Āsava

Effluent, influx, mental taint. Āsava (Pāli, equivalent to āsrava in Sanskrit) designates the deep mental tendencies that flow toward sensory objects and keep beings in saṃsāra.

Four āsavas:

1. Kāmāsava — Effluent of sensual desire
2. Bhavāsava — Effluent of attachment to existence
3. Diṭṭhāsava — Effluent of wrong views
4. Avijjāsava — Effluent of ignorance (the most fundamental)

The image is of a flow (sava) that constantly pours forth: deep tendencies that condition perception and action without our noticing. Not superficial thoughts, but underground currents that shape all experience.

The destruction of the āsavas (āsavakkhaya) is synonymous with complete liberation (arahant). In the Dhammapada, one who has destroyed the āsavas has crossed to the far shore and does not return.

In classical yoga, āsrava appears in the Jain system as karmic influxes that bind the being. The structure is parallel: there are deep contaminations flowing toward experience that must be stopped (saṃvara = containment, nirjarā = elimination).