Gun (qualities): sattv(a), rajas, tamas
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The three aspects of humans
Jaya Row, October 31, 2017: The Times of India
Human beings emerge from permutations and combinations of three qualities sattva, rajas and tamas. Sattva is pure, sublime, calm.Free from the turmoil caused by desire and ego. Rajas is passion born of endless desire that drives you to incessant activity . Tamas is laziness, indifference and inactivity arising from ignorance.
All beings have all three traits, the difference being in the proportion.Sattva makes for excellence in action, success, happiness and growth; there is energy , power and creativity . In rajas, you blunder because of mental agitation and inability to concentrate. Tamas is primitive, when you are asleep to your talent, abilities and potential. You choose a life of least effort, preferring indolence to even the good things of life.
Bhagwad Gita Chapter 17 highlights the importance of shraddha, worshipful pursuit of a goal until it is achieved.
Shraddha is the ability to keep the goal in focus and constantly put in effort until the mission is accomplished. A person may be highly talented and intelligent but may fail without shraddha, whereas, another with less talent may excel if the goal is pursued with single-pointed determination.
Shraddha can be sattvika, rajasika or tamasika. Sattvika shraddha is the ability to fix a goal beyond your limited, selfish interests and pursue it consistently until the goal is realised.Rajasika shraddha is the frenetic quest of selfish, materialistic ends. Tamasika shraddha is the stubborn adherence to a life of darkness and oblivion.
Krishna then categorises ahara, food; yajna, sacrifice; tapa, austerity; and dana, charity , as sattvika, rajasika and tamasika.
Sattvika foods are tasty, wholesome, nutritious and they give long life, vigour, health and happiness. You do not become sattvika by merely eating sattvika food! Sattvika people gravitate to healthy food that is conducive for intellectual and spiritual growth. Rajasika people like excessively bitter, pungent, sour, salty food that causes discomfort and disease.Stale, tasteless, unclean food and leftovers are the natural choice of tamasi ka people.
Sattvika tapa, sacrifice, is performed because it ought to be done, without desiring a reward.
When sacrifice is undertaken with an ulterior motive, for personal gain, name or fame it becomes rajasika. That sacrifice performed against scriptural mandate with no sharing of wealth, no higher ideal or charity is tamasika in nature.
Krishna details three kinds of penance or tapas that of body, speech and mind. This three-fold austerity performed steadfastly with shraddha, faith, desiring no fruit, is sattvika. Rajasika austerity is done selfishly with the purpose of gaining respect, honour and reverence. Misguided, self-torturing austerity practised with deluded obstinacy , often to hurt others, is tamasika.
Dana, charity , is an important aspect of human development. When you are deeply grateful for everything, you naturally develop the irresistible urge to give, share, and contribute. All givers are happy . And grow to their potential. Takers condemn themselves to a miserable, impoverished life. A gift given without expectation of reward, at the right time and place is sattvika charity . Given grudgingly , expecting a return is rajasika. And a gift given contemptuously at an inappropriate time and place is tamasika.
When you cultivate sattva it shines forth through every aspect of your personality . You bring joy and cheer to all those around you. And you move towards the state of enlightenment or God-realisation.
The three Gunnas
Swami Ram Swarup Ji Yogacharya , The three Gunnas "Daily Excelsior" 14/1/2018
Vedas are treasure of unlimited knowledge about creation, worldly matters, science, spiritualism etc. That is why all Vedas like Samved mantra 50, stress that to destroy sorrows, to attain long, happy life and to spread international brotherhood, all human-beings must listen and obey vedic preach. When the question about creation arises then.
Vedas ask- “Who am I” and in this connection preach about the creation of human body also. From Vedas, Rishi-Munis spread vedic knowledge preaching that human body is made of Prakriti which has Raj, Tam and Satva, three Gunnas wherein soul as well as God reside (Rigved mantra 1/164/20refer). So, we are souls and reside in human body made of Prakriti’s three gunnas quoted above.
Nowadays, when the sun of Vedas has almost set down, as a result most of the saints and people do not know about Prakriti which has three gunnas i.e. Raj, Tam and Satva which are the reason (Upadaan Karann) of the creation which includes human body.
But in the absence of vedic knowledge, the so-called gurus hardly preach above Vedic subject and seldom give any vedmantra in support of their preachings or writings which is necessary vide YogShastra Sutra 1/7 as aagam pramann i.e. proof of ved mantras in support of preach/writing.
