In the philosophy of yoga, all matter in the universe arises from the fundamental substrate called Prakriti. From this ethereal Prakriti there are three primary qualities of energy, known as gunas, that may emerge, and together they create the essential aspects of all nature and ourselves.
The three gunas are tamas, rajas and sattva. We all have all three moving within us, but the awareness of which one may be predominant for us allows us to live a life of deeper fulfillment. Ideally, if we seek to live a life of harmony and peace, we’d want to be in more sattva, as this is the quality of our energy that makes us feel lighter, more peaceful and calm and serene, and we feel a sense of joy and illumination.
The nature of sattva is serenity, understanding, virtue, wisdom, goodness, and acceptance. A sattvic state is cherished by yogis, and this is the state that allows us clarity of mind for us to see the truth in life; because when the mind is not clear, we can’t perceive properly, and this affects our overall wellbeing.
Qualities of the gunas:
- Tamas is a state of inertia, inactivity, darkness and materialism. It is a downward flow, and is densest, so there is heaviness in the energy. Tamas manifests from ignorance and deludes all beings from their spiritual truths. Other tamasic qualities are laziness, disgust, rigidity, closed mindedness, attachment, depression, helplessness, doubt, guilt, shame, boredom, addiction, hurt, sadness, apathy, confusion, dependency, ignorance. To reduce tamas avoid tamasic foods such as too much meat or processed food, reduce oversleeping, long periods of inactivity, passivity and fearful situations.
- Rajas is a state of action, change, and movement. The nature of rajas is of craving, attraction, impulsivity, greed, selfishness, drama, and rajas strongly bind us to the fruits of our work. Other rajasic qualities are anger, euphoria, anxiety, fear, irritation, worry, restlessness, stress, courage, rumination, determination, chaos. To reduce rajas avoid rajasic foods such as too much spicy, fried and stimulants, and reduce over-exercising, overwork, periods of loud music, excessive thinking and consuming excessive material things.
- Sattva is a state of serenity, purity, calmness, wisdom, ability to see and perceive the truth, love, joy, generosity, charity, inclusivity, self awareness, harmony and intelligence. Sattva is the guna that yogis achieve and desire as it reduces rajas and tamas and thus makes liberation possible. Other sattvic qualities are delight, happiness, peace, wellness, freedom, love, compassion, equanimity, empathy, friendliness, focus, self-control, satisfaction, trust, fulfillment, calmness, bliss, cheerfulness, gratitude, fearlessness, selflessness. Sattva is spiritual essence and lightness of energy, so if that’s your predominant state others will perceive you as light in your energy, and sattva creates an upward flow. To increase sattva we need to reduce tamas and rajas, so focus on what gives you joy and living a life of meaning. Sattvic foods include whole grains, legumes, fresh fruits and vegetables above the ground. Mind, body, spirit and emotions wellbeing and balance is what creates more sattva.
What tamasic essentially means is density in energy – so it isn’t inherently bad, because it is your body. Tamas is also a sleeping state, so we are all tamas when we sleep, just as we are all rajas when we take a shower, because rajas is movement.
We all have all three moving through us as energy, and our minds can sometimes quickly fluctuate between the gunas, depending on the person. The predominant guna of the mind acts as a lens that affects our perceptions and perspective of the world around us. Thus, if the mind is in rajas it will experience external events and people as chaotic, dramatic, confusing and demanding and it will then have a strong tendency to continue to react in a rajasic way or create the drama itself.
Ideally, we want to be in our sattva, so that we live a conscious life of love, joy, truth, clarity, wisdom and self awareness. Naturally, people who are truly spiritual will move through the sattva energy without force; it’s just who they are. People who are sattvic in their true nature live much better lives overall.
All three gunas are always present in all of us, but through conscious living we can alter the levels they exist within us and move us through life, thereby living a more fulfilling life of joy, love and health. As sattva is the highest and lightest of energy, it isn’t about ever decreasing it – it is always good to be in it – but if you seek to increase it, then you basically need to decrease the tamas and rajas.
