Long before modern psychology, ancient Indian sages like Patañjali, Vyāsa, and Śaṅkara explored perception, emotion, memory, desire, and fear. Drawing from the Veda, Upaniṣad, and the Bhagavad Gītā, this tradition teaches that suffering stems not from outer events, but from inner responses – especially identification with the ego and its patterns.

Sanātana Dharma psycho-spiritual philosophy differentiates between the mind and the psyche. ‘Mind’ is used in a narrower sense to refer to conscious cognitive functions like thinking, reasoning, and awareness. ‘Psyche’ refers to the totality of the human faculty of experience, encompassing conscious, subconscious and unconscious states.

In the Sanātana Dharma tradition, the aim of spiritual psychology is not merely to cope with life’s challenges, but to progress toward spiritual freedom – realised through transcending the ego and cultivating equanimity. To achieve this, it is essential to understand the workings of the psyche and identify its afflictions.

Antaḥkaraṇa: The Inner Instrument

The psyche is not viewed as a single, unified faculty but as a dynamic instrument composed of four interacting parts:

• Manas: the lower mind, that processes sensory input, creates perception and gives rise to emotions
• Buddhi: the higher mind, or intellect, that is capable of judgment and wisdom
• Citta: the reservoir of subconscious impressions, habits, desires, and memory traces
• Ahaṅkāra: the ego-principle, or the sense of ‘I’ that personalises all experience

These four collectively make up the psyche, or Antaḥkaraṇa.

When an event occurs, say, someone insults you, Manas perceives the words, Buddhi judges them as offensive, Citta  recalls similar past experiences, and Ahaṅkāra reacts: “How dare they insult me?”

Ahaṅkāra: The Ego

Ahaṅkāra allows a person to say ‘I am this’, forming a coherent sense of self. Ahaṅkāra is what connects the five senses, Manas, Buddhi, and Citta with the idea of ‘me.’

From the perspective of Vedānta, neither of the above are the self. The True Self is Ātman– the Eternal Divine Spirit that resides in us all. It is pure consciousness – beyond body, mind, and emotion.

However, without Ahaṅkāra, there is no personal agency or continuity of experience. Ahaṅkāra serves as a central organising structure for cognition, emotion, memory, and decision-making. It links the Ātman with the body-mind-sense complex, enabling interaction with the world. Without it, functioning in the world – eating, speaking, learning, defending, surviving – would be impossible.

The ego creates dualities – pleasure and pain, success and failure. All suffering and emotional turbulence arise when Ahaṅkāra takes control of this inner machinery, leading to reactive states.

Egoic Filters

Modern psychology speaks of the ego being influenced by cognitive schemata and conditioned responses. Sanātana Dharma frames these in terms of four egoic filters:

• Triguṇa: three dispositions of the psyche
• Bhāva: emotional states
• Saṃskāra: psychological imprints
• Kleśa: egoic afflictions

These filters colour Ahaṅkāra, which in turn tints every experience with personal bias.

1. Triguṇa: Three Dispositions Of The Psyche

Emotions are dynamic forms of energy, arising from biochemical changes and neural activity in the brain. They act as internal signals, transmitted via neurons through electrochemical impulses across synapses.

Three qualities (Guṇa) of emotional energy are present and active in all individuals at all times, giving rise to the three fundamental dispositions of the psyche and shaping all its aspects. Together, they are called Triguṇa.

• Sattva: clarity, light, harmony, wisdom
• Rajas : activity, desire, passion, restlessness
• Tamas: inertia, resistance, ignorance, darkness

The Triguṇa are in constant flux in every individual. They interact dynamically within the psyche and deeply influence emotions and the ego states rooted in them.

2. Bhāva: Emotional States

Emotion arises when the senses encounter stimuli and the Manas interprets them. Specific Bhāva, or emotional responses, arise in the Manas depending on whether the stimulus is perceived as pleasing or displeasing, beneficial or harmful, safe or threatening.

