Three gunas (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"three guna, modes" |"three guna, the three modes" |"three gunas"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

Bhakti means they are, they appear also just like ordinary activity, but they are not contaminated activities. They are purified activities. So an ignorant person may see that a devotee is working like an ordinary man, but a person with poor fund of knowledge, he does not know that the activities of a devotee or the activities of the Lord, they are not contaminated by the impure consciousness of matter, impurity of the three guṇas, modes of nature, but transcendental consciousness.

Lecture on BG 2.26 -- Hyderabad, November 30, 1972:

Because the whole world is being conducted, the whole material nature is being conducted by the three guṇas, and anyone associating with a particular type of guṇa, he must suffer or enjoy according to that guṇas. Jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ. Tāmasa, they, those who are in the tāmasika-guṇa, they go adhaḥ. Madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ. And via media, those who are in touch with the rajo-guṇa. And ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ: (BG 14.18) those who are in the goodness, they go up, in the upper platform of the society or in the universe.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Fiji, May 24, 1975:

Why we have got different types of body? The kāraṇam, the reason, is that we are associating with particular type of infection in this material world, and we are getting particular type of body. I have explained it several times that there are three guṇas: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Fiji, May 24, 1975:

So in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya. As soon as we are in the material world, we are under the influence either of these three guṇas: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Those who are purely in association with the modes of goodness, sattva-guṇa, they are considered as brāhmaṇa. And those who are associated with the rajo-guṇa, passion, they are called kṣatriyas. And those who are associating with the tamo-guṇa, ignorance, they are called the śūdras. And the mixture of tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa is the position of the vaiśya. In this way, there are four divisions of men everywhere.

Lecture on BG 7.1-2 -- Bombay, March 28, 1971:

Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), that is success. Not that I earn millions of dollars and amass in the bank, and I think I am successful, but I do not know what is my next life. Where will be my, this amassing of bank balance, my skyscraper building? I will have to accept another body, unwilling, although I have created that body. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27), as I have associated with the three guṇas. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ. If I have associated with the sattva-guṇa, then I will be promoted to the higher planetary systems. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ (BG 14.18). If I have associated with rajo-guṇa, then I shall remain in this planet, middle planetary system. And jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ. And if we have associated with the tamo-guṇa, the quality of darkness, ignorance, then I will be gliding down to the animal life.

Lecture on BG 7.7 -- Vrndavana, August 13, 1974:

In another place Kṛṣṇa says, aham ādir hi devānām (Bg 10.2). He is the origin of all demigods. The principal demigods are Viṣṇu and Maheśvara and... Maheśvara means Lord Śiva. And Brahmā. Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. So Kṛṣṇa is the origin of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. They are guṇa-avatāra. For maintaining this material world... The material world is composed of three guṇas: sattva, rajas, tamas. So the director of the sattva-guṇa department is Lord Viṣṇu, and the director of the rajo-guṇa department is Lord Brahmā, and the director of the tamo-guṇa department is Lord Śiva. Origin is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 7.8-14 -- New York, October 2, 1966:

"Because they are illusioned by the intermixture of these three qualities..." Mohita: "They are illusioned." Tribhir guṇamayair bhāvair ebhiḥ sarvam idaṁ jagat. Idaṁ jagat. This material world is spread all over with these three guṇas, or three qualities of material nature.

Lecture on BG 7.11-13 -- Bombay, April 5, 1971:

These are the three influences of māyā: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Everyone is entangled with the influence of the sattva-guṇa, tamo-guṇa, rajo-guṇa. But Kṛṣṇa says that "If anyone surrenders unto Me, or if anyone becomes a Kṛṣṇa conscious person, a devotee, he can surmount this unsurmountable influence of the three guṇas." That is the state That is the position of the devotees.

Lecture on BG 13.3 -- Bombay, December 30, 1972:

Why the living entities having different types of body? Sat asat. Some types of body are nice. Suppose you become demigod, Indra, Candra. That's very nice. But if you become dog or worm in the stool, that is not very nice. But we have to. Why? Kāraṇam... The reason is: guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya. As we associate with the guṇas... There are three guṇas, qualities of the material nature, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Bombay, September 27, 1973:

So therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sa ca yo yat prabhāvaś ca. That prabhāva means according to the modes of material nature. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-sango 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). Why one is born in the family of demigod? Why one is born in the family of a hog? Why one is born in the family of a tree or a serpent? There are so many species of life. The only reason is kāraṇaṁ guṇa-sango 'sya. The living entity, as he associates with the guṇas, there are three guṇas. Multiply three by three, it becomes nine, and multiply nine by nine, it becomes eighty-one. Therefore there are eighty-four. Eight million four hundred thousand. This is guṇa.

