Sattva Life

The three modes are like the three primary colours - yellow, red, and blue. Just as one can mix red, yellow, and blue at different proportions to produce millions of colours, the modes of nature mix with each other to create the variety we see in the world.

The Gita discusses how the modes influence a person’s character, behaviour, and approach to life. Goodness leads to lasting happiness – it often begins by tasting like poison, requiring one to sacrifice and regulate, but ends up tasting like nectar. Passion brings short-term happiness that begins like nectar but ends like poison. The mode of ignorance (at best) leads to happiness that is illusory in both the long and the short term, being the result of laziness, idleness, and negligence.

With reference to the Gita’s teachings, what would someone’s approach to the following things look like based on the predominant mode they are operating in:

	Goodness (sattva)	Passion (rajas)	Ignorance (tamas)
Food	Gives strength, health, happiness and satisfaction	Too bitter, pungent, hot, dry - causes disease	Tasteless, decomposed and putrid
Time of day	12:00am-8:00am	8:00am-4:00pm	4:00pm-12:00am
Sleeping
Parenting
Driving
Discussion
House Environment
Spiritual Practices