The polarity of the three Gunas and the vital and the destructive principle

The wise men of India taught not only about the five elements in ancient times but also about the three gunas. The trigunas apply the threefold key of wisdom to explain phenomena of our world. We can combine the three gunas of tamas, rajas and sattva with the five elements and the two principles of life, the constructive, vital principle and the destructive, disintegrating principle.

Indeed such thoughts are a matter of the field of wisdom, dealing with the keys of wisdom, analyzing problems, finding solutions, etc.

So the beauty of applying the keys of wisdom and here especially the trigunas key together with the other ones lies in the ability to receive a deep understanding of creation and of the human being.

The trigunas represent perfectly the three main states of the human being and of creation itself. Tamas is the state of darkness, very earthy, material, dumb, slowly, low vibration. Rajas is the state of action, of vitality, of interaction, life itself, fire, communication, the dynamic of life, doing things, high energy level, mars principle, higher vibration. And then we have the state of sattva, very airy, well balanced, harmony, abundance, satisfaction, lightness, being complete, perfect, heaven, the opposite of tamas.

The three gunas as states of being can be seen like a pyramid with tamas as the basis, the material plane, matter then following the plane of rajas where action takes place, the dynamic principle of life and as the top of the pyramid we have the state of heaven, sattva, fulfillment. So indeed we have the polarity of heaven and earth in the three gunas and we have life itself as the rajas state where all beings are creating their own reality, where they are active, working on satisfying their needs and desires. It is the state of taking action.

From heaven, the state of sattva, we fall into matter, the state of dullness and darkness, and from this material state we become more and more active on the level of rajas to evolve and make it again back to heaven, to the state of perfection.

So the three gunas are a very nice reflection of the composition of creation. And they show the evolution of the human soul.

Now we can add the principles of vitality and destruction. Here is the interesting point that these universal principles are active on all three planes respectively in all three gunas, states of existence. The most powerful unfolding of the principles of life and death can be found on the level of rajas. On the sattva level these principles are ideas, principles, laws. On the rajas level they come into realization. And on the tamas level they are quite passive. In the state of tamas not much really happens.

The human being is now in the center of this universal polarity. And everyone can check where he is at the moment.

The four elements can be found certainly also in this play of polarity. On the sattva level all four elements are perfectly developed and integrated in quantity and quality which means perfect harmony, the divine state of balance and abundance. On the level of rajas there is a great imbalance of the four elements which permanently requests balancing activities. This is what we call life. The dynamic balancing principle of the elements. Human beings need to take action to satisfy their needs, to balance their deficiencies. Here humans have dominant elements in their personalities and they are lacking of quality/quantity of certain elements which they need to balance with other people and by taking action, by developing themselves. On the level of tamas all four elements are given but the earth element is so dominant that all elements are in a passive, sleeping, imprisoned state. The material prison is too strong so that the elements cannot unfold their powers and qualities.

The Akasha element is hidden and ruling all polarities and principles.

These philosophical considerations are quite interesting as they truly offer the keys for all problems in understanding and in finding the fitting solution.

The teachings of wisdom are also a great key for successful spiritual training.