distinctness of the puruÓsaas its sole remaining object, and all the seeds
of the afflictions (kle ́sas) are burnt up, then does it, so to speak, assume
a state of purity similar to that of the puruÓsa.
YBh 3.54Although cittamay attain to the purity of puruÓsaitself, all constituents of
the psychophysical person, including the capacities of knowing, are evo-
lutes of prakÓrti.Equating cittawith sattvaor purity in this context means
purifying the contents of the mind, so that the individual puruÓsa’strue na-
ture as consciousness manifests without limit. In kaivalya, there is cessa-
tion of the guÓnas’ transformations, which otherwise produce mental activ-
ity. The guÓnas’ transformations cease when they have fulfilled their
purpose. The purpose of their combining in myriad ways to produce the
manifold universe is, according to Yoga, to permit puruÓsa’s coming to
know itself by first knowing the world of prakÓrti. This is necessary be-
cause the embodied puruÓsa,in order to understand itself as consciousness,
initially needs an object of knowledge in order to experience itself as
knower. By engaging in progressively deeper modes of yogic meditative
knowing, the ultimate natures of prakÓrtiand puruÓsaare recognized and
differentiated, until the puruÓsano longer needs engagement with objects
of knowledge to experience the process of consciousness that is its nature.
The third and fourth kle ́sas, r ̄aga, ‘attraction’ (√raj‘to enjoy’) and
dveÓsa, ‘repulsion’ (√dviÓs‘to abhor’), both arise because of attachment,
that is, the Seer’s relation to things and experiences such that he is subject
to disturbance of mind due to contact with them [YS 2.7,8]. For a yogin
who has attained the goal of self-realization, his sense-organs still make
contact with objects of sensation, but when sensations arise they don’t
agitate the mind or strongly influence the yogin’s experience or actions.
R ̄agaand dveÓsaare rooted in ignorance, whose form in this case is failure
to distinguish what the UpaniÓsadscall preya, pleasure, from sreya ́ , the
higher good [KaÓth. Up 2:1–2]. On Yoga’s interpretation, r ̄agaand dveÓsa
result from attractions and repulsions concerning prakÓrti, and from the
assumption that prakÓrti’smanifestations are ultimate reality.
The fifth and final kle ́sais abhinive ́sa, desire for life or aversion to
death (√abhi, ‘into,’ ‘toward’; ni‘completely,’ ‘intensely’; √vi ́s ‘to enter,’
‘to be engrossed’). This affliction produces suffering by causing anxiety
about death. Death is ultimately an illusion, for the physical body is an
evolute of prakÓrti, thus not ultimately real. Death is merely the dissolu-
tion of the material constituents that compose the body, not the termina-
tion of a person’s being. In Iyengar’s words, yogic practice permits the
practitioner to experience “unity in the flow of intelligence, and the
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