Shifting the Standpoint of Consciousness Beyond the Action of the Three Gunas

The three Gunas of Nature control the actions and reactions of the exte
al nature and the response to the dualities that present themselves in Nature. As long as we remain fixated at the level of the surface personality, we remain subject to this action of the Gunas.

The question then arises, is it possible, is it feasible, to enter a psychological state in which the Gunas are not dictating our actions and reactions. In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna devotes considerable time to the description of the action of the Gunas, the characteristic types of responses based on whether Sattwa, Rajas or Tamas is predominant at any point in time in the individual’s nature. Yet he also describes a state of consciousness that is ‘beyond’ the action of the Gunas, trigunatita, by which the individual transcends the exte
al being and its subjection to the Gunas and the dualities, and identifies with the Self, the Atman, and thus, the divine consciousness. This is the shift of consciousness from the ego-standpoint to the divine standpoint.

The dualities still take place when this occurs. There is still the underlying cause that we would interpret under the regime of the dualities, hot and cold, wet and dry, joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, etc. But the individual is no longer suffering under them, can accept them both equally and can see and relate to their action in a dispassionate manner. Similarly, the exte
al being is still subject to the action of the 3 Gunas, but that action is seen as part of the play of Nature. This implies that the seeker, once the shift to the divine standpoint has taken place, sees the role and value of the action of each of the Gunas, and recognises that they cannot be eliminated from the world or the action in the world, but their psychological impact need not touch him in his observation, as a witness of the exte
al nature.

Sri Aurobindo observes: “The sattwic nature has always been held to be the most apt and ready for the spiritual life, while the rajasic nature is encumbered by its desires and passions. At the same time, spirituality is something above the dualities, and what is most needed for it is a true upward aspiration. This may come to the rajasic man as well as to the sattwic. If it does, he can rise by it above his failings and desires and passions, just as the other can rise beyond his virtues, to the Divine Purity and Light and Love.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 5, Attitudes on the Path, pp. 113-114