Always the Play of the Gunas

Swami Satyananda Saraswati

Although yoga is going to become a mighty force at the end of this century and during the next, this does not mean that man will not fall ill, that rivalry will not take place, and that everyone will love each other. It does not mean there will be no hatred in the world, and that everybody will become happy and free from problems and disease.

According to the sages, there is a very clear concept that the world is a play of the three gunas. The three gunas are tamas, rajas and sattwa, and if you combine these stages, they create millions of things on the mental plane. Whether yoga becomes a mighty culture or not, they will still exist; they always remain the same. Diversity is the nature of the world. Yoga cannot go against it. There will be diverse religions and sects. There will still be wars and there will still be love, hatred and massacres. There will also be people like Buddha and Christ coming from time to time. You cannot go beyond all this because the world is the play of the three gunas.

You may envision an idyllic lifestyle and universal peace and harmony, but how can that be? There will always be grass, thorny bushes and snakes, and there will still be foods, droughts and epidemics even if high blood pressure, cancer and rheumatism no longer exist.

However, one great change will be brought about through the power of yoga. Yoga will bring light to man’s thinking processes and will improve the quality of his thoughts and perception. Thereby it will enable him to understand the necessity of his problems. And this is what we are expecting.