“Three Gunas (Tendencies)”

“Three Gunas (Tendencies)”

The expression of nature and ways to evolve beyond it 

Positive thoughts and right actions are the two pillars which make life blissful.  We all desire to have that. But often, with our own inherent tendencies, sometimes we create blockages on the path of realizing our own destiny. Swami Vivekananda said, “For what we call sin and sorrow have all one cause, and that is our weakness. With weakness comes ignorance, and with ignorance comes misery”. 

Those tendencies (gunas), which we carry from our past life’s activities, manifest and influence our thoughts, actions and attitudes in our present life also. 

These tendencies are broadly divided into three groups – Sattwa (purity and harmony), Rajas (Passion and action) and Tamas (inertia and laziness). They also work with different combination and in different ratios in each life. 

To move forward, we must break through Tamas, calm down Rajas and nourish Sattwa.  

Tamas is an energy which pulls us down. It makes a person lethargic, unhappy, discontent, complaining, but not really empower them to do anything.  Tamasic people have no interest, except expressing malaise to others. They remain in darkness in ignorance and always in the mood of denial. 

To wake up from the slumber of the Tamasic state, one must do regular exercises - pranayam, prayer and some selfless service every day. Meeting with enlightened people and reading spiritual books can also help one to come out from Tamasic inertia. Reducing the hours of sleep and watching TV are a good start. Diet should be natural, balanced with fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, milk products and whole grains. Any type of drugs, smoking marijuana, consuming alcohol, eating meat, fast food etc should be stopped completely. These habits totally destroy life by damaging brain cells, mental abilities and self control.

Rajas is the energy that creates desires, restlessness, competitiveness, and conflicts. Under the influence of Raja guna, a person is egotistic, forgets his inner self, and looks externally to get happiness through sense gratification. 

By being engaged in some meaningful, charitable, social and devotional work, he can calm down his Raja guna (restless and egocentric behavior), and can develop compassion and understanding for others. Leading a simple, contented life, eating healthy vegetarian food, he can bring more clarity and calmness in his nature, and also can develop harmonious relationship with others. 

Sattwa is a quality, which brings purity, harmony, wisdom and true knowledge. A Sattwic person has better control over his body and mind; he is humble, truthful and full of compassion for others. Sattwic qualities take the mind inward and upward - being calm and detached from all the fruits of his actions, he does his worldly duties as a service to God. He is stable, faces the ups and downs of life calmly, and without reacting, and he can act correctly in any given situation. He never gets confused or agitated in his body and mind. Without seeking for anything, his life gets blessed with peace, joy and harmony. Yoga terms such person as with “samadrishti – unaffected vision”. 

Our life’s activities are controlled by the interplay of these three gunas born of nature. But there are always possibilities open to us to improve our life by transforming the basic instincts and working to achieve higher spiritual values. That effort is called Purushartha (our own effort). This purushartha is the main focal point of Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita prescribes this for all of us to do in life, and says that it is the only way for our liberation. 

With right effort, we can upgrade ourselves step by step from Tamas to Rajas, and from Rajas to Sattva, when we can establish happy relations with all and can spread harmonious vibrations around us.

The Bhagavad Gita tells us to go one step further and try to develop total equilibrium of mind (samatva), and that is possible when one can go beyond all gunas, and can be balanced in pleasure and pain. 

“who is same in honor and dishonor, the same to friend and foe, has renounced the sense of doer-ship in all actions, he is said to have risen above the qualities (gunas)” (Bhagavad Gita, chapter 14/ verse 25).  According to Vedanta, in that state, one is strong and fearless. The Sanskrit word “Trigunatitha” means, who has gone beyond three gunas. Such person becomes one with Brahman, and he does not have to go through the circle of birth and death any more. That soul merges with supreme soul and become fully liberated. 

Edited by Prodeep Bose