This past year, a young friend and I chatted over the internet about his experiences abroad as a college student.  He had fallen into a slump and felt the weight of tamas overtaking him: dullness, lack of motivation, complacency, following the crowd, no inspiration, etc.  His spiritual practice and studies had suffered since living abroad and studying secular subjects outside the spiritual supports of home.  While discussing this he woke up to how the two were related; it needed no prompting, just a dharma friend to talk with.  His conclusion was, "I need austerity."  He set himself on a regimen of Vedantic study and japa, and perhaps other practices.  I was impressed with his insight and resolve.  I have seen precious few young people consider austerity to combat unhappiness or depression, and have in fact, seen many more seek distractions, intoxicants, or even accept the antidepressant offered to them.  I was more than impressed by my young friend; I was inspired.  We saw each other on the internet several weeks later and he was back in a balanced mood and was slowly increasing his practice.

What is austerity?  This word seems to conjure up everything from sack cloth and ashes, nail beds, and people standing for years on one leg, to fasting, asanas, and weight lifting.    The same Sanskrit word translated as austerity is also called penance or mortification at times.  In the contemporary Christian culture where I live, which has been uneducated in the inner meanings of Christian observances, rituals, practices, etc., the purpose behind certain deprivations is lost as well as the discrimination between which are beneficial and which are simply pointless for the intended goal, and amount to mere body torturing.  Even in the East there are problems on this score.  So important is austerity in the scheme of sadhana, spiritual practice, and purification of the mind, that Sri Krishna divides the different kinds of austerities according to what guna they represent (Gita, chapter 17).  (See previous blog for explanation of the gunas.)

Tapas is the Sanskrit word in question here, and it implies both heat and thought or knowledge.  One's illumined guru is often referred to as a purifiying, ignorance-destroying source of heat -- if you want to get warm, you have to go near the fire.  The impurities of the mind are burned away through austerity.  Sri Krishna states in the Gita that in all the worlds there is no purifier like knowledge (Gita 4:38).  "As the blazing fire reduces fuel to ashes, so does the fire of knowledge reduce all karma to ashes."  (Gita 4:37)  In the Mundako Upanisad, [Saguna] Brahman's tapas "is Knowledge of the whole of creation in the ideal form before it concretizes" (Sw. Sarvananda): "From brooding thought (tapasa) Brahman swells (with the joy of creation).  Thence Food is born and from it Energy, mind, the True (5 great elements), the worlds, and endless entanglement in works.  Brahma the Creator, individual beings, and nourishment for creatures - these spring from Him, the all-wise and omniscient, whose creative thought (tapas) is Knowledge itself." (Mundako Upanisad  1:1:8-9)

What will burn the impurities (karmas, samskaras, ignorance, dullness, restlessness) of the mind?  Can fasting do that?  Can mere deprivations (I will give up smoking, drinking, TV, ice cream, etc.) transform the mind?  The great Bengali poet-mystic, Ramprasad, sings, "If you imagine that Mother Kali's Wisdom Feet can be experienced by sitting with closed eyes, then why are all blind persons not illumined sages?"  To really understand beneficial austerity, which is the hallmark of spiritual practice, it is useful to begin with Sri Krishna's teaching in the Bhagavad Gita.  As mentioned above, Sri Krishna divides the nature of austerities according to the guna that motivates the performer of them.

Tamas: "That austerity which is practiced with a foolish obstinacy, with self-torture or for the purpose of destroying another, is declared to be tamasika." 17:19 Austerities that cause harm to the body intentionally and heedlessly are not useful and will enforce body-consciousness at the very least.  Regarding the dire warning concerning austerities for the purpose of causing harm, the entertainment industry produces movies every year depicting characters undergoing intense practices and preparations in the marshal arts, magic, the occult, technological arts, and other feats of physical and mental prowess in order to destroy or gain power over others.  Not all such movies inspire aversion for twisted, deluded austerities and leave the impressionable (non-discriminating), young and old alike, fascinated in the dazzle of special effects and the cleverness of wayward characters.  The effect of tamas is clear: it makes what is bad look good and what is good look bad.

Rajas: "The austerity which is practiced with the object of gaining respect, honour and reverence, and with ostentation is here said to be rajasika; it is unstable and transitory. 17:18 The rajasika orientation is so pervasive in society as to almost go unnoticed,  and therefore be accepted as natural.  It is nothing more than shopkeeping.  I'll do this so I can get____.  There is no sincerity in it, and its instability and transitoriness are due to the fact that if one does not achieve the desired aim one is unhappy or angry, which leads to states of tamas.  If one does achieve the desired results, happiness lasts only as long as that result is delivered afresh, as in praise and honour.  Losing the result is always a fear in the back of one's mind, and boredom ensues if the reward is unceasing (back to tamas!).   The intelligent practitioner will see through this see-saw of happiness and unhappiness and seek what is stable.

Sri Krishna gives us a threefold practice when He describes the sattvika austerity: austerity of the body, speech, and mind. (17:14-17)

Austerity of the body:  "Worship of the Gods, of the spiritually dedicated, teachers, and the wise; purity, uprightness, continence, and noninjury…."  My teacher, Babaji Bob Kindler, emphasizes this teaching - the true austerity of the body is not fasting or hatha yoga; it is worship.  One is to keep the body clean and associate it with pure places and activities, which happens naturally if one practices worship and spends time in holy company (the spiritually dedicated, teachers, and wise beings).  From association with the holy, one gains detachment and acquires the desire and capacity for self-control.  Celibacy is an important aspect of continence, which needs to be practiced sacramentally, as a conscious offering.  Merely being without a partner does not constitute brahmacharya, translated here as continence.  More to the point is the conscious sublimation of one's vital and mental energy via restraint of the outgoing senses, for the purpose of realizing God - Saguna or Nirguna Brahman.  Not engaging the body for violent purposes is also an austerity.

Austerity of speech:  "Speech which causes no excitement, which is truthful, pleasant, and beneficial, and also the practice of sacred recitation…."  One's words should lean neither toward manipulation of other's emotions to incite anger, hatred, disgust, etc., nor should they lean toward flattery.  The art of speaking truthfully without hurting others is practiced in this austerity, as is the discrimination between what is beneficial truthfulness and what need not be said at all.  Sri Sarada Devi cautioned, "Should one speak such words as would hurt another?  Even if it is truth, it should not be told in an unpleasant manner.  Finally, you will end up with that kind of nature [fault-finder].  If one's sensitivity is lost, then nothing will control one's speech."  The practice of sacred recitation, Svadhyaya, cannot be overestimated as an austerity.  Time spent studying, memorizing, and reciting the sacred texts transforms the mind. Whatever one is deeply involved in comes out in one's speech.  The scriptures treating Atmajnan and Premabhakti, Self-knowledge and ecstatic Love, will enlighten the mind and eliminate all frivolous and harmful speech.

Austerity of mind:  "Serenity of mind, gentleness, silence, self-control, and purity of disposition…."  It is not easy to keep the mind serene.  Swami Vivekananda poses the question in one of his books on the four yogas: what takes more strength? to allow the mind to wander where it will, or restrain it?  A serene mind refuses to be affected by the excitement of rajas, the dullness of tamas, or even the pleasure associated with sattva.  It is significant that Sri Krishna does not place silence with the austerity of speech, but here in the mind.  Most people have a constant chatter going on in the background of their mind representative of their fears, desires, worries.  This must be quelled before the silence that results from peace can arise.  Self-control, resisting the tendency of the mind to follow the impulses of desire or aversion through the senses is the first step.

