What Is the Meaning of Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas?
Updated: Aug 28
The mind can be a tricky thing, can't it?
What state do you find your mind in lately?
Ayurveda talks about the mind in multiple ways, and one of these ways is by utilizing the concepts of sattva, rajas, and tamas.
This post will cover.
Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas
Sattva is a synonym for the mind, while rajas and tamas are doshas ("faults" or "that which goes out of balance") of the mind.
Sattva, rajas, and tamas are known as triguna, the three fundamental qualities of the mind.1
They explain how each individual's mind is different, in the same way that the doshas (vata, pitta, and kapha) explain why our bodies are different.
You can be described by the qualities (gunas) which are predominant in the mind.
If you are predominant in sattva guna, then you generally experience peace, harmony, clarity, and mental balance.
Generally, this is what those who are following a spiritual path are trying to aim for.
Sometimes, if you're trying too hard to get to that place of sattva, you may create more rajas, or even tamas, in your mind without realizing it.
If your mind is predominantly rajas, then you may have more energy and perform actions that often satisfy cravings.
If your mind is predominantly tamas, then you may perform more unconscious actions and experience inertia.
But, all individuals have all three of these qualities.
Usually more than one of these qualities is acting at any particular time.
We all cycle through having a predominance of each of these qualities (gunas) at different times in our lives.
For example, you may be predominantly sattvik and rajasik at the same time, which may guide you to do actions that lead toward peace and harmony.
Or you could be predominantly rajasik and tamasik at the same time, which may guide you toward inertia and performing unconscious actions.
A person's mind can be described as sattvik, rajasik, tamasik, or a combination of these gunas (qualities).
Sattva may be the state of the mind that you would all like to strive toward, but you need rajas and tamas as well.
Rajas is activity and tamas is inertia.
If you had no rajas, you would never accomplish anything.
You need the rajas to start new activities and move forward.
If you didn't have tamas, you wouldn't ever be able to finish a project or go to sleep at night.
You need tamas to bring a stop to activities.
Just like the physical doshas of vata, pitta, and kapha, you have a mental constitution (manas prakriti, with manas meaning "mind") and a current state of balance in the mind (manas vikriti).
You are born with a certain makeup of these qualities (sattva, rajas, and tamas) that comes from factors existing before birth.
But unlike the body's makeup of vata, pitta, and kapha, you can bring more sattva into your life, no matter what your mental constitution was at birth.
The mind is powerful, if you can see and acknowledge the current state of the mind, then you can change it just with thought.2
For example, if you are stuck in tamas, you can tell yourself that you are not tamasik and you can shift the mind toward sattva, just by thinking it.
As I said, the mind is quite powerful!
You can try an online quiz from Lifespa if you are interested in learning what your gunas say about you.
The Meaning of Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas
Remember that sattva, rajas, and tamas are Sanskrit terms that Ayurveda uses to help describe the Universe and the individual.
There aren't any exact English translations for these concepts, but we can use many English words to help describe them.
The main point is that you understand the concept so that you can use it for growth within your own life.
I've made a list of some words that help describe the meaning of sattva, rajas, and tamas.
Sattva | Rajas | Tamas |
pure essence of light | movement | inertia |
right action | change | darkness |
spiritual purpose | excitability | confusion |
universal level—vast, clear space | universal level—atmosphere | universal level—solid substance |
individual level—perception, the knower | individual level—movement of perception, attention | individual level—experience, the known |
potential energy | kinetic energy | inertia |
observer | observation | object observed |
creates | maintains | destroys |
But, What Does All of This Mean To YOU?
If you find your mind to be overly active (rajasik) or stagnant (tamasik), there are practices that can help bring you closer to sattva.
Having the mind be either overly active or stagnant is not fun.
And perhaps more importantly, having an excess of rajas or tamas for an extended period of time may eventually lead to physical disease.
That doesn't mean that you will never have rajas and tamas in the mind, it just means that you ideally would have more sattva with less rajas and tamas so that you can experience a healthy life.
According to an ancient Ayurvedic text (the Sushruta Samhita) the doshas, the digestive fire, the tissues, the waste products, the soul, the senses, and the mind must all be balanced to achieve good health. (Sushruta Samhita, Sutrasthana 15/38).
Activities to Help Increase Sattva
You can increase the sattva in your life by engaging in some simple practices.
Eat whole, fresh foods prepared with love
Avoid eating processed, stale, or junk foods. When foods are freshly prepared they contain more prana (life force energy).
You can experiment with this yourself.
Try eating leftovers after 3-5 days and you will begin to notice how the food no longer has the same taste and doesn't satisfy you in the same way.
Eating foods that contain more prana (life force energy) will help you to increase sattva and reduce rajas and tamas.
Practice yoga
The goal of yoga is not a firm body, although that may happen along the way.
Yoga is meant to work with the mind.
The asanas (postures) are meant to lead you to a place where you are able to sit in meditation.
When the mind is completely focused on the practice, yoga asana can also be used as meditation in motion.
Listen to uplifting speakers or teachers
So much of the media around us is violent and depressing.
When your senses are exposed to this kind of media, you need to process all of that violence and depression.
If you listen to speakers and teachers who are offering uplifting ideas, you will increase your sattva.
Spend time in nature
Nature is filled with sattva, with the exception of hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Just walk out into the woods for a few minutes and notice the difference in your mind.
Nature is soothing to the nervous system and will help increase sattva.
