In the previous Article I explained the qualities and nature of Sattva, Rajas & Tamas Gunas. In this blog I'll try to brief how to balance Sattva, Rajas and Tamas gunas.
What Happens when a person has uncontrolled Tamas and Rajas...
You know there is something which is called Tamas. Now Tamas is good because it brings you sleep. A person who has no Tamas cannot sleep. A little bit of Tamas is good.
But have you noticed when Tamas comes up and you really don’t want it to come.. :)
You must have felt when someone is teaching and other people are listening interestingly but you are yawning, so that is unwanted Tamas.
What happens when Tamas goes out of control?
First Thing is:
1. Laziness and lethargy
You wake up in the morning and feel lazy; you often say “Yaar aaj kuch karne ka man nahi hai”. Now if it happens once, twice, three times or five times a month, it is alright.But if it happens regularly then you get in to second stage that is:
2. Habitual Procrastination
Then you often say for anything, “I’ll do it later”… “I’ll do it later”. Now this goes to further stage which is:
3. Loss of interest
In this stage you loss interest in everything. And you quite often use sentences like.. “I am not interested in anything”… “Life is boring”.. “Kya Bore ho raha hai life me...”
Have you noticed how you say these words? So up till this stage it might be funny, but then it goes in to next stage which is:
4. Depression
Do you know in America (US) an astounding more than 25% (50 million) of population suffer from depression. So this is not funny anymore. And in modern methods to cure depression they sit and talk to you or give you anti depression drugs, Which only makes you feel worse.
And then it goes in to the last stage that is:
5. Suicidal Tendencies
So the Suicidal tendency or depression is nothing more than too much of Tamas.
Now other side we have got the Rajas..
Rajas allow you to do activity. Anything you can act because, you have got Rajas. So
ability to act or ability to do anything happens because you have got Rajas.
If Rajas goes out of control what happens? First:
1. Cannot sit still, Restless in the body
You might have noticed that some people cannot sit still. Their common habits like biting nails etc, even they cannot stand still. This goes to next stage:
2. Bombarded with thoughts
At this stage when you close your eyes so many thoughts come. You have been bombarded with thoughts once you close your eyes. You might have been gone through this experience. :)
This brings you to next stage which is:
3. Impatience & indecisiveness
At this stage you cannot take decision. You are always in dilemma that “I don’t know what to do”...or... “Should I do this or should I do that”… And you are continuously thinking about what to do, so you do nothing. Now up till it appears as funny, but this extends to irritability which goes in the next stage:
4. Anger & Aggression
At this stage you become angry on little things. You shout at somebody, you slap some body or you hit somebody. You become like an unpredictable walking volcano. Nobody knows when you are going to erupt on them. This takes you to next stage that is:
5. Violence
In the extreme case of anger and aggression you become violent. We have all heard that some kid goes and generally shoots people. And when that happens to your friend then it is not funny anymore, it is tragic. So this violence is nothing but uncontrolled Rajas.
So the conclusion is … Uncontrolled Tamas is Violence inside (Violence to yourself : Suicidal Tendency) and uncontrolled Rajas is violence outside (violence to others).
it is noticeable that both Tamas and Rajas are required. You cannot say let us eliminate Tamas and Rajas, then you cannot act and you cannot sleep. It is required but in a proper quantity.
When Rajas and Tamas are balanced then what happens, something very beautiful. It is called Sattva.
Sattva is purity, beauty, peace, joy and enthusiasm.
Say when you see a beautiful sunset on a sea shore, how do you feel? Your feelings will automatically express by the sound like… “Wow…” this feeling is Sattva.
How do you know that your sattva is high?
1. Meditation is effortlessly easy
when you close your eyes; you are not bombarded with thoughts. You can close your eyes and relax.
2. Lightness, Centeredness, Cheerfulness
you feel cheerful, people around you feel cheerful.
3. Your efforts bear fruit very quickly
have you noticed that sometimes you do so much work yet it doesn’t work. And other time you do very little work and you get so much. The difference is, second time your sattva was high. First time your sattva was not high that is why you are working.. working .. working but it is not working.
so what we called, when Sattva is high tends to :
4. Success and extreme good luck
sometimes you might have noticed that the day goes so perfectly that everything just falls in to the place. Now if we want that kind of day more often rather than three times a year then we have to increase our sattva.
And meditation is one of the key exercises to increase the Sattva.
All the three Gunas have snow ball effect. When Tamas goes out of control suddenly it become big, suddenly it become very big. Same is the case of Rajas, You have noticed that how anger come suddenly, you don’t get angry slowly.. It just bangs. This is the snow ball effect. Similarly Sattva has this effect, when you slowly rise the Sattva it become snow ball and life really become fun to live.
So balancing the Tamas and Rajas and increasing the Sattva the formula for success.
And this is what the spirituality all about. Spirituality is not sitting on the top of Mount Everest, chanting Om and turning blue. Spirituality is not generally renouncing everything. Spirituality does not mean not having money. You know in our India Narayan and Lakshmi are married to each other, Narayan is the lord of Knowledge and Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth.
Knowledge and wealth go together, they don’t have divorce :)
many people think spirituality means, “I should be poor”. But this is not true if you are truly spiritual then you are definitely rich. [Not vice versa :) ] so:
Getting to be Excellent! Getting to actualize your dreams! but at the same time not getting stressed out and tired while doing it. This is spirituality.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In the next blog I’ll explain the analogy of things like food, color, Tridosh in ayurveda, and planets etc with the three Guna Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.
