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Simple Quotes And Teachings On Three Gunas In Hinduism

Simple quotes and teaching on three Gunas in Hinduism is from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

Under the spell of maya man forgets his true nature. This divine maya is made up of three gunas. This universe consists of the three gunas – sattva, rajas, and tamas. The three gunas are in Brahman, but It is Itself untainted by them. You may find both good and bad smells in the air; but the air itself is unaffected.

The characteristics of sattva, rajas, and tamas are very different. The scriptures describe sattva as white, rajas as red, and tamas as black. Sattva preserves, rajas creates, and tamas destroys.

Egotism, sleep, gluttony, lust, anger, and the like, are the traits of people with tamas. Pride and delusion come from tamas. There are a few men who cannot attain knowledge of God: men proud of their scholarship, proud of their education, or proud of their wealth. Through anger one loses one’s wits and cannot distinguish between right and wrong.

Men with rajas entangle themselves in many activities. Such a man has a watch and chain, and two or three rings on his fingers. The furniture of his house is all spick and span. His wardrobe is filled with a large assortment of clothes. When he worships God he wears a silk cloth. He has a string of rudraksha beads around his neck, and in-between the beads he puts a few gold ones…When he gives in charity he makes a show of it. Delivering [oneself]…is the characteristic of rajas.

A man endowed with sattva is quiet and peaceful. Sattva makes one introspective. It makes one hide one’s virtues. The man himself is very gentle, quiet, kind, and humble. So far as dress is concerned, anything will do. He earns only enough money to give his stomach the simplest of food; he never flatters men to get money. He never worries about his children’s clothing. He does not hanker for name and fame. His worship, charity, and meditation are all done in secret; people do not know about them at all.