THE NATURE FORCES - SATTVA,
RAJAS, AND TAMAS
❤💫❤
EACH IS GREAT IN HIS OWN PLACE'
💫💫
❤
ACCORDING TO THE SANKHYA PHILOSOPHY, NATURE IS COMPOSED OF THREE FORCES CALLED IN SANSKRIT, SATTVA, RAJAS, AND TAMAS. THESE ARE MANIFESTED IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD ARE WHAT WE MAY CALL EQUILIBRIUM, ACTIVITY, AND INERTNESS. TAMAS IS TYPIFIED AS DARKNESS OR INACTIVITY, RAJAS IS ACTIVITY, EXPRESSED AS ATTRACTION OR REPULSION, AD SATTVA IS THE EQUILIBRIUM OF THE TWO THINGS.
IN EVERY MAN THERE ARE THESE THREE FORCES, SOMETIMES TAMAS PREVAILS, WE BECOME LAZY, WE CANNOT MOVE, WE ARE INACTIVE, BOUND DOWN BY CERTAIN IDEAS OR BY MERE DULLNESS. AT OTHER TIME ACTIVITY PREVAILS, AND AT STILL OTHER TIMES THAT CALM BALANCING OF BOTH . AGAIN, IN DIFFERENT MEN, ONE OF THESE FORCES IS GENERALLY PREDOMINANT. THE CHARACTERISTIC OF ONE MAN IS INACTIVITY, DULLNESS AND LAZINESS, THAT OF ANOTHER, ACTIVITY, POWER, MANIFESTATION OF ENERGY, AND IN STILL ANOTHER WE FIND THE SWEETNESS, CALMNESS, AND GENTLENESS WHICH ARE DUE TO THE BALANCING OF BOTH ACTION AND INACTION. SO IN ALL CREATION - IN ANIMALS, PLANTS, AND MEN- WE FIND THE MORE OR LESS TYPICAL MANIFESTATION OF ALL THESE DIFFERENT FORCES.
❤
KARMA-YOGA HAS SPECIALLY TO DEAL WITH THESE THREE FACTORS. BY TEACHING WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW TO EMPLOY THEM, IT HELPS US TO DO OUR WORK BETTER. HUMAN SOCIETY IS A GRADED ORGANIZATION. WE ALL KNOW ABOUT MORALITY, AND WE ALL KNOW ABOUT DUTY, BUT AT THE SAME TIME WE FIND THAT IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MORALITY VARIES GREATLY. WHAT IS REGARDED AS MORAL IN ONE COUNTRY MAY IN ANOTHER BE CONSIDERED PERFECTLY IMMORAL. FOR INSTANCE, IN ONE COUNTRY COUSINS MAY MARRY, IN ANOTHER, IT IS THOUGHT TO BE VERY IMMORAL, IN ONE, MEN MAY MARRY THEIR SISTERS-IN-LAW, IN ANOTHER, IT IS REGARDED AS IMMORAL, IN ONE COUNTRY PEOPLE MAY MARRY ONLY ONCE, IN ANOTHER, MANY TIMES, AND SO FORTH. SIMILARLY, IN ALL OTHER DEPARTMENTS OF MORALITY, WE FIND THE STANDARD VARIES GREATLY - YET WE HAVE THE IDEA THAT THERE MUST BE A UNIVERSAL STANDARD OF MORALITY.
SO IT IS WITH DUTY. THE IDEA OF DUTY VARIES MUCH AMONG DIFFERENT NATIONS. IN ONE COUNTRY, IF A MAN DOES NOT DO CERTAIN THINGS, PEOPLE WILL SAY HE HAS ACTED WRONGLY, WHILE IF DOES THOSE VERY THINGS IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, PEOPLE WILL SAY THAT HE DID NOT ACT RIGHTLY - AND YET WE KNOW THAT THERE MUST BE SOME UNIVERSAL IDEA OF DUTY. IN THE SAME WAY THAT HE DID SOME UNIVERSAL IDEA OF DUTY. IN THE SAME WAY, ONE CLASS OF SOCIETY THINKS THAT CERTAIN THINGS ARE AMONG ITS DUTY, WHILE ANOTHER CLASS THINKS QUITE THE OPPOSITE AND WOULD BE HORRIFIED IF IT HAD TO DO THOSE THINGS. TWO WAYS ARE LEFT UPON TO US - THE WAY OF THE IGNORANT, WHO THINK THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO TRUTH AND THAT ALL THE REST ARE WRONG, AND THE WAY OF THE WISE, WHO ADMIT THAT, ACCORDING TO OUR MENTAL CONSTITUTION OR THE DIFFERENT PLANES OF EXISTENCE IN WHICH WE ARE, DUTY AND MORALITY MAY VARY. THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE GRADATIONS OF DUTY AND OF MORALITY - THAT THE DUTY OF ONE STATE OF LIFE , IN ONE SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES, WILL NOT AND CANNOT BE THAT OF ANOTHER.
❤
TO ILLUSTRATE : ALL GREAT TEACHERS HAVE TAUGHT, "RESIST NOT EVIL". THAT NON-RESISTANCE IS THE HIGHEST MORAL IDEA. WE ALL KNOW THAT, IF A CERTAIN NUMBER OF US ATTEMPTED TO PUT THAT MAXIM FULLY INTO PRACTICE, THE WHOLE SOCIAL FABRIC WOULD FALL TO PIECES, THE WICKED WOULD TAKE POSSESSION OF OUR PROPERTIES AND OUR LIVES, AND WOULD DO WHATEVER THEY LIKED WITH US. EVEN IF ONLY ONE DAY OF SUCH NON-RESISTANCE WERE PRACTICED. IT WOULD LEAD TO DISASTER. YET, INTUITIVELY, IN OUR HEART OF HEARTS WE FEEL THE TRUTH OF THE TEACHING "RESIST NOT EVIL". THIS SEEMS TO US TO BE THE HIGHEST IDEAL, YET TO TEACH THIS DOCTRINE ONLY WOULD BE EQUIVALENT TO CONDEMNING A VAST PORTION OF MANKING. NOT ONLY SO, IT WOULD BE MAKING MEN FEEL THAT THEY WERE ALWAYS DOING WRONG, AND CAUSE IN THEM SCRUPLES OF CONSCIENCE IN ALL THEIR ACTION, IT WOULD WEAKEN THEM, AND THE CONSTANT SELF-DISSAPPROVAL WOULD BREED MORE VICE THAN ANY OTHER WEAKNESS WOULD. TO THE MAN WHO HAS BEGUN TO HATE HIMSELF THE GATE TO DEGENERATION HAS ALREADY OPENED, AND THE SAME IS TRUE OF A NATION.
