The Three Gunas, Part Two: the Interplay

Ii wrote the first part of this series on the gunas yesterday, in Part One.

We have all experienced all three gunas at different times in our lives.If you've ever been in a drunken stupor, incapable of speech or one sensiblethought, that was tamas. If you'veever felt sexual passion, or the overwhelming drive to accomplish a career goal, or put all your energy into a sport you love, rajas was the driving force. If you've ever gazed up at a star-scattered night sky andfelt yourself flooded by utter, overwhelming peace: that was sattva. Nevertheless, in most people oneparticular guna will be predominantas their everyday frame of mind, and the very first steps of a fruitfulspiritual path will be this: to become aware of, and then to work with, the gunas, with the object of cultivating abalanced state of mind in order to grow and flourish according to our life'spurpose and goal. In Yoga, that life purpose and goal is freedom from theboundaries imposed by mental attitude: in other words, freedom from the influenceof the gunas. The predominantly tamasic person needs a shot of mental adrenalin to get him going: aself-administered kick in the metaphorical backside. The primarily rajasic person needs to take a deepbreath,  relax, calm down, chill out. Andeven the sattvic person is notfinished, for sattva is not the goalbut only a by-product along the way; but we'll get to that later.In becoming aware of the interplay of the gunas we are not judgmental, neithertowards ourselves nor towards others. Endemic to the Western mindset is thepredilection to assign blame, and to feel guilt or shame when we have "donewrong", derived from the concept of sin and punishment.  It would be very wrong to apply thoseconcepts here. But it's hard to free oneself of the mentality of judging, andthe guilt that goes along with it. In Yoga there is nosin; there are only, on the one hand, behaviours and thoughts that bring us backto a state of supreme balance, and eventually to Liberation, or,  on the other hand those that take us furtheraway. Yoga means cultivating the former and  voluntarily abandoning the latter, withinreason and within the parameters of our personalities, our life duties and our goals. In becoming aware of the interplay of the gunas there is no pointing of fingers,no guilt, no shame, no beating up of oneself. No punishment. There is simplythis: self-awareness. Neutral observation. With self-awarenesssomething very radical occurs. At the very moment of becoming aware there's a separation between theobserver—myself—and the thing I am observing: the tamasic or rajasic stateI am in. And so at the very moment I am out of it, and can begin to understand,and to change: OK, so I'm caught up intamas. I've been lolling around all day in my pyjamas. I'm wrapped in sloth.What can I do? The answer might be very simple: go take a shower! The same with rajas. Rajasic energy isnot wrong. Unless you're a hermit orliving in a monastery or convent you need rajasenergy – it's what keeps the motor of society running.  It's the fuel that urges us to work for ourliving, , to be successful in life, to achieve our goals, and even to propagatethe species. It is not in any way evil or harmful or obstructive to spiritualgrowth. But unalleviated rajas, rajas let loose to run wherever it will,is not healthy. It drains the mind, and all our energy resources. It'simportant to replenish one's resources with sattva,not just once a year on vacation but every day, whenever it is needed. Sattva supplies balance. Without it ourbatteries run dry. To be in a constant state of drive, drive, drive might seem crucial to career success but anyonewho lives like that will, eventually, crash and burn. It's lack of sattva in our lives that leads tostress, burn-out, and a host of physical diseases. In fact, we cannot live like that; even people whothrive on rajas seek reprieve, butusually they do it through tamas: theyshut off the mind, either in exhaustedsleep or in drink and drugs, neither of which bring the true refreshment neededfor the next bout of rajasic energy. To lurch continually between rajas and tamas is to eventually deplete oneself of every last fibre of life.We may achieve our goals in life but we are somehow empty, exhausted, unable tobe happy because we have wasted all our vital force to achieve that end, andnever once refuelled. And we haven't refuelled because we didn't know how to. We made the mistake of trying to relax and refuel with tamas instead of with sattva.