Verses on Sāṃkhya 13

There, it has been stated that the manifest and the unmanifest possess three constituents, and the spirit is devoid of the constituents. Of what nature are the constituents? To this, it is said:

Having the nature of pleasure, displeasure, and dejection; with the purposes of illumination, activity, and restraint; / functioning to overpower, support, generate, and consort with one another are the constituents. // 12

Here, this is the compound: pleasure, displeasure, and dejection are the self, the intrinsic nature, of which constituents—they are "having the nature of pleasure, displeasure, and dejection." Their characteristic definition is stated. Among them, sattva has the nature of pleasure. The word "self" refers to intrinsic nature. Why? Because its characteristic is pleasure. For whichever person obtains pleasure anywhere, there uprightness, gentleness, truth, purity, modesty, intellect, forbearance, compassion, knowledge, and so on are to be recognized as sattva. Rajas has the nature of displeasure. Why? Because its characteristic is suffering. For whichever person at any time obtains displeasure anywhere, there hatred, hostility, envy, censure, obstinacy, longing, deceit, deception, bondage, slaying, mutilation, and so on are to be recognized as rajas. Tamas has the nature of dejection. Why? Because its characteristic is delusion. For whichever person at any time obtains delusion anywhere, there ignorance, intoxication, indolence, fear, misery, incapacity, atheism, dejection, sleep, and so on are to be recognized as tamas. Moreover: "with the purposes of illumination, activity, and restraint"—illumination, activity, and restraint are their purposes, hence so described. There, illumination belongs to sattva, activity belongs to rajas, and restraint, withdrawal, belongs to tamas. Moreover: "functioning to overpower, support, generate, and consort with one another are the constituents." Here too is the compound: overpowering one another, supporting one another, generating one another, consorting with one another, and whose mutual functionings exist—such are they described. The word "and" should be understood in the sense of conjunction. Pleasure and the others have already been stated earlier. "Overpowering one another": from the overpowering of rajas and tamas, the tranquil functioning of sattva, beginning with virtue, arises; from the overpowering of sattva and tamas, the violent functioning of rajas, beginning with non-virtue, arises; from the overpowering of sattva and rajas, the stupefied functioning of tamas, beginning with ignorance, arises. Moreover: the constituents support one another. For sattva illuminates by relying upon activity and restraint; rajas activates by relying upon illumination and restraint; tamas restrains by relying upon illumination and activity. They are to be understood like the mutual bracing of a tripod. Moreover: the constituents generate one another. They produce one another. Sometimes sattva generates rajas and tamas; sometimes tamas generates sattva and rajas. Just as a lump of clay, supervised by a potter equipped with his implements, produces a pot, in that manner they generate. That they awaken one another is accepted: just as Devadatta and Yajñadatta awaken each other, so the constituents abiding in the intellect—sattva, rajas, and tamas—awaken one another. Thus the constituents generate one another. Moreover: the constituents consort with one another, because they have the property of non-separation. For thus they say:

"Sattva is the mate of rajas, rajas is the mate of sattva; / of both sattva and rajas, tamas is said to be the mate."

(Devībhāgavatapurāṇa 3.50)

Moreover: the constituents function mutually; they produce each other's functioning. Just as a certain woman, possessing prudence, modesty, charm, and grace, produces pleasure in her husband and in her own circle of kin, yet that very same woman produces suffering and delusion in her co-wives; thus, through sattva in the form of the woman, the functioning of rajas and tamas is produced. The same should be applied in other instances as well. // 12