Foreword to book on the Gunas

Yoga is not just a physical discipline but contains a wonderful practical philosophy of life and healing. For this it is connected to Ayurvedic medicine, the traditional natural healing system of India, and to Vedic astrology, India’s science of the stars and of karma.

Yoga philosophy has contributed many profound insights to world spirituality. Yoga sees the universe as a play of two primary forces, the power of consciousness or what is called the Purusha in Sanskrit, our inner being, and the forces of nature or what is called Prakriti or the primary power of creation. One of the main insights of yogic thought is its understanding of all the forces of nature according to three gunas or primary qualities. The term guna means what binds the soul as the forces of nature easily become powers of attachment to the external world of time and space and draw us away from resting in our deeper eternal nature of the Purusha.

Each of the three gunas called Sattva, Rajas and Tamas has its particular qualities and roles in the cosmic order:

Sattva, which means the quality of truth or being, is identified with light, mind, consciousness, goodness, virtue, harmony and balance. Rajas, which means turbulence and agitation, is identified with energy, life, emotion, manifestation, assertion, disequilibrium and change. Tamas, which refers to darkness, is identified with matter, inertia, the unconscious, dullness, resistance, entropy and stability.

All three qualities have their necessary place in the world of nature starting with the three great cosmic forces of light (sattva), energy (rajas) and matter (tamas). Everything in the universe consists of various interrelationships and intertransformations of these three powers of light, energy and matter, as the great scientist Einstein revealed in his equation E=MC2 or energy equals matter times the speed of light squared. The forces of nature are constantly moving back and forth between all three qualities, which are not separate states but related modes of nature’s workings.

All three qualities also have their place in our own human nature as body (tamas), vitality (rajas) and mind (sattva), which make the three levels of our functioning. The body is the material component of our being, the mind our inner light, and our vital energy or life-force (prana in Sanskrit) the energy between the two. These three forces are not separate but rooted in each other and mixed together. Body, life-force and mind are part of a single continuum and constantly influencing one another.

Here Yoga introduces another important aspect of this science of the guans. The mind itself is the natural domain of sattva, requiring light, harmony, balance and clarity for its proper function. This means that when we take the standpoint of the field of the mind, then tamas and rajas, or the influences of the body and vital energy, can become factors of disturbance, with the bodily influences having the capacity to dull the mind, and the vital energy having the ability to disturb it. Rajas and tamas become ‘doshas’ or factors of disease at a psychological and spiritual level. Rajas and Tamas allow factors of agitation and dullness, or wrong imagination and wrong judgment that cloud how our intelligence works. This in turn leads to the main difficulties, maladies and pain that life can bring us, as well as preventing us from gaining the wisdom (sattva) to handle these.

For this reason, yogic thought always emphasizes the development of sattva guna as its primary principle of inner growth and development. Yoga urges us to resort to those types of foods, impressions, ideas, expressions and associations that promote sattva guna and avoid those that promote rajas and tamas. The prime principle of spiritual development through Yoga and Ayurvedic medicine and the proper understanding of karma in Vedic astrology is this science of the three gunas and the need to promote sattva guna as the prime value for the human mind and soul.

The three gunas provide us a wonderful and practical system for both classifying our activities and learning to promote those actions that lead us to higher awareness. Its emphasis on sattva guna is the basis of the yogic recommendation of a vegetarian diet, for example, and on ahimsa or non-violence as a prime behavioral principle. Indeed non-violence is the foundation of sattvic living and thinking, meaning that we should not wish harm to others in any way not just to avoid violence but to foster peace and light within ourselves.

Yoga provides a system of values, exercises, emotional states, mental conditions, and practices of mantra, pranayama and meditation according to the three gunas. Even Yoga asanas are designed to promote sattva guna or the quality of peace and stillness at a physical level. Ayurveda, Yoga’s complementary medical system, similarly provides us with a detailed classification of foods, herbs and therapies according to the three gunas. Vedic astrology provides an understanding of the influences of the planets according to the three gunas. An understanding of the gunas is central to all the Vedic sciences.

It is important for students of Yoga or of any spiritual sciences to learn, and apply this system of the three gunas in their own daily lives. However, there are few books that deal with the subject of the gunas and show us how to use them in a practical way. Most examinations of the gunas are content to list a few common characteristics of the gunas and do not go beyond that. This often leaves the students in doubt as to how to really apply the gunas in a meaningful manner.

In this regard Rami Bleckt has brought out an important new book on the gunas in the Russian language that brings them into a clear perspective for the modern reader. His book serves a vital need and offers many useful tools of self-healing, self-understanding and self-realization that can be of great transformational value for their lives and for their awareness. Rami is a trained psychologist, yoga teacher, Ayurvedic teacher and astrologer, who brings to this study much experience and knowledge. His is not just an academic presentation but the result of many years of personal practice, teaching and counseling. He has learned how to adapt this eastern science of the gunas to life in the modern world and can relate it to the reader accordingly in a clear and simple manner.

As developing sattva guna is the key to the mind and, therefore to psychological healing, his book has a great relevance for all those looking for a more practical and spiritual approach to dealing with the mind and emotions. How we feel in our minds cannot be separated from the food we eat, how we use our senses, our breathing patterns and our associations. In this way the science of gunas can add many new dimensions to psychology in all of its forms. All psychologists should examine this approach and see how our emotional well-being can be changed by shifts in behavior that are in our control to develop and do not necessarily require drugs or chemical interventions.

As an author of thirty books in the yogic field over the last more than twenty years, it is heartening to see this deep knowledge spread to a larger audience in different countries in the world. I hope that the book meets with a heartfelt reception and that through it many more individuals can benefit from the tools of yogic knowledge, which are of relevance to everyone. We must thank Rami for his service and can only wish that he continues with additional contributions to the cause of the greater well-being for all.

Sattva guna has not only the ability to heal but to promote world peace and understanding. This is the need of our times. We cannot have peace unless we have a life-style that promotes peace. Peace must be rooted in our moment by moment action and awareness and in all our interactions with the world. It cannot be just an occasional concern or a mere political expediency.

Sattva leads us to Sat, which is the principle of pure existence allied with Chit, pure consciousness, and Ananda, Divine love and bliss. Through promoting Sattva we prepare ourselves to become a vehicle of the higher powers of the universe. May this publication increase that wonderful quality of sattva guna for all those who delve into its pages!

Dr. David Frawley

Author: Yoga and Ayurveda, Ayurveda and the Mind etc., Santa, Fe NM USA (www.vedanet.com), June 2008