Guna
Guṇa (IAST)Translation: "Quality"
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: गुण
Transliteration: Guṇa
Translation: "quality; attribute; characteristic; excellence; rope; constituent; subsidiary; mode"
Definition: - The three basic qualities of nature which determine the inherent characteristics of all created things. They are Sattva – purity, light, harmony; Rajas – activity, passion; and Tamas – dullness, inertia, and ignorance.
- It is either composed of, or constituted of (depending on individual school’s interpretations) the three aspects: Sattva, which is buoyant, light, illuminating, knowledge, and happiness; Rajas, which is stimulating, mobile, pain, and action; and Tamas, which is heavy, enveloping, indifferent, and laziness.
- According to Nyāya, it is that which has substance for its substratum, has no further qualities, and is not the cause of, or concerned with conjunction or disjunction. There are twenty-four qualities, some being material and others being mental; color (Rūpa), taste (Rasa), odor (Gandha), touch (Sparśa), sound (Śabda), number (Sāṅkhya), measure (Parimiti), mutual difference (Pṛthaktva), connection (Saṃyoga), separation (Vibhāga), perception of long time (Paratva), perception of short time (Aparatva), heaviness (Gurutva), fluidity (Dravatva), viscidity (Sneha), knowledge (Buddhi), happiness (Sukha), sorrow (Duḥkha), will (Icchā), hatred (Dveṣa), effort (Yatna), latent tendencies (Saṃskāra, which is of three types: Vega, Sthiti-Sthāpaka, and Bhāvāna), righteousness (Dharma), and unrighteousness (Adharma).
- According to Dvaita Vedānta, it is the first product of primordial Nature (Prakṛti). It always resides in a substance. There are an infinite number of qualities, mental as well as physical. Insentient entities have physical qualities while sentient beings have both physical and mental qualities.
- According to Advaita Vedānta and Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, it is an attribute of Prakṛti and is threefold. However, the two schools differ as to the ontological status of the Guṇa.
- According to Sāṅkhya, Guṇa, being the three constituents of Prakṛti (composed on Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas), are like a rope in that they bind the individual and they are subsidiary in that they provide enjoyment for the individuals and also serve to liberate them. They are the subtle substances or cosmic constituents which evolve into all the various categories of existence.
What is Advaita Vedānta? (James Schwartz)
"The self does not appear as energy until it illumines a given mind. The mind is just the Vāsanā of a given individual entity. These Vāsanā are subtle matter. Matter is inert. But when it is illumined by the self it becomes dynamic, just as a seed will remain dormant until it gets water and sunlight. The Vāsanā are conditioned by three types of energy: Sattvic, Rajasic, and Tamasic.
Tamasic energy is a heavy, dull, sleepy energy, as if the mind were under a cloud. Rajas is a projecting energy, a passionate, dynamic, outgoing unsettling energy. And Sattva is the state when the mind is luminous, clear, still, and aware. When the self illumines the Tamasic Vāsanā, the person appears to be ignorant and sleepy and lack motivation. When the self illumines Rajasic Vāsanā, the person is exceptionally dynamic and powerful, often highly motivated. When the self illumines Sattva, the person is clear and bright, very knowledgeable and loving."
The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)
Commentary: "The theory of Guṇa forms an integral part of Hindu philosophy and the whole structure of the manifested Universe, according to this philosophy, is considered to rest on these three fundamental qualities or attributes of Prakṛti. In fact, according to the Sāṅkhya doctrine, even Prakṛti is nothing but a condition of perfect equilibrium of the three Guṇa—Triguṇa-Samyavasthā.[...]
The Guṇa are referred to over and over again in the Bhagavad-Gita; there is hardly any important book in Sanskrit dealing with religion or philosophy in which the word Triguṇa does not occur.[...] Not until the Yogi crosses the boundary of manifestation and transcends the domain of the Guṇa as indicated in Part 4, Sutra 34 can he realize their true nature. But this does not mean that the student of Yoga cannot understand their nature at all and should remain satisfied with the vague and nebulous notions which are generally prevalent with regard to this basic doctrine.[...]
