Patanjali Yoga Sutra — 2.4॥Avidyākṣetramuttareṣāṃ prasupta tanu vicchinnodārāṇām॥
अविद्याक्षेत्रमुत्तरेषां प्रसुप्त तनु विच्चिन्नोदाराणाम् ॥
The first of obstacles, ignorance (ādhyātmika ajñāna) is the root cause for the proliferation of all other miseries which could be in the form of any of these: latent/covert (prasupta), weak/feeble (tanu), on the verge of surfacing any time (vicchinna), vigorous (udārāṇām).
Patañjali Maharṣi now deals with the obstacles one by one and says, ignorance (ādhyātmika ajñāna), is the root cause for the proliferation of all other miseries. And these miseries, being in any of the aforesaid forms, might manifest when there is a favorable atmosphere.
Bhagavān differentiates between men endowed with divine nature and that of diabolic or demoniac characters. The latter resembles the ignorant people described by Patañjali:
प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च जना न विदुरासुराः।
न शौचं नापि चाचारो न सत्यं तेषु विद्यते ॥गीता १६.०७॥
pravṛttiṃ ca nivṛttiṃ ca janā na vidurāsurāḥ।
na śaucaṃ nāpi cācāro na satyaṃ teṣu vidyate॥Gītā 16.7॥
People with āsurī (demoniac) nature are ignorant of what is to be done and what is not to be done. Hence, they do not have either internal purity or external purity and lack pure demeanor and truthfulness.
असत्यमप्रष्ठं ते जगदाहुरनीश्वरम्।
अपरस्परसम्भूतं किमन्यत्कामहैतुकम् ॥गीता १६.०८॥
Asatyamapratiṣṭhaṃ te jagadāhuranīśvaram।
aparasparasambhūtaṃ kimanyatkāmahaitukam॥Gītā 16.8॥
They say this world is unsupported, untrue, Godless. It has just come from the sexual conjugation and obviously, the ultimate goal of life is nothing other than enjoyment (This is also called cārvāka philosophy).
Bhagavān classifies men into Daivī and āsurī. Daivī persons do believe in the existence of God and all their actions lead to liberation. āsurī are demoniac in nature and their actions, beliefs are heinous, sinful and bind them to the humdrum of mundane life. They are atheists and this creation is just an accident come out of nothing but the conjugation of opposite sexual characters. However high a vulture might fly, his eyes would be searching only for filth and dead creatures on earth, similarly, whatever might be the growth, āsurī characters look only for sensual pleasure, material wellbeing, etc, in their lives, sans any kind of belief in the Divine. They are like camels eating thorny leaves despite the bleeding mouth. They taste their own blood and happily munch the thorny leaves! Atheism is deliberate twisted falsification of the ultimate truth, emanating out of wrongly applied reasoning and rational power.
