The cure for the pain is in the pain
Cultivating klishta-vrittis, and weakening even subtler kleshas using Dhyaan
Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Salutations to all the teachers.
“The cure for the pain is in the pain.”
- Rumi
Last week, we began a discussion on the two techniques wherein Dhyaan (ie. meditation) can be used to weaken the kleshas from a tanu (ie. weak) to prasupta (ie. dormant) state. Together, they fall under a method called smriti, which literally translates to “memory”, in that klishta-vrittis, or coloured thought patterns are “remembered” so that Dhyaan can be applied to them.
The two methods are:
Noticing distracting vrittis during your regular practice of Dhaaranaa
Intentionally allowing, or cultivating agitating thoughts
The first method is applied to “intrusive” thoughts, that is thoughts that automatically arise in the mind during Dhaaranaa.
Once these kinds of thoughts more or less stop appearing, the second method can be applied, wherein klishta-vrittis are intentionally surfaced and cultivated so as to fully experience them through Dhyaan, and therefore weaken them to a prasupta, or dormant state.
A word of warning
Both of these methods can only be applied once the kleshas are sufficiently weak (specifically, if they are in a tanu state). Otherwise, the agitated, and therefore scattered mind does not allow for attention to deepen into Dhyaan.
Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, trying a method like this when the kleshas are strong can result in further mental agitation, and can even be harmful.
To make this clear, consider someone with an addiction to alcohol. At first, the klesha of raag (attraction) strongly colours any vritti relating to alcohol - this could be a perception (pramaan), illusion (viparyay), memory (smriti) or imagination (vikalp). As a result of the strength of the klesha, one or more of these vrittis is persistently present in the mind. This state of the klesha is known as udaar, or strong.
Then, after practising some of the preliminary techniques, or through some other method, the klesha may become weaker. Here, there are no persistent vrittis relating to alcohol, but if a vritti somehow arises in the mind, the addiction becomes strong again. You can imagine a person who is trying very hard to weaken their addiction, perhaps going to meetings or taking other steps. If such a person sees alcohol, especially in the early days of their journey, it can trigger the addiction again, and even if they do not act on it, it can create significant mental turmoil, even undoing any effort they may have made to weaken their addiction.
On the other hand, if the klesha has become weak (ie. tanu), even when a vritti relating to alcohol arises in the mind, the resulting attraction will not be sufficient to result in mental scattering. Then, since the mind will not become scattered, Dhyaan can be used as a tool to weaken it.
While the example here is about addiction, the same principle also applies to any of the other kleshas such as aversion or fear. One can imagine someone who has gone through violent trauma, for example, where a vritti about a similar kind of violence appears in the mind either through perception, by hearing about it, or even by just thinking about it. The same feelings are likely to arise again as occurred during the first experience, thus scattering the mind, and perhaps even increasing the strength of the kleshas (since the person is essentially reliving their experience).
Given this, it is extremely important to be honest with yourself about the strength of your own kleshas before intentionally bringing up klishta-vrittis in the mind.
Now for the method.
The only way out is through
Warning: This technique should be practised with great care, and only if you feel like it will not cause you harm. If your kleshas are stronger than the tanu state, it can lead to exacerbation of the kleshas, and increase rather than weaken suffering. If you are not sure what level of strength your kleshas are at, please read this article before proceeding. Make sure you are being honest with yourself, and remember the four keys to practice.
The meme below summarises a situation we may find ourselves in when it comes to troublesome or painful thought patterns:
And following is a response to that meme from @curliecuecal on Tumblr, that summarises the Yogic approach beautifully:
If a thought pattern is not fully experienced, it will return.
The only way to weaken the effect of a thought pattern is to fully experience it - to move through it, rather than away from it.
In the analogy above, the cabinet can only be properly used once the door is opened, regardless of what the damage may be. Suppression only keeps the thoughts in limbo, and allows them to erupt in unexpected ways.
For example, you may have regret about not having done something in your life, which then turns into resentment or anger against the people around you. The mind is a filter to your every waking experience, and so these feelings can erupt into anger for people who were not related to the initial regret at all. It can even colour how you view the world, increasing the number of viparyay-vrittis as compared to pramaan-vrittis.
To make this clear, let us continue with this example of regret turning into resentment, which then filters every waking experience. Let us say you are scrolling through Instagram, and you see someone posting an image of their travels. If the kleshas that constitute regret (more on this below) are in your mind, seeing this image is more likely to result in feelings of sadness or jealousy. Additionally, you are more likely to construct an idealized image of that person’s life (ie. a viparyay-vritti) than if you had weakened these kleshas sufficiently.
P: Ok I get it. I have to weaken the kleshas so that I don’t feel as much suffering. But what is the technique?
Jogi: The technique is simple - just fully experience things, rather than suppressing or blocking them. This applies to subtle thoughts during meditation, but, perhaps more importantly, to your day to day life. If you are watching a movie, and want to cry, then cry. If you are listening to something that makes you feel angry, allow the feeling to arise. Don’t block, don’t suppress. Suppression applies pressure on the mind, and, like a pressure cooker, it will eventually burst. For kleshas that persist in a subtle form, they can be weakened to a dormant state in meditation.