When the Puruṣa comes in contact with Prakṛti at the beginning of the evolutionary cycle, his contact disturbs the equilibrium of the three Guṇa and gradually brings into play the forces of Prakṛti. Through this disturbed atmosphere, the Puruṣa cannot see his Svarūpa because this Svarūpa can be expressed or reflected only through a sufficiently purified Sattva Guṇa. In the early stages of evolution, this question does not arise. The vehicles of consciousness are slowly being organized and the powers latent in Prakṛti are being unfolded. But after evolution has reached a sufficiently advanced stage and the desire for Self-realization is born within the soul, Rajas and Tamas have to be replaced gradually by Sattva. So the object in Yoga is to harmonize Rajas and Tamas into Sattva. And as it is the harmonization of two opposites, a perfect harmonization means really the virtual disappearance of the opposites and the attainment of a condition which is free from the opposites." p.157-160.
"The word Vṛtti is sometimes taken to refer to the Guṇa and to mean the modifications or functions of the Guṇa. According to this interpretation, Guṇa-Vṛtti-Virodha would be the opposition or conflict between the functioning of the three Guṇa amongst themselves. As this does not make much sense, it is much better to interpret Vṛtti as referring to the states of the mind. Guṇa-Vṛtti-Virodha would then mean the conflict between the natural tendencies caused by the preponderance of one of the Guṇa and the states of the mind which are constantly changing. Such a conflict is very common in human life and is the cause of much dissatisfaction in the life of the average individual. The following example will illustrate this conflict and show how it is one of the major causes of human misery.
There is a man who is lazy by temperament owing to the predominance of Tamas in his nature. He hates activity but is placed in circumstances where he has to exert himself for his living. So he desires constantly a peaceful and inactive life and the result of this strong desire entertained persistently is that in his next life his desire finds fruition in an environment where he is forced to be quite inactive (he may be born as an Eskimo or be placed in charge of a lighthouse). But in this life there may be a preponderance of Rajas in his nature and he therefore wants activity in an environment where not much activity is possible. He, therefore, frets and is as dissatisfied with his new lot as he was with the old. Sometimes, this conflict between the Guṇa prevailing at the time and the state of the mind or desire is of a temporary nature, but it always has the effect of producing discontentment for the time being." p. 152.
"The question now arises ‘Is the Triguṇa-Samyavasthā before the Puruṣa came in contact with Prakṛti exactly the same as the condition of pure Sattva developed after going through the evolutionary cycle and attaining Kaivalya?’ The answer to this question must be in the negative because if the two conditions were the same, the whole purpose of evolution as outlined in Part 2, Sutra 23 would be defeated. It would really amount to supposing that the Puruṣa descends into matter, goes through the long and tedious evolutionary cycle and then again lapses into the condition from which he started.
If the two conditions are not identical, what is the difference between them? This is not the place to enter into this highly philosophical question, but an analogy from the field of Science may serve to throw some light on the nature of the difference. A condition of equilibrium may be of two kinds which we may, for the sake of convenience, call static and dynamic. In static equilibrium, two equal and opposite things combine in such a manner that the combination is a dead thing. You cannot get anything out of the combination because it does not contain potentially any power. If we mix together equivalent quantities of an acid and a base—two opposites—we get a neutral salt from which we cannot get anything else. On the other hand, it is possible to produce a harmonious equilibrium of two equal and opposite things which is dynamic and contains potential power. Take a storage battery. In it lie two opposite kinds of electricity combined equally and harmoniously. Outwardly, the battery also appears a dead or inert thing, but only outwardly. We have only to connect the two poles to see the difference.
Now, the equilibrium of Sattva is something analogous to this equilibrium in a storage battery. It contains potentially the power to produce any combination of the Guṇa as required and yet reverting instantaneously to the original condition when the power is not needed. It is in this sense that the recession of the Guṇa to their origin in Part 4, Sutra 34 should be understood. The Guṇa do not cease to function permanently for the Self-realized Puruṣa. They cease to function when he withdraws into himself and come into play as soon as he projects his consciousness outwards. In short, they lose their independent activity and become merely his instruments." p. 160-161
"The Guṇa have four states or stages of development corresponding to the four stages of Samprajñāta Samādhi mentioned in Part 1, Sutra 17. As consciousness and matter work together in the phenomenal world, it is to be expected that the expression of the deeper layers of consciousness should require a subtler form of the three Guṇa. The essential nature of the Guṇa remains the same but they undergo a kind of subtilization, matching, as it were, each of these deeper or finer states of consciousness and enabling these to be expressed through matter. An illustration from the field of Science will perhaps enable the student to understand this relation between the states of consciousness and the stages of the Guṇa. Sound can be transmitted through a comparatively heavy medium like air, but light, which is a much finer vibration, requires for its transmission a subtler medium like the ether.
