Unlock Personal Transformation: The Power of Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas Gunas Explained

–

Gunas: Our Vehicles Of Devotion: 

The Sanskrit word “guna” means attribute. These “attributes” serve as a powerful indicator and formulator of the physical principles of the earth. The concept of guna, is one of the more important teachings from India. These attributes provide powerful insight into our spiritual growth, worldly manifestations, and the formation of matter from the subatomic level into more dense levels of matters manifestation. But most importantly they provide a powerful tool to accelerate personal and planetary transformation.

Within the yoga tradition, the focus is on three primary gunas:
Sattva
Rajas
Tamas

Sattva is balance, harmony, peace and similar qualities. Rajas is activity and movement. It is dynamic. Tamas is inertia, non-moving, and sometimes lethargy. Of these three gunas yoga embraces the cultivation of sattva. Though it realizes that one may embrace other gunas at times. As an example, if a person were stuck in a rut (tamas) they would need to embrace some form of activity (rajas) to move from their position of immobility.

Tamasic Devotion (Praying God with anger, jealous, hatred) – Being utterly lazy, not wanting to do anything for gain or no gain
Examples of Tamasic people in our scriptures:

Kapurishik had fear.
Kubera – only wanted possessions.
The Gandarvas had an attitude of partying like there’s no tomorrow.

Rajasic Devotion (Praying God for money & material stuff) – Doing your duties in expectation to gain something in return

Sattvic Devotion (Praying God with lots of love, not asking for anything, with highest kind of Devotion) – Doing your duty as they come to you without looking for anything in return / Praying God with lots of love, not asking for anything, with highest kind of Devotion.

The Holy Trinity:

Brahma is Rajasic. He is full of ego and was angry when I did not salute him. Siva is tamasic. He not only got angry but was ready to kill me, for the simple reason that I did not salute him. Vishnu is sattvic. He apologized even though the fault was not his. He is the best. Let us offer the fruit of our sacrifice to him.

Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva is the Hindu trinity, also called the trimurti.

o Sattva – This is a quality that binds with happiness
o Rajas – This is a quality that binds with aggression, pleasure
o Tamas – This is a quality that binds with inertia, laziness, procrastination

Influence Of Gunas On Outcomes: 

The same actions under the influence of different faiths/Gunas produce different outcomes with different attitudes, some examples include

o Gain of Knowledge – Jnana

• A Sattvik person will try to gain knowledge for learning
• A Rajasik person will try gain knowledge purely for getting better grades
• A Tamasik person may not even try to gain knowledge

o Charity/Sacrifice – Tapas

• A Satvik person really wants betterment of the community/person
• A Rajasik person wants for photo-op and bragging rights
• A Tamasik person will need to forced and will question all along

o Attitude towards Karma

• A Satvik will try to perform any action thinking of greater good and with positive attitude
• A Rajasic person will try to perform work/job for the sake of activism/competition/ambition
• A tamasic person will try to do bare minimum to get by

Food And How It Influences – Rajas, Sattva, Tamas

Satvik Diet According To Swami Chinmayananda:

Once a devotee asked Swami Chinmayananda, “This may be a trivial question, but is vegetarian food essential for the spiritual path?”

Swamiji replied, “First of all no question is trivial. If it is a question that is bothering you, it is an important question to you. About your diet, it is not essential that you eat only vegetarian food for your spiritual evolution; however, the experience of many seekers of Truth indicates that vegetarian food helps in keeping the mind balanced for contemplation.

Food has certain effects. Not only is our physical body built and maintained according to the food we eat, but our inner nature is also conditioned by it. The gross part of the food produces the energy for the physical apparatus, while the subtle part contributes to our thought energy.”

Chandogya Upanishad says – “Annamayam hi manah”. Our mind is made from the essence of the food we eat. “Aahaarashudhausattvashudhih” Purify the mind by purifying the food.

The entire universe is made of a combination of 3 Gunas (textures or qualities) ie. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Anything we hear, smell, see, taste or touch may be classified into these.

Sattva represents calmness, peace, balance, knowledge, purity, brilliance etc. Rajas denotes agitation, passion, restlessness, ambition, greed, insecurity etc.

Tamas signifies lethargy, laziness, procrastination, destruction, ignorance etc.

In all of us one of the three Gunas has superior strength and it is reflected in all that we do and think. Our goal and endeavor should be to evolve to the Sattvik state. Thus our association with all things sattvik will only aid and hasten this process.

Sattvic foods are foods that are abundant in Prana – the universal life-force that gives life to all sentient beings in both plant and animal kingdoms. A Sattvic diet is thus meant to include foods and eating habits that increase life, purity, strength, health, joy and cheerfulness.(Geeta Chapter 17 Verse 8).

Fruits, vegetables, dry fruits, sprouts, milk, cereals etc. are sattvik

Rajasic foods are those which are pungent, salty, spicy, very hot, burning. (Geeta Ch.17 verse 9)

Tamasik foods are stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten, refuse, impure. (Geeta Ch.17 verse 10)

Eat only Sattvik food this whole week, in a cheerful mood.

– 0 –

About Sanatana Dharma

ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः।
अनेन वेद्यं सच्छास्त्रमिति वेदान्तडिण्डिमः॥

Brahman alone is real; the universe is mithya – neither fully real nor unreal, but an appearance. The individual self (jiva) is none other than Brahman itself, not separate or different. This is the true teaching of the scriptures, as revealed by Vedanta. ~ Verse 20 from Brahma Jnānavali Māla