P: Got it. But I want to know how to deal with the subtle kleshas during meditation. I understand how to deal with the ones that come up automatically - the intrusive thoughts - but how do I deal with the ones that I don’t even know exist?
Jogi: First of all, in meditation, only weak kleshas can be made dormant. If kleshas are any stronger than the tanu state, trying to solve them with meditation would be like trying to clean a dirty barn floor with a toothbrush. Once the kleshas are weakened through Kriya Yoga and the preliminary techniques, meditation becomes an effective tool.
However, in order to practice this technique, we must first re-familiarize ourselves with the method of breaking down complex feelings into their constituent vrittis and kleshas.
Beyond labelling thoughts
In a previous article on weakening the kleshas, we discussed a method to categorise and label complex thought patterns. As a brief recap, what we normally call “feelings” are usually an abstraction over a group of klishta-vrittis (ie. coloured thought patterns). Given that there are five types of vrittis and five types of kleshas, we can create a simple table to break down any feeling that we may have. Here is an example that we had previously discussed, where we broke down the feeling of regret into its constituent vrittis and kleshas:
“Try to remember a time that you felt regret. Notice, you felt regretful about something, it wasn’t just “regret” hanging in thin air. This “something” is the underlying vritti - specifically, it is a memory vritti. Now given that you feel regretful, this means that you wish it had gone differently - this means that not only do you dislike the way it went (memory coloured by aversion), but there is also an imagination-vritti of an alternative past coloured by attraction. In addition to all this, there are also imaginations about the expected and desired future, coloured by aversion or fear, and attraction, respectively. Finally, there is a perception of the present situation coloured by aversion. All of these are also coloured by asmitaa, or “I am”-ness, since this is all about your idea of “me” - this didn’t go well for me or mine, and I wish it went better for me or mine.
To summarise, what you call “regret” is actually:
A memory (smriti) of the past coloured by “I am”-ness and aversion
An imagination (vikalp) of an alternative past coloured by “I am”-ness and attraction
A perception (pramaan) of the present coloured by “I am”-ness and aversion
An imagination (vikalp) of the anticipated future coloured by “I am”-ness, aversion, and maybe fear
An imagination (vikalp) of an alternative future coloured by “I am”-ness and attraction”
Any mental movement can be broken down in this way. Try it for yourself, and feel free to reach out with clarifications by responding to this email, commenting below, or leaving an anonymous message at r/EmptyYourCup.
With some practice, this categorisation becomes second nature, and can be easily done mentally. As a sort of “hack” you may notice that whenever the last three rows (attraction, aversion or fear) are filled in, the first and second rows (ignorance and “I am”-ness) are filled in too. This is because recognition of objects requires avidyaa (ignorance). Additionally, in order to be attracted to, averse to, or fearful of something, it requires a “me” who is attracted, averse, or fearful. Asmitaa, (“I am”-ness) stems from avidyaa, and attraction, aversion, and fear stem from asmitaa.
Avidyaa → Asmitaa → Raag, Dvesha, Abhinivesha.
At first, even if you get really good at labelling thoughts like this, the sheer volume, intensity, and speed of thoughts in the mind can make it a nearly impossible task. This is why the practice of Yoga begins with the preliminary practices (ie. eka-tattva-abhyaas, the Brahmavihaaras, and the six stabilising techniques), moving through Kriya Yoga, and then the first six limbs. These techniques weaken the kleshas, making the volume of troublesome thoughts small, and making them extremely subtle. Due to the subtlety of these kleshas, the Yogi feels a lot calmer and clearer, but this also means that a more subtle tool is needed to address any subtle kleshas that still persist.
Once the kleshas become weaker, the vrittis become fewer, and labelling becomes easier. But labelling is just a first step to make sense of what’s going on in what can otherwise feel like a tangle of mental happenings. It can also help us to sift out the actual experience (pramaan) from the muddle of surrounding mental images (viparyay, vikalp, and smriti).
In this way, labelling helps to remove the identifying power of thoughts, but it may not necessarily weaken them, and the same thoughts may still come up again.
Intentionally cultivating agitating thoughts
In the first technique of smriti discussed last week, the Yogi applies Dhyaan to klishta-vrittis that naturally arise during Dhaaranaa. In this technique, however, the Yogi intentionally brings up klishta-vrittis, using the buddhi, in order to experience them completely.
There are two possibilities here - you either know that the kleshas exist in the mind, or you don’t.
For the first scenario, where you know that the klesha exists, the method is to cultivate the vritti that is coloured by the klesha (e.g. if you know you have an addiction to alcohol, the method is to surface a mental image of alcohol). This basic technique applies whether or not we start out by knowing whether a klesha exists in the mind.
On the other hand, there are kleshas that are so subtle, that you may not know that they exist. In this case, the first step is to uncover the existing kleshas, and then to apply the first method of cultivating a vritti that will put the klesha on full display.
We will discuss the first approach today, and next time we will go over a few methods to uncover unknown or hidden kleshas.
Notice, that the basic method does not involve digging into the storyline.
