The mistaken intellect of Pragya-Aparadh, and the resultant loss of connection with the True- Self, gives rise to Avidya. Present in all Dharmic systems and beliefs is the principle of Avidya, which means ignorance or delusion, and refers to a fundamental misunderstanding of who we are, of Unity, and of the nature of Reality. The word is derived from vidya, which means wisdom, and the prefix 'a' implies a lack of, or missing. It is this ignorance or delusion about the truth of nature and being, which seeks to veil the True-Self. Avidya is the deepest habit of consciousness, which manifests the trance of bondage, and the bondage of trance. Liberation is the realization of our True-Nature. Avidya is the blind-spot which shifts awareness from True-Nature, true connection, and True-Self. The Buddha realized Avidya as the primary cause of all suffering. The Patanjali Sutras state that 'Avidya is to mistake the impermanent for the eternal, the impure for the pure, sorrow for happiness, and the not-Self for the True-Self.'

The identification with the needs of self and its survival strategies are symptoms of Avidya. This gives rise to the manifestations of duality through the illusion of separation. The patterns and behaviors of 'i' as the doer are presented as subject and object, which keeps self, and all of humanity, confined to ego-consciousness, desire, karma, and suffering. The result of differentiation is the intent of Avidya, the apparent repression of True-Nature, and its' substitution with the false- self. In the space between 'this is' and 'this is not', resides the illusory hiding place of Truth.

Within the nature of identity, is that which precedes the fundamental wound that shapes and determines self and identity, the question 'who am i'. The ignorance implied by Avidya is not one of knowledge, but one of Awareness of the source of being. The resistance to connection becomes a way of life, and is supported by the roles one plays to feed the needs of self. Avidya plays itself out on many levels. Impermanence is mistaken for permanence. The conception of self is as much a passing state as feelings, sensations, or moods. The false-self identifies with those states and qualities, and believes it is the True-Self, and in so doing, becomes unaware of that which is unchanging. That which comes and goes is not True-Nature. There is no something else. Dependence provides emptiness.

Sensation creates thought and thought creates sensation, and the habit of misperception constructs conclusions. One does not think of feelings and sensations as being present, rather, one identifies with them. What arises is not 'happiness is present', 'anger is present', it is 'I am happy', I am angry'. The habit-force of judgement and identification, to me, to i, to the body, to thought, moods and personality, is automatic. The conditioning runs so deep, identification binds to happiness, in the same way it does with pain or suffering. Even the idea of who you are is a passing loop. Avidya is the identifying with that.

The dream is maintained, supported, reinforced, and worshipped by society. An internal and external stress maintains the trance, and the trance maintains an internal and external stress. Prana, life-force, follows the mind, and can manifest a false-sense of detachment as energies are directed outward, which creates a sense of emptiness, depletion, stress, and vulnerability in the body. Dissociation can follow, and along with suffering, can become a habitual refuge. Here the dualist- state is held, and longing grows, with the self in the illusory location of between, with the belief in the loss or absence of love in separation. Here stress is contained, supported, managed. Premature and accelerated aging of the body, illness and dis-ease, can follow.

Avidya acts on many layers and levels. Stories, memories, beliefs. The process of identification with sensations, manifests new sensations. One then reacts to the identification with fear, shame, blame, guilt, anger, aversion. This subtle pattern of habit, the habit of pattern, maintains the loop. Attachment is identification.

The subtlest awareness of the trance is the way of Self-realization, awakening, and the pathless path to liberation. When one begins to lift the veil or question the false-self, one moves towards realization and the vastness of True-Self. To accept the trance is to move from suffering, and towards waking, healing, and True-Nature. With Awareness of Avidya, one can focus on the Yogic practices for the Vasanas, the tendencies that are presented. Bhakti, as devotion for the heart, Jnana for knowledge, Karma for attachments to selfless outcomes, Raja for Awareness-based meditation and to control the mind.

The inherent primary human drive for knowledge is linked with Avidya, the loss of knowledge, and the egoic identification with the false-self. This is a survival instinct, a spiritual longing, and the movement from darkness to light. The need to know can be another form of Avidya through ego- bound identification, and a sense of loss of control. The search is another form of illusion. Nothing has been lost, nothing can be found. Realization requires no search.