Balance and Beyond

Wisdom Teachings
Essences of the Teachings

In nature, three potentialities are at work, which always make their manifestation. One is the power that keeps things going, it is called Rajas in Eastern wisdom. The second is the power to crystallize energy; it is inertia or Tamas and it makes things stick to their own properties. When dynamism and inertia neutralize each other, then the third state, Sattva, equilibrium or purity, becomes predominant. When the equilibrium is disturbed, the two others make their appearance in alternation as the pairs of opposites and cause one-sidedness, tensions and diseases.

These three qualities are called the three Gunas. They are responsible for the entire creation, without them there is no physical or mental existence. From Tamas matter is born, from Rajas the mind and the sensory functions, and from Sattva intelligence and understanding. Our body and our life-force are functioning according to their blends. They condition our mind and our behaviour towards food, drink, work, rest and sex. According to our inner essence however, we are beyond the three qualities.

The qualities interact with each other, they create the variety, which envelops existence like a garment. Nature is compared with a master tailor who with the threads of the three qualities weaves garments for the creatures which otherwise would be naked. The threads are of three different colours: One is blue, another red, and the third thread green or also yellow-gold. Depending on how much of a colour is used for weaving, it then predominates in the cloth. We wear different colours according to time and place. The colours of the qualities change like the clothes we wear, but not we ourselves. At all times and places the inner man is the same.

When the infinite soul enters into the three qualities, it gets into limitations. As long as it is still in equipoise, it is transparent, radiant, knowing and pure. However, as soon as it loses its balance and dives into the vortex of life, it gets dragged into the qualities and caught. Our understanding is coloured by the blend of qualities. Our own concepts circumscribe us and we have many opinions about many things. All of them are formed by the qualities of Rajas and Tamas.

Today the whole of humanity is brimming with over-activity and restlessness, especially the big cities. Everything is done in excess, and people are proud to overstep the norms. In professional life or in leisure time there is such an overactivity. The greed of desire and acquisitiveness develops an excessive urge for action, at the root of which are selfish motives. Hyperactivity leads to aggression, insecurity, fear of loss and anxiety. The Great Ones often remind us: “You are human beings, but not human doings.” Man has lost the sense of be-ness, life tends more to greatness than goodness. Greatness urges toward unlimited activity, while goodness has the quality of simplicity and is near to truth.

Out of overactivity or Rajas there is born confusion, out of underactivity or Tamas comes a wrong understanding, ignorance and loss of consciousness. Inertia has a queer logic, which is twisting things and developing its own theories as new teachings: We don’t see what is, but what we think that it is there. If we are hyperactive, we quickly read a page, but we do not retain anything of what we have read. If we suffer from inertia, we say: “Oh, I will read it tomorrow.” Then we forget it. We also forget good thoughts at once and do not put them into action. We do not take an opportunity and miss situations. If we come too early, we are overactive, if we come too late, we are underactive. If we chase after things and search for them, we often miss the right thing. If we always devote ourselves right to the next duty, the right things and persons come to us at the right time.

Sluggishness is indifferent to impure places, impure food or impure thoughts. Today sex and drugs have a great influence, because parts of society live in inertia. People taking drugs have a disappearance of comprehension, of light and life energy. This opens the doors to subhuman realms. When inertia dominates, the individual is attracted to deceased souls and to the powers working with these souls. When overactivity prevails, people are attracted to astral and elemental beings. They get caught in projections which have arisen from their own wild imaginations: They think they are connected with masters and talk about big things, but their own lives are not in order.

Rest and activity are necessary for life, but overactivity and underactivity are distortions and unbalance. Another word for this balance is Yoga. “Yoga is to be in balance”, thus Krishna defines it, it is our skill in action. In this there is no tension, but a natural ease in all.

Equipoise is the door to light, it is the only way through which we can get into the state beyond the three qualities. When in balance we transcend the mental activity, we can survey the whole play of thoughts. As observers we stand beyond the triangle of the Gunas and observe how we work in the objectivity.

All spiritual practices serve to gain stability in balance. The best time for this are the twilight hours, particularly the 2 hours of silence before dawn. We should use them for meditation and study of the scriptures in order to grow in awareness. Through equipoise the inner light manifests. It radiates into the outer man and spreads the magnetic vibration of being. This has a soothing effect on people and helps them to gain their balance. In equipoise the inner knowledge reveals to us; it cannot come to us, when we are excited or dull. You cannot give an advice to a furious or irritated person.

According to our being we also choose our food. Juicy, fresh food and an appropriate quantity of oils and proteins promote balance. You should prepare the food in a tasty way and eat it calmly.

The spirit of giving is a great quality of balance. Giving with devotion for the sake of giving bestows great joy. The giver gives without expectation and forgets it after having given. If however you give to gain fame and glory, this is done out of overactivity and gives only a short satisfaction. Pride and arrogance hurt the receiver, and this comes back to the giver like a boomerang. He who gives out of inertia gives in an indifferent way and doesn’t care for the other. When you give out of balance, you see in the other person the cosmic man. By giving we get nearer to the inner centre, while receiving leads us more into objectivity. He who only receives without giving creates obstruction. Therefore we should wisely use the means coming to us for ourselves and for others. A good means for creating balance and for growing towards the centre is intelligent giving of money.

“Only labour for the good of the world will afford the proper balance.” (Supermundane I, 102) The Great Ones work together with those who have stabilized their vibration in balance. Such people are eligible for a cooperation, for they are persevering and reliable. If someone often loses balance and gets into conflicts, it is difficult to work with him, even for mundane purposes. The goal is to work in equilibrium, for the welfare of others, without proposing anything by oneself, but following a purpose which already exists, because it comes from the one source. While we act like this, we then do not have the illusion that we ourselves are doing anything, but that it happens, through us or through others. Thus the Plan reveals itself to us, and we cooperate with it.

Sources used: K. P. Kumar: The Aquarian Cross / Mithila / seminar notes. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India. Supermundane I. Agni-Yoga Society, New York, (www.agniyoga.org ).