Meditate
Meditation is a powerful way to increase sattva because sitting with the mind allows you to see all of the movement (rajas) and stagnation (tamas) in the mind.
Slowly you will begin to shift from the excess rajas and tamas toward sattva.
Activities to Help Decrease Excessive Rajas
If you find your mind is too active, these are activities you can use to help shift toward more Sattva in the mind.
Spend time in silence
Silence helps to slow the mind down so that you can begin to move from rajas (active mind) to sattva (a peaceful state of mind).
Meditation
Meditation is a great practice to help slow down the thoughts in the mind.
If the mind is too busy to sit in meditation, try a walking meditation with slow rhythmic steps to help settle the mind.
Try this link from Greater Good In Action to learn how to do a walking meditation.
There are, of course, multiple ways to do walking meditation.
I like to count my steps. Each step gets a number starting with 1, then 1, 2, then 1, 2, 3, then 1, 2, 3, 4, all the way up to ten.
Once I hit ten, I start counting backwards in the same way with each step getting a number: 10, 10, 9, 10, 9, 8, 10, 9, 8, 7 all the way to one.
If I end up in my head thinking about something else (which happens more than I would like to admit), then I begin over at "one" without judgment or criticism of myself for allowing my mind to wander.
Try this walking meditation to help shift from a rajasik mind to a sattvik mind.
Abhyanga--oiling of the body
This practice helps to calm the nervous system and settle the mind, helping to bring you closer to a predominance of sattva in your mind.
You can read more about this practice of self-love in this blog post.
Eat whole foods prepared with love
Avoid processed foods, fast foods, junk foods, and stale foods.
The fresher your foods, the easier it is to achieve a sattvik state of mind because the food is full of prana, or life force energy.
Avoid or reduce eating meat
Meat is both rajasik and tamasik in nature.
This isn't to say that meat is considered to be "bad" in Ayurveda.
Ayurveda says that every substance in the Universe is both poison and medicine.
Whether it is a poison or a medicine for you depends on your constitution, time of life, time of year, time of day, etc.
If you are experiencing excess rajas or tamas, try eating a vegetarian diet (or mostly vegetarian diet) for a month or two and notice any shifts in the mind.
Avoid spicy, salty, and sour foods
Avoiding these foods will help to reduce the rajasik state of mind and foster a sattvik state of mind.
Spicy, salty, and sour foods increase movement in the mind, creating excess rajas.
Try eating foods that are sweet (but not white sugar sweet, Ayurveda considers all building foods to be sweet), bitter, and astringent to help reduce rajas.
Have a regular bedtime
Having a regular bedtime (by 10 pm) will help settle rajas.
When your sleep schedule is all over the place, the mind gets disturbed.
The same is true if you are awake after 10 pm.
Get to bed by 10 pm and begin to calm the mind before sleep.
Yoga nidra is a great way to calm the mind before falling asleep, or it can be used if you wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep.
Here are some of my favorite yoga nidra recordings.
Yoga Nidra: Fire and Water by Mona Warner
Yoga Nidra: Earth and Air by Mona Warner
Yoga Nidra: Ether by Mona Warner
Insight Timer is a free app that offers yoga nidra
Or you can check out my Yoga Nidra page.
Activities to Help Decrease Excess Tamas
If you have excess tamas, you may need a little rajas to wake you up to move you toward sattva.
Sometimes people look like they are deeply mired in tamas, but in reality, they are just burnt out and unable to move forward from fatigue and an overstimulated nervous system.
These practices would not be appropriate for these people, and they should work more on the sattva-building practices or the rajas-reducing practices mentioned above.
However, if you are deeply ensconced in tamas and inertia for other reasons, you can try these activities.
Do an active yoga practice
Try yoga practices like Vinyasa or Ashtanga yoga.
The rapid movement of these classes helps to reduce tamas and clear the mind at the same time.
Do a vigorous breathing practice
Kappalabhati (the skull-shining breath) is a great way to clear tamas from the mind.
Here's a link from Banyan Botanicals with a nice description of how to do this practice.
It doesn't take much of this breathing practice to help clear the mind.
Eat fresh, whole foods
Once again, avoid foods that are processed, stale, fast foods, or junk foods, and favor whole, fresh foods prepared with love.
Avoid heavy, rich, thick foods
Cheese, ice cream, and meats are very heavy, rich and thick.
These make the mind slow and dull. Eat lighter foods like vegetables and whole grains.
Go for a fast-paced walk or dance
Vigorous movement helps clear tamas from the mind.
Some fast-paced movement can really help to clear the tamas so that you can then work towards more sattva in the mind.
What is the Meaning of Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas?
With a basic understanding of the meaning of sattva, rajas, and tamas, the mental qualities (gunas), you can now actively strive towards cultivating more sattva in your mind by applying the provided tools and techniques.
If you found this information valuable, please show your support by liking and sharing this post on your social media platforms.
Feel free to share in the comments section the current state of your mind and any methods you have discovered to reduce excessive rajas and tamas.
Book a consultation if you would like to learn more about Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.
Vridha Vagbhata, Ashtanga Sangraha. Edited by Shivaprasad Sharma. 3rd ed. Varanasi: Chaukhamba sanskrit series office;2012.
Vasant Lad, Textbook of Ayurveda: Fundamental Principles, Albuquerque, NM, The Ayurvedic Press, 2002, 38.
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