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Svasti: A Journey From Assault To Wholeness

~ Recovery from PTSD & depression + yoga, silliness & poetry…

Svasti: A Journey From Assault To Wholeness

Tag Archives: Yogic

The 3 Gunas

27 Monday Jul 2009

Posted by Svasti in Yoga

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Brahma, Brahman, duality, gunas, Hindu, non-dual consciousness, philosophy, Prakriti, Purusha, rajas, sattva, Shiva, tamas, Tantric, Trimurti, Vishnu, Yogic

**This is a cut down version of an assignment I submitted for the Yogic Physiology subject in my yoga teacher studies. I’ve posted it here mostly because I also created some digital art to go with it that I wanted to share.

Also, I’m hoping I’ve explained the gunas in a relatively simple way and that you enjoy learning a little more about other aspects of yoga**

Diagram of the three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas

My digital art depicting the gunas (click to view larger image)

Within Hindu and Tantric/Yogic philosophy, the way the universe manifests is described with numerous intersecting concepts, explaining how Brahman (non-dual consciousness) becomes duality – bringing the manifest universe into being.

The impulse for Brahman to know itself as ‘other than self’ is considered to be the reason the universe exists, as Brahman is characterised as having the ultimate freedom to do or become anything because it contains all things.

Once this impulse occurs, Brahman separates into Prakriti (unmanifest matter) and Purusha (pure consciousness), the root cause all creative processes.

The term Prakriti comes from the root words ‘Pra’ (before) and ‘Kri’ (to make) – and so can be interpreted as before anything is made.

Prakriti is in turn comprised of the three gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas.

The gunas measure qualities of the world, and combine in various forms as the mind, the senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) and the elements (earth, water, fire, wind, space).

And so in this way, Prakriti is the source of the world and everything in it.

The gunas are associated with various qualities and can be used to describe any object. Some of the qualities of each guna are as follows:

  • Sattva – positive energy, harmony, balanced, uniting, happiness, light, spirituality, being-ness – the higher or spiritual potential.
  • Rajas – energy, action, change, movement, creativity – the intermediate or life potential.
  • Tamas – laziness, heaviness, impurity, darkness, sleepy, dullness, inertia, inactivity, materiality – the lower or material potential.

All three gunas co-exist in all objects, people and things in varying amounts.

One guna is usually more prominent than the others, and so certain tendencies (e.g. heavy, light, dark, warm, hot, dry etc) become associated with objects, and this forms a part of how we understand and relate to the perceivable world. The predominant guna can also change over time.

The importance of the gunas for human beings is how they manifest in our: health, food, thoughts, actions, the seasons and weather and so on.

Generally speaking, it’s preferable to work towards a more sattvic lifestyle. Some rajas is required, but minimising tamas should be the goal for good health.

An increase in sattva naturally reduces rajas and tamas. This can be achieved by maintaining sattvic thoughts, diet, lifestyle and home environment etc. The more sattvic your life becomes, the more peace and joy you’ll experience.

If there’s no rajas in your life, you won’t have the necessary desire to keep living, working and doing things. However, too much rajas can bring aggressiveness, cruelty, carelessness. Rajas can be reduced by not eating too much rajasic food, and avoiding excessive or extreme behaviours (working/partying/exercising too much).

Tamas is not ‘bad’ as such, but the amount of tamas in your life does need to be managed, as too much can bring depression, fear, obesity and negativity. Tamas is reduced by avoiding tamasic foods, over-sleeping/eating or being inactive.

Gunas & Food

For good health, its important to pay attention to the food we eat as it impacts both our physical and mental wellbeing.

The gunas of food are not only to do with the food itself, but also its current state – fresh, stale, rotting etc. Also the way food is treated, stored and cooked can also change the state of the food, and thus the gunas.

Sattvic food: cereals; wholemeal bread; fresh fruit & vegetables; pure fruit juices; milk, butter & cheese; legumes, nuts, seeds; raw honey; herb teas.

Rajasic food: all hot substances & stimulants; fried food; coffee & tea; spices; fish; eggs; salt & pepper; chocolate/sweet foods. Eating in a hurry is considered rajasic and bad for your digestion.

Tamasic food: meat; alcohol; tobacco; onions; garlic; fermented foods; stale/overripe food; processed food; leftovers. Overeating is also regarded as tamasic.

Sattvic food is also said to be the most ideal diet for those interested in yoga. If what you eat supports a peaceful state of body and mind, meditation comes more easily and is less disturbed.

Too much rajas can destroy one’s equilibrium, overstimulating the body and making the mind restless, active, energetic, tense and wilful.

An overly tamasic diet destroys the body’s immunity and fills the mind with emotions like anger and greed.

For spiritual evolution the gunas must be purified and sattva must predominant moment to moment in one’s mind and body.

Trimurti

The three gunas can also be related to the Trimurti (meaning ‘having three forms’) which describes the three faces of god, being:

  • Brahma (the creator/sattva)
  • Vishnu (the preserver/rajas)
  • Shiva (the destroyer/tamas)

The symbolism here suggests that all three gods (and by extension, everything in this universe) are really all part of the one supreme consciousness.

Creation of life can not occur in a vacuum – it exists in time and space – so along with creation (sattva), there must also be change (rajas) and dissolution/death (tamas).

