Post By: Vishwanath Iyer Published on: December 22, 2016 Reading time: 6 minutes
During any transaction, our awareness moves from confusion, to active effort and finally harmony.
Tamas (inertia): This aspect is characterised by fear, laziness, indolence, confusion, delusion etc. and is governed primarily by the physical/ static element of our Self. So, a person with predominance of this state generally is confused, lazy, indecisive and will not do work unless pushed or monitored.
Rajas (passion): This state governs nearly all forms of action, driven primarily by emotions. Also, this aspect drives our orientation towards results and desire for achievement. So, a person in this state would typically be result oriented, dominating, driving, aggressive, brooking no resistance, impatient etc.
Sattva (harmony): This occurs when a person tries to balance result with resource, process, tries to balance task result with quality & relationships. This is driven by a need for balance. So, this person avoids confrontation unless absolutely required. When in a conflict situation, the person is calm and absorbs emotions. Also, this person avoids personal & and judgmental remarks.
Example: A person is using an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) for the first time. The bank has issued a new ATM card to the person.
Imagine the person’s state when he/she has to withdraw money from the ATM for the first time. Initially, there is confusion – “How am I going to do this?” or anxiety/ fear “What will happen if…?” This is tamas.
Then comes anger or irritation – “This is ridiculous! How do they expect me to operate this machine without training?” This is rajas. Then, there is effort… “let’s see what we can do”.
Finally, there is acceptance and ownership. Here, the person hacks around and finds a solution, either by doing it himself or by asking someone. Value is added and this is sattva.
Consequently, an awareness of having found a solution builds in the person. This is vijñāna. This results in increased confidence in the Self, an increase in asmitā (I am this) which is called jñāna.
Siva’s manifestation is asmitā (cognition of Self). The conditioning is svadharma (personal conditioning) and behaviour is svabhāva. Finally, the weave of conditioning with behaviour is called svatantra or personality.
The transaction between the manifesting Siva and receiving Siva is called māya (illusion/ farce).
In any transaction:
During the transaction, the manifesting Siva transmits its identity only to the level of its cognition, this is never complete. Similarly, the receiving Siva is receiving information only to the extent supported by its identity. However, each thinks that its own as well as the other’s manifestation is complete which leads to significant differences in perception.
The resulting relative difference between perception of sender and receiver as well as the way feedback is received and decoded is māya (illusion).
It’s important to realise that additionally, various parameters of decision-making are continuously changing.
Comment: It is very important to understand how māya drives our existence. Our manifestation is the expression of our identity (asmitā). However, the feedback we get may or may not be in congruence with how we perceive our Identity. Consequently, when there is congruence between our manifestation and the feedback we receive, our asmitā expands and there is rāga (attraction-karma) occurs. But, when it is dissonance between the feedback and our Identity, then our asmitā contracts and dveṣa (repulsion-karma) results.
Internal Tags: Conditioning or Dharma, Self Awareness or Asmita, Guna in Bhagavat- Geeta chapter 14
External Tags: Stress