The gunas of nature*
Insight into the functioning of our mind and the significance of rajas. By Swami Durgananda
Reading time: 2-3 minutes
Rajas (restlessness, desire, greediness, red). Rajasic activity can be confused with Karma Yoga or godly activities. When the motive behind the activity is linked to personal desires, then selfless service for the world becomes rajasic. There are people who cannot sit still even for a minute and have to keep themselves busy in one way or the other. A yogi or wise person who sits still, is physically immobile and controls his mind is the most active person in the world. When intensive activity happens based on sattva (purity, harmony), it gives the impression of a wheel that is turning very fast yet appears to be standing still. In contrast to this is the uncontrolled energy of rajas, which only appears smooth and active. Rajasic people never have time, and never really feel the need to reflect because they are always in a hurry.
GUNAS AND ACTION
We see the workings of the gunas when we act. Every day we encounter one ‘problem’ or another. The difference lies in how we respond to it. We can reflect on our response in our contemplation or meditation in the evening: Was my reaction to another person in an unpleasant situation sattvic?
Did I give the other person space and see that the problem will eventually be solved? Did I react in a rajasic way with equal intensity? Or did I turn away in a tamasic and lethargic way?
The situations which cause difficulties are always of the same kind, but depending on external circumstances, they always appear unique. One‘s reaction to them, and one’s own behaviour, are the result of samskaras, the subtle impressions from many previous lives, but also from the present incarnation. These impressions have created desires in the past and they continue to do so. The desires then carry the mark of the predominant guna and can show up at any moment.
Swami Durgananda, Yoga Acharya, is director of the European Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres. Her practical and intuitive approach to yoga is the result of intensive practice and over 50 years of teaching experience. She is the author of a commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and The Inner Path. Contact: Reith-office@sivananda.net
*Part two of a three-part series. Part three of this article on the quality of tamas will be published in the Spring issue of OM Yoga magazine.
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