experiences are possible by means of this always-changing, but seemingly distinct “I” body, and to provide for its preservation is pleasurable, that “I” becomes attached to pleasurable experiences.

From our effort to preserve our notion of who “we” (not quite real) “are” (not quite real), we become jealous and protective of certain aspects of our identity and we keep close watch to preserve them. We sometimes even violently throw away from us those things that threaten our self or identity.  This is Dvesha, and this is sometimes why relationships begin and always why they end, and also why wars start. 

And Voila: Wheel of Karma: ready, set, roll. We are drawn to what our senses tell us is a good, and we do something to experience and respond to that good, and it generates a memory of a good, which spurs a new desire which gives rise to new action to experience the good.  Just turn this sentence around and you get how aversion (dvesha), and fear of death (abhinivesha) work.  These all set in motion the Wheel of Karma, turned by the ego to preserve, protect, and decorate its notion of its self, and to steer away from that which is harmful to its notion of its self. Memory and anticipation spur us forward. Even at the moment of death, our sense of self will be unavoidably stricken by the imminent loss of its cherished “I”, and because of the desire to preserve this existence we will seek a new life, a re-incarnation, to generate new experiences of self.  There are many complex explanations of just how this transfer of a soul to a new body occurs, that varies by school of philosophy and practice, but despite this all agree that it is the Wheel of Karma that keeps us reincarnating lifetime after lifetime, and it is the nature of our tendencies and actions that shapes our experience, and sets us on the course of this life and future ones as well.

The definition of a “good” Karmic action is either one that does not arise from afflictive thoughts, or that does not give rise to Kleshotic, or afflictive thoughts.  See the sutras explaining Kriya Yoga for more information, and really, read all of the second chapter of the YS to learn more.

 Just One More Note about God 

We discussed this sutra earlier this year, and it’s worth drawing it out again to note that the definition of Ishvara, or God, is one who never was and never will be touched by klesha and karma.  

1.24      kleśa - karma vipākāśayair aparāmṛṣṭaḥ puruṣa-viśeṣa Īśvaraḥ  

B:  The Lord is a special soul.  He is untouched by the obstacles [to the practice of yoga], karma, the fructification [of karma], and the subconscious predispositions.
I:  God is the supreme being, totally free from conflicts, unaffected by actions and untouched by cause and effect.
H:  Iśvara is a particular Puruṣa unaffected by affliction, deed, result of action or the latent impressions thereof.
R:  Iswara is a distinct Purusa, untouched by the vehicles of affliction, action and fruition.
P: By “Lord” is meant a particular conscious being [purusa] who [unlike us] is untouched by obstacles to enlightenment or by the stores of ripening karma [habits or moral debts acquired through action]. 

God, we must also note, is not made of Prakriti or matter, but is purely Purusha, which is entirely different.  Purusha does not change, has no vrttis, and does not do anything.  Purusha can witness and even embody itself in the world of Prakriti (in the way Krishna embodies himself as the friend and charioteer for Arjuna during the Bhagavad Gita) and in fact some schools of philosophy consider that Prakriti is there for the “entertainment” of Purusha.  But no matter, Purusha is NOT Prakriti.  Therefore, it is not subject to the push and pull of the gunas and consequently has no citta vrttis and consequently no kleshas, and because there is none of this, there is no karma either. 

God doesn’t do anything, so God creates no karma. 

So let’s be clear:  humans are made of Prakriti matter.  We have always to reckon with the doings of Prakritic nature by means of our Prakritic nature.  That is, we have some form of the kleshas at work in us, one way or another, and our training as Yogis is what can help us to gain a measure of detachment and control over those tendencies and actions, and apply, as Prashant Iyengar calls them, Anti-kleshotics through our yoga practice.   Maybe one day we can gain enough control of our minds and our bodies that we may if we wish step off the Wheel of Karma entirely.  This is another way of describing Kaivalya, or Liberation, the topic of the fourth chapter of the Yoga Sutra. 

 So remember, klesha is to be avoided by the yogi accomplished in his or her practice, but it is a normal part of existence for all the rest of us.  The issue for us is always HOW we are to minimize the kleshotic influence in our thought and action, so our work is as clear of karmic residue as possible, and helps us move toward freedom.

 This will lead us to the nuts and bolts of Yoga Sadhana (Yoga Practice), coming right up in the November Philosophy and Asana Series on Saturday Nov. 22.