Philosophy and Religion / John Woodroffe: Introduction to Tantra-Sastra

John Woodroffe: Introduction to Tantra-Sastra

Guna

It cannot be said that current explanations give a clear understanding of this subject. Yet such is necessary, both as affording one of the chief keys to Indian philosophy and to the principles which govern Sadhana.

The term guna is generally translated "quality" a word which is only accepted for default of a better. For it must not be overlooked that the three gunas (sattva, rajas, and tamas) which are of Prakrti constitute Her very substance.

This being so, all Nature which issues from Her, the Mahakaranasvarupa, is called trigunatmaka, and is composed of the same guna in different states of relation to one another.

The functions of sattva, rajas, and tamas are to reveal, to make active, and to suppress respectively. Rajas is the dynamic, as sattva and tamas are static principles. That is to say, sattva and tamas can neither reveal nor suppress without being first rendered active by rajas. These gunas work by mutual suppression.

The unrevealed Prakrti (avyakta-prakrti) or Devi is the state of stable equilibrium of these three gunas.

When this state is disturbed the manifested universe appears, in every object of which one or other of the three gunas is in the ascendant. Thus in Devas as in those who approach the divya state, sattva predominates, and rajas and tamas are very much reduced. That is, their independent manifestation is reduced.

They are in one sense still there, for where rajas is not independently active it is operating on sattva to suppress tamas, which appears or disappears to the extent to which it is, or is not, subject to suppression by the revealing principle.

In the ordinary human jiva considered as a class, tamas is less reduced than in the case of the Deva but very much reduced when comparison is made with the animal jiva. Rajas has great, independent activity, and sattva is also considerably active. In the animal creation sattva has considerably less activity.

Rajas has less independent activity than in man, but is much more active than in the vegetable world. Tamas is greatly less preponderant than in the latter.

In the vegetable kingdom tamas is more preponderant than in the case of animals and both rajas and sattva less so.
In the inorganic creation rajas makes tamas active to suppress both sattva and its own independent activity.
It will thus be seen that the "upward" or revealing movement from the predominance of tamas to that of sattva represents the spiritual progress of the jivatma.

Again, as between each member of these classes one or other of three gunas may be more or less in the ascendant.

Thus, in one man as compared with another, the sattva guna may predominate, in which case his temperament is sattvik, or, as the Tantra calls it, divyabhava.

In another the rajoguna may prevail, and in the third the tamoguna, in which case the individual is described as rajasik, or tamasik, or, to use Tantrik phraseology, he is said to belong to virabhava, or is a pasu respectively.

Again the vegetable creation is obviously less tamasik and more rajasik and sattvik than the mineral, and even amongst these last there may be possibly some which are less tamasik than others.

Etymologically, sattva is derived from "sat," that which is eternally existent. The eternally existent is also Cit, pure Intelligence or spirit, and Ananda or Bliss.

In a secondary sense, sat is also used to denote the "good ". And commonly (though such use obscures the original meaning), the word sattva guna is rendered "good quality." It is, however, "good" in the sense that it is productive of good and happiness.

In such a case, however, stress is laid rather on a necessary quality or effect (in the ethical sense) of 'sat' than upon its original meaning.

In the primary sense sat is that which reveals. Nature is a revelation of spirit (sat). Where Nature is such a revelation of spirit there it manifests as sattva guna.

It is the shining forth from under the veil of the hidden spiritual substance (sat). And that quality in things which reveals this is sattva guna. So of a pregnant woman it is said that she is antahsattva, or instinct with sattva; she in whom sattva as jiva (whose characteristic guna is sattva) is living in a hidden state.

But Nature not only reveals, but is also a dense covering or veil of spirit, at times so dense that the ignorant fail to discern the spirit which it veils. Where Nature is a veil of spirit there it appears in its quality of tamoguna. In this case the tamoguna is currently spoken of as representative of inertia, because that is the effect of the nature which veils. This quality, again, when translated into the moral sphere, becomes ignorance, sloth, etc.

In a third sense nature is a bridge between spirit which reveals and matter which veils.

Where Nature is a bridge of descent from spirit to matter, or of ascent from matter to spirit there it manifests itself as rajoguna. This is generally referred to as the quality of activity, and when transferred to the sphere of feeling it shows itself as passion.

