COLOURS -Reduction of the influence of the three subtle-components with increasing spiritual level

6.3 Reduction of the influence of the three subtle-components with increasing spiritual level

As we grow spiritually what intrinsically happens is that the darkness of the five senses, mind and intellect begins to reduce and consequently the Soul (i.e. the God) within us begins to illuminate. Refer to the diagram below. This is also known as the dissolution of the five senses, mind and intellect. We refer to the five senses, mind and intellect as darkness or ignorance as they keep us away from identifying with our true state, i.e. the God within us or the Soul.
The Soul, which is the God within us, is beyond the three subtle basic components and is therefore not comprised of them. Therefore the more the light of the Soul is illuminated within us through spiritual practice, the less the influence of the three subtle-components in dictating our personalities, choices and actions. In the final stages of our spiritual growth when the light of the Soul illuminates us almost completely, we live our lives in complete unison with God’s will and the three subtle-components are diluted and exert a negligible influence on our personalities.

6.4 With relation to our personality

In the below table, we have provided a few pointers that will help to distinguish the type of personality that a person displays according to the predominant subtle-component.
These are just pointers to give one a basic understanding. A correct analysis of the predominant subtle basic component in a person can only be ascertained through one’s sixth sense (ESP).

	Sattvik person	Rājasik person	Tamasik person
Personality defects	Complete control on emotions, thoughts and actions	Angry, jealous, proud, egoistic, bossy, attention seeking, greedy, going to any extent to fulfil worldly ambitions and desires, worrying, day dreamer	Lazy, inactive, depressed, extremely selfish, not thinking about others or even harming them when fulfilling one’s selfish ends, irritable
Virtues	All virtues, truthful and lawful, tolerant, serene, stable intellect, not egotistical. Eventually goes beyond virtues and defects. Fearless about death.	Industrious but directionless efforts in terms of spiritual growth	None
Main way of gaining happiness	Acquiring knowledge, skills, helping others, meditation, increasing spiritual level. Eventually goes beyond happiness-unhappiness and towards Bliss	Gaining authority, worldly possessions	Eating, drinking, sexual intercourse etc.
In relation to others	Living to serve society and help people grow spiritually. Here growing spiritually means in a more universal sense according to the 6 basic laws of spiritual practice.	Self-centred or helping others with a lot of ego about the help being given	Harming others. Most tamasik – harming society at large in the name of religion or some ideology.
Sleep	4-6 hours	7-9 hours	12-15 hours
Spiritual power	High	Slight	Very low 1

Footnote:

1. The exception to this is a subtle-sorcerer (māntrik) who may have a lot of spiritual strength due to undertaking spiritual practice for evil reasons but is predominantly tamasik.

These attributes are not mutually exclusive. For example, a certain sattvik person may need 9 hours of sleep or a tamasik person may have a virtue like tolerance. But the person’s nature is decided by the overall sum total of the virtues and defects. Hence one should not decide about oneself or others based on one or two characteristics but the overall picture needs to be taken into consideration.
Also it is very rare that a person is found to be entirely sattvik, rajasik or tamasik. Mostly a person is either Sattva-Raja or Raja-Sattva or Raja-Tama predominant. A Sattva-Raja person would have characteristics of both Sattva and Raja in almost similar proportion with a predominance of Sattva. In the case of a Raja-Sattva person it would be just opposite.
Depending on the subtle-component that is most predominant within a person, they will accordingly display that type of personality. However as much as one may dress up or camouflage oneself behind expensive clothes and accessories and sophisticated small talk, the basic frequencies that one emits will be based on the subtle-component that is most predominant within one. People with advanced sixth sense can look beyond the external veneer that people project to the world and pick up these subtle and intangible frequencies. As a result, they can easily tell a person’s basic nature i.e. sattvik, rajasik or tamasik and the characteristics that they are most likely to display.
A true litmus test of an individual's predominant subtle-component is when one is left to oneself. A person generally shows his or her true colours in a situation where the person is not being monitored and is reflected by the individual's behaviour. The following example will help crystallise this point.

Let us take an example of a class of students in the 4th grade. They are a noisy, rowdy bunch with a teacher who tries hard to discipline them. If the teacher's voice is very firm she has a fair chance of keeping the class quiet. As a result, the class is quiet only in her presence. However the moment she leaves the class they are back to their mischievous ways. This is because these children are basically rajasik and tamasik in nature.
If on the other hand there is a sattvik child in the class and his fellow students try to enlist his participation in some incorrect act like bullying, playing a nasty prank or indulging in cheating, the child would absolutely not be able to comply as his basic nature is sattvik. He is more likely to get a knot in his stomach than enjoy whatever his classmates are suggesting. He would not be able to live with himself if he did any incorrect act.

Thus rather than superficially trying to change children through moral value lectures, a permanent change could be found if they were encouraged to do spiritual practice and were brought up in a spiritually conducive environment that would increase their Sattva component.

7. The three subtle basic components and our lifestyle

Everything around us can be categorised as sattvik, rajasik or tamasik depending on the predominant subtle-component that they are made up of. The predominant subtle-component in anything can only be measured with one’s sixth sense (ESP).
We have provided a few generic examples of the various facets of the world we live in and the dominant subtle-component. Depending on whether we are sattvik, rajasik or tamasik individuals, we will gravitate towards sattvik, rajasik or tamasik lifestyles. Also associating ourselves with particular components through our lifestyle choices increases the respective subtle-components within us.

8. The three subtle-components and ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies etc.)

Ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies etc.) are primarily Raja and Tama predominant. A ghost that is lower in the hierarchy, i.e. below 50% spiritual strength such as a common ghost is Raja-Tama predominant. A ghost that is higher in the hierarchy, i.e. above the 50% spiritual strength such as a subtle-sorcerer from the 6th or 7th region of Hell (Patal) is Tama-Raja predominant.
As ghosts are Raja-Tama predominant, they frequent Raja-Tama environments on Earth as they are most likely to find Raja-Tama predominant people there. These like-minded people are ideal targets for possession and carrying out the plans of ghosts on Earth. In other words, a person who is predominantly tamasik and who has a liking for harming others stands a high risk of being controlled by ghosts to harm society.

The principle behind protecting oneself against a ghost is to increase one’s sāttviktā. As ghosts are tamasik, they cannot tolerate highly sattvik environments or people. It is for this reason they simply cannot possess a higher level Saint or a Guru.

9. In summary

The key points to take away from this article are:

• All of us emit Sattva, Raja or Tama frequencies depending on which subtle-component is predominant in us. The more the Sattva component within us the better our personalities and the higher the sustainable success and contentment in our career, relationships and lives.
  
• The Sattva component can be increased through spiritual practice along with dissociating oneself from Raja and Tama influences as much as possible.
  
• The company that we keep is a strong influence in helping us in our spiritual practice.
  
• Ghosts take advantage of Tama predominant environments and people to carry out their activities of harming society and reducing Righteousness (Dharma) in the world.