Patanjali's yoga sutras

अविद्याक्षेत्रमुत्तरेषांप्रसुप्ततनुविच्छिन्नोदाराणाम्॥४॥

avidyā kṣetram-uttareṣām prasupta-tanu-vicchinn-odārāṇām

avidyā = ignorance

kṣetram= the location or ground

uttareṣām = for the rest (other than avidya)

prasupta = dormant

tanu= thinned out

vicchinna = cut back

udārāṇām = in full bloom

Read more: https://www.yogapradipika.com/yoga-sutra-2-4#ixzz8qoj87QNf 

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Dormant, scarce, scattered or overgrown, ignorance is the field in which the other obstacles grow.

“Avidya [non-seeing; ignorance of oneness] is the source of asmita [I-am-ness], raga [likes], dwesha [dislikes] and abhinivesha [attachment to the ego; fear of death]. Just as the seed is the cause of the whole tree, so avidya is the source of the four other kleshas. The kleshas have four states of expression. They may be dormant, when you cannot perceive them; sometimes they become thin, and they are experienced in a mild fashion. In the scattered condition they give rise to an oscillating state; otherwise they may be fully expressed. These various forms of the kleshas are observed in various people at different times. Usually, we are never free from them. Except in the case of a great yogi who overcomes them, the kleshas are found in other persons. So long as they are there, it is impossible to realize the self. 

“Avidya is the parent of all. The whole scene is in a series: from avidya [ignorance of the fact that our Īśvara consciousness is an essential, inextricable, integral part of the loving awareness that organizes and animates the universe; Īśvara is decentralized, the wisdom of this loving awareness exists in every embodied form of separation, when we surrender to it, we experience the oneness by living in a constant state of awe, wonder, bliss and pure consciousness] asmita [the ego, feeling like a separate self] is born; from asmita, raga [likes]; from raga, dwesha [dislikes]; and from dwesha, abhinivesha [attachment to the ego, the separate self and fear of death]. The root cause of all of this is avidya [ignorance of oneness], hence it must be properly understood. If one is able to control avidya [to see that our consciousness is one with Īśvara], one will easily control all the other kleshas.

“The whole process of uprooting avidya must start from the upper end. It is a process of involution. The process of involution is from abhinivesha to dwesha, then to asmita, then to avidya and then to vidya or enlightenment.”