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SANKHYA AND YOGA the life-monad's 'isolation.' Then the puruṣa, having its light within itself, becomes undefiled and isolated." 10
The Hindrances
Kleša, a common word in cveryday Indian speech, is derived from the root kliś, "10 be tormented or afflicted, to suffer, to feel pain or distress.” The participle kliśta is used as an adjective meaning “distressed; suffering pain or misery; faded, wearied, injured, hurt; worn out, in bad condition, marred, impaired, disordered, dimmed, or made faint.” A garland, when the flowcrs are withering, is klista; the splendor of the moon is klista, when obscured by a veil of clouds; a garment worn out, or spoiled by stains, is kliśta; and a human being, when the inborn splendor of his nature has been subdued by fatiguing business affairs and cumbersome obligations, is kliśta. In the usage of the Yoga-sūtras, klesa denotes anything which, adhering to man's nature, restricts or impairs its manifestation of its true essencc. Patañjali's Yoga is a technique to get rid of such impairments and thereby reconstitute the inherent perfection of the essential person. What are the impairments?
The answer to this question is one that is confusing to the Occidental mind, for it revcals the breach that separates our usual view of the inherent values of the human personality from the Indian. Five impairments are enumerated:
16 Yoga-sūtras 3. 55; Commentary. Woods, op. cit., p. 295.
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