Patanjali enumerates five causes of chitta vrtti creating pain (klesa).
These are:
- Avidya (ignorance or nescience); (2) asmita (the feeling of individuality which limits a person and distinguishes him from a group and
which may be physical, mental, intellectual or emotional); (3) raga
(attachment or passion) ; (4) dvesa (aversion or revulsion) and (5)abhinivesa (love of or thirst for life, the instinctive clinging to worldly
life and bodily enjoyment and the fear that one may be cut off from all
this by death). These causes of pain remain submerged in the mind of
the sadhaka (the aspirant or seeker). They are like icebergs barely showing their heads in the polar seas. So long as they are not studiously
controlled and eradicated, there can be no peace. The yogi learns to
forget the past and takes no thought for the morrow. He lives in the
eternal present.