The Five Roots of Suffering
Five roots afflict the mind — ignorance, ego-clinging, attraction, aversion, and clinging to life.
Beneath the surface of my suffering, which of these five roots is lodged?
📝Reflection
Kleśa, from kliś "to torment, to stain," means "affliction." Patañjali diagnoses the mind's ailments as five roots. A-vidyā (ignorance) is failing to see truth; asmitā ("I-am-ness") is clinging to the ego; rāga is attraction to the pleasant; dveṣa is pushing away the unpleasant; abhiniveśa is the instinctive clinging to life. We usually treat only surface feelings, but Patañjali says look at the root beneath. Ignorance breeds the ego, and the ego breeds attraction and aversion. See the root, and you stop plucking at leaves.
🌱Apply It Today
Take one painful feeling today and dig one layer down: 'is the root attraction, aversion, or ego?'
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