Lecture on BG 13.6-7 -- Montreal, October 25, 1968:

So actually, there are twenty-six different elements which is conducting this material world. Etat kṣetraṁ samāsena sa-vikāram udāhṛtam. Kṣetra means this body. Either you take this body or this material world, they are interaction of these twenty-four elements. Either you take the gigantic body of this universe or you take the body of this planet or you take this your body, my body, or a cat's body, dog's body, all these bodies, they are formed of these twenty-four elements, sa-vikāram, by action and reaction. Just like chemically, if you mix one chemical with another chemical, a third element is produced, similarly, originally the reservation of all these elements is called mahat-tattva. It is called pradhāna, upadhāna. So gradually they manifest, they divide by three guṇas. Three guṇas means in the mahat-tattva, in the total material reservoir, three guṇas, three modes of nature, first of all appear and they act with one another, and then gradually, one after another, the twenty-four elements become manifested. Etat kṣetraṁ samāsena sa-vikāram udāhṛtam.

Lecture on BG 13.6-7 -- Bombay, September 29, 1973:

Why we have got different types of bodies? Why we haven't got, everyone, the same type of body? Somebody is fat, somebody is very thin, somebody white, somebody black, somebody very beautiful, somebody very ugly. There are so many varieties of bodies. Why? Saṅghāṭa. This is combination, color combination. There are three guṇas. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). As you are associating with the guṇas, you are getting different types of body.

Lecture on BG 13.20 -- Bombay, October 14, 1973:

Here it also said, vikārāṁś ca guṇāṁś caiva viddhi prakṛti-sambhavān. We have become servant of the three guṇas, three qualities of this material world. Somebody is very proud of becoming good, goodness, like brāhmaṇa quality. That is good. In the material world that is first-class quality. The second-class quality, passionate, very active. All people are very active for enjoyment, passionate. And some people are in ignorance. They do not know what is goodness and what is passion. They can simply waste their time by laziness and sleeping. Sleeping. So actually we are all sleeping because we do not know what is the aim of life.

Lecture on BG 13.22 -- Bombay, October 20, 1973:

Every living entity has associated with a particular type of guṇa. There are three guṇas, namely, goodness, passion, and ignorance, and if you mix them up, then it becomes nine. Three into three equal to nine. And again if you mix up, nine into nine, then it becomes eighty-one. Therefore there are eight million four hundred thousand species of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Nine hundred thousand species in the water. Similarly, birds, beasts, trees, insects, animals. Then we come to the human form of life. These different types of bodies are meant for enjoying in a different spirit.

Lecture on BG 17.1-3 -- Honolulu, July 4, 1974:

There are three guṇas. We should always remember. The material nature is working under three guṇas, three divisions.

Lecture on BG 18.41 -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

Sattvaṁ prakṛti-jair muktam. Nowhere, anyone is freed from the influence of these modes of material nature. Sattvam means existence. Sattvaṁ prakṛti-jaiḥ. Prakṛti-jaiḥ means by the material nature, guṇaiḥ, means the modes, this goodness, passion, and ignorance. Yad ebhiḥ syāt tribhir guṇaiḥ. Everything, everywhere, even amongst the plants life, beast life, there these three guṇas are working.

Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972:

Traiguṇya means these three qualities: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So the whole Vedic literature is describing how to get out of this entanglement of three guṇas. So as soon as you come out of these three guṇas, then you become nistraiguṇya.

Lecture on BG 18.67 -- Ahmedabad, December 10, 1972:

I am pure soul. And as pure soul, I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. My only business is to serve Kṛṣṇa. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā (CC Madhya 19.167). Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Hṛṣīka, the senses, when the senses are engaged in the service of the proprietor of the sense, Hṛṣīkeśa, that is called bhakti. So nistraiguṇya means to be situated on the platform where these three guṇas cannot affect. That is nistraiguṇya.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.9 -- Auckland, February 20, 1973:

f you live in the forest that is goodness, association with goodness, because there is no material contamination, simple life in the forest. Or in the village, not in the village, in the forest. Therefore formerly all the sages and saintly persons they used to live in the forest. That is goodness. And if you live in the city that is association with passion. And in the city if you live in the brothel, the liquor shop, gambling, that is association with ignorance. Three kinds. But if you live in the temple, that is transcendence, that is Vaikuṇṭha. So in this way we have to detach ourselves from the association of the three guṇas

Lecture on SB 1.1.9 -- Auckland, February 20, 1973:

Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna, traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna. "My dear Arjuna, just become transcendental to the three guṇas." Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). Who can transcend these three guṇas, you have to go above goodness. Here in this material world goodness is supposed to be very nice quality, but here the goodness also, nice temporary. There is chance of being affected, infected with the other qualities, sattva-rajas-tamo guṇa. So we can, at least we have to transcend the rajas-tamo guṇa. Tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye (SB 1.2.19).

Lecture on SB 1.2.7 -- Vrndavana, October 18, 1972:

Bhakti-yoga is not sense activities. Bhakti-yoga is transcendental activities, beyond senses, beyond the three guṇas, three modes of material nature. That is explained by Kṛṣṇa Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā, māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate (BG 14.26). There also, this very word has been used, bhakti-yoga. Avyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yoga. Not vyabhicārī.

Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- Hyderabad, April 22, 1974:

There are three guṇas. Sattva-guṇa, if you associate with sattva-guṇa, then ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). If you remain in sattva-guṇa... Sattva-guṇa means brahminical qualification. Satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). If you remain on the platform of brahminical qualification, that is called sattva-guṇa. And less than that śauryaṁ tejo balaṁ yuddhe cāpalāyanam, kṣatriya qualification—that is modes of passion. And others, remaining, they are in the modes of ignorance, do not know what is the value of life, what is next life, what is spiritual realization, why we are suffering. Nothing, no knowledge. That is tamo-guṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Los Angeles, August 22, 1972:

Guṇamayī... Another meaning of guṇa is rope. Just like you have seen rope. There are three layers, they are twisted very strong, and such rope becomes strong. So similarly, these three guṇas, these three modes of nature, are twisted like rope, and we are bound up. You cannot get out. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). If your hands and legs are tied with such rope, then it is very difficult. Similarly, we are all bound up. We are declaring freedom, and so many things, nonsense, we are speaking, but we have forgotten that we are under the grip of this māyā.

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972:

So this world is being carried on by these three guṇas. Those who are accepting the tamo-guṇa, they are kāma, lusty, too much lusty. And those who are in rajo-guṇa, they're too much greedy. And those are in the sattva-guṇa, they know things. That is brahminical qualification.

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972:

Naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu. Abhadra. Abhadra means the quality of ignorance and passion. They are abominable. Ignorance is most abominable, abominable, and passion is abominable. These two things must be given up. But simply by hearing about Kṛṣṇa, simply by hearing about Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, from the person bhāgavatam, one can get rid of these dirty things, namely mode of ignorance and mode of passion. Then the balance is the mode of goodness. There are three guṇa, modes, ignorance, passion and goodness. So if we can, somehow or other, can avoid the lower-grade modes, namely ignorance and passion, then naturally we come to the platform of goodness. That is also not sufficient. Therefore it is said here, naṣṭa-prāyeṣu, almost finished all dirty things.

Lecture on SB 1.2.19 -- Calcutta, September 27, 1974:

There are three bhāvas: rajo-guṇa-bhāva, tamo-guṇa-bhāva and sattva-guṇa-bhāva. So as soon as you come to the platform of devotional service, the two inferior qualities, namely rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa, they become finished. Simply sattva-guṇa remains. Because there are three guṇas. If two guṇas are finished, no more useful, then the other one is there.

Lecture on SB 1.2.23 -- Vrndavana, November 3, 1972:

So actually, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, they are the principal directors of the three guṇas. Therefore Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, they are called guṇāvatāra. Lord Viṣṇu is in charge of sattva-guṇa activities. Therefore brāhmaṇa, the symbol of sattva-guṇa, they are Vaiṣṇavas.

Lecture on SB 1.2.23 -- Vrndavana, November 3, 1972:

So on account of the three guṇas, there are three types of Vedic literatures. Not directly śruti, but smṛti, the purāṇas, they are divided into three divisions: sāttvika-purāṇa, rājasika-purāṇa and tāmasika-purāṇa. Śiva Purāṇa, Devī Purāṇa, they are sāttvika, rājasika. Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa, they are sāttvika-purāṇas.

Lecture on SB 1.2.23 -- Vrndavana, November 3, 1972:

So the three guṇas, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa, that is going on since the creation. So here it is said, sthity-ādaye hari-viriñci-hareti saṁjñāḥ. This, the same Lord, Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu, has expanded Himself as Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. We are also expansions. Brahmā is also jīva-tattva. He's also like us, jīva-tattva. Lord Śiva is between viṣṇu-tattva and jīva-tattva. And Lord Viṣṇu is viṣṇu-tattva. Viṣṇu-tattva, via media, and jīva-tattva. So they are all expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So for controlling these three guṇas they have taken charge. Viṣṇu is in charge of sattva-guṇa, and Brahmā is in charge of rajo-guṇa and Lord Śiva is in charge of tamo-guṇa. So Lord, Lord Brahmā creates, Lord Viṣṇu maintains and Lord Śiva destroys. These three things are going on.

Lecture on SB 1.2.33 -- Vrndavana, November 12, 1972:

Bhuṅkte, bhuṅkte bhūteṣu tad-guṇān. We have to raise above the modes of material nature. Nirguṇa. Traiguṇya-viṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna. That is the statement of Bhagavad-gītā. In the Vedic instruction, traiguṇya, Vedic instruction is dealing with the three guṇas, the three material modes of nature. Nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna. Nistraiguṇya. What is that? Because when Kṛṣṇa was asking Arjuna to fight, he was in the traiguṇya platform, in the material platform. He was thinking, "How shall I kill my grandfather? How shall I kill my teacher? How shall I kill my brother? How can I kill nephews?" This is traiguṇya-vicāra, consideration on the material platform. Then Kṛṣṇa said, nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna: "Just become transcendental to the material modes of nature."

Lecture on SB 1.2.33 -- Vrndavana, November 12, 1972:

The guṇa or nirguṇa, these two words are there in the Vedic literature. When we speak of guṇa, that is, means these three guṇas, three material modes of nature. And nirguṇa means above these three material modes of nature. So actually devotional service is above the three modes of material nature. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26).