Gunas

Gunas are the three fundamental qualities of prakriti (nature) in Samkhya philosophy and later Hindu thought. They are described as intrinsic tendencies that color matter, mind, and experience, continuously interacting and transforming phenomena rather than representing fixed traits.

The three gunas are sattva, rajas, and tamas. Sattva is associated with clarity, harmony, balance, and insight. Rajas denotes activity, dynamism, passion, and attachment. Tamas corresponds to inertia, ignorance, dullness, and resistance to change. Objects and beings are understood as compositions of these gunas in varying proportions, and states may shift with conditions such as environment, habit, and cultivation of discernment.

The gunas are dynamic and interdependent. Sattva can be obscured by tamas or intensified through alignment with knowledge and ethical conduct; rajas drives action and desire, which can be tempered by restraint; tamas tends toward ignorance and lethargy, which can be overcome by illumination and effort. In this framework, behavior, perception, and cognition are seen as influenced by the predominance of one or more gunas at a given time.

In classical texts, including the Bhagavad Gita, the guna framework is used to explain action, motivation, and moral dilemma. It provides a lens for understanding personal temperament, health, and state of mind, and it forms a basis for approaches in yoga, Ayurveda, and psychology that seek balance and growth by recognizing and assessing guna influences.