1. Vitarka stage of Samprajñāta Samādhi and the Viśeṣaḥ stage of the Guṇa
The word Viśeṣaḥ means particular and the Viśeṣaḥ stage of the Guṇa obviously refers to the stage of the lower mind which sees all objects only as particular things with names and forms. To the lower mind, every object seems to have a separate and independent existence and a separate identity. It is isolated, seen apart from its archetype and from the Divine consciousness of which it is a part and in which it is embedded, as it were. This stage of the Guṇa corresponds to the Vitarka stage of Samādhi because while consciousness is functioning through the lower mind, Vitarka is its most important and essential function. Vitarka is that activity of the lower mind through which it differentiates a particular object from all others. How do we differentiate a particular dog, for example, from all other objects in the phenomenal world? The mental process may be illustrated by the following line of reasoning. A particular dog, say Bonzo, is a living animal. This differentiates it from all inanimate objects. Bonzo is an animal of the canine species. This differentiates it from all other species. Bonzo is a fox-terrier. This differentiates it from dogs of other breeds. We can, in this way, narrow down the range of objects from which Bonzo has still to be differentiated until we come down to the last stage when the object has been completely isolated in the mind and stands apart as a particular object in the Universe different and distinguishable from all other objects. This isolation or differentiation of a particular object which is illustrated by the crude example given above is called Vitarka and it is through such a process that the first stage of Samādhi is reached. The student will also see from the above the significance of the word Viśeṣaḥ, particular, in indicating the first or crudest stage of the Guṇa.
2. Vicāra stage of Samprajñāta Samādhi and the Aviśeṣa stage of the Guṇa
Then we come to the next stage, Aviśeṣa, which means universal or non-specific. This corresponds to the activity of the higher mind whose function is to deal with universals, archetypes and principles which underlie the world of names and forms. The lower mind deals with particular objects with names and forms, the higher mind with abstract ideas and archetypes. Reverting to the previous illustration, we saw that Bonzo was a particular dog of a particular breed. But what is this thing ‘dog’ of which Bonzo is a particular representative? The word ‘dog’ stands for an abstract idea. From observation of a large number of dogs, we isolate all the characteristics which constitute their ‘doghood’ and combine them in a single concept which we denote by the word ‘dog’. Every common noun is such an abstraction although we are hardly aware of this fact when we use such words. The mental process whereby these qualities are isolated from particular objects and combined in a single abstract concept is called Vicāra. The function of the higher mind is to form such universal concepts and to grasp their inner significance. It should be noted here that while Vitarka isolates a particular object from all the rest, Vicāra isolates a particular concept, archetype, law, or universal principle from all such Sūkṣma Viṣaya [...]
It may be pointed out here that the simple mental process of Vitarka or Vicāra which we may engage in during the course of our studies and thinking should not be considered equivalent to the corresponding mental processes as they take place in the state of Samādhi. In the state of Samādhi, the mind is completely isolated from the outer world, is fused, as it were, with the object in a state of abstraction. It is in a peculiar and, to the ordinary man, incomprehensible state. And so, concrete and abstract thinking are merely faint reflections, qualitative representations of the extremely subtle mental processes which take place in Samādhi. The reason why words like Vitarka and Vicāra are used to indicate these subtle mental processes lies in the fact that the ordinary reasoning processes are familiar to the student and it is only in this way that he can get some idea of the subtler processes. From the known to the unknown is always the right method of advancing in the realm of the mind.
3. Ānanda stage of Samprajñāta Samādhi and the Liṅga stage of the Guṇa
Then we come to the next stage of the Guṇa—Liṅga. This word means a mark which serves to identify and, in the present context, Liṅga-Mātra means a state of consciousness in which particular objects and even principles are mere marks or signs which serve to distinguish them from other objects. This stage of the Guṇa corresponds to the supra-mental consciousness which transcends the intellect and is expressed through Buddhi or intuition. The corresponding stage in Samādhi is accompanied by Ānanda which confirms the conclusion that this stage of the Guṇa corresponds to the functioning of consciousness through the Buddhic vehicle or Ānandamaya Kośa as it is called in Vedāntic terminology.
