For long have philosophers wondered: What is man? What is this body? Is the man different from his body? Is there a higher force, which acts upon him to shape his behaviour in different ways? And so on are many questions that leave the best of minds puzzled and perplexed. The Hindu Philosophy seeks to answer these questions by the trinity theory of human nature; it is discussed in detail in the Bhagavat-Gita. This is the subject of my post.
A brief introduction about what is said about this will be in order. There are three modes of material nature; and every human being, indeed, every living being is subjected to all these three modes. No action of ours is exempt from any them; and no result can be obtained without their combined operation. These three modes are Saatvik or Goodness (derived from satva, meaning truth), Raajasik or passion (derived from rajas, meaning energy), and Taamasik or ignorance (derived from tamas, meaning darkness).
I must make it clear that though the soul is neutral to these three modes; the body is not. As long as the soul resides in the body, it is bound by these three modes. If we want to visualise it, we can imagine that all of us are puppets in a puppet show, and these three modes are the puppeteers; and each puppet is controlled by all the three puppeteers.
But this is not all. In most of us, one of these modes is predominant, while the other two remain subdued. Each mode has its own symptoms. The most important symptoms are: In the mode of goodness, we are conditioned by a sense of happiness and knowledge; in the mode of passion; we are conditioned by desire and anger; and in the mode of ignorance, we are conditioned by confusion and laziness. But there are a number of other symptoms also. They are described in the Gita in vivid detail; I am just giving a summary of them below.
In goodness, we get real knowledge; in passion, we get greedy; and in ignorance, we get foolish. Even the different kinds of food that we eat are of three different kinds.
Food in the mode of goodness increases the duration of life, gives strength, and is generally juicy, fatty, complete, and pleasing. Food in the mode of passion has extreme tastes, and gives a burning sensation. Food in the mode of ignorance is usually of a decomposed nature and gives unpleasant odours. We thus can easily see that the food of a particular mode will make us act in the same mode.
The Gita also describes many other symptoms; how they worship, what happens to them in the future, and so on. By now most of us would have an indication that the mode of goodness is the most preferred one. Though we can never become 100 percent good, that must be our guiding target. Some activities in the other two modes are unavoidable (eg. getting excited is in the mode of passion, and sleeping is in the mode of ignorance); but these can be kept to a minimum.
The trinity of human nature is sometimes confused with the trinity of Hindu Gods. So far, I have not come across any evidence of this kind.
A lot more has been described in our Vedas and Upanishads; in fact, I have not read any of them. People who read my post are free to share any additional information; and may even contradict me if I am wrong.
With this I conclude what I had to say. Let us now get back to being operated by the three modes of material nature. (In case they temporarily stopped operating on us!)
A brief introduction about what is said about this will be in order. There are three modes of material nature; and every human being, indeed, every living being is subjected to all these three modes. No action of ours is exempt from any them; and no result can be obtained without their combined operation. These three modes are Saatvik or Goodness (derived from satva, meaning truth), Raajasik or passion (derived from rajas, meaning energy), and Taamasik or ignorance (derived from tamas, meaning darkness).
I must make it clear that though the soul is neutral to these three modes; the body is not. As long as the soul resides in the body, it is bound by these three modes. If we want to visualise it, we can imagine that all of us are puppets in a puppet show, and these three modes are the puppeteers; and each puppet is controlled by all the three puppeteers.
But this is not all. In most of us, one of these modes is predominant, while the other two remain subdued. Each mode has its own symptoms. The most important symptoms are: In the mode of goodness, we are conditioned by a sense of happiness and knowledge; in the mode of passion; we are conditioned by desire and anger; and in the mode of ignorance, we are conditioned by confusion and laziness. But there are a number of other symptoms also. They are described in the Gita in vivid detail; I am just giving a summary of them below.
In goodness, we get real knowledge; in passion, we get greedy; and in ignorance, we get foolish. Even the different kinds of food that we eat are of three different kinds.
Food in the mode of goodness increases the duration of life, gives strength, and is generally juicy, fatty, complete, and pleasing. Food in the mode of passion has extreme tastes, and gives a burning sensation. Food in the mode of ignorance is usually of a decomposed nature and gives unpleasant odours. We thus can easily see that the food of a particular mode will make us act in the same mode.
The Gita also describes many other symptoms; how they worship, what happens to them in the future, and so on. By now most of us would have an indication that the mode of goodness is the most preferred one. Though we can never become 100 percent good, that must be our guiding target. Some activities in the other two modes are unavoidable (eg. getting excited is in the mode of passion, and sleeping is in the mode of ignorance); but these can be kept to a minimum.
The trinity of human nature is sometimes confused with the trinity of Hindu Gods. So far, I have not come across any evidence of this kind.
A lot more has been described in our Vedas and Upanishads; in fact, I have not read any of them. People who read my post are free to share any additional information; and may even contradict me if I am wrong.
With this I conclude what I had to say. Let us now get back to being operated by the three modes of material nature. (In case they temporarily stopped operating on us!)
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