There are nine principal Bhāva, each influenced by the dominance of a particular Guṇa at the time:

Bhāva	Dominant Guṇa	Tendency
Rati	Rajas or Sattva → devotion	desire, craving, affection, love or devotion led by Sattva
Hāsa	Sattva	amusement, joy, humour, playfulness
Krodha	Rajas + Tamas	anger, hostility, frustration, aggression
Śoka	Tamas	sorrow, grief, depression, feeling of loss
Jugupsā	Tamas	hatred, disgust, revulsion, judgmental aversion
Bhaya	Tamas + Rajas	fear, apprehension, anxiety, insecurity
Utsāha	Rajas or Sattva → Dhārmika effort	enthusiasm, motivation, courage or Dhārmika effort led by Sattva
Vismaya	Sattva + Rajas	wonder, awe, reverence
Śānta	Sattva	peace, tranquillity, contentment, inner stillness

Each Bhāva represents an intersection of internal impressions and present stimuli. These emotions are not inherently good or bad but become problematic when the ego clings to or resists them.

3. Saṃskāra: Psychological Imprints

Stored mental impressions from past experiences, known as Saṃskāra, play a significant role in shaping the emotional tone of present experiences. These impressions are embedded in the subtle layers of the psyche through repeated stimulus-response patterns of thoughts, emotions and actions.

When the Manas processes a current stimulus, it doesn’t respond in isolation. Instead, it subconsciously draws upon this reservoir of past impressions to interpret and evaluate the situation. This gives rise to emotions that are not merely reactions to the present, but are deeply coloured by the residue of past experiences. For example:

• Past trauma → fear, anxiety
• Past joy → longing, nostalgia

The manas retrieves these stored patterns to give meaning, relevance, and intensity to the current emotional state.

Thus, the Manas, in responding to present stimuli, is constantly engaged in a dialogue between what is currently perceived and what has been previously experienced, making the emotional landscape of a person deeply personal and contextually rich.

4. Kleśa: Egoic Afflictions

Kleśa refers to the five primary afflictions that cloud the mind and affect emotions. 

• Avidyā: ignorance of reality
• Asmitā: illusion of identity
• Rāga: ego state of attraction
• Dveṣa: ego state of aversion
• Abhiniveśa: ego state of fear

All Kleśa, are seen as stemming from or being fuelled by egoic identification, making the entire set of Kleśa essentially ego-related afflictions. While Avidyā and Asmitā serve as the roots, Rāga, Dveṣa, and Abhiniveśa are direct emotional expressions of the ego’s attachment to experience.

Avidyā

Avidyā refers to ignorance of one’s true Self, Ātman. This fundamental misunderstanding of reality leads to misidentification of the self with the body, mind, and ego. 

Avidyā leads us to mistake the transient for the eternal, and emotion for essence.

Asmitā

Asmitā, or false identity, is the primary manifestation of Avidyā. It is the attachment to the ego and the erroneous belief that the immediate experience of the mind is the true self.

Experiences from roles, status, or possessions create an illusory self-image. When these are lost, suffering arises – not from the event itself, but from the collapse of the ego-constructed identity. For example, losing a job devastates someone who identifies as a successful professional, revealing the deep pain of ego loss.

Rāga

Rāga is associated with the emotions Rati, Hāsa, and Vismaya.

Rāga arises when the ego identifies with joy-producing experiences and clings to them. This can lead to overindulgence, addiction, and emotional dependency. As described in Bhagavad Gītā 2.62–63, “From attachment arises desire; from desire, anger; from anger, delusion.”

An instance of emotional dependency is the experience of the thrill of admiration.  Over time, attachment to being praised fuels expectation, entitlement, and eventual disappointment.

In its refined form, Rāga can express as devotion, love, or care. It can also motivate excellence – such as the artist’s love for beauty or the seeker’s longing for God.

Dveṣa

Dveṣa is associated with the emotions Krodha, Śoka, and Jugupsā.

Dveṣa arises when the ego rejects what it perceives as unpleasant, objectionable, or hostile. This can harbour hatred, resentment, prejudice, and aggression.

For instance, if a person repeatedly experiences rejection in relationships, they may develop a generalised aversion to intimacy. Over time, this may result in loneliness, despair and suppression of emotions.

