The Samkhya System: A History of the Samkhya Philosophy c11.19

c11.19

The process of development of the unevolved is through the activity of three constituents out of which it is made up, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. The first of these constituents, or factors, is that in nature which is light, which reveals, which causes pleasure to man: the second is what is impelling and moves, what produces activity in man: the third is what is heavy and restrains, what produces the state of indifference or inactivity in man. The three constituents act essentially in close relation: they overpower and support one another, produce one another and intermingle with one another. They are compared in a homely simile to the constituents of a lamp, that is, it seems, to the flame, oil, and wick, respectively. The origin of the conception seems to be in the main psychologic, but even in the Kārikā it is impossible not to realize the material nature also accorded to the Guṇas. No proof of their existence is offered: it is to be inferred that they were held to be established by observation both of nature and of man.