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THE ROPESIn conjunction with the extroverting force of the samskaras and thedevelopment of Ego, 91 three additional Causal Body factors color everydayexperience and impact on meditation. Because no psychological, spiritual, orphilosophical system except the Vedic has articulated this aspect of psychicand cosmic reality so carefully, and because English words don't do it justice,I’ve retained the Sanskrit terms. Evolved before the psyche and gross matter,Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas in their Causal condition cannot be known by thesenses. However, they can be inferred by observing the texture of thought,feeling, and behavior patterns.Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas are called "gunas," 92 which translates as"ropes" and "qualities." The vaguely pejorative "rope" idea implies that thesethree energies bind the Self, Consciousness, to its psychic and physicalcreations. In fact the Self is always transcendent, but, for a technicalreason, 93 apparently gets caught up in Its creations. To free the ever-free Selffrom Its apparent identification with material and psychic reality, knowledgeof the gunas is extremely valuable. The rope metaphor is useful in that itinvokes the sense of three interweaving strands of energy making up thewhole creation.SATTVAThe meaning of "Sattva" can be divined from its root "sat," anothername for the Self, which means "reality," "being," "truth." Consciousness as"sat" indicates the Self's quality of awareness or light. As such "sattva,"which has been assigned the color white, is the principle of light orknowledge in the universe. The perceptive senses discussed above 94 evolvedfrom the sattvic aspect of the creation. The senses beam "light,"Consciousness, onto the sense objects, illumining them and making themknown, experienceable. Sattva is not physical light. The knowledge ofsound, for instance, is possible because the sattvic element in the hearingcenter in the Subtle Body "illumines" the sounds coming in from the materialworld - and so on for all the senses.91 See Chapter 2, “Meditation The Science of the Self by the Author.”92 Pronounced “goon uhs”93 Maya or the non-apprehension of the Self.94 See “The Psychology of Meditation” page 52.65