Maya's Three Gunas — Sattva, Rajas, Tamas
Maya operates through three Gunas (qualities) — Sattva (clarity/purity), Rajas (activity/passion), and Tamas (inertia/darkness) — that weave the fabric of the phenomenal world.
The three Gunas (qualities, strands) — Sattva (purity, clarity, illumination), Rajas (activity, passion, restlessness), and Tamas (inertia, heaviness, darkness) — are the fundamental qualities of Prakriti (nature/Maya) that make up the entire phenomenal world. All matter, energy, thought, emotion, and human activity is a combination of these three Gunas in varying proportions. Sattva predominates in clarity, knowledge, and spiritual aspiration; Rajas in desire, ambition, and turbulent activity; Tamas in laziness, depression, delusion, and inertia. The path of spiritual evolution involves progressively increasing Sattva and decreasing Tamas and Rajas — until even Sattva is transcended and pure Atman (which is beyond all Gunas — Trigunatita) is recognized. This Guna framework has practical applications in diet (sattvic foods support clarity), lifestyle (sattvic activities), and mental cultivation (reducing Rajas and Tamas through ethical living and meditation).
Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas — these three Gunas born of Prakriti bind the Self in the body.
The Bhagavad Gita devotes its fourteenth chapter (Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga) to the three Gunas and, in chapters 17 and 18, classifies faith, food, charity, knowledge, and action as Sattvic, Rajasic, or Tamasic — giving a detailed practical map of how each Guna colors ordinary life.
Bhagavad Gita