In different mystical traditions, we find the fundamental law of three. It is one of the most mysterious yet, at the same time, one of the most applicable laws of the alchemical and spiritual traditions. In a Jewish text, it says: “One will take one direction, the other one will take another direction, and the third one will decide between them.”
So, if one party wants to go west, and another one wants to go east, and there is a third party that says “We go west”, all three will go west. It is very important to understand this because the universe works very much in this way. In both yoga and tantra, this law of three reveals itself in the three fundamental qualities of manifestation.
The Three Fundamental Qualities of Manifestation
Manifestation in the Indian tradition is called Prakriti, and represents everything that exists, and that is distinct from spirit. When things are manifested, they will manifest in this threefold way. They will manifest as inertia (tamas), as dynamism (rajas) and as the balance between inertia and dynamism – sattva. When this is understood well enough to its core, we can see that everything in our life has a certain proportion of these three qualities of inertia, dynamism and balance.
When inertia predominates, we feel lazy. When dynamism predominates, we feel agitated. When balance predominates, we feel good. Let’s take a very poetic example of making a statue. How would these qualities manifest in a statue? The raw material of which the statue is made is tamas, inertia. The work by which we make our statue is rajas, the dynamism that takes the raw clay and makes it into a statue. The idea of the statue, the vision of the statue, the skill is sattva, balance.
They are described and represented by a triangle. On the same line, you have inertia and dynamism and above them, you have balance. Inertia involves, for example, desires and fears. Rajas would be the pursuit of fulfilling our desires and overcoming our fears. Sattva would be the fulfilment. From fulfilment, we can go beyond. Balance is the gateway to transcendence, to go completely beyond desires and fears.
The Secret to Balance Between the Three Forces in Our Daily Life
What can we do to be more balanced? When we feel there is an excess of tamas, which would manifest as laziness, ignorance, and darkness, we need to dynamise. When we hear our alarm clock, we shouldn’t think “Should I get up, or should I not get up”. When we find ourselves in inertia, we need to dynamise, and then we will get our clarity back again.
When we feel agitated, and we feel our dynamism is too much. When rajas is in excess, we are getting stressed, angry and agitated, and we feel unconscious from the amount of dynamism. Then people often say, “I will push through.” This is not the correct attitude. We need to bring harmonious inertia in the form of relaxation. We need to calm down a little bit until we hit the balance.
It is not necessary to stop. People usually activate rajas until burnout. They go to an excess of too much. Then they hit burnout, they stop completely, bringing back too much excess of inertia. And then when they’re done being a couch potato, they again work too much, which results in burnout. We should not burn through all our rajas when we are dynamic, but mix it with relaxation and awareness.
The more aware we are in a state of dynamism, the more our actions will be that of balance. Then we can just continue, like the Duracell bunny. If action is done with the correct proportion of action and relaxation, it becomes satva.
When in inertia, increase dynamism. Don’t think twice about it. When in excess of rajas, gradually reduce, bring more relaxation, and much more awareness. Selfless action also brings this balance. It is selfishness that takes action out of balance, but if and when we work for others, action will have much less negative rajastic effects.
Balance as the Gateway to Transcendence
When in balance, what should we do? When we feel fulfilled, happy, balanced, quiet, and relaxed. When you are sattvic – transcend. Balance is the gateway to transcendence. We had a desire, we worked through it, and we fulfilled the desire. When we feel at peace, we don’t need to keep chasing another desire, like a hamster on a wheel. We can have a profound understanding beyond all desires. Going beyond all of it.
In sattva, in balance, we can transcend. From inertia, we can not transcend. If we lie there half-conscious, and we completely fall asleep in meditation. From agitation, from the monkey mind, it also does not work. But from balance, we can go beyond the mind.
Going beyond the mind, even for a moment, we become cleaner, we have fewer desires, fewer fears, less agitation, and fewer issues. It is very emotionally purifying. When we are in transcendence, we can just stay there. There is nothing else to do.
Food that Brings a State of Inertia, Dynamism and Balance
Industrial food, rotten food, excessively fatty food, and excessively sweet food all bring an excess of inertia in our being. Food that is spicy or fried gives an excess of rajas, making us very dynamic.
Sattvic food is food that is fresh. Fresh fruits and vegetables. Ghee. Organic food, if it is baked or boiled, not fried. If we eat sattvic food in moderate quantities, then our mind and our heart become sattvic, and conducive to a state of balance. When Ramana Maharishi, was asked what is most important in supporting our way to enlightenment, he said, “Eating sattvic food in moderate quantities and asking Who am I?”
It is extremely important to eat very healthily, and then your emotional life becomes very much charged with that.
A Basic UNDERSTANDING of THE LAW of Three
Wherever you are right now, go towards the point of balance. From inertia go to dynamism, and not just for the sake of dynamism, but for the sake of balance. And then go from dynamism to relaxation and awareness. Once you have attained balance, go beyond. Have a vaster and vaster vision. Understand from an eagle-like perspective.
This article was transcribed by Zita from the following video:
