The Three Gunas are described as the three qualities or ropes which bind. These three qualities are Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.
- Sattva: balance, order, or purity. The midpoint between Rajas and Tamas.
- Rajas: over-activity or turmoil. A mind that seeks diversion and will not hold attention.
- Tamas: lethargy. A mind that is negative, dull, or slow; darkness, delusion, or ignorance.
Within the International Nath Order the gunas are the play of nature, not a ladder of ranks. Human beings express them in mixed proportion. They belong to maya. The yogi is one who has tasted their bondage and overcome all three. Shri Gurudev Mahendranath put it as equipoise, dynamism, and inertia. Tantra also sorts people as pashu, vira, and divya along this same grain. That sorting is a reading of temperament. It is not an INO office. Work on the ropes is sadhana. Do not confuse the gunas with the five kleshas. The kleshas are obstructions. The gunas are the three qualities that bind.