QA 3-Aug 29,2011

Guruji, how to increase saatvic knowledge in life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: By means of what you just did: going beyond the three gunas (Saatvic, Raajasic and Taamasic) through meditation. In meditation we get deep rest and freshness, purity, peace and joy arise spontaneously. How does joy arise - when you are at peace, at rest. That is why it is said, ‘nistraye gunyo nitya satvastu ’: as you rise above the three gunas, Sattva increases. Do not be attached even to good deeds. Drop everything. In deep rest none of these gunas exist. In sleep there is tamo guna, in work there is rajo guna, and when you are not working or engaged in thought, there is sato guna. When you sit in meditation, in that state of thoughtlessness, you transcend the three gunas; and when you come back, sattva rises. By the way, rajo guna is useful in getting rid of tamo guna through awakening frustration and anger. As sato guna increases, rajo guna quiets down. And when you get past sato guna also, sattva is enhanced.