The Three Forces That Shape Us — The Bhagavad Gita

Krishna calls this the wisdom of all wisdoms. The universe is His womb, and He plants the seed of all lives. Three forces bind the soul to the body: sattva, rajas, and tamas.

Sattva pulls toward clarity, truth, and calm pleasure. Rajas pulls toward restless action and hunger for more. Tamas pulls toward sleep, confusion, and laziness. At death, a soul ruled by sattva rises toward light, rajas toward busy work, and tamas toward darkness. Their fruits are sweet truth, painful toil, and deeper gloom.

Who watches life and sees only these three forces acting, while knowing God beyond them, comes close to Krishna. Passing beyond all three, the soul escapes birth, death, sorrow, and old age. Arjuna asks how to recognize such a person. Krishna describes someone unmoved by clarity, passion, or sloth, who treats clod, stone, and gold the same, and stays calm in praise and blame.