Patañjali presents the kleshas as the fundamental psychological and existential afflictions that bind consciousness to suffering and cyclic existence. In the Sādhana Pāda, five primary kleshas are enumerated: avidyā (ignorance), asmitā (egoism), rāga (attachment), dveṣa (aversion), and abhiniveśa (clinging to life). Avidyā is described as the root field in which the others arise, defined as mistaking the impermanent for permanent, the impure for pure, the painful for pleasurable, and the non-Self for the Self. From this basic misapprehension of reality, asmitā emerges as the confusion of the seer (puruṣa) with the instruments of seeing (buddhi, citta), giving rise to the sense of “I-am-ness.” Rāga and dveṣa then follow as habitual movements of attraction toward pleasure and repulsion from pain, while abhiniveśa manifests as a deep, instinctive clinging to life, present even in the wise and experienced as fear of death.

These kleshas are not static; they can exist in states ranging from dormant to fully active, and they form the root of karmāśaya, the storehouse of karmic impressions. From this storehouse arise future experiences of pleasure and pain, as well as the conditions of birth and lifespan, thereby perpetuating saṃsāra. For one endowed with discriminative insight, all worldly experience is recognized as marked by duḥkha due to constant change, painful impressions, and residual conditioning, all in interplay with the guṇas. In this way, the kleshas obscure discriminative wisdom (viveka) between puruṣa and prakṛti and sustain the cycle of suffering through samskāras and karma.

Patañjali also outlines a precise soteriological strategy for addressing these afflictions. In their subtle form, the kleshas are resolved by tracing them back to their cause in avidyā and dissolving them through insight; in their gross, active form, they are to be overcome through sustained meditation (dhyāna). Kriyā Yoga—comprising tapas (discipline), svādhyāya (study and self-reflection), and īśvara-praṇidhāna (devotion or surrender to Īśvara)—is prescribed as a direct means to weaken the kleshas and prepare the mind for deeper absorption. The eightfold path of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga further purifies the citta, gradually thinning out these afflictions. When unbroken discriminative knowledge (viveka-khyāti) is established, avidyā is uprooted, the seeds of karma are exhausted, the disturbances of the guṇas cease, and kaivalya—the isolation of pure consciousness—becomes a lived reality beyond the reach of the kleshas.