You Are Not Book.indb - Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph. D.

The Veil of the Concept of the Gunas / 105
(Guna), “as if” one aspect (Sattva) of the ONE SUBSTANCE
is better than another aspect of the ONE SUBSTANCE
(Tamas).
This “spiritual” confusion leads seekers into trying hard
to change and control their actions and personalities and
presentations—in short, the “I,” which they are not. Moreover,
it adds the judgment that sattvic behavior is better than
rajasic behavior “as if” either one is more than a concept
and has something to do with who you are. This belief that
somehow magically, by an “I” becoming more of one (sattvic)
and less of another (tamasic) or, if they are balanced in some
way, “realization” is assured is an illusion. It is this focus on
the outer manifestation or “I” representation that forces the
“seeker” to lose sight of the underlying SUBSTANCE the
Gunas are made of.
Simply put, it is like trying to change a reflection in a
mirror rather than notice the I am that is looking into the
mirror is prior to its reflection.
Recently, “I” was having a conversation with a yoga
practitioner of some 25 years. We were talking about one
Indian Guru who was accused by another Indian Guru of
having blown it because “He had a lot of anger.”
This implication that anger is rajasic and that harmony
is sattvic, and somehow one is better than the other, leads
one to believe that there is more than ONE SUBSTANCE—
there are two, three, or more, which could be or should be
balanced. This contains within it the veil or trap of trying to
change what is not you. This would be like drawing a picture
of a person wearing a loud red shirt with lime-green strips
(rajasic), and then imagining that by changing the colors
of the shirt in the picture to crystal blue, it will somehow
change “you.” In this way, just as you are not the person in
the drawing—you are not the person nor the qualities of the
person represented in the picture.