The 5 Kinds of Ignorance

[Bhava dasa (ACBSP)]

The five kinds of ignorance:

(1) accepting the body to be the self,
(2) making material sense gratification one’s standard of enjoyment,
(3) being anxious due to material identification,
(4) lamenting, and
(5) thinking that there is anything beyond the Absolute Truth.

—
“Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu drive away the five kinds of ignorance of the conditioned souls. In the Mahābhārata, Udyoga-parva, Forty-third Chapter, these five kinds of ignorance are described. They are (1) accepting the body to be the self, (2) making material sense gratification one’s standard of enjoyment, (3) being anxious due to material identification, (4) lamenting and (5) thinking that there is anything beyond the Absolute Truth. The teachings of Lord Caitanya eradicate these five kinds of ignorance. Whatever one sees or otherwise experiences one should know to be simply an exhibition of the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s energy. Everything is a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa.”

[ 04. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta / Ādi-līlā / Ādi 1: The Spiritual Masters / Ādi 1.102]