Jump to content

Sattva

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Morganfitzp (talk | contribs) at 01:08, 6 May 2016 (Merge tag). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about a psychological, philosophical concept in Indian religions. For the village in Iran, see Satva, Iran.

Sattva (Sanskrit: सत्त्व) is one of the three Guṇas (tendencies, qualities, attributes), a philosophical and psychological concept developed by the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy.[1][2] The other two qualities are rajas (passion and activity) and tamas (destruction, chaos). Sattva is the quality of goodness, positivity, truth, wholesomeness, serene, holistic, creative, constructive, balance, confidence, peaceful, virtuous, drawn towards Dharma and Jnana (knowledge).[1][3]

Hinduism

In Samkhya philosophy, a guṇa is one of three "tendencies, qualities": sattva, rajas and tamas. This category of qualities have been widely adopted by various schools of Hinduism for categorizing behavior and natural phenomena. The three qualities are:

  • Sattva is the quality of balance, harmony, goodness, purity, universalizing, holistic, constructive, creative, building, positive attitude, luminous, serenity, being-ness, peaceful, virtuous.[3][4][5]
  • Rajas is the quality of passion, activity, neither good nor bad and sometimes either, self centeredness, egoistic, individualizing, driven, moving, dynamic.[6][7]
  • Tamas is the quality of imbalance, disorder, chaos, anxiety, impure, destructive, delusion, negative, dull or inactive, apathy, inertia or lethargy, violent, vicious, ignorant.[8]

In Indian philosophy, these qualities are not considered as present in either-or fashion. Rather, everyone and everything has all three, only in different proportions and in different contexts.[9] The living being or substance is viewed as the net result of the joint effect of these three qualities.[9][6]

According to Samkya school, no one and nothing is either purely Sattvik or purely Rajasik or purely Tamasik.[6] One's nature and behavior is a complex interplay of all of these, with each guna in varying degrees. In some, the conduct is Rajasik with significant influence of Sattvik guna, in some it is Rajasik with significant influence of Tamasik guna, and so on.[6]

Sattvic beings

A person or being can be called sattvic if they have predominantly sattvic tendencies. The name "sattvik" implies one who is divine, pure, and spiritual.

Sattvic individuals always work for the welfare of their Future, they are sattvic because they think about the consequences of their actions. They work hard to evolve their spirit to a soul. They are disciplined through logic and continuously working at being more natural and normal. They effortlessly increase their intelligence by being more in tune with nature and the Pure Principles of the Multiverse. They live life enlightened by the fact of death and afterlife, so their lives are a preparation for that . A sattvic individual can be recognized if their mind, speech and actions synchronize: manasa, vacha, karmana are the three Sanskrit words used to describe such a state.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Gerald James Larson (2001). Classical Sāṃkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 10–18, 49, 163. ISBN 978-81-208-0503-3.
  2. ^ James G. Lochtefeld, Sattva, in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, Vol. 2, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 9780823931798, page 608
  3. ^ a b Ian Whicher (1998), The Integrity of the Yoga Darśana, State University of New York Press, pages 86-87, 124-125, 163-167, 238-243
  4. ^ Alter, Joseph S., Yoga in modern India, 2004 Princeton University Press, p 55
  5. ^ Mikel Burley (2007). Classical Samkhya and Yoga: An Indian Metaphysics of Experience. Routledge. pp. 101–105, 120–122, 167, 185. ISBN 978-1-134-15978-9.
  6. ^ a b c d Alban Widgery (1930), The principles of Hindu Ethics, International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 40, No. 2, pages 234-237
  7. ^ Ian Whicher (1998), The Integrity of the Yoga Darśana, State University of New York Press, pages 63, 124-129, 138, 188-190
  8. ^ Ian Whicher (1998), The Integrity of the Yoga Darśana, State University of New York Press, pages 63, 110-112, 124-126, 163, 188
  9. ^ a b James G. Lochtefeld, Sattva, in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, Vol. 2, Rosen Publishing, ISBN 9780823931798, page 265
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sattva&oldid=718854410"