A. Sattva (goodness) the energy of sustenance.
B. Rajas (passion) the energy of creation.
C. Tamas (ignorance) the energy of annihilation.
Four Steps to Understanding the Absolute Truth
The topic of the three gunas will be examined in four main stages, according to the traditional system:
1. What are the gunas?
2. How do they act?
3. How do they cause unity?
4. How can they give liberation?
When a living being enters the material world, he comes under the influence of the gunas. Absolutely everything in the material world is created by these energies. They are like the three primary colours red, blue and yellow; by mixing them, a wide variety of colours and sub-colours are created.
The gunas are the force that gives all beings the opportunity to fulfill their desires, providing an endless variety of ways to do it. This arrangement is made possible by the Supreme Existence.
Knowledge of the three gunas is extremely relevant for us. If we understand it we can achieve liberation, or at least improve all aspects of our life, because these energies are present everywhere.
Sattva is the most important energy, because it determines how happy and successful we can be in life. But it does not come naturally to us: we have to choose it consciously. Rajas and tamas come easily; our civilization welcomes rajas and its qualities of passion, activity and creativity.
The gunas permeate everything our clothes, food, speech and even our thoughts. When people quarrel, this is a manifestation of the energy of tamas. When a man lusts over beautiful women, this is rajas. When a person meditates, performs yoga and wishes happiness for everybody, this is sattva. It is tamas when we are half asleep or inert, or if we show signs of this destructive energy by thinking negatively about someone or wishing them harm.
When we learn to see the gunas in everything and how to change from one to another, it allows us to control our life and our karma.
We need to see through the eyes of knowledge to recognize the gunas everywhere and to choose the guna of sattva (goodness). The guna of goodness gives liberation from sins and bad habits and enables us to rise to the transcendental (spiritual) level. Conversely, it is possible to be engaged in spiritual practices and yet be in rajas and tamas. In this situation, even many years of spiritual practice will not bring enlightenment but only the opposite we can destroy our own lives and the lives of those around us.
Success in Life Depends on the Right Choice
I can always choose; but I should know that even if I dont, I have still made a choice.
Jean-Paul Sartre1. When we know the symptoms of the gunas and how they bind, we can determine which energy is controlling us. This can be compared to a map; you look at it and see where you are now and where you need to go. Without a map any journey can become difficult or lead to a tragic result.
2. By knowing what qualities are favourable for becoming a harmonious person, we are in a better position to make the right choice.
3. If we choose the guna of goodness, it will enable us to become happy and successful in all aspects of life.
4. According to Ayurveda, all psychological and psychiatric problems develop when rajas and tamas become active.
5. The ultimate achievement of the guna of goodness is a swift purification and transition to the transcendental level.
6. At this stage we can become free from the influence of all the gunas and achieve true freedom.
Modern western society is considered a free civilization, but from the perspective of enlightened sages, this is a society of slaves entangled by the lower energies and instincts. Everyone serves their senses, especially their tongue and sexual organs, and have a predictable reaction to everything if praised we are happy, and if criticised we are unhappy. Recently I met an American man in California who seriously practiced yoga and various forms of meditation. He noted sadly, Here in America everyone is crazy about food and sex.
The Functions of the Gunas
1. Bind: They constrict and restrain all living beings, causing the forgetfulness of their true nature: eternal souls, pure Being, Consciousness and Bliss. Gunas force us to plunge into the temporary illusive life of this world.
2. Create variety: Like the three primary colours red, blue and yellow that are the basis of all colours and sub-colours, the three gunas are the foundation of all varieties of manifestations, whose purpose is to attract our attention and keep us here in the material world.
3. Permeate: Everything in this world is in the gunas: our bodies, the air we breathe, words, thoughts, objects, etc For example, clothing can also be in the three gunas. A dirty shirt made of artificial materials is in ignorance, whereas a clean shirt made of natural materials is in goodness. Thoughts, subconscious agendas and arrangements are also in the gunas. Lazy and aggressive thinking is in ignorance. Thoughts of various desires for food, sex, work and honour are in passion. Thoughts in goodness are calm, magnanimous, and focused on self-realization and helping others to achieve happiness. These people attract others without any special effort. Only a few moments in the presence with this kind of person, who thinks about God and service to others, will bring joy, peace of mind and tranquil breathing.
Our natural environment is also in various gunas. For example, a lake in tamas is dirty, stinky and barely worthy of being considered a lake; it is more similar to a swamp. A lake in rajas is usually in a city, surrounded by different man-made things; a place where lovers meet and modern music plays. A lake in sattva is surrounded by beautiful nature with clean water and wildlife, where one may be inspired to meditate and the air is filled with prana (living energy).
It is considered to be very difficult to overcome the gunas because everything is saturated by them; we need clear vision and consciousness to be able to see how they act and how to become free of their influence.
The guna of ignorance (tamas) is very dangerous because it is destructive from the beginning to the end. The destructive power of tamas can be compared to radiation; it is invisible yet capable of destroying the physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of our lives when we come in contact with it. If we went to Chernobyl for a holiday, we might think we were enjoying ourselves, drinking, eating, etc but at the same time we would be completely destroying not only our own life but whatever we touch. Although we would be unaware of the effect it has, this kind of trip would bring suffering for ourselves and others, even our clothing would become contaminated.
The guna of passion (rajas) is activity performed with a goal to savour result of those actions. Karma-yoga is the method for overcoming this guna: the act of renouncing the fruits of ones labour by offering them to God.
The guna of goodness (sattva) is any action which purifies our consciousness.
