Guest guest Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 Hi Cathie: These are the three gunas, or types of quantum particles the constitute all aspects of the manifest Cosmos. You could (and many people have, throughout history) fill books on the subtleties of the concept, but in simplest terms, I'd note that Shakta cosmology posits a "Big Bang"-type genesis for the Universe. Which is the Union of Shakti and Shiva. The material Universe, which is Shakti (Divine Energy) animated by Shiva (Divine Consciousness) expanded outward from that central point, or MahaBindu. The three gunas, constituting the substance of this material expansion, were/are: * SATTVA - the tendency upward, or inward, toward the Source (Shakti and Shiva in Union). * TAMAS - the tendency downward, or outward, away from the Source. * RAJAS - the neutral dynamic principle, enabling motion in either direction. That's why I provisionally defined "Tamasic" as "Earthy/ Material-Oriented" in my last post. In light of the fast-n-loose way terms like "Tamasic" have been tossed around the board lately, I'd hasten to clarify that there is no good/evil parallel at work here. In other words, it is not accurate to conceive Tamas as "BAD", Rajas as "BETTER", and "Sattva" as "BEST." That is to say, the Union of Shakti in Shiva is not perfect, pure Sattva. It is the perfect, pure balance of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Hope that helps DB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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