Tamas, Rajas and Satva

Sanskrit yogic terms which I interpret to have the meaning of *negation, affirmation and illumination*. These are nature's ingredients to organic/spiritual life which more concretely refer to laziness/inertia (tamas), drive/passion (rajas) and purity/peace (satva) of mind. During my stay at the Sivananda Ashram, although we looked upon the trinity of male deities, Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva, as rajasic, satvic and tamasic respectively, there was nonetheless a kind of unspoken hierarchy expressed in less philosophically mindful moments, with tamas at the bottom, rajas just above it, and satva above all.

Really it is a progression in evolution, yet the tamasic has a role, related to Shiva the destroyer, which is as vital as the more affirmative and positive aspects of the Divine. The tamasic time of day is said to be 6pm to 2am, when we relax, enjoy ourselves, have dinner, wind down for the day and goto sleep. From a spiritual perspective there is an inert dark side of consciousness which must be honored and embraced such that one becomes intimate with all that exists within that darkness. In short, the primary process of letting go of everything that weighs upon my soul, the heaviness of life's attachment that is the cause of inertia, is a function of tamas... the capacity for dissolution, decay and death, of all that obscures the Satva, or luminous true nature.

Rajas serves the purpose of lifting us up out of the shit... it says "yeah, life may be a big ball of horse manure and I am swimming in it, but I don't have to give in or resign to a life of meaningless dark inertia. I can take action, use my will, the inner general, yet knowing that this will only take me so far. It will get me out of the tamas and get my head above water so that I can bring myself to see what life is really about and what my potential and possibilities are. The tamas will balance out the rajas simply by following the natural laws of equilibrium and avoiding extremes. It is good to have the ability to "stop and go" alternatively, and to not become overly active and restless nor overly passive and stagnant.

Satva represents this balancing factor, the purity of illumination, which is the true nature behind the grosser natural elements of rajas and tamas. Although it is something we experience in our evolution as a late comer, a fruition of sorts, it is really (like freedom and self awareness) at the very beginning of the process we call life and living. Meditation, yoga, spiritual practices, purification rituals, selfless service (karma yoga) all serve this purpose of upliftment. The joy of being inwardly calm and present, outwardly focused, alive and well, embracing the moment fully in all its splendor, diversity and capacity for creation.

Inevitably the satvic is to be let go of, not by going back into a tamasic or rajasic state, but through the experience of non-grasping... even the higher mind state is seen ultimately as illusion, part of the passing show (albeit the best part), and only a reflection of the truth, joy and deep peace that is the very soul or essence of life and human experience itself. Non-grasping is recognizing the completeness from within, creating, expressing and experiencing in and through the phenomenal world of forms, clinging to none exclusively. The satva is our open gate, the pathway leading to the divine, and through which It is made manifest through me. This may be the most challenging part of all, to live fully and joyfully while anchored in deep peace which does not cling, want or need... the truest definition of FREEDOM and HAPPINESS..

JDZ