The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

╭ introduction
into mind and matter begins when the equilibrium of prakriti
is disturbed. In Hindu myth this is the dawn of the Day of
Brahma (8:17–21), a period of explosive expansion not unlike
the Big Bang of modern cosmology. At this instant of creation,
thrown into imbalance, prakriti differentiates itself into
three basic states or qualities of primordial energy. These are
the gunas. Every state of matter and mind is a combination
of these three: tamas, inertia, rajas, activity, and sattva, harmony
or equilibrium. These are only rough translations, for
the gunas have no equivalent in any other philosophy I know.
The gunas can be illustrated by comparison with the three
states of matter in classical physics: solid, liquid, and gas.
Tamas is frozen energy, the resistance of inertia. A block of ice
has a good deal of energy in the chemical bonds that hold it
together, but the energy is locked in, bound up, rigid. When
the ice melts, some of that energy is released as the water
flows; rajas, activity, is like a swollen river, full of uncontrolled
power. And sattva, harmony, can be compared with steam
when its power is harnessed. These are very imprecise parallels,
but they convey an important point about the gunas: all
three are states of energy, and each can be converted into the
others.
Guna means strand, and in the Gita the gunas are described
as the very fabric of existence, the veil that hides unity in a
covering of diversity. Tamas is maya’s power of concealment,
the darkness or ignorance that hides unitive reality; rajas
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