अक्लिष्टा- Akliṣṭa
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Blog author Jayaraman Mahadevan
क्लिष्टा- kliṣṭā
& Akliṣṭā
Both the words are closely connected and hence they are dealt under one entry.
Etymology
क्लिष्टा - kliṣṭā
क्लिश् + क्त = क्लिष्टा
kliś + kta = kliṣṭā
· kliś is the root. There may be two roots क्लिश् – उपतापे - kliś – upatāpe (to be ill, to be sad, to suffer) क्लिश् – विबाधने - kliś – vibādhane (to torment, to distress, to hurt, to suffer, to misbehave).
· kta is the suffix. The suffix is added to the root by the grammatical rule निष्ठा niṣṭhā (aṣṭādhyāyī 3.1.93). The meaning of the suffix here is karma (object of the action – here it indicates the object of affliction).
Based on this, the derivative statement of the word will be - क्लिश्यते इयम् इति क्लिष्टा – kliśyate iyam iti kliṣṭā - that which is afflicted (the vṛttis).
अक्लिष्टा - akliṣṭā
न क्लिष्टा = अक्लिष्टा
na kliṣṭā = akliṣṭā
· Na means not
· kliṣṭā - that which is afflicted
These two words join to form a nañ-tatpuruṣa compound, which is as per the grammatical rule नञ् nañ (aṣṭādhyāyī 2.2.3).
The derivative statement is already indicated above (na kliṣṭā, akliṣṭā) - that which is not afflicted is अक्लिष्टा akliṣṭā.
Both the above words (kliṣṭā & akliṣṭā) end with an elongated vowel to indicate that they are feminine gender. These two words are adjectives. In Saṃskṛta language the adjective takes the gender of the word/noun it is qualifying. The word qualified by these two words is vṛtti which is in feminine gender. Hence these two words are also in feminine gender.
Lexicon
There are two references to the word in Amarakośa.
- सङ्कुल-क्लिष्टे परस्परपराहतम्
saṅkula-kliṣṭe parasparaparāhatam (1.6.19)
saṅkula, kliṣṭa and paraspara-parāhata are three words used to indicate self-contradiction
- क्लिष्टः क्लिशिते
kliṣṭaḥ kliśite (3.1.98)
The one who has attained affliction is kliṣṭa or kliśita
It will become clear from the textual references from yoga literature that it’s the second sense in which the word kliṣṭa is used in the Yoga context.
Textual Occurrences
Yogasūtra
There is just one reference of the two words which is found in the first chapter of the text.
वृत्तयः पञ्चतय्यः क्लिष्टाक्लिष्टाः ॥ १. ५ ॥
vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭākliṣṭāḥ .. 1. 5 - Herein it is stated that vṛttis are of two types - afflicted and non-afflicted.
Bhagavadgītā
There is just one reference to a connected term in this text parikliṣṭa.
यत्तु प्रत्युपकारार्थं फलमुद्दिश्य वा पुनः ।
दीयते च परिक्लिष्टं तद्दानं राजसं स्मृतम् ॥ १७.२१ ॥
yattu pratyupakārārthaṃ phalamuddiśya vā punaḥ .
dīyate ca parikliṣṭaṃ taddānaṃ rājasaṃ smṛtam .. 17.21 ..
The word parikliṣṭa is described by Śrī-śaṅkara-bhagavat-pāda as[1]- with a lot of suffering.
This word appears in the context of Rājasic charity where one who gives in expectation of return help or purpose and with great sense of suffering (does not share with joy).
Haṭhayogapradīpikā
The word kliṣṭa as such is not found in this text. But related expression kleśa is found in numerous occasions in the text, which will be discussed when the word kleśa of yogasūtra is analyzed in this series.
Observation
It has to be noted that - though the textual references of appearence of these two terms are given in this post - The word kliṣṭa can be understood better when the words in the second chapter of yogasūtra such as kleśa, avidyā, asmita, rāga, dveṣa asmitā are studied and their influence on the activites of the mind are understood. The word akliṣṭa - canbe understood when the eight limbs of Yoga are studied and their influence on the actions of the mind is reflected upon.
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