The Three Strands of Reality

Nature is made of three primal qualities, or gunas, which are present in everything that we see. Through their various combinations nature expresses her potential for diversification. These fundamental aspects of reality are always present and influence every aspect of nature including our own body, vitality, and the way that we perceive the world.

When the gunas are out of balance, we experience the oscillation between the obstructing forces of inertia and negativity and the mobile forces of distraction and turbulence. The imbalance of these two qualities prevent us from establishing ourselves in the third quality of luminosity expressed as harmony and clarity.

The gunas are constantly interplaying with one another. Although we rarely experience pure tamas (inertia), rajas (activity) or sattva (clarity) they alternate and the predominant guna will influence us to make choices which will attract more of that particular quality to us increasing imbalances within our body and mind. Understanding the play of the gunas empowers us to make informed decisions about our practices and lifestyle choices in order to enhance their balance. In fact, according to Ayurveda and yoga when we live in harmony with our own nature we are naturally healthy and at ease.

Like strands of a braid, the three gunas combine to create.

Background of the Gunas

Samkaya philosophy is one of the six classical philosophies of India and greatly influenced the Vedic sciences of Ayurveda and yoga. Samkaya is a system of enumeration and details the expansion and dissolution of the universe. This system is composed of twenty-four principles and Prakriti, or primordial nature, is the first of these. Transcending these principles and also their foundation lies the Purusha, our true and eternal self.

The Purusha is not limited to Prakriti, but Prakriti does not exist apart from Purusha. Just as waves are not the ocean, yet they do not occur apart from it, the true Self is not the body nor the external world. However, the body and the external world are manifestations of the Self. From the point of view of Samkaya philosophy, all of creation is seen by the seer or Purusha.

Yoga seeks to discriminate between the seer and the seen, subject and object. In our ordinary consciousness, we experience “I-ness” and “my-ness,” the sense of being a separate self. Identifying with our outer personality creates a binary viewpoint which is the cause of our confusion between the seer and the seen. As we evolve, we increase our ability to utilize discrimination between the seer and the seen as we gain objective perception of the entire sphere of Prakriti. Our growing awareness is a sign of our return to our true nature.

Qualities of the Gunas

Sattva is the creative potential and expresses itself as harmony, balance, clarity and luminosity. Rajas is the kinetic potential and manifests as distraction, turbulence, activity and mobility. Tamas is the destructive potential which is revealed as inertia, concealment, resistance and dullness.

We experience these qualities throughout our days. When we are sleeping or eating, tamas is predominant. When we are active, moving our body or caught in mental chatter, rajas is at play. During meditation or when we behave selflessly, sattva is the primary quality present. Another way to think of the gunas is that our body is tamasic as it is dense and made of matter. The energy which moves our body is rajasic as it creates mobility and action. Consciousness, which guides our energy into willed activity, is sattvic which is experienced as clarity and wisdom.

The traditional teachings of yoga often present the gunas as a hierarchy. The yogin attempts to transcend tamas and rajas and increase sattva until sattva is finally transcended in the search of liberation. Increasing sattva will benefit our overall well-being regardless of any desire for liberation. However, understanding the role of each of the gunas allows us to recognize when they are becoming imbalanced within us and thus utilize the other qualities to bring us back into a state of harmony.

When we learn to strike the balance of these strands of reality, we return to our origin of unity.

The Gunas, the Mind & Emotions

As the gunas are present in everything, foods and lifestyle choices are quantified according to their qualities. This is deeply empowering knowledge as we can transform our body and mind with the awareness of the decisions we make about the foods we eat, as well as, all of the other choices that we make throughout our days.

Food forms our mind and it carries memories of our ancestors and nourishes our spirit. Bringing awareness to the food we eat connects us to the wisdom of the ancient earth enabling us to harness our mind as an instrument of peace. As the mind is the domain of sattva, it would be wise to eat a sattvic diet which takes into consideration not only the nutritional benefit of the food, but the chain of events which has led to the food ending up in our kitchen. As sattva is the quality of peace, a sattvic diet promotes peace with the planet, animals and other humans.

In our modern existence, which is out of sync with the natural world, most of us experience tamas and rajas more frequently than sattva. When we are influenced by tamas we feel isolated, unaware, prompted by limiting desires, burdened by doubts and attachments. The rajasic individual experiences the world subjectively, placing emphasis on personal ambitions and tailoring universal truths to fit personal beliefs. The sattvic individual recognizes the interconnection of existence and spontaneously expresses generosity, forgiveness, understanding and compassion.

By understanding the attributes of the gunas as they are expressed within us, we can respond and transform our inner state by cultivating specific and necessary lifestyle choices to live in harmony within our nature. Mindfulness of our everyday activities such as breathing, eating, sleeping, exercise, sensory input and desiring, is the key to our well-being. This way we can become attuned or our emotional and mental rhythms. By paying attention to our thoughts and behaviors we can establish inner balance and equanimity despite the challenges and confusion that we experience in our complicated and ever changing world.