Everybody lives life in their own way. But what makes them live their lives the way they do?
According to Hinduism, the way people live their lives depends on the proportion in which they have tamasik, rajasik, and satvik qualities in their personality. In fact, Hinduism claims that all things that exist in this universe have these properties. Metaphorically, they are also known as Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu.
Science calls them electrons (negatively charged), protons (positively charged) and neutrons (neutral), which build the atom. Atoms are the fundamental constituents of everything, including humans, planets, cells, and molecules.
Mathematics/Physics knows it by numbers 3 , 6 , and 9. According to Nikola Tesla, these numbers formed the Fundamental building blocks of the universe and had a profound impact on everything from energy and frequency to the structure of matter itself.
Now, whichever theory you believe, it is clear that everything is affected by these three energies.
- The Negative Energy called Tamogun or Electron, or Number 3, or Shiva the destructor (Death).
- The Positive Energy called Rajogun or Proton, or Number 6, or Brahma the creator (Birth).
- The Neutral Energy called Sattvagun or Neutron, or Number 9, or Vishnu the preserver (Life).
The ratio in which these qualities/gunas are present in you becomes your personality. This determines the way you live your life. While for existence, a balance among these energies is very important. But, the Neutral or the Sattvagun is the best among these energies and humans should try to increase Sattva qualities in their personalities to attain satisfaction, peace and to reach higher dimension (0 – The Divine – Which is free from these gunas).
Let’s dwell deeply into the details of these Gunas.
TamoGun (तमोगुण)
Tamogun is a quality which plays its role in bringing destruction (मृत्यु). It is characterized by darkness, ignorance, inertia, ego, criticism, jealousy, grudge, anger, old age, and death.
When present in limited amount, tamogun actually plays an important role in bringing stability to life.
Without Tamogun, a passionate (rajogun) person will never ever go to sleep. He will never stop doing what he is passionate about. He will have numerous desires. He will become a car without brake. Therefore tamogun is very important for such a person. Tamas is the quality which is responsible for rest in the body and mind.
However, when Tamas is dominating, it brings laziness, or wrongful actions and ultimately leads to destruction.
Under the influence of Tamogun, a person takes actions (to get money, spouse, revenge, etc.) without considering the righteousness of karmas and also does not care about the consequences for himself or others.
Many a times he is ignorant and does not care to understand or get knowledge about what is right and what is wrong.
Tamoguni person never acknowledges his mistake and always blames others or circumstances for doing bad karmas that he did knowingly. No logic can make them accept their mistake.
They are extremely selfish, critic, argumentative, deceiver, and violent.
RajoGun (रजोगुण)
Rajogun is a quality which plays its role in the creation(उत्पत्ति). It is characterized by change, energy, speed, passion, desires, childhood, and birth. It is passionate for wealth, luxury living, love and children.
Rajogun people work hard to achieve their goals (wealth, women/men, power, status, etc). However, when rajogun increases out of proportion, the it leads to lots of thoughts, lots of desires, greed, increased workload, and restlessness.
Rajogun people know what is right and what is wrong but they sometimes cross the line to beat the competition, or for convenience, ego, society, or their family.
As a person longing for worldly pleasures, we should aim to keep a balance between Tamas and Rajas qualities.
SattvaGun (सत्त्वगुण)
It is the most important and righteous gun which plays its role in the preservation of this world (स्थिति).
Sattvagun is characterized by wisdom, truth, purity, harmony, confidence, dedication, and youth. It is the spiritual quality of nature.
Sattvaguni persons does not aspire for materialistic things or family. They do not believe in I, this is me, or this is mine. No showoff, no competition, no bitching, no boasting of status or knowledge. All they give and think about is love. If somebody hurts them, they don’t get angry or think about revenge. They will always do the right thing no matter if that results in loss of money, separation from family or society, or inconvenience, or death.
A sattvaguni person won’t be a role model to the society. They may bow after him but won’t aim to follow his life style. They will definitely not like their children to become a sattvaguni person.
Following sattva gun, actually makes you free from all three gunas (transcendental). This means you leave wisdom as well. You become a zero or infinite. At this time you leave your body and merge with the divine.
What Makes You Tamsik, Rajasik, or Satvik
Your thoughts make you tamsic, rajasic, or satvik. Thoughts are like seeds that you sow in your mind. If your thoughts are negative, Tamogun will start nourishing them and grow them bigger and bigger. Similar is the case with positive and satvik thoughts.
That is the reason you should control your mind and meditate about something good. Like the image of your god, breath, light, or simply chant some mantra. The aim is to keep your thoughts clean, away from the family, politics, ego, jealousy, job, business, money, and other desires (Illusion/Maya).
Other thing that affects your gunas is the kind of food you intake and the quantity in which you consume. In short, you should eat only that much that is required to sustain your body. Regarding the kind of food to eat, prefer vegetables and fruit based diet. Eat freshly harvested and cooked food. Avoid animal products and ground vegetables.
Summary
At any given time, one of the three qualities dominates our life. As a person longing for worldly pleasures, we should aim to keep a balance between Tamas and Rajas qualities and try to incorporate sattva gun as much as possible.
A very few people are able to progress to Sattvagun gradually, as they attain understanding of life and achieve control over the desires for materialistic things, family, ego, anger and more. It happens when they stop craving for parties, sex, wealth accumulation, lavish food, drinks, expensive things, etcetera and start servicing other people out of love. This brings one toward right activity, truth, purity, and enlightenment.