The philosophy of Sāṃkhya and the three Guṇas
Sāṃkhya is one of the six orthodox schools (darśana) of Indian philosophy, founded on an analytical and dualist approach to reality. With Sāṃkhya, Brahmanical thought takes up a new position, at least in the way it conceives of Being.
In this philosophy the sensible world ceases to be considered an illusion and becomes real again — it even acquires an active reality. In place of the pantheism, or the absolute monism, of the Upaniṣads and of Vedānta, Sāṃkhya proposes a clear dualism setting the pure souls (Puruṣa) against matter, or primordial nature (Prakṛti).
The founding principles of Sāṃkhya
Enumeration: the name comes from saṃkhyā, « enumeration », because this school maps the universe by rigorously listing its twenty-five constituent principles (tattva).
A fundamental dualism: it sets Puruṣa — pure spirit, conscious, witnessing, unchanging — radically apart from Prakṛti, material substance, unconscious yet dynamically active.
Becoming as a principle: Prakṛti is the cause of all movement, all manifestation and all action in the universe. This eternal, productive substance, ceaselessly in transformation, is the very principle of becoming.
Non-theism: classical Sāṃkhya admits no external creator god; the world manifests through the autonomous interaction and mutual attraction of matter and consciousness.
Its relation to Yoga: Sāṃkhya provides the theoretical and intellectual foundation of this view of the world, while the Yoga of Patañjali is its textual and bodily application.
The founding text: the Sāṃkhyakārikā (fourth century)
The Sāṃkhyakārikā, written by
Īśvarakṛṣṇa around the fourth century CE, is the oldest complete, standardised philosophical text of the Sāṃkhya school to have come down to us. In seventy-two rhymed stanzas (kārikā), the work gathers centuries of oral tradition and of older, fragmentary texts. The analysis of the three guṇas forms its psychological and physical heart, notably in stanzas 12 and 13.
The three Guṇas in detail
Prakṛti, that essentially active substance, consists of three dynamic forces, the guṇas. These three principles, independent in themselves, are ceaselessly intertwined within differentiated nature. Their mutual action governs the whole unfolding of matter. On the spiritual path one must first cultivate sattva, then pass beyond it in order to free the spirit. Īśvarakṛṣṇa’s text defines the guṇas by their intrinsic characteristics, their aims and their interdependent modes of action:
| Guṇa |
Intrinsic nature |
Psychological effect |
Physical metaphor |
| Sattva (सत्त्व) |
Lightness (laghu) and clarity (prakāśaka) |
Balance, purity, truth, pleasure, joy and illumination |
The flame that rises |
| Rajas (रजस्) |
Excitation (upastambhaka) and mobility (cala) |
Energy, passion, force, desire, suffering, action and anxiety |
The wind that drives the dust |
| Tamas (तमस्) |
Heaviness (guru) and darkness (varaṇaka) |
Darkness, gloom, inertia, indifference, lethargy and illusion |
The stone that falls, or blocks the way |
The analogy of the lamp (Pradīpavat)
Stanza 13 of the Sāṃkhyakārikā uses a famous metaphor to explain how three forces of wholly opposed natures can work together: the oil lamp. A lamp gives light through the combination of three contradictory elements:
- The wick (solid and absorbent — akin to Tamas)
- The oil (liquid and combustible — akin to Rajas)
- The fire (luminous and rising — akin to Sattva)
Although oil and wick would each destroy the fire on their own, their joint action — harmonious and balanced — produces a single end: to give light. In the same way the three guṇas come together to manifest the world and to make the experience of Puruṣa possible.
The dynamic of perpetual interaction
Nothing in the manifested world is purely Sattva, Rajas or Tamas. Every object, thought and action is a mixture of the three, marked by a balance of forces in constant change.
- Mutual dominance: the guṇas dominate, support, engender and associate with one another. When one guṇa gains the upper hand, it temporarily subdues the other two.
- The state of equilibrium (Sāmyāvasthā): before the creation of the universe, the guṇas rest in perfect equality within unmanifest Prakṛti. The physical world arises only when that equilibrium is broken.
- The psychological application: within the human mind (antaḥkaraṇa), the fluctuation of the guṇas accounts for changes of mood. A mind governed by Sattva is calm and lucid; passing under the influence of Rajas, it becomes agitated and full of wanting; overwhelmed by Tamas, it sinks into confusion, inertia or depression.