These three austerities of sattva work together and are greatly related to the yogic limbs of yama and niyama*.  At least eight of the ten are mentioned or implied, and all three of what Patanjali emphasizes in his kriya yoga are listed: austerity, sacred recitation, and worship.  If one is not able to practice the austerity of mind, dedicated practice of the austerity of the body and speech will certainly prepare the way.  This is what my young friend immediately intuited - that his mind was not balanced, therefore he needed to re-engage himself in the austerities of body (worship via japa) and speech (sacred study).

Sri Krishna concludes His teaching, "This threefold austerity practiced steadfastly with the utmost sraddha (reasoned faith), desiring no fruit, they call sattvika."

Om Shanti

* 5 Yamas: noninjury, truthfulness, noncovetousness, continence, nonacceptance of gifts

   5 Niyamas: austerity, purity/cleanliness, contentment, sacred study/recitation, worship

Repetition of the teachings is essential in spiritual life.  Recently, in a letter to a student this topic came up.  The student is a prison inmate doing his best to lead a Hindu Faith group.  It is an honor society where the privilege of multiple study sessions each week and access to audio-visual equipment is accorded.  They have been receiving audio teachings on the Bhagavad Gita from SRV Associations and were asking for the next set, as they had listened to the first one already.  This prompted the question, "have you listened to the first one more than once?" There is a tendency in our modern culture to think that reading or listening once and moving on to the next thing constitutes "study," or "gaining knowledge" but for most people, the ability to concentrate is not well-developed and so a single pass through a scripture, spiritual book, teaching audio, or even one's teacher's lecture on a particular topic, often does not penetrate the surface.  Writing back to the inmate, the need of repetition was explained in terms of the gunas of Prakriti and their presence and effect on the mind.

What are the Gunas?  At the start of our studies in Vedanta it can be hard to get a handle on these three fundamental qualities that the rishis of India perceived with their well-honed and subtle intelligence.  The gunas can be said to be the beginning and end of all objective experience.  "Objective" here does not mean "fair" or "even-handed" but quite literally, the "experience of objects," whether they are physical or conceptual.  Any object requires an observer, thus "objective experience" means we are in the realm of duality: subject and object, I and other, Witness and that which is witnessed.  The gunas stand at the gateway to all phenomena, and are the last barrier to kaivalya (isolation/freedom) from the limits of Nature/phenomena.  We are exhorted to become tri-guna-tita, beyond the reach of the three gunas.

As a foundational concept in Vedic cosmology, the gunas are essential for our understanding of Vedanta, as well as for Yoga and Tantra.  This is not just a matter of gathering facts pertinent to a philosophical system; recognition of the gunas is a rudimentary and efficient way to practice discrimination between the changing and the Unchanging in order to gain peace of mind.  (Generally, the western notion of philosophy is something one learns for intellectual benefit but does not practice.  The eastern approach marries practice to philosophy, which leads to supersensuous realizations.  Thus, it is no wonder, and a great misfortune, that Advaita Vedanta, Buddhism, Taoism, etc., are not taught in the philosophy departments of most universities, but in their religions department, if at all.)  The many and varied ways that discrimination or analysis is put forward throughout the teachings also have the thread of the gunas running through them, whether overtly stated or not.

The gunas - sattva, rajas, and tamas - are the warp and woof of our experience as embodied beings.  They are the constituents of Prakriti, Nature in its manifest or unmanifest states.  Simply stated, rajas is energy, tamas is inertia, and sattva is balance.  These three are in equilibrium when Prakriti is unmanifested (pralaya), a formless state in which all worlds, objects, and beings are in potential.  When the gunas go out of equilibrium, then, like the striking of a great cosmic bell, all the worlds, objects, and beings come rushing into manifestation, from subtle/conceptual to gross/physical, which from the standpoint of limited human awareness appears to take billions of years, and that is only for the atomic/physical part.  From the standpoint of the stationary witness, however, it is only like passing from waking, to dreaming, to the void of deep sleep, and back out to waking again.  According to the Vedic view, this goes on in never ending cycles, and the question of a "first cycle" is a non sequitur.  One can see from this how the gunas are that crucial gateway between the realms of phenomena and what lies beyond even the potential for phenomena.

