Gita chapter 14- the three gunas (qualities) of Prakriti (Nature)

Hari Aum.

In the previous/13th chapter of the Gita, Krishna had explained the two manifestations of God that make up the universe, i.e. Purusha (consciousness/soul) and Prakriti (Nature).

He had also mentioned that there are three key 'gunas' (broadly translated as 'qualities') of Prakriti. He had stated that when the soul/Purusha becomes attached to these three gunas, then the soul becomes trapped in the cycle of samsara (worldly existence including birth and death).

Since attachment to the gunas is what binds us to samsara, it is very important to understand what the gunas are. We must understand what chains us to samsara in order to be able to successfully break our chains and become free (attain realisation of our true immortal nature).

The gunas are described by Krishna in the 14th chapter. Let us look at what He says here.

Krishna begins by declaring that those who grasp His teaching and attain the state of one-ness with Him (our original, natural state) are not born when creation occurs, and are not disturbed during the cosmic dissolution (when creation is withdrawn into the unmanifest state of God).

He then states that He alone is the origin of all that exists. As we are embodied human beings, He uses language that we can understand by saying that He is the 'womb' and the 'seed-giving father' of all beings. 

He then declares that it is the three gunas of Prakriti that bind the soul and gives us a description of each of these.

The three gunas of Prakriti are called sattva, rajas and tamas. Krishna describes each of them as follows:

He says:

All human beings contain all three gunas; nobody is free from these. At different times, different gunas predominate in our nature/mind.

All three bind the soul. How?

Krishna says:

Sattva is luminous and healthy.  It leads to knowledge. However, it binds by attachment for knowledge and happiness.

Rajas is characterised by cravings for sensual pleasure and actions (to acquire objects of sensual pleasure). It produces desire (and hence anger, when the desire is not met) and also greed. It leads to restlessness of mind and forces us to perform actions to fulfil our desires. It binds us through attachment to action.

Tamas is characterised by ignorance, delusion, darkness, carelessness, laziness, sleep and inertness. It binds us by attachment to carelessness and laziness.

The results of the three gunas, He says, are different:

Sattva leads one forwards on the spiritual path; it produces purity. It leads towards God (but ultimately one has to go beyond sattva too to attain God). It can help us to attain God in this lifetime. 

If we are unsuccessful in attaining God in this lifetime, if we die while sattva predominates in our nature/mind, we will reach higher realms in the afterlife (before attaining a favourable rebirth to continue our journey).

Rajas keeps us in the same place, we go neither up nor down spiritually. Krishna says it produces pain. Krishna says that one who dies when rajas is dominant in the mind, is reborn amongst those attached to action.

Tamas pushes us downwards in spiritual life; it produces ignorance. One who dies when tamas dominates in one's mind, is reborn in lower births (below human beings; those species that lack human intelligence).

Krishna then states that those who are self-realised recognise that their true nature is different from the gunas. Such beings clearly see the workings of the gunas everywhere and are not disturbed by them. They have reached a state higher than the gunas. 

Krishna describes such people as follows:

"Alike in pleasure and pain, who dwells in the Self, to whom a clod of earth, stone and gold are alike, to whom the dear and the unfriendly are alike, firm, the same in censure and praise"

"The same in honour and dishonour, the same to friend and foe, abandoning all undertakings—he is said to have crossed the qualities (gunas)."

He then says:

"And he who serves Me with unswerving devotion, he, crossing beyond the qualities, is fit for becoming Brahman."

"Brahmano hi pratishthaa’ham, amritasya-avyayasya cha;

Shaashwatasya cha dharmasya sukhasyaika-antikasya cha."

"For I am the abode of Brahman, the immortal and the immutable, of everlasting Dharma and of absolute bliss."

So how does all this apply to us as spiritual seekers in practical terms?

Our diet, our sleep, the company we keep, the sadhana we do-- pretty much everything we expose our minds and bodies to, lead to some shift in the balance of the three gunas within us. 

Sometimes we are more sattvic-- we are disciplined, punctual, devoted, ethical, hard-working, intent upon God-realisation.

At other times, we feel cravings, anger (when we don't get what we want, or get something we don't want).  Sometimes we want more of something that what is good for us (we can be greedy). Then we are being rajasic.

And then again, there are times when we feel lazy and dull, when we don't have the energy to do sadhana, when we don't care about our sadhana. At these times, we are being tamasic.

We will experience all three of the above gunas (as Krishna says, nobody is free of these-- at least until we become self-realised) but the key is which guna dominates our nature most of the time.

We basically need to cultivate sattva, by allowing our mind and body to experience mostly sattvic things. 

But let's be honest-- for most of us, our mind will rebel terribly if we suddenly remove all rajasic and tamasic things from our lives. 

Suppression of our rajasic-tamasic nature is therefore not the answer. We need to gently and gradually transform our mind/body into a more sattvic form. 

(For example, I had a relatively sattvic meal recently consisting of some freshly cooked pasta and vegetables. However I then ate two pieces of dark chocolate (a rajasic food!)-- I do quit chocolate from time to time for a few days/weeks to gain some control over my desire for chocolate but haven't yet given it up completely.)

By the way, recitation of the names and mantras of the Supreme are said by the yogis to be one of the most powerful sattva-generating forces. Some daily japa will therefore go a long way in helping us overcome rajas and tamas in our nature and thus experience more sattva, and finally to go beyond sattva too and realise our true, immortal nature.

It is a long road no doubt, but we can succeed. In fact, we are born to. God gave us this human birth which is a 'moksha dwar'-- door to liberation-- so that we can succeed. In this, let us take His/Her help by reciting any Divine name or mantra that we like.

Om Namo Narayanaya. Om Namo Narayanaya. Om Namo Narayanaya.

To be continued....

Hari Aum Tat Sat.