The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

╭ introduction
and matter is an expression of all three gunas, with one guna
always predominant. This becomes particularly interesting in
describing personality as a field of forces. The rajasic person
is full of energy; the tamasic person is sluggish, indifferent,
insensitive; the sattvic person, calm, resourceful, compassionate,
and selfless. Yet all three are always present at some
level of awareness, and their proportions change: their interplay
is the dynamics of personality. The same individual will
have times when he is bursting with energy and times when
inertia descends and paralyzes his will, times when he is
thoughtful and other times when he is moving so fast that he
never notices those around him. The person is the same; he is
simply experiencing the play of the gunas. As long as he identifies
with his body and mind, he is at the mercy of this play.
But the Self is not involved in the gunas’ interaction; it is witness
rather than participant:
Without senses itself, it shines through the functioning of
the senses. Completely independent, it supports all things.
Beyond the gunas, it enjoys their play. (13:14)
The gunas form the basis of the most compassionate
account of human nature I have come across in any philosophy
or psychology, East or West. They not only explain differences
in character; they describe the basic forces of personality
and allow the possibility of reshaping ourselves after
a higher ideal. Because personality is a process, the human
being is constantly remaking himself or herself. Left to itself,
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