Sattva Guna

On the spiritual Path, sattva is an intermediate step from ignorance, coarseness, and subjection to passions — to realization of the Divine.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says much about the sattvic qualities, such as harmoniousness, calmness of mind, subtlety of consciousness, the ability to control own emotions with refusal of the coarse emotional manifestations, prevalence of the state of subtle and joyful love, absence of egocentrism, violence.

From the methodological standpoint, it is important to stress that the sattvic qualities can be developed only if the body is healthy and cleansed from coarse energies. To become sattvic, one needs, among other things, to exclude completely meat and fish from the nutrition.

The sattvic qualities can be steadfast only in a person who has passed fully through the stage of kshatrism, developed vigor, personal power, high intellect, and gained thorough knowledge about the most important in life.

However, Krishna said that one has to go still higher — higher than sattva, to mergence with God, and this calls for new efforts, new struggle with oneself. One has to keep this in mind, since sattva may turn out to be a trap: it captivates one with its bliss attained on this stage. It makes one “relaxed”, offers to abandon further efforts.

But it is impossible to bypass the sattva guna. It is impossible to merge with God without mastering the qualities inherent to this guna.