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What is guNa?
During the course of hundreds of lives, the actions of the jIva will accumulate certain
tendencies or impulses that make the jIva in the current life to react in a friendly or
unfriendly attitude towards any object or entity (including living beings). Such a
power or characteristic of the jIva expressing as a propensity in the prakriti (nature) is
described as guNa. guNa is therefore, the inborn impulse or propensity of a jIva that
guides its behavior. This inborn propensity is an expression of the past samskAras
(samskAra is the training/experience in life management) of the jIva. Therefore the
propensity fulfilled in this life, forms the seed for the guNa in the next life. The guNa
is dynamic and not static. The discrimination that an individual exhibits may arrest the
negative propensities and promote positive propensities. Even during a life time, gunA
can be managed through knowledge of the shAstras and following the instructions
there in.
gIta says
"satvam rajah-tama iti guNAh prakriti sambhavAh
nibhadnanti mahAbAho dEhE dEhinam avyayAm" - (14.5)
Three guNas - satva, rajas and tamas- born in prakriti, bind the jiVa to the body (we
will see the mechanics of binding shortly). The three guNas are described in gIta (146,8).
Satva is of the nature of pure, divine, shining (or clear) and knowledge. Pure indicates
absence of defects or blemishes. Contemplation, analytical and logical are the
expressions of satva. This expression towards Brahman is divinity. The consequence
of such expressions is knowledge or jnyAna (however, the jIva is yet to experience the
Brahman). The knowledge (worldly or spiritual) creates a sense of happiness in jIva.
The jIva exults in such happiness and knowledge. Such identification with happiness
arrests spiritual progress in the realization of Brahman. The jIva comes back in
another body to continue the spiritual quest - the jIva binding to the body due to satva.
Rajas is of the nature of action driven by passion and attachment. The rajas expresses
as activity to fulfill the desires created by passion and
attachment. The actions lead to fruits of action, which need to be experienced. If all
fruits are not experienced in the current life, jIva comes back in another body to
experience the remaining fruits - jIva binding to the body due to rajas.
for the next life. If we assume a guNa continuum from zero (0) to 100, the
approximate breakdown may be described as follows (an arbitrary division to
illustrate the guNa continuity);
Below 30 - predominantly tamas
30-50 - predominat tamas and rajas, with traces of satva
50-70 - predominantly rajas and sattva, with minor of tamas
Above 70 - increasing satva with lesser rajas and traces of tamas
The goal in each life should be to raise the guNa composite towards satva to make
progress in the spiritual journey. Predominantly endowed with satva at the time of
death, the jIva goes to higher worlds (heaven - comes back to the human birth after
experience of the heaven), while predominantly rajas, the jIva comes back to be born
as a human; predominantly tamas takes the jIva to animal and plant births (again
coming back to human birth after the animal/plant life). Satva, rajas and tamas are all
binding as discussed above. Therefore, in the quest for realization of the Self, the jIva
must go beyond the guNas - guNAtIta (as described in gIta, 14-22,26). guNAtIta is
the term that describes the state in which the jIVa is not under the influence of satva,
rajas and tamas.
We will begin with the study of jagat in the next unit.
Om shAntih, shAntih, shAntih ( Om peace, peace, peace).
Last edited Sun 20 Apr 2008 11:34:10 PM CDT * Home
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Etymology
Guna appears in many ancient and medieval era Indian texts. Depending on the context, it means: [1]
[2][10]
string or thread, rope, sinew, chord (music, vowel phonology and arts literature) [11][12]
quality, peculiarity, tendency, attribute, property, species (sastras, sutras, the Epics, food and
analytical literature)[14]
good faith to be good and divine in Indian philosophy. Thus, Gui from the root "Gua-" means
someone or something with "divine qualities", as in Svetasvatara Upanishad hymn VI.2. [16]