150 - Austerity of Body, Speech and Mind | Swami Tattwamayananda

Our temperaments are determined by a combination of the three gunas – sattva guna, rajo guna and tamo guna. Sattva guna is the highest and most sublime. It manifests itself as wisdom and serenity. Rajo guna manifests itself as dynamism and ambition. Tamo guna manifests itself as laziness and delusion.<br /><br />These three temperaments are based on our samskaras. Every action leaves a residual effect (vritti) in our mental system. Many identical vrittis – from similar, repeated actions – solidify a distinct memory block called Samskara. Samskaras express through our determination to act in a certain manner, called Sankalpa. Sankalpa leads to further actions. This wheel continues, and it shapes our temperament.<br /><br />The food that we eat is linked to the three gunas. The way we practice rituals, austerity and charity is also linked to the three gunas.<br /><br />Food has both a gross and subtle dimension. At a gross level, the food needs to be hygienically pure. At a subtle level, it means food that is prepared and served by people with<br />good temperament and with affection.<br /><br />10th verse: “The food that was cooked several hours earlier and whose original taste is gone, food that has foul smell, food that has been partly eaten by someone else, and food that is not conducive to the development of higher qualities in the mind and intellect, is liked by those endowed with tamo guna.”<br /><br />Gita as a text belongs to 3,300 BC when there was no refrigerator. The staleness of food implied in the 10th verse should be interpreted in the context of modern times.<br />If a person eats food that was partly eaten by someone else, the emotional state of the other person can be transferred to him.<br /><br />The next few verses describe the three levels of yajna – sattvika, rajasika and tamasika. In Gita, yajna means any unselfish, noble activity. However, in the next three verses it means rituals.<br /><br />11th verse: “Yajna that is performed with great reverence, with no showmanship, with great concentr