For example, suppose you are dealing with an addiction to alcohol. Rather than digging into the story of why you became addicted, when you had your first drink, what leads you to keep coming back, etc., we are dealing with the sensations of addiction itself - noticing what it feels like to be drawn to alcohol, and watching the feeling with curiosity and openness, befriending it and getting to know it from every angle.
This is not to say that there is no value in digging into the storyline. This can be tremendously helpful for many people, and can certainly help to uncover kleshas that one was previously unaware of. However, this approach is different from how it is dealt with in Yoga.
The basic method: Cultivating the triggering vritti
In order to experience the kleshas, the vritti is brought to mind intentionally. This method is fundamental to weakening kleshas that are too subtle to arise on their own, but can only be used once the Yogi becomes aware that the kleshas exist in the mind.
To make the method clear, let us use the example of the alcohol addiction. Here, the Yogi with a weak (tanu) addiction would bring an image of alcohol to mind. This could be done by actually looking at a bottle, by imagining a bottle or the act of having a drink, or by remembering a time when they had a drink. Then the following outline can be followed:
Before sitting for your practice, set the intention (ie. sankalp) that you will weaken the klesha of raag towards alcohol, and decide on the vritti that you will use today. This could be a memory, an imagination, or a sensation such as a physical bottle in front of you, or something that smells like your favourite drink. Now, you sit for your practice, in your Aasana, and practice some Praanaayaam, then withdraw your senses using Pratyaahaar. You then bring your mind to the breath, your regular aalambanaa.
The mind wanders, and you return it to the breath, as is your regular practice.
Eventually, the mind sticks to the breath, and you have entered a state of Dhyaan. Allow the state to remain as it is for a few breaths, relaxing into it.
Then, when you are ready, release the aalambanaa, and start to cultivate the vritti that you decided on before you sat down.
Allow the sensation of attraction to arise, and notice it from every aspect using the laser-focused attention of Dhyaan. Lean into it as you would lean into an aalambanaa. At this point, as you try to lean into it, you may feel an automatic tendency to “block” the sensation of attraction, or otherwise suppress it. Notice this feeling, and the associated kleshas.
Watch how the mind dances with the feeling of addiction, with curiosity, as though you are seeing something amazing for the first time. Use the same laser focused attention of Dhyaan on these new klishta-vrittis, and befriend them. See if you can notice any “tells” or “clues” that will allow you to recognize that the klishta-vritti is arising, as early as possible.
Eventually, the associated klishta-vrittis will start to weaken. At this point, return your attention to the initial vritti (ie. the bottle, the imagination of a drink, memory of a drink, etc.). Lean into it once again, and notice if the klesha of attraction has become less intense. Stay here as long as the mind allows.
Don’t fall into the trap of trying to continue labelling the vrittis and kleshas. This is helpful initially, but at this point just observe carefully, and “feel” the mental movements rather than putting in effort to “discern” them. It can help to keep the eyes fixed on a physical location - internal or external (e.g. the eyebrow center, the heart center, etc.). Notice both mental and physical sensations that arise. Does your breath change? Do other thought patterns arise? As before, notice any clues that can help you to identify the thought pattern earlier and earlier.
If other sensations arise again, watch them carefully, weakening them with Dhyaan, repeating the process - bring the initial vritti to mind, watch the klesha, watch associated klishta-vrittis until they disappear, and bring the initial vritti to mind again.
When you feel ready, return the mind to the breath, leaning into it and releasing any tension that may have been generated. Notice the strength of the klesha, and take notes to see if it has weakened or become more intense. If it has become more intense, focus your effort on Kriya Yoga until the kleshas reach a tanu state. If it has become less intense, continue this practice the following day.
P: In the example of alcohol addiction, it seems pretty obvious. If I was once addicted to alcohol, I would remember that, and I can easily follow my own journey as the addiction weakens. But what about kleshas that are so subtle, that I don’t even know if they’re there? How can I find out what I should be focusing on?
Some kleshas are more obvious than others. With the example above, if a person has been dealing with a particular addiction, aversion, trauma, or other manifestation of kleshas, they would most likely know some, if not all, of their triggers. As a result, they are able to cultivate the triggers intentionally.
However, most of our kleshas are so subtle that we don’t know that they are there. The first step, then, is to bring awareness to them.
This can be done in many ways, such as by momentarily letting go of the aalambanaa and carefully watching the apparently “silent” mind, by contemplating our dreams, and by contemplating the vitarkaa.
Next week, we will discuss three methods to bring awareness to kleshas that we don’t even know exist, so that the same method discussed here can be applied to weaken them.
Until then, as always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions, objections, or clarifications. You can respond directly to this email, leave a comment down below, or post anonymously at r/EmptyYourCup.
Until next time:
For next time: Keep track of the Yamas and Niyamas this week.
Classify the strength of your known kleshas using the framework described in this article.
Increase the length of your seated practice by five minutes.
Continue to take notes on the distracting thoughts that arise during Dhaaranaa.
Optional: If you are able to regularly and predictably get into Dhyaan, try to apply this method, but only if you feel that it will not cause you harm. Be honest with yourself, and know that there is no rush.
Next time: Uncovering unknown kleshas
Need to hear this