Sanskrit Yoga Glossary
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Word 'guna'
Itrans
guNa
Meaning(s)
- Quality of nature.
- There are three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas.
Additional Explanation(s)
The gunas are qualities that help to define and describe everything in nature. All three gunas are present in everything, all the time, and to different degrees.
In his commentary of the Bhagavad Gita (14.10), Swami Sivananda describes the way the gunas work in this way:
”Each quality acts in its own turn at different times. All the three qualities cannot operate at one and the same time. When one quality asserts itself or predominates by overpowering or suppressing the other two, it produces its own effect. Sattva produces knowledge and happiness; Rajas action; Tamas veiling of knowledge, inertia, error, indolence, sloth and sleep. When Sattva is in the ascendant in a man, he is endowed with discrimination. Sublime thoughts roll in his mind. He has pure understanding. His mind turns away from sensual pleasures and moves inward towards the Self.”
