Continuing with the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, we seek out a small but profound piece of wisdom—a thread to carry into our day. This is the essence of My Daily Thread Podcast: distilling ancient teachings into something we can live by, something we can work with.

Right now, our focus remains on the kleśas (क्लेशाः)—the mental afflictions that cloud our perception and drive our suffering. The kleśas are the root causes of human suffering. They color our thoughts, reactions, and behaviors, shaping the way we interact with ourselves and the world. Importantly, no one is exempt from them—they are present in all of us, regardless of class, race, age, or family background.

In Yoga Sūtra 2:3, Patañjali names the five kleśas: avidyā (अविद्या), ignorance or fundamental misperception; asmitā (अस्मिता), egoism or the sense of "I" and separation; rāga (राग), attachment to pleasure; dveṣa (द्वेष), aversion to pain; and abhiniveśa (अभिनिवेशः), fear of death and clinging to life.

Avidyā is the field from which all other kleśas grow. It is the fundamental misunderstanding of our true nature—the mistaken belief that we are our thoughts, our roles, our possessions. From avidyā comes rāga (attachment) and dveṣa (aversion), which we have been exploring deeply.

Today, we turn to Swami Hariharananda Aranya’s commentary for further insight into rāga and dveṣa. He defines rāga as:
"The desire or the thirst for pleasure, or hankering after pleasure, or the means leading up to pleasure. This is entertained by someone who has experienced pleasure and has an inclination to it. Rāga results from the remembrance of pleasure."

In other words, we become attached to pleasure not just because it feels good in the moment, but because we recall past pleasure and want to experience it again. This craving leads to an endless cycle of desire, pursuit, and suffering when pleasure is fleeting or unavailable.

Dveṣa, or aversion, is our tendency to oppose, reject, or push away what we find unpleasant. Hariharananda Aranya describes dveṣa as:
"Mental disinclination, the propensity to hurt, or anger towards the misery or objects that cause misery. We recall the misery we have had in the past and we resist or oppose it. Whether an object or a person, there is a natural desire to retaliate or resist further pain."

We don’t just experience pain in the present—we hold onto past pain, carry it with us, and preemptively resist anything that might cause discomfort in the future.

If we are stuck in rāga and cannot manage it, that is addiction—the constant seeking of pleasure, the inability to be at peace without it, the suffering when it is denied.

If we are stuck in dveṣa and cannot manage it, that is fear and anxiety—the avoidance of discomfort, the resistance to what is painful, the chronic tension that results.

We live in a world saturated with rāga and dveṣa—constant craving for pleasure, constant resistance to discomfort. The yogic path is not about eliminating these forces but learning to recognize and manage them.

So how do we do this? Through dedicated practice, through self-awareness, through reminding ourselves daily that we can do hard things. As Jeff tells his son, "We can do hard things." And managing rāga and dveṣa—learning to sit with discomfort, softening our grasp on pleasure—is one of the hardest and most transformative things we can do.