In yogic philosophy, all matter in the universe arises from the fundamental substrate called “Prakriti.” From this ethereal Prakriti, the three primary “gunas” (qualities of energy) emerge, creating the essential aspects of all nature—energy, matter, and consciousness.

These three gunas are “tamas” (darkness & chaos), “rajas” (activity & passion), and “sattva” (beingness & harmony). The awareness and conscious manipulation of the three gunas can provide a powerful way to reduce stress, increase inner peace and lead one toward Enlightenment.

All three of these gunas are always present in all beings and objects surrounding us but vary in their relative amounts. All gunas create attachment and thus bind one’s self to the ego.

For the Sikh and the yogi, one’s aim generally is to cultivate sattva, but the ultimate goal of both paths is to transcend one’s misidentification of the self with the gunas altogether, and be unattached to both the good and the bad, the positive and negative qualities of all life.

 

Tamas

“Tamas” is defined as a state of darkness, inertia, inactivity, and materiality. Tamas manifests from ignorance and deludes all beings from their spiritual truths. Other tamasic qualities are laziness, disgust, attachment, depression, helplessness, doubt, guilt, shame, boredom, addiction, hurt, sadness, apathy, confusion, grief, dependency, and ignorance.

Rajas

“Rajas” is defined as a state of energy, action, change, and movement. The nature of rajas is of attraction, longing and attachment 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, and chaos.

Sattva

“Sattva” is defined as a state of harmony, balance, joy, and intelligence. Sattva is the guna that yogis achieve towards, 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, and selflessness.

 

~Excerpted, adapted and republished from “The 3 Gunas of Nature (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas),” Timothy Burgin, Yoga Basics (2019).