The Gunas – Living a Quality Life

When I first learned about the Gunas or qualities as described in the Bhagavad-Gita, I found it refreshing to find that I was no longer lazy - tamasic energy was arising and needed to be balanced; I was no longer frantic with a need for change – it was just rajas pulling me along. Those fewer times when everything was going just right and I felt the world to be my playground, well, I must have been lucky enough to stumble into a puddle of sattva!

Reading the Gita, I started to see how these energies just ‘were’ and that although the human condition necessarily keeps you involved in their endless cycles, that there was a sense to it all and a chance to at least control my reaction to the shifts, knowing that they would shift again. As initial fascination turned into years of practicing yoga and meditation, I still struggled with the relationship of the duality of rajas and tamas to the purity of sattva. Are all the energies equal?  If so, why are rajas and tamas considered negative while sattva gets all the ‘props’? 

Taking a closer look at these qualities, we are told that as Brahman (the original cause) divides into Purusha (pure consciousness) and Prakriti (material existence), the gunas, or qualities, are next set into motion, providing the basis for all creation, all emotion, and all action. The movements of rajas or frenetic, grasping energy, tamas or the energy of dissolution, ignorance and indifference, and sattva or the energy of tranquility and goodness pervade our body and mind.

We all want to be tranquil and good, right? But if we try to hold onto that energy, aren’t we becoming a bit, well, grasping (rajasic), or even (*gasp*) ignorant (tamasic) of reality as other energies arise? If we view rajas and tamas as negative, (and, poor tamas gets an especially bad rap) we miss that all three gunas are necessary elements in creation. After all, if things did not disintegrate, there would be no room for the fresh and new. If there were no dissatisfaction with the status quo, how many great ideas would be lost? If we are to believe the Vedas and the Gita, all these elements were created equally and at the same time. In the Hindu tradition, there is a god and goddess for each of the energies and they are all owed veneration. So, just how are we to proceed?

In the Bhagavad-Gita 14:11, it reads “When sattva predominates, the light of wisdom shines through every gate of the body.” In modern terms we may talk about being ‘in the zone’ or ‘on our game, a state characterized by calm energy and lucid thinking and acting. Books, tapes, seminars and business standards are all built around trying to attain this state, and in fact, some do help to meet specific goals but most try to harness the sattvic side of rajas while repressing tamas and call it a day; trying to bring the results of a sattvic state of mind without following sattvic ways of living.

By cultivating sattva we allow ourselves to enjoy the movements of rajas and tamas without identifying with them. The sattvic person attending a sporting event appreciates the skill of all the players while his rajasic counterpart is emotionally distraught if his team loses, or irrationally happy when they win. The tamasic fan, well, he probably just stayed home!

The qualities of the gunas blend and meld into infinite combinations. You can engage frenetic energy as a means to attain a sattvic goal of helping someone, or be lazy in a way which approaches healing relaxation. The predominantly sattvic person will make the best use of rajasic and tamasic energies, noticing when they arise and capitalizing on rajas to move efforts forward, and knowing to rest and rejuvenate when tamas is prevalent. 

Cultivating sattva is surely a balancing act; a veritable dance with the cosmos, but as spiritual aspirants, we must remember that sattva guna is still part of prakriti, enfolding us in illusion. While sattva guna attaches us to happiness and knowledge rather than materialism or ignorance, there is still a state beyond the gunas which attaches to none of these. In the Bhagavad-Gita 14:25 it is said, “The one who is indifferent to honor and disgrace; who is the same to friend and foe; who has renounced the sense of ownership and doership; they are said to have risen above the Gunas and attain nirvana.”