What Happens when a person has uncontrolled Tamas and Rajas...
You know there is something which is called Tamas. Now Tamas is good because it brings you sleep. A person who has no Tamas cannot sleep. A little bit of Tamas is good.
But have you noticed when Tamas comes up and you really don’t want it to come.. :)
You must have felt when someone is teaching and other people are listening interestingly but you are yawning, so that is unwanted Tamas.
What happens when Tamas goes out of control?
First Thing is:
1. Laziness and lethargy
You wake up in the morning and feel lazy; you often say “Yaar aaj kuch karne ka man nahi hai”. Now if it happens once, twice, three times or five times a month, it is alright.But if it happens regularly then you get in to second stage that is:
2. Habitual Procrastination
Then you often say for anything, “I’ll do it later”… “I’ll do it later”. Now this goes to further stage which is:
3. Loss of interest
In this stage you loss interest in everything. And you quite often use sentences like.. “I am not interested in anything”… “Life is boring”.. “Kya Bore ho raha hai life me...”
Have you noticed how you say these words? So up till this stage it might be funny, but then it goes in to next stage which is:
4. Depression
Do you know in America (US) an astounding more than 25% (50 million) of population suffer from depression. So this is not funny anymore. And in modern methods to cure depression they sit and talk to you or give you anti depression drugs, Which only makes you feel worse.
And then it goes in to the last stage that is:
5. Suicidal Tendencies
So the Suicidal tendency or depression is nothing more than too much of Tamas.
Now other side we have got the Rajas..
Rajas allow you to do activity. Anything you can act because, you have got Rajas. So
ability to act or ability to do anything happens because you have got Rajas.
If Rajas goes out of control what happens? First:
1. Cannot sit still, Restless in the body
You might have noticed that some people cannot sit still. Their common habits like biting nails etc, even they cannot stand still. This goes to next stage:
2. Bombarded with thoughts
At this stage when you close your eyes so many thoughts come. You have been bombarded with thoughts once you close your eyes. You might have been gone through this experience. :)
This brings you to next stage which is:
3. Impatience & indecisiveness
At this stage you cannot take decision. You are always in dilemma that “I don’t know what to do”...or... “Should I do this or should I do that”… And you are continuously thinking about what to do, so you do nothing. Now up till it appears as funny, but this extends to irritability which goes in the next stage:
4. Anger & Aggression
At this stage you become angry on little things. You shout at somebody, you slap some body or you hit somebody. You become like an unpredictable walking volcano. Nobody knows when you are going to erupt on them. This takes you to next stage that is:
5. Violence
In the extreme case of anger and aggression you become violent. We have all heard that some kid goes and generally shoots people. And when that happens to your friend then it is not funny anymore, it is tragic. So this violence is nothing but uncontrolled Rajas.
So the conclusion is … Uncontrolled Tamas is Violence inside (Violence to yourself : Suicidal Tendency) and uncontrolled Rajas is violence outside (violence to others).
it is noticeable that both Tamas and Rajas are required. You cannot say let us eliminate Tamas and Rajas, then you cannot act and you cannot sleep. It is required but in a proper quantity.
When Rajas and Tamas are balanced then what happens, something very beautiful. It is called Sattva.
Sattva is purity, beauty, peace, joy and enthusiasm.
Say when you see a beautiful sunset on a sea shore, how do you feel? Your feelings will automatically express by the sound like… “Wow…” this feeling is Sattva.
How do you know that your sattva is high?
1. Meditation is effortlessly easy
when you close your eyes; you are not bombarded with thoughts. You can close your eyes and relax.
2. Lightness, Centeredness, Cheerfulness
you feel cheerful, people around you feel cheerful.
3. Your efforts bear fruit very quickly
have you noticed that sometimes you do so much work yet it doesn’t work. And other time you do very little work and you get so much. The difference is, second time your sattva was high. First time your sattva was not high that is why you are working.. working .. working but it is not working.
so what we called, when Sattva is high tends to :
4. Success and extreme good luck
sometimes you might have noticed that the day goes so perfectly that everything just falls in to the place. Now if we want that kind of day more often rather than three times a year then we have to increase our sattva.
And meditation is one of the key exercises to increase the Sattva.
All the three Gunas have snow ball effect. When Tamas goes out of control suddenly it become big, suddenly it become very big. Same is the case of Rajas, You have noticed that how anger come suddenly, you don’t get angry slowly.. It just bangs. This is the snow ball effect. Similarly Sattva has this effect, when you slowly rise the Sattva it become snow ball and life really become fun to live.
So balancing the Tamas and Rajas and increasing the Sattva the formula for success.
And this is what the spirituality all about. Spirituality is not sitting on the top of Mount Everest, chanting Om and turning blue. Spirituality is not generally renouncing everything. Spirituality does not mean not having money. You know in our India Narayan and Lakshmi are married to each other, Narayan is the lord of Knowledge and Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth.
Knowledge and wealth go together, they don’t have divorce :)
many people think spirituality means, “I should be poor”. But this is not true if you are truly spiritual then you are definitely rich. [Not vice versa :) ] so:
Getting to be Excellent! Getting to actualize your dreams! but at the same time not getting stressed out and tired while doing it. This is spirituality.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In the next blog I’ll explain the analogy of things like food, color, Tridosh in ayurveda, and planets etc with the three Guna Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.
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