Sometimes I hear people kind of villainizing tamas energy, and my intention for writing this today is just to share some light on these three gunas – because when we villainize something or judge it or shame it, we separate ourselves from ourselves, because essentially, we are villainizing our own selves.
Tamas actually has to do with a certain level of reason for birth also, because it rules the body as it rules density and the solidification of matter and karma that brought forth your birth alive. So tamas is not meant to be villainized or shamed, it is meant to be observed because it seeks to be understood just like all else does.
This is what we know and understand as spiritual practitioners or astrologer: we don’t villainize things just because of what an ancient book said – we observe it, witness it, seek to understand it. And it will reveal itself to us.
However, we can’t stay in sleepy tamas state forever, nor should we stay negligent and not moving on our growth and evolution; so tamas often keeps people stuck within something already defined, outdated, fearful, egoistic, materialistic, selfish, ignorant, and rigid in their views and ideas and they may have limited perception.
Tamas energy keeps us in inertia and inability to open up and learn and see the truth; tamas cannot be the truth because of the density of energy it moves through. There is darkness, heaviness, delusion and ignorance with tamas; and deep attachments to materialism, unhappiness, rigidity and ignorance. Tamas is a downward flow.
Tamasics often disguise themselves acting like “sattvic” in spiritual communities, because they love the attention and being more validated by speaking of “higher knowledge”. But their knowledge is false or incomplete and they often practice the so-called ego driven spirituality. Tamasics self deceive, and deceive others also, because predominant tamasic qualities makes people live in illusions, delusions, and dissatisfaction; their continuous dissatisfaction stems from the emptiness within which they seek to fulfill externally, so lust and greed are common also.
“Tamasics disguised as sattvic” becomes especially dangerous when they are in some sort of power or influence over others. They lack the spiritual ethics, real knowledge and compassion, and lead people astray, and so they can be actually really harmful when people seek them for advise or guidance, whether it is emotional, spiritual, mental or physical.
Tamasics are often blinded or limited by the density they are attached to, and can’t perceive the spiritually pure – which is the sattvic, which essentially means a purified mind and body, including our senses. It is the over-stimulation or misuse of the senses that isn’t good to do, but it’s not that our senses are not good – they are needed because this is how we experience the world and tune into the wisdom of life; and our desires too are needed, because this is how our higher self guides us and move us towards where we need to go or focus on.
The spiritually impure can’t perceive the spiritually pure; they think they can and they will tell you they do, but they don’t and they can’t. This is why predominant tamas can’t really give you the real knowledge, because they themselves can’t see it; but they will surely almost convince anyone they can. It’s only those with the open eye of the mind and heart who see through them.
Tamas is density of matter, sattva is passion and energy forward, and sattva is spiritual essence and lightness. Each of these three have their own attachments, because having attachment is a human thing. Ideally, we would want to transcend the attachments, or just be aware of what we are attached to.
Tamas is attached to unhappiness, ignorance, misery, materialism, rigidity; rajas is attached to drama, selfishness, possessiveness, over-stimulation, craving and impulsivity; and sattva is attached to illumination, purity, higher knowledge, truth, joy, charity, clarity of seeing, peace and serenity.
So while the sattva attachments are more selfless and pure, it is still attachments – however, these sattvic attachments are what may lead you to more light and guide you, which is why we’d seek to move towards that. Sattva is attached to love and devotion, to purity and the beloved as the divine. Devotion is the veil through which awareness shows its beautiful face.
Desire is a natural thing, but it is important for us to be aware of what we desire and what our deeper inner need is. Many people who are lustful actually desire love nor physical intimacy or flesh; the deeper need within, hidden behind the surface emotion of lust, is the need for love and emotional connection. So once we understand what the core need is, we can live a better life because we’d know what the need is to be fulfilled. But if we don’t know what it is, we will just keep going towards directions not meant for us, giving ourselves the false needs and desire will never be satisfied – because it’s not the right thing we are addressing.