Idea of expressing the above views is this that in the case of explaining the Raj, Tam and Satva gunnas, such gurus etc. would either hardly speak about prakriti , its three gunnas i.e., Raj, Tam and Satva or neglect the same, being ignorant of vedic knowledge.
Now,let us pay our attention towards Atharvaved mantra 9/9/9 which preaches about Traitwad. Mantra states that the aspirant while living with the family of disciples of the learned acharya gets knowledge of the Ved vanni which gives him the unlimited knowledge of the worldly and spiritual matters. He pays his attention to know about the Traitwad
i.e. about Prakriti, Souls and God by which the aspirant keeps himself free from diseases, remains without hatred andbecomes the purest. So, we must try to follow the said preach in our lives (Atharvavedmantra 1/1/4 also refers).
But here, we are studying about the three gunnas (qualities) of non-alive matter – Prakriti from the eternal knowledge of Vedas which emanate directly from God in the beginning of very creation.
Rigvedmandal 10, Sukta 129 and mantra 10/190/1 speak that after the lapse of time of the final destruction, only unknown and indescribable prakriti along with vedas are available before the God tocreate the universe. Prakriti is defined that it has three gunnas i.e., Raj, Tam and Satva. When the said three gunnas remain idle and do not work then this stage of three gunnas is called prakriti.
So, non-alive prakriti is the Upadaan Karann (reason) of creating the universe and alive Almighty God is the Nimit Upadaan karann (cause)of the creation. Because Prakriti alone, which is anon-alive matter, is not empowered to create the universe itself. It requires alive matter i.e. God. As in the case of making pots, the non-alive matter clay requires help from the alive matter- Potter.
Rigvedmantra 10/27/7 preaches that the God only waters the unknown, indescribable and non-alive prakriti. Here watering means the minutest part of the power of God acts in prakriti and creation starts. (Yajurved mantra 31/3 refers).
Rigved statesthat the God is lord of prakriti and from prakriti He creates and destroys the universe. When the God targets Prakriti then creation from Raj, Tam and Satva gunnas begins and if does not target then the final destruction remains. Therefore creation and the final destruction, both are under the control of Almighty God.
Mandal 10, sukta 130 preaches that the human-body is made of unlimited atoms of Raj, Tam and Satva gunnas of prakriti.
Atharvaved states (Tistraha Prajaha) living beings have the qualities of Raj, Tam and Satva, so they definitely come under the cycle of births and deaths but the human-beings who follow vedic path destroys the influence of said three gunnas and attain salvation.
Rigved mandal 10, Sukta 72 also briefs that Almighty God activates the three gunnas of Prakriti and thus creates the visible world from the invisible prakriti.
The next mantra preaches that from Upadaan prakriti which cannot be described, the described form is generated and then the whole world is created, directions, earth and all the living beings are created. Thus in the beginning of the creation, indestructible fire, the Sun (Surya) and from sun, the light of dawn (Usha) is generated.
So, we should remember that unseen Prakritiis the seed of universe, which is watered by God.
The definition of Prakriti is that it has three gunnas i.e. Satogunn, Rajogunn and Tamogunn. (Atharvaved mantra10/8/43 refers).
Sattogunn is form of light, Rajogunn is active and Tamogunn is indication of remaining lazy. Therefore the Sattogunnis learned. Rajo gunni chitta desires glory. Tamogunni chitta is lazy, ignorant, non-ascetic and irreligious. When by doing hard work/tapasya, the Rajo gunni chitta destroys the cover of attachment then the aspirant by becoming Sattogunni attains dharma (moral duties-religion), knowledge, ascetismand glory and the chitta when destroys the Rajogunn then the aspirant gets knowledge of intellect and soul and attains Dharam megh Samadhi; wherein the soul realizes God.
Kapil Muni in his Sankhya Shastra Sutra 1/26 also clarifies the definition of Prakriti that- “Satvarajastamasaam Saamyavastha Prakritihi” i.e. when the said three gunnas [qualities] of the Prakriti remain idle and thus donot act then this stage of the three gunnas is called “Prakriti” as said above. When the minutest power of the Almighty God acts in the Prakriti then as said above, the three gunnas become able to come into active form and the creation starts. As aresult, Mahat, the first matter of the creation is made from Prakriti. “Mahat”is called intellect.
