Avidya (Spiritual Ignorance)

Introduction

• Avidya is commonly described as an error in spiritual perception — the error of regarding the non-self as the Self.
• Avidya is described in Sutras 2.4 and 2.5.
• Sutra 2.5 is translated by Sri Swami Satchidananda as: “Ignorance is regarding the impermanent as permanent, the impure as pure, the painful as pleasant, and the non-Self as the Self.”
• It is described as the foundational issue from which the other kleshas arise.

ALL KLESHAS BORN FROM AVIDYA

Our daily experience of life suggests that there is a truckload of causes for suffering, but ultimately, they are grounded in only one cause — avidya, “ignorance.” All the other kleshas are born from ignorance of our True Identity.  – Reverend Jaganath Carrera 

AN ERROR IN SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION

Ordinarily, avidya means ignorance but in [Sutra 2.5] it means something different… It is an error in spiritual perception… Avidya is a kind of psychosis, not a neurosis. It causes duality through which name and form are fabricated. In the Bhagavad Gita, it is said that under the influence of avidya, dharma is mistaken for adharma, and vice versa… Avidya is the divine illusion, a kind of veil, a morphic dose, a defect of psychic vision. We misunderstand our relations with people due to avidya, just as we mistake a rope for a snake. –  Swami Satyananda Saraswati 

Key Teachings

• Yoga Philosophy explains avidya as the fundamental cause of suffering.
• The purpose of yoga practice is to reduce and eliminate avidya.
• By definition, we don’t realize we are (i.e., we are ignorant of) experiencing avidya. Avidya clouds our perception.
• T.K.V. Desikachar makes the important point that we are more able to notice the absence of avidya than its presence. Feeling peace is a sign indicating clear seeing (and thus, avidya is likely to be absent).
• Nicolai Bachman points out that being open-minded and aware paves the way for eliminating avidya.
• Sally Kempton explains that true wisdom (vidya) is different from intellectual knowledge. It comes from an understanding “on a visceral level” which means dismantling avidya via a “multilayered process” that may require different types of yoga practice.

See Also

• Theme: Causes of Suffering

PROFOUND PEACE INDICATES ITS ABSENCE

We seldom have an immediate and direct sense that our perception is wrong or clouded… Indeed, one of the characteristics of avidya is that it remains hidden from us… Avidya clouds our perceptions… As long as the branches of avidya [asmita, raga, dvesa, abhinivesa] are expanding, there is a great chance that we will make false moves because we do not weigh things carefully and make sound judgments. When we perceive that problems have somehow arisen, we can assume that avidya was instrumental in their making. Yoga decreases the effects of avidya so that true understanding can take place. We notice avidya more by its absence than its presence. When we see something correctly there is a profound peace inside us—we feel no tension, no unrest, no agitation… The essential purpose of yoga practice is to reduce avidya so that understanding can gradually come to the surface. –TKV Desikachar 

KNOWLEDGE VS WISDOM

If someone points out to you that you are responsible for your own inner state, you might think, “I know!” But knowing that truth intellectually doesn’t change your feelings or behavior. It doesn’t stop you from trying to cajole or manipulate your friends and partners and children into acting the way you think you “need” them to act… For that knowledge to become vidya, or true wisdom, you need to understand it on a visceral level… Dismantling avidya is a multilayered process, which is why one breakthrough is usually not enough. Since different types of practice unpick different aspects of avidya, the Indian tradition prescribes different types of yoga for each one — devotional practice for the ignorance of the heart, selfless action for the tendency to attach to outcomes, meditation for a wandering mind. – Sally Kempton 

ADDRESSING AVIDYA

Avidya can be eliminated by the light of knowledge, in the form of accurate information based on correct perception (pramana) and directly experiencing our inner light of awareness (purusha)… Being open-minded contributes to learning the truth and clearing the film of avidya off the lens of our chitta. Working to weaken the other mental-emotional afflictions will gradually wipe away the grime of ignorance and allow our inner light of awareness to shine forth into the world for the benefit of everyone around us… Picture yourself walking into a dark room and all of a sudden, someone appears and scares you. If you had known ahead of time that the person was there, how might your reaction have been different? How much less would your level of fear be? The more  you are aware of, the weaker avidya is – Nicolai Bachman 

VIVEKA LEADS US AWAY FROM AVIDYA

We do not understand the essence of things for we know things only superficially… We can properly understand the essence only through viveka. In Indian mythology there is a bird called hamsa which can separate milk from water. This is a process of viveka, which leads you away from avidya toward vidya…Avidya is a negative aspect; it is an absence of a positive state. Just as we do not have to fight with darkness in order to remove it—darkness can be removed by light. In the same way, avidya is removed by viveka; that is enlightenment. –  Swami Satyananda Saraswati