Sutra 2.9

स्वरसवाही विदुषोऽपि तथारूढो भिनिवेशः॥९॥

svarasavāhī viduṣo’pi tathārūḍho’bhiniveśaḥ॥9॥

Svarasavaahii=sustained by its own force, flowing on automatically; viduSho.pi= even the learned (or wise); tathaa= in that way; rUDhaH=riding, dominating; abhiniveshaH = great fear of death, strong desire for life

Taimni

"Abhinivesha is strong desire for life which dominates even the learned (or the wise)."

There are two notable points in this sutra:

The first is that the strong desire for life is established even in the learned. One needs to understand the distinction between learned (vidhushaH) – one who is merely intellectually strong, and wise.  A person becomes wise only when all the five kleshas have been completely eradicated. For a learned person who has a sharp intellect, on the other hand, the kleshas are still operative.

The second point in the sutra is that this desire for life is ‘swarasavahi’ which means it is sustained by its own inherent force. As per sutra 2.4, Avidya is the root cause of all the kleshas including ‘abhinivesha’. Since avidya is beginning-less and everyone is born with an element of avidya, it implies that abhinivesha is a part of our inherent nature. Abhinivesha is merely the final manifestation of all the kleshas.  Raga (attractions) and dvesha (repulsions) are the immediate cause of abhinivesha. Thus, stronger are the likes and dislikes, more prominently noticeable will be the desire for life or fear of death.

Aranya

"As in the ignorant, so in the learned the firmly established inborn fear of annihilation is the affliction called Abhinivesha"

Abhinivesha, the fifth of the five kleshas, arises out of loss or the threat of loss of the sense of identification of the body with the Self. This affliction is in the shape of fear, fear of death being the highest of fears. This klesha is a result of the ignorance (avidya) which is the root cause of all kleshas.

Vyasa makes a significant observation with respect to this sutra  – fear of death which is common to all creatures can only be present if there is a past memory of such an experience. Vyasa says that death was experienced only in past lives which is carried in the present life as a samskara, and hence the sutra establishes the theory of reincarnation.

Bryant

"The tendency of clinging to life affects even the wise; it is an inherent tendency"

The previous two sutras indicated that raga and dvesha are caused by positive or negative memories of any experience. In the same manner, the klesha abhinivesha is a result of the past memory of death. Since death happened in a past life, this sutra establishes previous lives.

Even a new-born worm is afraid of death. This fear is not a result of the form of knowledge mentioned in sutra 1.7 – three forms of ‘pramana’ – direct knowledge, inference and testimony. This can only be explained by a latent impression (samskara) of a previous experience of death.

This klesha is found not just in ignorant people but even in people who are learned. The reference to learned here is not to the people who have attained samadhi but to those whose learning is based on pramana, as mentioned above.

Discussion

The word abhinivesha is a compound word derived from the root word ‘vish’ (to enter), preceded by the two prefixes ‘abhi’ and ‘ni’. The literal meaning of the word is ‘strong desire to hold on to something’. In the context of this sutra it represents a strong desire to cling to life with the extended meaning of ‘fear of death’. Essentially the word may mean any kind of fear. This klesha is a result of the previous two kleshas – raga (attraction) and dvesha (repulsion). Raga leads to the fear of losing something that we desire to hold on to, or the fear of not being able to get what we strongly desire. Dvesha leads to the fear of getting something that we truly dislike (disease, for example), or the fear of not being able to get rid of something that we dislike (again disease, for example). The ultimate fear, of course, is the fear of death.

The word ‘vidushaH’ is the genitive case of ‘vidvat’ or ‘vidvAn’ which literally means one who knows. There is some disparity in interpretation of this word among the commentators. Some have stated that it refers to one who has attained samadhi. Others believe that it only refers to one who has knowledge of the scriptures but has not realized the self yet. I tend to agree with the later view. If, indeed, a person has become knowledgeable  as a result of samadhi, then there should be no more fear for that person.