From Mahat (intellect) ahankar is made; from ahankar five Tanmatra, five senses and five organs of action are made; from Tanmatrayein (Sooksham bhoot), the five corporal matters (sthool bhoot) i.e. fire (agni), water (jal), air (vayu), earth (prithvi) and space(akash) are made.
These are twenty four non-alive matters. Mann, buddhi, chitta, ahankar also originate from the three gunnas of Prakriti i.e. Raj, Tam and Satva. Therefore, the said three gunnas exist in mann, buddhi, chitta, ahankar. See, how important are these three gunnas of Prakriti to be understood.
Atharvaved mantra 10/8/43 states about the human body that-
(Pundareekam) The source of doing pious deeds, (Navdwarum) has nine opening ways (Tribhihi gunnebhihi aavritum) covered/made with Rajas, tamas and Satva; these three gunnas of prakriti, is human body.
So after having the priceless human body, everybody must follow Vedas for knowing and doing pious deeds only.
The purest soul is quite separate from any kind of influence of Raj, Tam and Satva gunn of prakriti. Idea is this that the relation of soul with prakriti brings the soul in bindings and the said contact of soul with prakriti is due to lack of judgement (Avivek) i.e., the soul comes into contact with Prakriti due to his lack of judgement.
So, Prakriti [Raj, Tam, Satvagunn] under the shelter of God is to discharge its duty in two ways- First- helps the Yogi to attain salvation.
Second- helps those persons who want to enjoy the pleasure of senses in materialistic articles and pomp and show etc.
Yogi achieves the motto of life i.e. salvation whereas the persons who enjoy the pleasure of senses and indulge in illusion, destroy their lives, after death do not get human body and immerse in the sea of sorrows.
So main motto of the human life is to restrain the senses from indulging in three gunnas of prakriti by following vedic preach.
Rajasic Gun(a)
Explained in Anu Gita
MM Goel, Implications Of Rajasic Guna In Anu Gita, May 28, 2018: The Times of India
The mid-point of the three gunas, is rajas – between tamas and sattva. All non-spiritual activities including social, economic, political and religious ones fall in the domain of rajas. As a teacher of economics, i have tried to draw implications of rajasic behaviour in any economy of the world, including India.
The common man’s struggle in life, providing for and taking care of the family in the competitive set up in a global world – where survival of the fittest is the mantra – is propelled by rajasic tendencies like selfishness, aggression, greed for wealth and power and worry about the outcome. Governments of various countries use all kinds of violence, including war of words, for serving the interests of their own countries, propelled by rajasic tendencies. The aggressive promotion of economic activities including consumption, production, distribution and exchange of goods are also rajasic in nature and content.
Donations given, expecting praise or a favour are rajasic. Looking after parents to influence them and to inherit their wealth is rajasic. Rajasic people appear to be efficient but their motivation is to ensure benefit for themselves, and their near and dear ones. All actions performed with expectation of getting rewards, activities of educational institutions that work for profit, and even acts of social service which are motivated by the desire to benefit a limited group, all convey rajasic behaviour.
The arrogance, hypocrisy and attachment to worldly objects, argumentativeness, desireprompted bhakti, gambling, all of these also fall in the domain of rajasic.
Rajasic people do whatever they desire, want and demand without considering its effects on others. They observe rituals that prevail in society, hoping that doing so will protect their acquisitions. They want to help only svajana, that is, those whom they call ‘our people’. They celebrate their acquisition of wealth and power but always remain worried and stressed with tensions of possible loss.
Rajasic people give donation for its own sake and do not bother to check the social use of their money. They believe that donations as well as performance of rituals with the help of priests will take them to heaven.
Greed urges rajasic people to strive for more and more, which may be better than tamasic behaviour, but still, not the best.
Let us try to ensure that rajas is replaced by sattva in the evolutionary manner and not revolutionary spirit of religious leaders of all shades and creed. It is crucial to replace rajas by sattva, because if rajasic cravings are not controlled, they make a person overlook the limits of behaviour so much so that one is led to perform even tamasic acts.
The root cause is greedonomics – greed for material power and wealth – which causes tensions, stress, lack of peace of mind and worries of all kinds that fill their heads. We must acquire knowledge of the harm done by greedonomics and rajasic tendencies prevailing today around the world, including India. This gives logic and rationale to pull ourselves up to rise above rajas and proceed in the direction of sattva.
Improvements in human behaviour need efforts for a long time but certainly justify needonomics (economics of need) that is the requirement of the day, and to move towards spirituality and spiritually guided materialism.