**Update** For another slant on the gunas, read Linda Sama’s post: Srivatsa Ramaswami: The Three Gunas**

~Svasti

-37.814251 144.963169

Personal space

01 Wednesday Jul 2009

Posted by Svasti in Learnings

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

boundaries, introspection, mausoleum of dead knickers, old clothes, old knickers, personal boundaries, personal space, primary school, toilet stalls, Yogic

Personal Space Invader

I often feel like I don’t understand the whole deal with personal boundaries properly.

Not particularly yogic of me I know, but hey, we all have our strengths and weaknesses.

Like, this one time in primary school (don’t know exactly when but I think I was pretty young still), I remember being in the bathroom stall next to a friend. And I wanted to say hi, so I climbed on the toilet seat and peaked over the top – ‘Hi Melissa!’.

Not to be creepy or strange, just because I wanted to say hi.

But apparently Melissa didn’t see my actions in the spirit I’d intended. Instead, she exacted her revenge… next time I was in there, bringing a handful of our friends to look over and under the door and giggle.

Not that I minded, really. But I didn’t understand either, why she felt like she had to do that. And I was still a little confused (then, not now) about why she was mad…

These days, if I was an inch or two taller, I’d be able to see over many bathroom stall divider walls completely unintentionally, and without climbing up on anything (erm, not that I would).

On the flip side, it makes me queasy thinking about the end-of-lifecycle treatment of clothes. When things are see-through, holey or otherwise falling apart way past redemption… most stuff ends up in the rubbish bin, except if it’s in an okay enough condition to give to charity.

Unless of course, a second life as cleaning rags is possible. Even then, cutting in to pieces fabric that’s spent so much time on my body… feels weird.

And I’m confused when throwing out underwear, especially. When’s the optimal time to give it up? How do you put clothing you’ve worn that close to your genitals into the same bin asthe vegetable peelings, redundant but non-recyclable packaging, and unpalatable leftovers (etc)?

I do it though, of course. It’s not like I have some kind of mausoleum of dead knickers, but still, it always feels strange throwing them out.

And I think… maybe that’s what I’m like dealing with people, too? I never know when too close is or isn’t good, or when things should be discarded, or even if they’re meant to be discarded or not. Can they be revitalised? Should they be?

My ability to distinguish and understand is somewhat impaired, I fear. Am I giving enough space? Too much? Am I crowding?

Seems my sense of personal space is fluid and strange and yet, leaves me sometimes feeling like I’m not where I want to be. Or, wondering what happened and why things or people are so far away, suddenly not easy to understand and most impenetrable.

Then, trying to understand, I perhaps crash through the unseen boundaries of others, making a bit of a mess in the process.

It’s never my intention but hey, it’s just me looking over the bathroom stall to say ‘Hi, what’s up?’ and never realising my gaffe til the china shop’s been trashed.

Sigh… a little more Svasti-introspection required please!

~Svasti

No regrets

19 Friday Dec 2008

Posted by Svasti in Life Rant, Poetry

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Change, Edith Piaf, La Môme Piaf, No regrets, Non je ne regrette rien, Transformation, Yogic

Sung by the great madame herself – Edith Piaf – Non, je ne regrette rien (No, I regret nothing) is… vocally and lyrically a knockout.

At not even 5′, Edith was nicknamed “La Môme Piaf” (the little sparrow) – which morphed into her famous moniker.

Here’s one angry, tragic and passionate woman – with good reason! Abandoned by her mother and father, brought up in a brothel til the age of six, then re-claimed to work as a busker alongside her father travelling around France… her talent was obvious. She lost her only child to meningitis. Her singing career was dogged by those that wanted to take advantage of her.

Edith kinda lived fast and died young before it was ever fashionable to do so…

An English translation of Non, je ne regrette rien is as follows:

No, nothing at all
No, I regret nothing
Neither the good things
Nor the bad, they are the same to me

No, nothing at all
No, I regret nothing
It’s been paid for
Swept away, forgotten
I don’t give a damn about the past

My memories
I have burnt my memories
My sorrows, my pleasures
I don’t need them anymore
Swept away the love affairs
And all their tremblings
Swept away forever
I start anew

No, nothing at all
No, I regret nothing at all
Neither the good
Nor the bad, they are all the same to me

No, nothing at all
No, I regret nothing at all
For my life, for my joys
Today
They start with you

Now, this could be interpreted as a love song to another – but I like it better when thinking of it sung to oneself…

There’s some very kinda yogic stuff in there – expressing no preference for the good or the bad (its all the same), the past not being related to this moment (just a discontinuous moment-to-moment existence that appears to be linear)…

Its all about right here, right now. A transformation. A change sweeping through. A revelation. New beginnings.

How I wish I could take these words and make them my reality right now!

To have no regrets at all, not one (I’m working on it)… to see the world through fresh eyes with a heart that’s known no sorrow. Or… that none of it matters any longer. No regrets…

Now that’s something worth both living and dying for.

Oh, and happy birthday, Madame Sparrow… you woulda been 93 today (same age as my grandma), if you’d stuck around…

And now, a public service announcement:

Those who know stories
Within stories

Listen up!

Whispers thusly concealed

Must remain
Shine no light on them…
~Svasti

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