Sattva

''Sattva'' (Sanskrit: सत्त्व, meaning ''goodness'') is one of the three '' guṇas'' or "modes of existence" (tendencies, qualities, attributes), a philosophical and psychological concept understood by the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy.James G. Lochtefeld, "Sattva", in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'': A–M, Vol. 2, Rosen Publishing, , p. 608 The other two qualities are '' rajas'' (passion and activity) and '' tamas'' (destruction, chaos). ''Sattva'' is the quality of goodness, purity, positivity, truth, serenity, balance, peacefulness, and virtuousness that is drawn towards ''Dharma'' and ''jñāna'' (knowledge).Ian Whicher (1998), ''The Integrity of the Yoga Darśana'', State University of New York Press, pp. 86–87, 124–125, 163–167, 238–243 The act or a person who bears this is called ''Satvik''.

Hinduism

Samkhya Philosophy

In Samkhya philosophy, a is one of three "tendencies, qualities": ''sattva'', '' rajas'' and '' tamas''. This category of qualities has been widely adopted by various schools of Hinduism for categorizing behavior and natural phenomena. The three qualities are:

* ''Sattva'' is the quality of balance, harmony, goodness, purity, universalizing, holistic, constructive, creative, building, positive attitude, luminous, serenity, being-ness, peaceful, virtuous.
* ''Rajas'' is the quality of passion, activity, neither good nor bad and sometimes either, self-centeredness, egoistic, individualizing, driven, moving, dynamic.
* ''Tamas'' is the quality of imbalance, disorder, chaos, anxiety, impure, destructive, delusion, negative, dull or inactive, apathy, inertia or lethargy, violent, vicious, ignorant.

In Indian philosophy, these qualities are not considered as present in either-or fashion. Rather, everyone and everything has all three, only in different proportions and in different contexts.James G. Lochtefeld, "Sattva", in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'': A–M, Vol. 2, Rosen Publishing, , p. 265 The living being or substance is viewed as the net result of the joint effect of these three qualities.

According to the Samkhya school, no one and nothing is either purely sattvik or purely rajasik or purely tamasik. One's nature and behavior is a complex interplay of all of these, with each guna in varying degrees. In some, the conduct is rajasik with significant influence of sattvik guna, in some it is rajasik with significant influence of tamasik guna, and so on.Alban Widgery (1930), "The principles of Hindu Ethics", ''International Journal of Ethics'', Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 234–237

Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita describes ''sattva'' as a path to liberation. It describes ''sattva'' as superior to the other two ''gunas'' because it brings clarity, leads to higher realms, and is without impurities, but it is also described as a cause of bondage. Verse 14.6 describes ''sattva'' as:

It causes bondage, as explained in verse 14.9, by attachment to happiness.

Vishishtadvaita

According to Ramanuja, the divine realm (Vaikuntha) is composed of pure, immutable ''sattva'', or ''shuddha sattva''. In liberation, the individual self transcends its material body and attains a pure form composed of ''shuddha sattva''.

Buddhism

''Sattva'', or ''satta'' in Pali language, is found in Buddhist texts, such as in ''Bodhi-sattva''. The ''sattva'' in Buddhism means "a living being, creature, person or sentient being".

See also

* Sat (Sanskrit)
* Sattvik diet
* Satya
* Tattva
* Sentient beings (Buddhism)
* Vidya (Knowledge)

References

Further reading

*

External links

Sankhya: Sattva
Ferenc Ruzsa, IEP

{{Hindudharma
Guna