Is it possible to reduce Tamogun (Tamasic qualities) ?
If so, then which steps can be taken to reduce Tamogun by following: Worship, Behaviour, Mental attitude and Seva
It would be great if any ancient text reference is given with the answer.
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2Simple. For controlling anger we remain calm. To come of sadness we find a way to be happy. Same way tamasic is agyana. So Jnana kills tamasic nature– Agamas TantrasCommented Apr 13, 2019 at 6:36
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I know one of my friend who couldnt control his desire of opposite gender. This was a tamasik quality. He took up 10,000 gayatri mantras in 4 days and Sathwik diet and then after that he was completely freed from that problem. Gayatri mantra is really strong for any problem at hand. Faith and patience are prerequisites. Bhagawath Geetha has the exact answer for the question asked.– Sai BaikampadiCommented Apr 13, 2019 at 6:52
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And Jnana here is realizing your existence, purpose of existence. Who are you? Why you took birth? These questions will naturally flow through all humans but who ignores this faces death, but who catches this and finds answers kills rajas, tamas and becomes sattvic, and at one day he also crosses sattvic nature and finds oness with Paramatma, Isvara!– Agamas TantrasCommented Apr 13, 2019 at 7:49
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simplest (maybe not easiest) way is to control your diet. Go on a fruits-only diet for 2 consecutive days. you'll immediately see results for yourself.– ramCommented Apr 13, 2019 at 17:45
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1fruits-only diet --- where are the monkeys lacking in then and the elephants and the others? @ram– RickrossCommented Apr 14, 2019 at 12:02
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2 Answers
The answer to the question is there in the Gita.
Sri Bhagavan defines the signs of the tamo-guna as
14.13 O descendant of the Kuru dynasty, when tamas predominates these surely come into being: non-discrimination and inactivity, inadvertence and delusion.
In one word, He expresses the sign of tamo-guna as 'Moha' (Delusion) in response to Arjuna's query:
14.21 Arjuna said: O Lord, by what signs is one (known) who has gone beyond these three qualities? What is his behaviour, and how does he transcend these three qualities?
14.22 Sri Bhagavan said : O son of Pandu, he neither dislikes illumination (knowledge), activity and delusion when they appear, nor does he long for them when they disappear.
14.23 He who, sitting like one indifferent, is not distracted by the three qualities; he who, thinking that the qualities alone act, remains firm and surely does not move;
So in the above reply Sri Krishna also gives a hint of how to win over the tamo-guna. Its by ignoring and not being distracted by 'Moha'(Delusion).
Our scriptures define 'Moha' as
Moha means all senses of attachment like my mother, my father, my wife, my house and all other material things belonging to 'me' : mama mAtA mama pitA mameyam grihini griham/ etad anyam mamatvam yat sa moha iti kirtitah (Pranava-Prema-Piyusha, Vol. 2, page 132).
The best way to reduce tamo-guna is also mentioned by Sri Krishna in the Gita:
14.26 And he who serves Me through the unswerving Yoga of Devotion, he, having gone beyond these qualities, alifies for becoming Brahman.
How to get this Devotion? You could refer to different Bhakti-Sutras by Narada, Sandilya and others.
According to Narada, supreme Love (Parama-Prema) to God is Devotion.
According to Sandilya, extreme attachment to God is Devotion.
According to Vyasa, love of worship of God is Devotion.
According to Garga, love of listening or studying to anything about God is Devotion.
Sri Ramachandra described the nine ways to attain Devotion to Savari :
company of the holy men, discussion about God,singing the glory of God,following the instructions of God, Worshipping Guru as God, attaining virtues and control of the senses, regualar worship of God, seeing everything as God,and adopting the way of discrimination (vichara) are the nine ways to attain Devotion (Ibid.page 83).
All humans have the three qualities of Satav, Rajasic and Tamo guna. In the morning, we are Satvic as we take bath and pray to God. Our mind and thoughts are fresh. In the day time, we are workholic. We work to achieve our goals/job responsibilities. This is Rajo guna. Then at night, we are tired and want to just be lazy and sleep. This is Tamo guna.
The three gunas as defined in the Gita:
Sattva is pure, without impurities, illuminating and free from sickness. It binds the soul through attachment with happiness and knowledge (14.6).Rajas is full of passion (ragatmakam) and is born out of "thrishna" (thirst or intense desire) and "sanga" (attachment). It binds the soul through attachment with action (14.7).Tamas is the darkness and the crudeness in man. It is "ajnanajam" (born of ignorance) and "mohanam" (the cause of delusion). It binds the soul through recklessness, indolence and sleep (14.8).
None of these gunas are bad. Their predominance in the wrong time of the day is bad. Eg. Feeling lazy at work (Tamsic), Feeling aggressive in the morning (Rajo guna) and feeling to worship God at night (Satav).
How to know which quality is predominant in a person at a particular time? According to the Bhagavadgita when sattva is predominant, from all the gates of the human body radiate the illumination of knowledge, (14.11). When Rajas is predominant, greed, worldliness, striving for worldly ends and a penchant for selfish activities arise (14.12). With the increase of tamas, one can see the flourishing of darkness, inactivity, recklessness and delusion (14.13).
The person, who has learnt to balance all these three gunas and is not affected by any of the opposits i.e. Happiness-Sadness, Good-Bad, Right-Wrong, etc, is called Tregunateeth (Saint).
Learn to balance instead of getting rid of anything.
