by us becomes the source of our sufferings.
The Bhagavad-Gita (chapter 2, verse 57) says:
In his material world one who remains unattached under all conditions, and is neither delighted by good fortune nor dejected by tribulation, he is a sage with perfect knowledge.
In this, the word “dejected by” is presented by “dveshti” which means envy. The latter is the main mood of people in the guna of passion: neglecting others’ sufferings when happy and being envious while suffering.
We have already mentioned that the Aryans considered that the foremost problem of living beings in the material world was their misuse of their ability to become attached. This very inclination makes the basis of the guna of passion. Sensual pleasures, the flow of desires constantly heard in our mind: want to be beautiful, do not want to become old, want to be the strongest, want to be the richest, want to be a president or a movie star, want everyone to love me, want, want, want, all these various “wants” are the basis of our behavior. If in goodness one uses his/her position to protect others and agrees to follow divine rules to satisfy desires, in the guna of passion the situation is quite different. Notice that the guna of passion is usually not God-centered. Here one is ruled only by endeavors to satisfy own desires. The modern civilization develops under the influence of this very guna. Even if people in the guna of passion approach the Lord, they do it only to satisfy their desires. The consciousness of such people thinks that even the Lord is supposed only to serve them. If a virtuous person tries to coordinate desires with requirements of the Lord, a person influenced by passion is guided only by fulfillment of own desires. Behavior of such people is very chaotic. This happens because based on their opinion they try to regulate their lives and the life of society.
Lust (endless desires) pushes a person to a very vigorous activity. This activity very often evades the Laws of the Lord. Influenced by passion, a person makes laws for others and always foresees back channels for him/herself. The main desire of such people is to get the pleasure from everything surrounding him/her, be it a cheerful conversation, wealth, sensual pleasures and others. The axis of their activity is sexual pleasure. With this, sexual pleasure does not mean only sexual relationships literally, but also everything providing them. Absorption in these pleasures makes problems.
In the Vedas there is one story which clearly describes the attempts to solve problems by satisfying needs. In a small hut there lived one yogi (a person who tries to reach perfection in self-realization through physical and breathing exercises). A mouse intruded into his hut and started to distract him from meditation process (mind concentration). Once he met a friend and complained to him. The friend advised to get a cat which could catch the mouse. The yogi did as said. After a while he met the friend again. The friend inquired about his things. The yogi complained that then the cat mewed all day long in his ears asking for milk. The friend advised to get a cow. The yogi did as said. But the care for the cow took much time, then the friend advised to bring a wife who would take care of the cow. The yogi, thus, got married. Soon the wife gave birth to children and the yogi left his practice and immersed in activities to support them. One day sitting on the porch he thought, “I’d rather have tolerated the mouse’. This is a good example showing which circle of activity one will get trying to solve problems by satisfying needs.
Passion, therefore, is based on envy and lust and “grants” temporary pleasures and constant worries and miseries. In this guna one cannot distinguish religiosity from irreligiosity because he/she does not see any difference between them. For such person all living beings are simply different material bodies with the need for food, rest, sex and self-defense and that is why any talks about perfection are not serious.
The guna of ignorance is based on illusion. This guna leads to violence, madness, laziness. This is the guna of people who reject any behavior restrictions (ethics). Violence, stubbornness, rudeness, habits to hurt others, vengefulness arising from self-righteousness is the short list of the qualities of people influenced by this guna. If the intellect in the guna of goodness distinguishes well religiosity from irreligiosity, the truth from a lie, and in the guna of passion the intellect does not distinguish these, then the intellect in the guna of ignorance is confident that it is right though it takes irreligiosity for religiosity, a lie for the truth and so on. This is the type of existence when the truth is hidden from a living being to the uttermost. The most typical specimens of this type are animals.
The Bhagavad-Gita sees lust (desires) as the most important defect and the state of a living being is defined by its availability. A virtuous person satisfies “innocent” desires and keeps those desires which can cause inconveniences to others. A passionate person looks for ways to satisfy all desires. An ignorant person without a second thought satisfies desires using violence. A virtuous person follows godly laws, a lustful person considers in his/her actions opinions of necessary people, an ignorant person just do what he/she wants not keeping with any law. Thus, a virtuous person builds a God-centered society, a lustful person builds a secular or pseudo-religious society and an ignorant person builds an atheistic or demonic society. A virtuous person likes to follow the laws of the Lord, a lustful person likes to use the Lord for satisfaction of desires and an ignorant person simply does not believe in His existence and acts as he/she wants to.
According to the Aryan philosophy, respectively, virtuous persons on death go to heavenly planets awarded by the highest material pleasures. With the “help” of these pleasures, they burn the piety reserve and return again to the middle planets (like the Earth) to proceed with their material existence.
Those in the guna of passion are born on the middle planets like ours in order to be able to “build their future” by means of a vigorous activity. And ignorant persons are born on hellish planets. Having passed through the purgatory, they are born on middle planets in the animal world and going from life to life through the evolution process are born again in the human form of life.
Speaking mathematically, the truth is similar to the sequence of natural numbers, where minus infinity is a form of life under the influence of the guna of ignorance and violence reigns there. Rudeness, unwillingness to consider others, rejection of other ways of thinking, enforcement of own way of thinking, enjoyment of violence, causing others’ sufferings for the sake of power is the incomplete list of qualities inherent to such people. From the influence of this guna, animals get away by evolution from life to life passing away different forms of animal life up to the human form and people get away by a more elevated communication. This way they get to the guna of passion. The guna of passion appears in the vigorous activity, various desires, satisfaction of needs of the tongue (want delicious food), the stomach (want much food) and genitals (want physical intimacy with the opposite sex). Hunger for love, pursuit of passion, need for wealth, envy, arrogance, contempt, intrigues are the qualities inherent for people living in the guna of passion. The initial dream eventually becomes a misery. As the result of miseries via envy and anger a person descends to violence, that is the guna of ignorance. With the same miseries, a person via compassion (do not want the other to suffer like me) goes up to the virtuous state. Virtue (piety) is based on the sense of duty and knowledge (wisdom). Patience, care, compassion, reasonableness, purity, good morals (decency), justice are the qualities inherent in this guna. Development of these qualities first requires efforts (internal work, especially to learn to consider others) and then they bring happiness. In the material world this is the elevated condition ensuring a quiet life. Degradation from this condition to the state of passion happens via the sense of superiority (to the point of contempt).
Realizing worldliness, a person in piety starts to strive for liberation. The basis of liberation is the realization of one’s spiritual self. Oppressed by the material world, soul gets a great pleasure realizing that in fact it is eternal. When one perceives that he/she is an inherent parcel of the Lord, he/she enjoys the own eternal nature but it is not yet in the position to accept the Lord’s will. Actually, this is a condition when one is free from the material world but without the access to the spiritual world yet, the “zero” state which is called “liberation”. At this level, the material sense organs and mind are passivated but spiritual senses have not been activated yet.
The next stage is when the all-pervading and all-controlling aspect of the Lord is realized. At this stage, soul restores its knowledge and the resultant feeling of respect and fear of the Lord.