Each thing in nature then contains that in which spirit is manifested or reflected as in a mirror or sattvaguna; that by which spirit is covered, as it were, by a veil of darkness or tamoguna, and that which is the vehicle for the descent into matter or the return to spirit or rajoguna.

Thus sattva is the light of Nature, as tamas is its shade. Rajas is, as it were, a blended tint oscillating between each of the extremes constituted by the other gunas.

The object of Tantrik sadhana is to bring out and make preponderant the sattva guna by the aid of rajas, which operates to make the former guna active.

The subtle body (lingasarira) of the jivatma comprises in it buddhi, ahamkara, manas, and the ten senses. This subtle body creates for itself gross bodies suited to the spiritual state of the jivatma.

Under the influence of prarabdha karma, buddhi becomes tamasik, rajasik, or sattvik. In the first case the jivatma assumes inanimate bodies; in the second, active passionate bodies; and in the third, sattvik bodies of varying degress of spiritual excellence, ranging from man to the Deva.

The gross body is also trigunatmaka. This body conveys impressions to the jivatma through the subtle body and the buddhi in particular.

When sattva is made active impressions of happiness result, and when rajas or tamas are active the impressions are those of sorrow and delusion. These impressions are the result of the predominance of these respective gunas.

The acting of rajas on sattva produces happiness, as its own independent activity or operation on tamas produces sorrow and delusion respectively.

Where sattva or happiness is predominant, there sorrow and delusion are suppressed.

Where rajas or sorrow is predominant, there happiness and delusion are suppressed. And where tamas or delusion predominates there, as in the case of the inorganic world, both happiness and sorrow are suppressed.

All objects share these three states in different proportions. There is, however, always in the jivatma an admixture of sorrow with happiness, due to the operation of rajas.

For happiness, which is the fruit of righteous acts done to attain happiness, is after all only a vikara. The natural state of the jivatma - that is, the state of its own true nature - is that bliss (ananda) which arises from the pure knowledge of the Self, in which both happiness and sorrow are equally objects of indifference.

The worldly enjoyment of a person involves pain to self or others. This is the result of the pursuit of happiness, whether by righteous or unrighteous acts.

As spiritual progress is made, the gross body becomes more and more refined. In inanimate bodies, karma operates to the production of pure delusion. On the exhaustion of such karma, the jivatma assumes animate bodies for the operation of such forms of karma as lead to sorrow and happiness mixed with delusion.

In the vegetable world, sattva is but little active, with a corresponding lack of discrimination, for discrimination is the effect of sattva in buddhi, and from discrimination arises the recognition of pleasure and pain, conceptions of right and wrong, of the transitory and intransitory, and so forth, which are the fruit of a high degree of discrimination, or of activity of sattva.

In the lower animal, sattva in buddhi is not sufficiently active to lead to any degree of development of these conceptions.

In man, however, the sattva in buddhi is considerably active, and in consequence these conceptions are natural in him.For this reason the human birth is, for spiritual purposes, so important.

All men, however, are not capable of forming such conceptions in an equal degree. The degree of activity in an individual's buddhi depends on his prarabdha karma.

However bad such karma may be in any particular case, the individual is yet gifted with that amount of discrimination which, if properly aroused and aided, will enable him to better his spiritual condition by inducing the rajoguna in him to give more and more activity to the sattva guna in his buddhi.

On this account proper guidance and spiritual direction are necessary. A good guru, by reason of his own nature and spiritual attainment and disinterested wisdom, will both mark out for the sisya the path which is proper for him, and aid him to follow it by the infusion of the tejas which is in the Guru himself.

Whilst sadhana is, as stated, a process for the stimulation of the sattva guna, it is evident that one form of it is not suitable to all. It must be adapted to the spiritual condition of the sisya, otherwise it will cause injury instead of good.

Therefore it is that the adoption of certain forms of sadhana by persons who are not competent (adhikari), may not only be fruitless of any good result, but may even lead to evils which sadhana as a general principle is designed to prevent. Therefore also is it said that is it better to follow one's own dharma than that, however exalted it be, of another.

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