Iyengar: Lack of true knowledge is the source of all pains and sorrows whether dormant, attenuated, interrupted or fully active
Taimni: Avidya is the source of those that are mentioned after it, whether they be in the dormant, attenuated, alternating or expanded condition.
Carrera: Ignorance is the field for the others mentioned after it, whether they be dormant, feeble, intercepted, or sustained.
All three commentaries mentioned that avidya or ignorance is the root of all the other klesas (afflictions). Taimni says it best when he makes an analogy of the klesas to a tree – avidya is the root, asmita (ego) is trunk, ragas (attachements) are the branches, dvesas (hates) are the leaves, and abhinivesahs (attachements to life) are the leaves.
The states that these klesas can be in are dormant, feeble, alternating or active. All the commentaries mention that a highly developed yogi(ni) has the klesas in a dormant state. They are there but the environment is not favorable for them to manifest (like a tree). Carrera uses the example of a baby who does not yet have the environment to express the “foibles we see manifest in adults”.
Carrera also mentions that the intercepted or alternating state is what we usually see in practicing yogi(ni)s. Sometimes a yogi(ni) can make their klesas dormant, other times not. Practicing yoga creates the environment for making klesas dormant.
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