But why is this stage of the Guṇa called Liṅga? Because, in the corresponding state of consciousness, all objects and universal principles become part of a universal consciousness. They are seen, embedded as it were, in one consciousness, as parts of an indivisible whole, but they still have their identity and are still distinguishable or recognizable. Each object is itself and yet part of a whole. It is a condition of unity in diversity.
4. Asmitā stage of Samprajñāta Samādhi and the Aliṅga stage of the Guṇa
The next and the last stage of the Guṇa is called Aliṅga or without mark or differentiating characteristic. In this stage, the objects and principles lose their separate identity. Consciousness becomes so predominant that they go out of focus, as it were. According to the highest conceptions of the Hindu philosophy, all objects, archetypes, everything in the manifested Universe is a modification of consciousness—Brahma-Vṛtti. In the Liṅga stage, awareness of objects exists side by side with the awareness of consciousness. In the Aliṅga stage, the former go out of focus and only awareness of the Divine consciousness of which they are modifications remains. A concrete example may perhaps help the student to understand the significance of the different stages of the Guṇa. Suppose we have a number of objects made of gold—a ring, a bracelet and a necklace, placed on a table. We may see them merely as separate objects, as a child would see them. This corresponds to the Viśeṣaḥ stage. We may see them as ornaments with a common function of serving to adorn the human body, as a woman would see them. This is the Aviśeṣa stage. We may see them as objects with a common decorative function, but we may also be interested in the fact that they are made of gold, i.e., we see their common substratum and their separate identity simultaneously, as a goldsmith would see them. This corresponds to the Liṅga stage. And lastly, we may see only the gold and may hardly be conscious of their separate identities or common function, as a thief would see them. This is analogous to the Aliṅga stage. In this stage, the Yogi is conscious, chiefly of the substratum of all phenomenal objects, particular or universal. He is aware, predominantly, of the Divine consciousness in which they are merely Vṛtti or modifications. The objects as separate entities do exist, but they have ceased to have any meaning for him. This stage of the Guṇa corresponds to the last stage of Samprajñāta Samādhi of which Asmitā is the predominant characteristic. The consciousness of pure existence which is denoted by Asmitā swallows up the consciousness of objects.
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The progressive expansion of consciousness which takes place when it passes through the different stages of Samādhi does not mean that these states of consciousness are separated from each other by water-tight compartments and the lower aspects of objects disappear when the higher come into view. Many students feel confused because they suffer from a common misconception about the functioning of consciousness in the higher worlds. They think, for example, that when the Yogi passes into the world of the higher mind, he lives solely in a world of abstract ideas, archetypes and principles with no objects having names and forms with which he has been familiar. Such a world of pure abstractions would be an impossible world to live in and does not exist anywhere as the experiences of all mystics and occultists testify. The higher always includes and enriches the lower though it also enables the lower to be seen in its correct perspective. What was considered important may now appear unimportant or what was considered insignificant may now assume tremendous significance, and vice versa, but everything is there within the expanded consciousness, and the Yogi does not therefore feel he has entered into a strange and incomprehensible world. On the other hand, every expansion of consciousness makes him see greater richness, beauty and significance in everything which is within the range of his perception. Expansion of consciousness means inclusion of more and more and exclusion of nothing.
It will be seen that the four stages of the Guṇa are denoted by the predominant nature of the mental perception and activity which characterize those stages. We are told how the changes in the Guṇa affect the expression of consciousness through them, but we are not given any indication as to the nature of the changes in the Guṇa themselves. This kind of classification which is based upon the secondary effects of the changes in the Guṇa does not, therefore, throw much further light on the nature of the Guṇa themselves. Since the Guṇa lie at the very basis of the manifested Universe and their roots are embedded in the deepest layers of consciousness, their subtle nature can be realized only in Samādhi. The intellect can, at best, enable us to gain only a general idea with regard to their nature and their gross expressions on the lowest plane." p. 163-168.
References:
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
- Swartz, James (2003). What is Advaita Vedanta? Experience and Knowledge. Retrieved from https://www.holybooks.com/what-is-advaita-vedanta-experience-and-knowledge/. p. 23-24.
- Taimni, I. K. (1975). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation in English and Commentary: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 157-160, 152, 160-161, 163-168.
