Twa kɔ nsɛm atitiriw so
Log in
Sign up for FREE
arrow_back
Laabri

The Three Gunas

star
star
star
star
star
Last updated over 4 years ago
12 Nsɛmmisa
Hyɛ no nsow a efi ɔkyerɛwfo no hɔ:

Philosophy; Hindu metaphysics, the Three Gunas

Ɛhia
1
Ɛhia
1
Ɛhia
1
Ɛhia
1
Ɛhia
1
Ɛhia
1
Ɛhia
1
Ɛhia
1
1
1
Ɛhia
2
Ɛhia
4

Watch the following video and answer the questions as best you can while you listen.

Take your time. Pause as needed.

Reflect and rewind or replay as needed while you work through the video and the questions.

The concluding question requires a very high level of reflection. So think hard before you attempt to answer it! There are multiple good answers, but dozens of bad answers to that question.

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
1.

What are the three gunas?

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
2.

The student asked a question:

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
3.

The preliminary understanding explored by the teacher is:

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
4.

Describe a person who is "tamas." Give an example from fiction or literature.

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
5.

The teacher compares the "tamas personality" to a physical object and to a state of being. What physical object does he compare the person to? What word does he use to describe the person and the thing's "state of being?"

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
6.

What is the metaphysical claim that underlies the concept of the gunas?

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
7.

Why do you suppose it is impossible and even undesirable to exhibit only ONE guna in one's way of being or character? (sattva, rajas, or tamas) Why must everything exhibit all three in different proportions depending on their character or way of being?

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
8.

Describe a person who is "rajas." Give an example from fiction or literature.

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
9.

Describe a person who is "sattva." Give an example from fiction or literature.

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
10.

Drag and drop the following adjectives to the correct guna using the descriptor terms the teacher used in his talk.

  • things at rest remain at rest

  • heavy

  • lazy

  • dull

  • ignorant

  • moving

  • forces

  • active

  • ants in the pants

  • balance

  • equal and opposite reaction

  • sober

  • content

  • darkness

  • illumined

  • things in motion stay in motion

  • intertia

  • tamas

  • rajas

  • sattva

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
11.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says "Action is better than inaction." Why does this make sense in light of the teacher's discussion of the gunas in this video?

Asemmisa {{asɛmmisaAhyɛnsode}}
12.

You have seen these quotes before from a homework assignment.

1. Restate your understanding of the quotes from the Bhagavad Gita (the words are from the god, Krishna) in light of the explanation of the teacher in this video.

2. Why should we not be attached to the gunas (sattva, rajas, or tamas)?

3. What is an advantage found in detachment?

4. Why do you think Krishna say we only "dream" that "we" are the "doer?"

(Krishna will later claim that only GOD, HE (Krishna) himself, is the ONLY true "Do-er" in the universe. Thus, when we think that "we" are "doing," we are deceived and living in maya, "illusion.")