How Gunas can Influence our Yoga Journey the goal of which is beyond the Gunas

In Yogic Philosophy, Prakriti or Nature has three essential qualities called Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.

As Yogis our practice, and the lives we manifest is innately guided by the gunas which are predominant in our personalities and how they change with time and age. A simple conclusion that comes from this is that each body, the way it moves and its challenges are unique.

Ayurveda even connects the gunas to elements of gross manifestation (air, water, earth, fire & space) and their energetic qualities. This binds our existence to prakriti. These Gunas are always shifting and moving during a day and phases of life.

Sattva represents the quality of purity, clarity, wisdom and peace. Rajas represents activity, motion, desire, ambition and restlessness. Tamas represents heaviness, ignorance, laziness and confusion. Sattva has qualities that support ones journey into meditation. Therefore yogis have emphasized the importance of nurturing Sattvic qualities in ones nature.

As wired personalities we tend to settle in the same dincharya – schedules or habitual patterns as we like. And for one stuck in patterns the practice becomes a means to break out of them again and again. Not only the practice, the external life of a Yogi is influenced by innate Gunas.

For someone who repeatedly experiences anxiety and is predominantly rajasic a lot of movement, a lot of intentional silence is needed to even experience a little sattva. For someone who is primarily in sattva guna excess of anything could be an imbalance. For someone experiencing tamas , too much slowing down could be contraindicative in the practice.

Before I go any further let me define the goal of Yoga as shared by Ancient Yogis is not bodily contortions, Instagram followers or a means of income , not even getting entangled in the understanding of Gunas. The Goal of Yoga as shared in the second and third yoga sutra as per Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is developing a quietness in mind such that it lends itself into meditation. And through meditation one recognizes the real swarupa of oneself as beyond this mind-body complex.

Gunatita is described as state of consciousness which transcends the three gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas and abides in one true nature – the self – the atman as pure awareness. In this state, ones identification is no longer with the changing gunas but with the awareness in which the play of gunas arise.

Although we have heard growth happens only when we make ourselves uncomfortable and independent of the things we are attached to. Although this is true for a certain phase of a yogis life, an ideology like this can often arise from a rajasic mind which inspires constant action. Such constant practice & movement and need to do, makes one bound – not free of gunas. Rather the practice becomes a muse to a mind that needs help. A tool for nervous system manipulation.

A good question to ask is how physically uncomfortable one wants to be once one has understood their essential nature through the practice of Yoga Asana, Meditation, exposure to shastra or through the path of Bhakti.

A practitioner must develop sensitivity to notice the play of gunas in their own experience. A beginner may need to spend intentional time with the practice to gain certain amount of physical and mental stability. But thereafter going on scrapping the surface, the physical body to only patch it up again isn’t self-realisation. Doing that makes Yoga an outward activity – a circus. We dismantle a pose by bone and muscle and forget why we came to the practice in the first place. But at some point the practice must be seen as a path to self-realization. And then some questions one can ask is –

How much and what kind of practice is required?

Is the practice creating resolution in me or it is taking me into loops?

True transformation through Yoga can change the way we see and act in life. Not repeating the same cycles again and again. This becomes relevant with the way we use the body mindfully(with awareness) in yoga. To transcend patterns of mind and not go on creating new ones without aligning to the goal of the practice.

And this requires an inquiry, meditation, observing oneself, and accepting oneself. Not living up to a standard set by outside. But beginning to notice oneself, ones own habits and patterns. Meditation not as an experience of meditation but that invites one to see their nature as the self. And letting ones life represent that understanding.

Transformation comes with a price we may not always be ready to pay. A giving up of something we decided we are. Or go on sustaining it with more circus. If we change our physical practice it may lead to change in body, change in community, one may not like the things they did with their body previously. One may not receive any attention from those who continue to enjoy Yoga as a physical activity. In today’s world one may not get those likes on social media.

But often on this journey as Yogis we reach milestones where we have to give up something to gain something. And this is where one transforms in the fire of tapas. These can be very tender spots for us teachers to navigate. But they are immensely important to ruminate in. If we see yoga as a spiritual inquiry. The truth and any manifest form of this realization reveals itself in stages, step 1 – step 2 and so on.

When the next step is revealed will you step on it or choose familiarity ?

Another perspective : Understanding Yoga in its real essence through Practice, Shravanam and Nidhidhyasanam one may eventually become a karma yogi – one who allows life to happen through them, let roles of life flow through them and not getting stuck in a step. And at this point the outer form of the practice may not matter in the same way and the inner understanding has been rightly aligned with the goal of the practice. One may understand the practice was never about becoming something but recognizing one true swaropa was always existing. At this stage all actions arising from Sattva , Rajas and Tamas may merge into the one who is established in ones true nature – ones understanding of oneself is beyond gunas. This journey is unique to each yogi.

Much love to my Yogi community. I share what I unfurl in my yoga journey here through my practice and study with my teachers. If anything here created a spur or relatability in you do leave a comment.

Harih Om