When we clearly see our current condition we can raise to the transcendental state. Therefore, it is very important to liberate from ignorance, become well-established in passion and begin acting in goodness to achieve liberation.
Questions and Answers
Questions and Answers
Replacing Ignorance with Passion
Question: What exactly does it mean to become established in passion?
Answer: Tamas is inertia, laziness, sleepiness and filth. It has to go away. There is a saying: A brahman (teacher, priest) is not sorry for the time spent on cleanliness. First of all, we need to become active and move away from apathy, to arouse curiosity and thirst for knowledge. People in rajas are very curious and active. It means to become established in passion: to replace ignorance with passion and minimize ignorance in our life to a minimum.
Disadvantages of Television
Question: What guna is watching TV?
Answer: TV is predominantly in the mode of ignorance, as it makes a person passive. To a certain degree the same can be told about computers (for the expectation when it is a part of your work). Children in particular should be protected from the virtual world of TV as it gradually saps their intelligence, and they become more dull and stupid. You will never meet a successful, active and happy person who spends more than one hour a day watching TV. One professor told me, I got everything I have in life because I threw away my TV. Despite this, some programs and films are in goodness and can be watched, such as those dealing with spiritual or philosophical subjects or about nature.
Chapter 2
Spiritual Life and the Gunas
People where you live, the little prince said, grow five thousand roses in one garden yet they dont find what theyre looking for
They dont find it, I answered.
And yet what theyre looking for could be found in a single rose, or a little water
Of course, I answered.
And the little prince added, But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little PrinceEach of us is engaged in various types of spiritual practices to some extent and want to progress spiritually; otherwise we would not be interested in this kind of knowledge. But we need to realize that if we are established in the lower gunas, it is practically impossible to attain higher spiritual levels, regardless of how many years we practice. This is why it is extremely important to understand the gunas.
Religious Practices in the Lower Gunas Do Not Purify
If a priest, Rabbi or Guru is not mainly in sattva, he will neither be able to progress spiritually, nor help his followers to progress. Just consider how the majority of problems and wars in this world have been started by so-called spiritual leaders who were confident that what they did was right. For example, during the Crusades the Christian preachers used theft and violence to convert others to their faith; they did not consider it sinful to throw a pagan child into a bonfire.
If we are in rajas we think, My religion is the only right one. To bring goodness in the world means converting everyone to my religion.
In tamas we think, Violence is required and should be used.
People in rajas engage in service with the purpose of gaining some result or benefit for themselves. This is why these religious practices are on the level of, I will pray and God will help me by fulfilling my needs. This is very common in modern society. We often come across religious symbols being sold for money, with the claim that they can bring happiness. People often come to religion for recognition, power or wealth; people organize pilgrimages to holy places so that they can become rich, establish/improve personal life and so on.
Many people believe that Paganism is another form of worship, a form of Polytheism. Yet at some point it becomes a worship for the sake of material profit God, send me this, or save me from that. In the construct of this type of a mindset, if our desires are fulfilled we say God is good, but if not God is bad or people say that Satan has won. In some cases people ask a question, What happened to God? What on earth is He thinking? How did He let THIS or THAT happen? Only the sattva guna can truly inspire us to follow the path of spiritual perfection, helping us to become harmonious and balanced personalities.
A Combination of Passion and Goodness Can Positively Change Situations
If the person is in goodness he experiences happiness, contentment and is able to hear his intuition. If we do not experience these symptoms, it means we are bound by passion and ignorance. If everything surrounding us becomes permeated by goodness, it permeates us as well. Ignorance and passion come easily into our lives, but for goodness to come, we have to work first and input effort into achieving it. In order to become elevated into goodness, we must learn how to act proactively (which includes doing things in advance).
If we are living in ignorance, we will always complain about unfulfilled expectations, but in reality have little interest in changing ourselves. To make changes and progress, rajas and sattva are required. This is important for all of us, not only those engaged in spiritual practices. There is a real life story that illustrates it.
* * *A bomber of the USSR North Navy crashed due to a failure of the navigation system. The coastal service had sent the airplane in the opposite direction of the coast. When the air crew understood that they had been sent in the wrong direction, they turned around but there was not enough fuel to return to their base. They abandoned the airplane, parachuted and landed in the Barents Sea. They had three rafts. The captain thought they would not make it due to being too far of shore and it was too cold, so he shot himself. The second pilot got drunk and after a few weeks was found frozen to death. The navigator, a young lieutenant, had a dear wife and baby at home. His intense desire to see them again influenced his decision to make it at any cost. He paddled on his raft for two days without any food or water, using only his hands. When he reached the shore he had to walk for many hours, finally losing consciousness within sight of a fisher-mans cottage. He was found and after regaining consciousness, was brought home to his family without any serious harm. This is the guna of passion (action, determination) combined with goodness (optimism, fearlessness) together they can become a powerful force that can create miracles in all areas of our life.
* * *When we are in passion we try to change things; when in ignorance we just complain about our illnesses without a true intention to heal from them. Most sick people on an inner/ energy level actually want to remain as they are.
In passion, one who is sick will try first and foremost to relieve the symptoms by taking powerful Western/conventional medicine. The symptoms can actually disappear (for example, some tablets can eliminate a fever in one hour) but damage is also caused to our body because each tablet has many side effects. In passion we do not consider the consequences of the damage done, and our main concern is Now that it is gone I can get back to work/partying/etc..
I have a relative who is in his seventies. When he was young he once read about how dangerous and harmful almost all chemical medicines are; as a result he stopped taking them completely. After a couple of years all his ailments had gone and today he is still healthy and physically active on his farm.