THE THREE GUNAS
THE most wonderful creation of God is man. He is at his worst when he operates in the plane of animality. He is at his best when he operates in the superconscious plane. In him the triple qualities, or "trigunas" (equanimity, passionate activity, and inactivity) are at work. Inactivity and passionate activity hold him firmly in their grip. He performs actions with selfish motive when passion prevails and never hesitates to steal, deceive, kill or do any wrong action. When he is benefited he is most active. If remuneration is not forthcoming, he becomes inactive.
"Tamas" (inactivity) and "rajas" (passion) are correlative, as both are responsible for selfish motivations, and both are the outcome of ignorance. Man is at his best only when "sattva" (equanimity) prevails in him. His vision is clear and he sees in the full light of knowledge, as "sattva" is nothing but light. Though "sattva" is one among the triple qualities, its aspects are just the opposite of the other two, and its outcome is knowledge. Ignorance causes a man to do work selfishly, but knowledge takes him to the realm of unselfishness and provides him with strength to work without concern for the result of the work. Ignorance reduces him to the state of the animal kingdom, and knowledge lifts him to the heavenly kingdom.
Man is nothing but an instrument in the grip of these qualities of nature, until he is conscious of the realm of spirit. He makes mistakes, does evil deeds, takes shelter under the tree of vices, hankers for the forbidden fruit, has momentary pleasure but loses eternal bliss when he is ignorant. He takes the path of righteousness, suffers gladly in order to protect this righteousness (dharma), and never yearns for the ephemeral at the cost of the eternal beatitude. He prefers good over vice and renunciation over pleasure of the world when knowledge dawns. In other words, he seeks to find the inner life for an outer death. The world fascinates him no more. As he has conquered the ego to find the real Self, no "vasanas" (past tendencies) induce or irritate him to do anything for an ulterior gain. He is neither jubilant in gain nor distressed by loss, but similarly faces both of them. This is the awakening of the spirit within him, the unfolding of the God inside; this is the freedom of the Self.
Sattva is experienced in its fullness only when one transcends this quality itself. Unlike "rajas" and "tamas," "sattva" helps to transcend itself. It is like the staircase which leads to the uppermost story. When man has transcended the triple qualities, he is nothing but pure consciousness, which is bliss absolute, existence absolute, and knowledge absolute.
One has to choose either ignorance or knowledge. The door of the spiritual kingdom is kept closed until it is knocked upon. In the words of Jesus Christ, "Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." But who knocks? The man who is desirous of having that kingdom. The desire to eradicate desires will not arise in man unless he has found through experiences that desires are the root cause of birth and death. When man discovers this, he becomes restless, weeps for his lost life, seeks the company of the wise, acts according to their advice, and takes to spiritual disciplines to turn inward. As he has chosen the right path, he is sure to attain the blessed state of peace; thus, he puts an end to the birth-death cycle. By merging in the light, he becomes the light absolute. What a change when the third eye is opened! What an exchange--for a world of misery, a world of eternal happiness!!!
Sattva (poise), rajas (passion), and tamas (ignorance) are the three gunas or qualities of nature. The whole world of relativity is a complex mixture of the three gunas. Body, mind, intellect, and even ego are the products of nature. The soul is enveloped, as it were, by the three gunas. Mind, intellect, and body, which the soul uses as its vehicles, are all the outcome of the three gunas. Depression, activity, and equipoise of the mind and intellect are due to tamas, rajas and sattva gunas, respectively. One who knows this secret would clearly understand why his moods change at times and how he can become established in equipoise.
The three gunas, born of "prakriti," or nature, cause "maya" or delusion. It is this maya that binds the soul. These three gunas create in the soul the feeling of ego, attachment, and the sense of possessiveness. Souls identify with the body, mind and intellect and that which binds it. This feeling of identity is caused by the three gunas or the three evolutes of nature.
When sattva guna is predominant in a man, then his mind elevates to the realm of superconsciousness, and he gains purity in heart, thought and deed. Man finds peacefulness and strength of soul when sattva guna is in ascendance. He develops dispassion towards impermanent things and there dawns in him compassion. A man of such poise has a mind that is stilled from all distractions and diversions. His mind is like the "lamp in a windless spot." Knowing clearly that God alone is reality, he gets absorbed in His thought. Compared to rajas and tamas qualities, the sattva, even though the highest, might stop the onward progress of the soul through rigid spiritual disciplines. Sattva guna in its highest state can, by itself, release one from the fetters of all the three gunas and makes the yogi go beyond the thralldom of the three to the realm of the free.
The quality of rajas creates passion and attachment. It chains the soul through desire and motivated action. Lust and anger also are the outcome of rajo guna. It causes rounds of rebirth with its bondage through attachment. Rajo guna drives man to intense activity. This quality turns into good activity when it is bent towards sattva guna. It brings forth evil when it succumbs to tamo guna. Tamo guna deludes the mind. It causes ignorance and therefore the soul gets identified with the body. As it clouds the intellect with lassitude, it causes man to commit errors and sins. It lulls the mind and drives man to waste his precious lifetime in sloth and sleep. It deprives man of his spirituality and when active, it induces demoniacal activity. Through its weapon of inertia, it makes man neglect his duties and transgress the bounds of piety and virtue. Depriving the soul of its progression towards liberation, it drowns the soul in the turbulent waters of transmigratory existence. Knowing the nature of the three qualities, let a man conquer them one by one and ascend the peak of the unitive experience of a sthithaprajna (a perfect man)--beyond the three gunas.
(Essence of Bhagavad Gita and Bible, p. 119.)