What is the three Gunas as per Bhagavad Gita?
The three gunas are the influences behind everything that manifests in the material world. Every object, every thought, word and deed, is caused and influenced by them. The only things in the material world that are not a product of the three modes are the living entity and the Lord (which includes His name and paraphernalia etc).
We can call the sum total of material energy as Prakriti and within that, there are the three divisions, sattva, raja and tama. And then the Lord and the living entities who bring life to the dull material elements.
Krishna speaks a lot about the three modes in Bhagavad Gita. they are relevant from chapters 13 through to 18 (especially 14) as it is the modes of nature that distinguish the different natures of the divine and demoniac (chapter 16) create all the divisions (chapter 17) and determine one’s activities and nature (chapter 18).
The bulk of the Vedas is taken up with how to deal with the three modes of nature because the Vedas explain how to live nicely in the material world. By following them we can get what we want; avoid what we don’t want; move up to something better after this life. This is what many people want in their life. It is foundational to many religious people who believe that the world is a place for them to enjoy now, and then go onward to a better realm within the creation, after death. Brahmans and purohits used to be expert in performing rituals and yajnas for the well-being of their clients.
The idea that the material world is a place of misery and suffering and we should leave, is actually quite radical. In chapter 2 Krishna first tells Arjuna he should be grateful for this chance to fight and die on the battlefield because he will attain the heavenly planets. But that all changes a few verses later when Krishna speaks about acting without worrying about the result and thus freeing himself from the bondage of works. In later chapters, Krishna reveals there is another realm that is beyond this material creation. It is where Krishna resides and those who go there never take birth again in the material world. It’s very rare to attain this place but Krishna assures us that everyone is eligible regardless of birth or caste. But it is only attainable by devotion, freed from the influence of the three modes.
So if you want to live in the material world then you must cultivate sattva guna because it facilitates the best enjoyment opportunities on offer. For example:
Doing something you know you should do but don’t really want to, is the mode of goodness. It is likely we won’t enjoy it in the beginning, but with time we are glad we made the effort.
Doing something in the mode of passion is something we are enthusiastic to do because it offers some immediate enjoyment, but generally, it’s not something we can sustain indefinitely and eventually we will lose interest or even dislike the activity.
In the mode of ignorance, we don’t know what we are doing and we neither enjoy the immediate result nor the long-term result. It’s basically a complete waste of time.
But Krishna pretty much poo-poos this approach as not so smart, and advises Arjuna is to skip the modes of nature and understand his spiritual nature.
Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this.
The Vedas deal mainly with the subject of the three modes of material nature. O Arjuna, become transcendental to these three modes. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the self. Bg 2. 42,43,45
Having understood our ‘self’ (which is what ‘self-realization’ is all about), we can take up pure devotional service which is above all the modes of nature. Until we come to the pure platform then sattva guna is our friend but we have to remember always that it is still a guna which means a ‘rope’ or ‘something which binds’ as well as ‘quality’. Iron, silver or gold, whatever the metal, a chain that shackles us to the material world is unwanted.
The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature. Bg 3.27
There is no being existing, either here or among the demigods in the higher planetary systems, which is freed from these three modes born of material nature. Bg 18.40
We can call the sum total of material energy as Prakriti and within that, there are the three divisions, sattva, raja and tama. And then the Lord and the living entities who bring life to the dull material elements.
Krishna speaks a lot about the three modes in Bhagavad Gita. they are relevant from chapters 13 through to 18 (especially 14) as it is the modes of nature that distinguish the different natures of the divine and demoniac (chapter 16) create all the divisions (chapter 17) and determine one’s activities and nature (chapter 18).
The bulk of the Vedas is taken up with how to deal with the three modes of nature because the Vedas explain how to live nicely in the material world. By following them we can get what we want; avoid what we don’t want; move up to something better after this life. This is what many people want in their life. It is foundational to many religious people who believe that the world is a place for them to enjoy now, and then go onward to a better realm within the creation, after death. Brahmans and purohits used to be expert in performing rituals and yajnas for the well-being of their clients.
The idea that the material world is a place of misery and suffering and we should leave, is actually quite radical. In chapter 2 Krishna first tells Arjuna he should be grateful for this chance to fight and die on the battlefield because he will attain the heavenly planets. But that all changes a few verses later when Krishna speaks about acting without worrying about the result and thus freeing himself from the bondage of works. In later chapters, Krishna reveals there is another realm that is beyond this material creation. It is where Krishna resides and those who go there never take birth again in the material world. It’s very rare to attain this place but Krishna assures us that everyone is eligible regardless of birth or caste. But it is only attainable by devotion, freed from the influence of the three modes.
So if you want to live in the material world then you must cultivate sattva guna because it facilitates the best enjoyment opportunities on offer. For example:
Doing something you know you should do but don’t really want to, is the mode of goodness. It is likely we won’t enjoy it in the beginning, but with time we are glad we made the effort.
Doing something in the mode of passion is something we are enthusiastic to do because it offers some immediate enjoyment, but generally, it’s not something we can sustain indefinitely and eventually we will lose interest or even dislike the activity.
In the mode of ignorance, we don’t know what we are doing and we neither enjoy the immediate result nor the long-term result. It’s basically a complete waste of time.
But Krishna pretty much poo-poos this approach as not so smart, and advises Arjuna is to skip the modes of nature and understand his spiritual nature.
Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this.
The Vedas deal mainly with the subject of the three modes of material nature. O Arjuna, become transcendental to these three modes. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the self. Bg 2. 42,43,45
Having understood our ‘self’ (which is what ‘self-realization’ is all about), we can take up pure devotional service which is above all the modes of nature. Until we come to the pure platform then sattva guna is our friend but we have to remember always that it is still a guna which means a ‘rope’ or ‘something which binds’ as well as ‘quality’. Iron, silver or gold, whatever the metal, a chain that shackles us to the material world is unwanted.
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