Sattva too has desire, just like we all do as human beings, but this desire is now just channeled towards something of pure nature; and sattva energy is usually very passionate about their higher path in life. Think of monks, and how passionate they are about their spiritual lives.
I remember one spiritual master from India would say how he had a weakness for food, he loved eating! He had thousands of followers in the mountains, with people from all over the world who would come see him for his blessing, and each night when he’d come home the first thing he’d ask his wife was, “What’s for dinner?”
His wife became so annoyed and asked him, “How can you be so wise, radiant, your whole aura shines, as if you are flying through clouds rather than walking, people come from all over for your wisdom, and yet you come home and all you care about is some food?” He looked at her, smiled and said, “The day I don’t care for food anymore and don’t ask you for dinner is when you’ll know I won’t be here much longer.”
It was the food for him, the taste, the smell, that kept him here grounded otherwise he would have kind of flown up a bit too much. We all need something to really care for and feel some attachment to – ideally, it shouldn’t be harmful to us nor others.
All gunas create attachments. For some people it is precisely certain attachments that allow them an opportunity for a deepening and open the doorways for their growth. Perhaps they may learn to develop forgiveness through their attachments and engagements and involvement with other people and the depth of emotions that enter them. Some people need to be attached to something deeply, so that it naturally eats all their other attachments and they come into a sense of freedom someday.
As spiritual workers we serve God, and with clients, we serve the temple of God within them. For some it may be a sleeping God, for others it may be an awakened one; but nonetheless, we are here to show light on others not darkness.
You may be sometimes in a position to counsel people with difficult charts, or people who are just a bit too stuck in tamasic states and can’t see yet – but you are still serving the divine, and the humility in this deserves to be treasured. Most of us as human beings are entangled in some stuff, or even past life stuff, and some people are deeply attached to stuff that they may not even be aware at all or fully present here and this may make it difficult for them to see and perceive clearly.
Show light on the person, show them what they can be, return them to love through the light; don’t judge people for what they’ve done or where they are in life or their path. Use for wisdom and knowledge to show them the light and illuminate their path forward. Intend grace on them. And keep your heart, keep it warm.
Genuinely spiritual people have warm hearts, because it’s a warm thing, loving thing, empathic, all encompassing, inclusive and deeply feeling and compassionate thing. They have loving hearts. Warm hearts. This is how you know who is real.
They are not necessarily “out there” on big stages, social media or with loud voices; because the real ones understand and know what true spirituality means, and that there is a certain quietness about it. And it is up to the student or seeker to find the teacher. It is up to the student or seeker to invest in the finding, in the commitment, and invest fully in their own inner work with self responsibility and self accountability. A teacher can only mirror, illuminate, radiate and light up for you, but they cannot “give” you anything you haven’t yet created the inner space for receiving and perceiving.
Not all that sparkles is gold. We live in an age where people often align wisdom to someone’s popularity, i.e. if someone is popular or some influencer then they must speak truth or are reliable. And this is a dangerous path to follow. So learn to listen, learn to discern, learn to see with the eye behind the eye. Once you know what truth sounds like, you may hear its sound, because it has a very specific tune. A lot of people unfortunately miss out on a lot of true wisdom and knowledge when they only seek the popular and loud voices. Self awareness is always the beginning. Know thyself is the key. But that’s a different discussion.
Our world is so divided and there are infinite ways to separate ourselves, judge one another and categorize things. So may we not do that. At the end of the day, as humanity, we are here to be human and humane and try to understand another person as much as possible, to have soft skins and soft hearts, and to do our best in lifting each other, and raising each other up whenever possible.
For personal readings with me, you are welcome to browse through my Offerings.
Cover photograph by me of our beautiful apple blossoms.
For more of my writings, browse through my Art of Love.
If you wish to support me and my work, you may do so by sharing it or donate here. For personal readings with me, you may visit my Offerings.
Your support means so much to me! Thank you wholeheartedly!