Abhiniveśa

Abhiniveśa is associated with the emotions Bhaya, Śoka, and Jugupsā.

This is the most subtle and persistent of all afflictions. Abhiniveśa is not just fear of death but fear of ego-death – of losing control, identity, relationships, or meaning. Even enlightened beings are not completely immune to it.

While Abhiniveśa can promote caution, self-preservation, and spiritual humility, it can paralyse action, feed anxiety, and prevent transformation. It often manifests as over-attachment to security, routine, or dogma.

Equanimity

Sthitaprajñatā is the state of equanimity. Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 2, Verses 54–72 describe an equanimous person as one of steady wisdom, unmoved by the dualities of life. Such a person is called Sthitaprajña.

Bhagavad Gītā 2.56 says, “He who is not disturbed by sorrow or elated by joy, and who is free from attachment, fear, and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.”

This state is not emotional suppression or indifference. It is equanimity rooted in Self-knowledge. The Sthitaprajña sees pleasure and pain, gain and loss, with equal vision, knowing them as passing waves, not as definitions of Self.

1. Why Equanimity Is Necessary

• Psychological Resilience: A calm mind is not thrown into chaos by external events. For example, if a business fails, a Sthitaprajña does not collapse inwardly because his identity was never anchored in success alone.
• Social Harmony: The Sthitaprajña is not reactive, so conflict is reduced. For example, even if insulted, he responds with composure, not retaliation.
• Freedom from Karma Cakra:  The ‘wheel of action’ or the ‘cycle of karma’ is called Karma Cakra. Equanimity allows actions to be performed without egoic entanglement and attachment to results. Bhagavad Gītā 2.56 says, “You have the right to action, but not to the fruits.”
• Spiritual Progress: Equanimity is a prerequisite for Self-realisation. Only a still mind can reflect the Self. A turbulent, reactive mind remains trapped in the web of pleasure and pain.

Sthitaprajñatā is not passive neutrality but the active transcendence of emotional turbulence through discrimination and detachment.

2. How To Become Equanimous

For a spiritual seeker, the evolution of consciousness moves in a flow:

Tamas → Rajas → Sattva → Turīya (state of pure consciousness)

• Tamas to Rajas: through learning and effort
• Rajas to Sattva: through self-discipline and reflection
• Sattva to Turīya: through detachment and self-awareness

Each stage involves refining the ego, transforming emotional reactions into conscious responses, and eventually realising that the ego itself is a construct – not the Self.

You need not be a spiritual seeker, but you can definitely try to be sufficiently equanimous through cultivating Sattva for a more contented life. Becoming equanimous is a gradual process which involves the following steps:

• Deep inquiry into “Who am I?” exposes the falsehood of ego identification.
• Philosophical study of scriptures like the Bhagavad Gītā reinforces higher truths.
• Acting without craving for outcomes steadily dissolves attachment and clears the mind.
• Observing transient thoughts with mindfulness weakens their grip and builds inner stillness.
• Surrendering to a higher reality loosens the ego’s control and cultivates humility.

Practical Example: When someone criticises you, the ego feels attacked. The untrained mind responds with anger or hurt. The aspiring Sthitaprajña observes this rise of emotion, but instead of reacting, investigates: “Is this me, or just a passing wave?” With practice, the ego’s reactions lose their intensity, and peace becomes the default state.

Conclusion

Sanātana Dharma offers not merely a map of the mind but a path to transcend it. Through the understanding of Antaḥkaraṇa, Ahaṅkāra, Triguṇa, Bhāva, Saṃskāra, and Kleśa, we see that our suffering arises not from events but from how we interpret and cling to them through egoic filters. The solution is not repression but realisation – to abide in our deeper nature as Ātman, unshaken by life’s dualities.

Sthitaprajñatā, or equanimity, is not the end of feeling but the end of compulsive reactivity. In a world driven by extremes – emotional, political, economic – this ancient wisdom is more relevant than ever.

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© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.

Sujata Khanna’s book, ‘The Eternal Law’, explores Sanātana Philosophy in its elemental form. Available on Amazon worldwide: India, USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherland, Poland, Sweden, Japan

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