What are the Gunas?
The past few months we have observed the koshas or the layers that we are composed of, then we dove even deeper into the layer of pranamayakosha to understand the subdivision of prana into vayus (see the previous blogs for more on all of those topics). Now we will look at ourselves in relation to the world around us. Yoga states that all manifest matter in this reality is known as Prakriti. It is important to note here, that Prakriti’s density goes beyond generic physicality and incudes cognitive, moral, psychological, emotional, and sensorial aspects of our reality. All of Prakriti is composed of three qualities, tendencies, aspects, or attributes known as the gunas. There are three gunas: tamas, rajas, and sattva. These three gunas are present in everyone and everything in varying degrees or ratios. Today we will summarize each guna and expand upon each one in the coming few weeks.
It might be helpful to understand the gunas by way of “nature.” People, places, and things all have a different nature about them of which is subject to change. We can describe these natures by way of tamas which is dark and inert, rajas which is active and passionate, and sattva which is harmonious and clear. The awesome part about being a human is that we can become conscious of these natures and use our will by way of our choices to increase or decrease the gunas to optimize the quality of our lives. Of course, this is way easier said than done.
The gunas do hold a hierarchy in their capacity to usher us towards higher levels of consciousness, yet they are all bonds to our physical existence. Tamas is on the bottom of the totem pole, then rajas, and at the top, sattva. This is not to say tamas is bad. What feels “bad” or leads to an unhelpful response or non-response, is when tamas is on overload. The other two gunas follow suit, the passion and action of rajas can be the hero force that breaks the inertial of tamas, yet this kind of energy tends to be addictive and we often become obsessed with outcomes and base our worthiness on those outcomes. The moment by moment dance of balancing tamas and rajas is the developing of our way of being into sattvic status. The peace, calm, clarity, and easefulness that is sattva is the space where we forget who we are trying to be and what we are trying to accomplish. In those moments we receive just a taste of our truest nature, which is even beyond sattva.
The gunas are like little nuggets of gold, guiding us towards the light. Our yoga practice reminds us how to use those nuggets as stepping stones and stools, how to keep moving forward and how to sit still, how to dream of a better tomorrow and how to dance in the delight of today.
Thank you so much Dear Reader,
May this blog provide you with both insight and inspiration. May you find gratitude for the wonders of this world and stay curious about who you are.
All my love,
Andrea Dawn