As in the cosmos, so in the individual - this is a truism of Vedic cosmology and psychology.  The cosmic pralaya at the end and beginning of cycle of manifestation is essentially nondifferent from the deep sleep of the individual, wherein the sleeper experiences a lack of form, i.e. no objects, no thoughts, not even an ego - the gunas at the individual level are also in equilibrium.  There is absence of form, but not absence of potential for form (i.e. karmas and samskaras are held in abeyance).  When this equilibrium of the gunas is disturbed, we begin to dream, and then we enter the waking state.  This cycle continues interminably throughout an individual lifetime.  The ability to arrest the shiftings of the gunas in the mind affords one the ability to meditate and enter the lower (seeded) samadhis (savikalpa/samprajnata) at will.  Transcending the gunas entirely, one goes beyond unmanifested Prakriti, to Brahman -beyond deep sleep, to Turiya, and attains Liberation.

From the very basic definition of the gunas given above, more specific descriptions for each of the gunas are used, depending upon whether one is analyzing just the cosmological ramifications of the gunas or the psychological.  Sankhya philosophy organized Vedic cosmology into the 24 Cosmic Principles, and most Indian darshanas have used it for its foundation (see attached chart).  With regard to evolution, as we have seen, rajas is defined as activity, a force of impetus.  Tamas refers to the tendency toward inertia, which leads to stability and solidity; the subtle elements (tanmatras) and the gross elements (pancha mahabhutas), all have a predominance of tamas in them.  Earth (the principle of solidity, not just soil) is the grosses/densest element and all solid objects in the universe of our waking state are here courtesy of tamas, with rajas providing the stimulus for the combining and recombining of the subtle elements into the gross elements that move evolution along.  Sattva is the tendency toward balance between the two, and the medium through which the Light of Consciousness gets manifested.  For instance, the most sattvic principle in manifestation is Mahat, the Cosmic Mind, then comes Cosmic and individual Intelligence, Ego, then individual mind (manas), and the five senses of knowledge (hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, smelling), evolving from most subtle to gross, or greater to lesser manifestations/reflectors of Consciousness.  The lesser manifestations partake more of rajas and tamas.  This is a basic rendering from the Sankhya view.

For the psychological applications, we can turn to Shankaracharya, among others.  Understanding the gunas from this perspective guides our spiritual practice, leads to dispassion from the vagaries of the mind, and ultimately to control of the mind.   In his Vivekachudamani, Shankara fleshes out the three gunas by explaining that tamas is the concealing power (avarana shakti) that hides the nature of Reality, the all-pervasive, Self-aware Consciousness designated as Nirguna Brahman (nir/without gunas).  Shankara defines rajas as the projecting or "de-centralizing" power (vikshepa shakti) that brings forth multitudinous forms.  Sattva, then, is the revealing power that penetrates through the darkness of tamas and the obfuscations of rajas.  Here is a summary of how Shankara describes them in verses 111 - 119 (Swami Turiyananda, translation):

The power of decentralizing [projection] is rajas, from which all the desires spring.  What are its effects?  Constant attachment and all the disturbances of the mind, sorrow and pain.  It is the cause of bondage. The properties of rajas are desire for enjoyment, anger (from obstruction to enjoyment), greed, pride, envy, egotism and jealousy. (111-12)

The property of tamas is to cover, as scattering is the property of rajas.  It makes things appear to be what they are not, and that is the cause of bondage, and even of decentralization [projection].  What a tremendous power this tamas has!  Even he who has knowledge of the Atman, who is versed in the scriptures, very intelligent, who has very keen insight - even such a person, engrossed in tamas - cannot understand the Atman, even when explained in many different ways; but he takes the attributes of Maya as the Atman. (vs. 115) And he remains in ignorance, dullness, sleepŠ. (vs. 116)

