[Advaita-l] tamoguna

[Michael Shepherd]

Shri Sadananda,

Thank you for your response.

Western misunderstandings are one thing; but there appears to have grown up
in India, teachings around this subject which  have a certain practicality.
I was wondering whether there were any texts subsequent to the Gita, on the
lines I mentioned. They may well spring from a putting together of Chapters
14 and 17..

One 'development' is as I have described -- daivi and aasuri aspects of the
guna. The 'demonic' aspect of sattyva is hinted at in Chapter 14 : the
danger of sattwa as pure knowledge, relapsing into a desire for happiness --
which may be termed kashaya by some; a purer form of 'passion' like, say,
righteous anger; and a sense of measure in the tamoguna.

The other 'accretion' is the statement that there are three 'loka' affecting
the balance  or imbalance of the guna : universal; local; and personal (e.g.
a very 'passionate' man choosing to meditate in a temple rather than a
crossroads in Delhi; and at dawn or dusk for preference..)

I don't wish to push these 'accretions' -- experience proves them true or
untrue; I merely wondered whether there are any Advaitic/Vedantic texts
subsequent to the Gita which give authority to such concepts.

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
[mailto:advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org]On Behalf Of
kuntimaddi sadananda
Sent: 12 April 2009 13:46
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] tamoguna




Michael
 
The description of the three gunas are exhaustively discussed in the 14th
chapter of Gita.
 
In the 17th Chapter, Krishna describes their expressions in terms of speach,
action and even food wise. There is also discussion of daiviisampatti and
aasurii sampatti.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Hari Om!
Sadananda

--- On Fri, 4/10/09, Michael Shepherd <michael at shepherd87.fsnet.co.uk>
wrote:


I'd like to raise the question of tamoguna.

Like most people, I guess, I at first accepted the standard dictionat
definition that sattwa is the quality of goodness and knowledge; rajas, the
energy of action; and tamas, inertia and darkness.

Then later I was introduced to the idea (and I'm asking for any source texts
here) that there were two aspects to each guna : divine and demonic. So that
'demonic sattwa', kashaya,  is illusory goodness and knowledge (as anyone
who has been to California will rcognise..); 'demonic rajas', vikshepa, is
destructive agitation; and 'divine tamas' has something of Shiva : the
divine measure of things which gives shape to all actions; and mal is the
demonic 'inertia and darkness'' normally agttributed to tamas, without
distinction.

This seems to me to be an insult to tamas, if its divine aspect is not
acknowledged..

I hope for comments and source texts on this matter.

Michael



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