Muni's PlayIn the Bhagavad Gita, the material nature consists of three modes or qualities known as Gunas. These Gunas influence the behavior, psychology, and spiritual progression of all living beings.
Comparative Analysis of the Gunas
| Category | Sattva (Purity) | Rajas (Passion) | Tamas (Ignorance) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | Luminous, healthy, stainless. Binds through attachment to happiness and knowledge. Gita Verse 14.6 | Embodiment of passion, born of desire and attachment. Binds through attachment to action. Gita Verse 14.7 | Born of ignorance, deluding all beings. Binds through negligence, laziness, and sleep. Gita Verse 14.8 |
| Binding Strategy | Attaches one to happiness. Gita Verse 14.9 | Attaches one to action. Gita Verse 14.9 | Veils knowledge and attaches one to error/negligence. Gita Verse 14.9 |
| Manifestation | Knowledge and light shine through all gates of the body. Gita Verse 14.11 | Greed, activity, undertaking of works, restlessness, and longing. Gita Verse 14.12 | Darkness, inactivity, negligence, and delusion. Gita Verse 14.13 |
| Food (Ahara) | Promotes longevity, vitality, health, and joy. Savory, firm, and pleasing. Gita Verse 17.8 | Bitter, sour, salty, hot, pungent, dry, and burning. Causes pain and grief. Gita Verse 17.9 | Stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten, and impure. Gita Verse 17.10 |
| Sacrifice (Yajna) | Performed according to scriptural duty, without desire for reward. Gita Verse 17.11 | Performed for the sake of ostentation or seeking reward. Gita Verse 17.12 | Performed contrary to scriptures, without faith or distribution of food. Gita Verse 17.13 |
| Charity (Dāna) | Given to a worthy person at the right time/place, without expectation. Gita Verse 17.20 | Given with expectation of return or with a grudge. Gita Verse 17.21 | Given at the wrong time/place to unworthy persons, with contempt. Gita Verse 17.22 |
| Austerity (Tapas) | Practiced with supreme faith, without desire for fruit. Gita Verse 17.17 | Practiced for ostentation, honor, or worship. Unstable and fleeting. Gita Verse 17.18 | Practiced out of foolishness, involving self-torture or to harm others. Gita Verse 17.19 |
| Renunciation (Tyāga) | Performance of prescribed duties as a matter of duty, abandoning attachment to results. Gita Verse 18.9 | Abandoning duty due to fear of physical strain or pain. Gita Verse 18.8 | Abandoning prescribed duties out of delusion. Gita Verse 18.7 |
| Knowledge (Jnana) | Seeing one undivided eternal reality in all diverse beings. Gita Verse 18.20 | Seeing various entities of different kinds as distinct from one another. Gita Verse 18.21 | Confined to one single effect as if it were the whole, irrational and narrow. Gita Verse 18.22 |
| Action (Kriya) | Obligatory, performed without attachment or desire for fruit. Gita Verse 18.23 | Performed with great effort by one seeking to gratify desires or prompted by ego. Gita Verse 18.24 | Undertaken from delusion, without regard to consequences, loss, or injury. Gita Verse 18.25 |
| Doer (Kartha) | Free from attachment and ego, endowed with fortitude and enthusiasm. Gita Verse 18.26 | Passionate, seeking fruits of labor, greedy, violent, and impure. Gita Verse 18.27 | Discordant, vulgar, stubborn, deceitful, malicious, and indolent. Gita Verse 18.28 |
| Intellect (Buddhi) | Knows what is to be done and what is not, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation. Gita Verse 18.30 | Distortedly understands righteousness/unrighteousness and what should/shouldn’t be done. Gita Verse 18.31 | Enveloped in darkness, viewing unrighteousness as righteousness. Gita Verse 18.32 |
| Will (Dhrti) | The unwavering fortitude by which one controls the mind, life-breaths, and senses. Gita Verse 18.33 | Holds fast to duty, wealth, and pleasure with attachment and desire for fruit. Gita Verse 18.34 | Does not abandon sleep, fear, grief, despair, and pride. Gita Verse 18.35 |
| Happiness (Sukha) | Which is like poison at first but nectar at the end; born of self-realization. Gita Verse 18.37 | Born of contact of senses with objects; nectar at first but poison at the end. Gita Verse 18.38 | Delusive to the self from beginning to end; arising from sleep, indolence, and error. Gita Verse 18.39 |
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