Sattva is pure.  It becomes useful for liberation.  Therein is reflected the shadow of the Atman.  Sattva manifests the Atman, as the sun manifests the whole of the universe.  It is lightŠ. (vs. 117)  Sattva becomes mixed with rajas and tamas, and the traits of mixed sattva are as follows: [absence of pride], denial of things [yamas], observance of the niyamas [purification, austerity, study, contentment, and worship of God], control of the [sense] organs, faith, devotion, desire for liberation, a divine nature, and cessation from things that are not good for self-purification, harmlessness, truthfulness, freedom from greed, continence, and absence of acquisitiveness.  Pure sattva is blissfulness, realization of Self, supreme peace of attainment, cheerfulness, and an abiding quality in the Self, by which one becomes ever-blissful. (vs. 118-9)

The purpose of drawing a distinction between the gunas from the perspective of Vedic cosmology and psychology is to gain a more comprehensive understanding that eventually reveals the inherent connection between the individual mind and the cosmic mind.  According to the Pancadasi, the difference between the Maya resulting in the cosmic experience and the Ignorance resulting in the individual experience is the predominance of sattva in the former, and rajas and tamas in the latter.  "When the element of sattva is pure, Prakriti is known as Maya; when impure (being mixed up with rajas and tamas) it is called Avidya [ignorance/nescience].  Brahman, reflected in Maya, is known as the omniscient Ishvara [cosmic being], who controls Maya.  When reflected in Avidya it is the Jiva [individual being]." Pancadasi, 1.16   Note, from the standpoint of Advaita it is only Brahman manifesting in these two modes.

"Arise, awake, and stop not 'til the goal is reached!" is one of the clarion calls of Vedanta.  The beginner will hear this and wonder if the first two words are not reversed. Shouldn't it be, "Awake, arise?"  But the practical teaching is that if one is experiencing the sleep, dullness, and torpor of tamas, then rajas, activity, should be applied.  Nothing of a spiritual nature can be done in tamas, so rajas is necessary.  From there one mixes it with sattva.  Yet even pure sattva is a gold chain ultimately, anchoring one, albeit blissfully, in Prakriti.  The Upanisads document how the ancient seers finally saw through this last barrier to complete freedom, the "goal" in the quote above.  Yoga describes one of the obstacles to ultimate Freedom/Moksha, as the attachment to subtle bliss.  But this "problem" is far off for most spiritual aspirants, and pure sattva is to be strived for.  It is the plateau from which final liberation can be approached.  As Sri Sarada Devi states, "Peace is the essential thing.  You need peace first and foremost."

Thus, back to our aspiring student and the issue of repetition of the teachings, it is obvious how the gunas and the effect they have on the mind determine the need for hearing the teachings repeatedly.  If one studies when the mind is in a state of tamas, one's intellect will be too dull to understand the teaching, and will likely misconstrue the meaning as well.  Hearing the teachings in a state of rajas, the mind will be too restless to dive below the surface meanings. It will only "be present" for part of the teachings while the mind thinks about other things and then passion-based desire for various ends will skew one's understanding.  In sattva, the mind becomes concentrated and the light of understanding shines upon the import of the teachings - until rajas and tamas return.  Does this mean that we should not study or meditate when we are in tamas?  For beginners, yes.  They must go breathe, exercise, serve, sit with holy company, and thereby raise the prana.  Then, when rajas is present, the aspirant must control it via sattvic pursuits such as concentration on devotional practices, study, and contemplation of the teachings.  Sattva will then return.  Yet, the danger here for the novice is that sattva makes one feel good, happy, content - "Oh, I'm fine, I don't need to do my sadhana today." Thus, cycles of pleasure and pain continue and lead nowhere.  One should apply oneself just as determinedly while in sattva as when in rajas.  Thereby one will one get established firmly in sattva to make the advance to what is trigunatita, beyond the gunas.

Om Shanti

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