---
type: Concept
bundle: yoga-darshana
bundle_version: "0.2.0"
id: avidya-yoga
title: "Avidyā (Yoga Darśana)"
iast: "Avidyā"
devanagari: "अविद्या"
description: "Active misidentification of the eternal witness with the body-mind, the root kleśa — not mere ignorance, not illusion."
darshana:
  - Pātañjala Yoga
  - Sāṃkhya
text_source: "YS 2.4–2.5"
tags:
  - Yoga
  - Patanjali
  - klesha
  - root-ignorance
  - misidentification
  - citta
not:
  - term: "ignorance"
    why: "implies simply not knowing something; avidyā is active misidentification, not mere absence of knowledge"
    instead: "Keep Avidyā (Yoga Darśana) untranslated; do not substitute the English term."
  - term: "illusion"
    why: "illusion is maya's territory (Advaita Vedānta); in Yoga Darśana, avidyā is misidentification within a real Prakṛti"
  - term: "lack of knowledge"
    why: "suggests the remedy is information; the remedy is direct discriminative seeing (viveka-khyāti), not data"
  - term: "delusion"
    why: "implies a confused subjective state; avidyā is an ontological misplacement of identity"
  - term: "unknowing"
    why: "too passive; avidyā actively substitutes a false self-concept for the true witness"
related:
  - /concepts/klesha.md
  - /concepts/asmita.md
  - /concepts/purusha.md
  - /concepts/prakriti-yoga.md
  - /concepts/viveka-khyati.md
  - /concepts/samskara.md
timestamp: "2026-06-20"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Avidyā (Yoga Darśana) — अविद्या

**Not:** ignorance, illusion, lack of knowledge, delusion, unknowing

The root kleśa — the primal misidentification from which all other afflictions arise. Patañjali defines it as the condition of *seeing the non-eternal as eternal, the impure as pure, suffering as pleasure, and the non-self as self* (YS 2.5).

## Etymology

- *a-* — negation prefix
- *vidyā* — seeing-knowledge, the direct recognition of reality
- *avidyā* — non-seeing; the failure to see things as they are

Note: *vidyā* here is not intellectual knowledge but the direct recognition (*darśana*) of the distinction between Puruṣa (pure consciousness) and Prakṛti (everything else). Avidyā is therefore not ignorance of information but **structural misidentification** at the level of being.

## Patañjali's Four-Fold Definition (YS 2.5)

*anityāśuciduḥkhānātmasu nityaśucisukhātmakhyātiravidyā*

Avidyā is the mistaking of:
1. The **non-eternal** (anitya) for the **eternal** (nitya) — e.g., taking the body-mind as permanent
2. The **impure** (aśuci) for the **pure** (śuci) — e.g., taking Prakṛtic modifications as pure consciousness
3. **Suffering** (duḥkha) for **pleasure** (sukha) — e.g., pursuing sense objects as if they could provide lasting satisfaction
4. The **non-self** (anātman) for the **self** (ātman) — the root: mistaking Prakṛti (mind, body, intellect) for Puruṣa

## Avidyā as the Field of the Other Kleśa-s (YS 2.4)

*avidyā kṣetramuttareṣāṃ prasuptatanuvicchinnodārāṇām*

"Avidyā is the field (*kṣetra*) from which the other kleśa-s — in dormant, thin, intercepted, or active states — arise."

Without avidyā, none of the other kleśa-s can take root:
- Asmitā (I-am-ness) arises because avidyā has confused Puruṣa with Buddhi
- Rāga (craving) arises because asmitā creates an apparent self that wants pleasure
- Dveṣa (aversion) arises from the same apparent self avoiding pain
- Abhiniveśa (clinging to life) arises from the apparent self fearing its dissolution

## Distinction from Advaita Vedānta

In Advaita Vedānta, avidyā is also central — but operates differently:
- **Advaita:** avidyā obscures the non-dual Brahman; Brahman and Ātman are ultimately identical; avidyā operates via māyā's power of concealment (āvaraṇa-śakti) and projection (vikṣepa-śakti)
- **Yoga Darśana:** avidyā is misidentification of Puruṣa with Prakṛti; Puruṣa and Prakṛti remain permanently distinct even in liberation (kaivalya); there is no non-dual Absolute in the Yoga system

This distinction matters enormously for AI systems referencing these terms across darśana-s.

## Remedy

Avidyā is uprooted not by intellectual understanding but by *viveka-khyāti* — discriminative discernment so continuous, direct, and unwavering that Puruṣa is permanently seen as distinct from all Prakṛtic phenomena (YS 2.26–2.28). This is the work of the entire eight-limbed path.

## Cross-References

- [Kleśa](klesha.md) — the five affliction-roots of which avidyā is the source
- [Puruṣa](purusha.md) — the pure consciousness misidentified by avidyā
- [Prakṛti (Yoga)](prakriti-yoga.md) — the material substrate mistaken for the self
- [Asmitā](asmita.md) — the I-am-ness that immediately arises from avidyā
- [Viveka-Khyāti](viveka-khyati.md) — the discriminative vision that dissolves avidyā
- [Saṃskāra](samskara.md) — the impressions that sustain avidyā across lifetimes

## Audience Metaphor

Avidyā is like seeing a rope in dim light and mistaking it for a snake — but the rope is Puruṣa (pure unchanging witness) and the snake is the ego-body-mind complex. The fear, reactions, and suffering that follow are not caused by the snake (which doesn't exist) but by the misidentification itself. When light of viveka-khyāti shines, the rope is seen as rope — and the snake (asmitā, rāga, dveṣa, abhiniveśa) collapses.

## Citations

1. [Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali](/references/yoga-sutras.md) 2.4–2.5
2. [Yoga Bhāṣya of Vyāsa](/references/yoga-bhasya.md) on YS 2.4–2.5
3. [Sāṃkhya Kārikā](/references/samkhya-karika.md) of Īśvarakṛṣṇa (kārikā 44)
4. Rajiv Malhotra — Sanskrit Non-Translatables (2020)
