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Guna and Tattva

rajas tamas sattva
i 36 tattva nel tantra yoga

The universe is the whole Cosmos and we are a microcosm of the whole Cosmos.

If we took a thimble of sea water and carefully examined it we would find through qualitative chemical analyzes that the constituents of sea water in the thimble are the same as those of the vast ocean.

Likewise, the parts of our individual body are the same as those of the Universe.

It would be strange to find elements in the human body that do not belong to the universe.

For this reason there is only one creative force that creates creation and all manifest things are born from the same One source.

Within the human body the elements [i tattvas] and the forces [the gunas] express themselves: our personality depends on which of the 5 gross elements predominate in our nature.

The three GUNA can be seen as cosmic energies that pervade the whole nature, including the human mind and as Three QUALITIES of the human being and the manifestation of life itself.

Each gun expresses a specific stage of energy or quality of dynamic movement.

By intertwining these qualities in different proportions and combinations, all the fundamental frequencies of the physical universe are created.

  • Rajas in nature represents the energy of activity, change and development. In the human being, it represents the energy of attachment, desire, change, evolution; it is the force of action, the need to defend and the emotion of anger.

  • Tamas instead represents inertia and darkness. It is a lack of life and movement. In nature, it is the force of entropy that resists change. It is the force that induces rajas to rest and initiates sleep and recovery. It is also the strength of what is hidden, of our shadow side, of dormant or repressed emotions.

  • Sattva is the point of balance between rajas and tamas, in this way it is stated that nature is a dynamic balance of forces which is essentially positive. In nature, sattva is all that balances, counterbalances and brings harmony to the planet. In daily life, sattva is the feeling of peace, balance and harmony. A sense of completeness and balanced fullness. At the level of the mind, sattva is the quality of balance, clarity and light.

The gunas themselves are never negative but it is our identification with them that creates imbalance and suffering.

Our research on the spiritual path consists in developing a "witness" consciousness, so as to become a spectator of the comedy rather than the actor forced to blindly follow the script.

By developing this type of awareness, we realize that the three gunas are reflections of our personality but not our whole and we identify more and more with the great Self, synonymous with the divine, creation and the whole universe.

From these three qualities, in the process of manifestation an expansion of Consciousness that moves away from its origin to create the tangible world that we know, the five elements descend, a condensation of energy.

On the side, a diagram that describes the 36 TATTVA.

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