Dear Sundari, I was very interested to follow Matt’s input about the gunas on last Sunday’s Zoom satsang, where he brought up that to him, tamas does not have qualities of action, but is defined more by inertness. To him active qualities are identifiable as rajasic. I like that you mentioned the fact that the gunas cannot be separated, could you expand on this more, please?
Sundari: In terms of mind management, It is very important to understand that all three gunas have gross active (or inactive) and subtle psychological manifestations. It is impossible to separate the two as they are intrinsically linked – nothing in the experiential reality is ever purely material or psychological because life is an intricate dance of both. All the gunas work together, with one usually predominant. Everything we experience starts as a guna manufactured thought, instantly merges into a guna emotion and then becomes action. All three gunas are responsible for making us see things in accordance with our subjective reality, our conditioning, or tendencies. Sattva, peace of mind, is the guna we want most to cultivate because it is the guna of clarity. Rajas and tamas out of balance with sattva is where most of our problems originate. Thus mind management equals guna management.
The point of guna management is to catch the rajasic or tamasic thought/emotion before it morphs into a regrettable action with its inevitable blowback karma. But until we are trained to think in terms of guna knowledge, we often miss the initial guna impulse. It is easier to identify what guna is at work when we observe the effects of action or inaction because of the results that ensue, either immediately or later. But by then, we have the karma to deal with, good or bad. While we definitely want to avoid the bad karma and enjoy the good karma, both may bring unseen results that are not in our best interests. Who has not regretted what were at the time very pleasurable results of actions, upon receiving the not so pleasant results?
On the physical level, rajas is easy to identify because it is the dynamic energy of action. There would be no movement possible without it. Everything we do, even tamasic actions, has a rajasic component driving it, and without it, we would not get out of bed in the morning. On the psychological level, rajas is the energy of extroversion, desire and projection. Rajas out of balance with sattva turns the mind outwards towards objects, to the world, and desire/agitation prevents us from appreciating our true nature or assimilating what life is bringing to us. Any impulse that extroverts the mind, whether psychological or purely mechanical, is rajasic. Even if it is a pleasant sattvic desire, like thinking about a loved one, or a pleasant action, like making love, there is still rajas (desire=extroversion) involved.
Rajas can create the painful drive that pushes the mind to seek completion through action or through gaining objects at all costs. It is the energy of excitement, of the “buzz” of passion that we all love so much and believe makes us feel alive and vibrant. Rajas does produce these feelings, but unfortunately it is a fire that not only heats, it burns. We are like moths drawn to a flame under its spell and suffer the consequences. In the extreme, a mind controlled by rajas is driven by passion, greed and desire (likes and dislikes) to gain or avoid whatever object it is fixated on, to feel the bliss, the burn, the danger. It is a mind oblivious to anything but its own wants, certain that the joy is in gaining the object or experience of its desire or avoiding unwanted experiences.
Tamas seems to be a more inert energy because it is the energy of matter. When we look at a rock or a chair, we are looking at pure tamas, no extroversion there, only insentience – ignorance. But from the psychological perspective, tamas conditions the mind and suppresses our ability to see ourselves or the world just as much as rajas because it clouds the mind. We are more inclined not to act or if we do, tamas blunts our ability to understand and respond appropriately to what is showing up in our lives because the mind is so dull. A deeply tamasic mind is not something anyone enjoys, because it’s painful. You are like a narcoleptic, unable to keep your eyes open, with a mind that feels like it has a bus parked on top of it. When the mind is very tamasic, it also tends to slide down a very unhealthy path to sloth, addiction and the realm of the senses – dark sensual pleasures of every kind.
Sattva also has both an active and psychological function. A mind that is sattvic, meaning wide awake, clear, calm, dispassionate will see things clearly without projection or denial, and respond appropriately to life taking appropriate action, doing whatever needs to be done without any stress, no matter what is required. Any action that is done with grace, clarity and focus is sattvic. Sattvic desires are in harmony with dharma and do not imprison the mind, unless the ego has co-opted sattva and thinks it is special or superior, both psychologically and in lifestyle. We call this the ‘golden cage’ of sattva and it is prevalent in the spiritual world.
On the material plane, we can immediately feel when our body and environment is sattvic because things are calm and collected, we feel good, at peace and self-confident. Even weather patterns reflect the gunas. All three gunas are always present to a greater or lesser extent, but sattva is clearly identifiable not only by what is present, but by what is not present: agitation (rajas) and dullness (tamas).
Much love
Sundari