Guna

The gunas are the three fundamental qualities or strands that compose all of manifest nature (prakriti). They are: sattva (clarity, harmony, lightness), rajas (activity, passion, turbulence), and tamas (inertia, darkness, heaviness).

Everything in nature - including mind, body, and all objects - is composed of these three gunas in varying proportions. Food is sattvic, rajasic, or tamasic. Mental states are sattvic, rajasic, or tamasic. Even times of day and seasons have dominant guna qualities.

Yoga practice aims to cultivate sattva, which provides the clarity needed for discrimination and meditation. However, even sattva is ultimately transcended. The gunas belong to prakriti, and liberation means recognizing oneself as purusha - pure consciousness that witnesses the play of gunas but is not touched by them.