Rami Bleckt - The Three Energies. The Forgotten Canons of Health and Harmony

When in ignorance politicians physically abuse each other, engage in revolutions or rebellions. I remember once reading, “There are politicians and there are statesmen”; the difference between them is that the latter’s aims to serve his country and citizens. Statesmen put lots of energy into long – term projects and plan better for the future, which means that sattva is dominant.

While in New Zealand recently, I made contact with an old acquaintance that I had not seen for many years. He has lived there for a long time and told me how well everything is organised. Occasionally he works part-time at a hospital as an interpreter and was surprised to see their approach to health care. For example, just after a patient has had surgery, someone is assigned to find out the cause of their disease: poor diet, social problems or something else. Then a medical specialist comes (dietician, social worker, etc…) to help solve the patient’s problems. For patients recovering from surgery or some illness, a caretaker may go to their house and install handrails in the shower and other places. This is an intelligent approach: if this person falls down and is injured, it will cause suffering for him and unnecessary disturbance and expense for the state.

The Police there have established a department for overseeing multicultural issues, although there are no racial problems. They are trying to prevent such problems from happening in the future by educating people and monitoring potential racial issues. These and other signs (practically no corruption, an excellent educational system, sincere kindness) indicate that there is a strong influence of sattva in this society. Why is this influence so strong? Because these people are the most sattvic I have encountered.

If we want to be healthy and have no weight problems, we should engage regularly in physical exercise. Ayurveda states that we should choose a form of physical exercise according to our individual needs. Swimming, fast walking and hiking are good for both men and women. Rowing is good for men. Modern sports played at sub-professional level and higher are in passion and therefore can be harmful, not only physically but also intellectually. Many doctors can confirm it. How often do we think of the words “sportsman” and “intellectual” as synonymous? Bodybuilding is pure passion and can reduce sexual potency and vitality. Many bodybuilders drink artificial supplements and can have quite negative reactions when they stop exercising; they become flabby and look older than they really are. Large, attractive, artificially pumped muscles are not indicators of health and strength; however, if we are in tamas it is good to engage in sports as this helps prevent laziness.

The best exercise is Hatha-yoga because it enables our body to come quickly to a balanced state. In contrast to modern sports that cause us to feel completely shattered after two hours of training, a few hours of yoga will cause a feeling of elation, increase our energy levels and boost our intellectual abilities. Yoga in passion, by contrast, appears comical and has little in common with what the great Masters teach. For example, nowadays, American companies organise yoga competitions or advertise, “We will open your chakras at $100 per chakra” or “Yoga will increase your sexual potency”.

There is a good phrase in a book by Robin Sharma: “Diamonds get formed through intense pressure”. Beneficial pressure, however, is not such pressure that is in passion. It is important to develop a habit by doing an action and maintain it through constant and intense repetition; this is a beneficial condition of pressure. The terms ‘consistent’ and ‘maintain’ belong to the guna of goodness.

For example, getting out of bed early in the morning is difficult to get accustomed to at the beginning. If the Sun has a weak influence in our horoscope, we will be inclined to get up late. However, if we take a shower after 9 am, our body will absorb toxins that were produced while sleeping, causing us to poison ourselves. Those of us who are categorised as ‘night owls’ become more active and productive in the evening. Nevertheless, a ‘night owl’ can become an ‘early bird’, but that requires substantial effort. Up to eighty percent of us can get up earlier if our horoscopes are reasonable and we have some desire to change; this can take a few months or sometimes years. The main thing is to have faith in ourselves and to change our outlook; thus our vitality and energy will increase with persistent effort.

When I raised this subject in one group, it generated a heated discussion; many were doubtful that it was possible to become an ‘early bird’. Yet several months later one woman from this seminar, who had always considered herself a ‘night owl’, started to change her daily schedule gradually and began to go to bed early so she could get up before 6 am. She happily related to the entire group how it had improved her life and health.

If we want to create a solid foundation for any successful project, we need to attract the appropriate energy consciously.

To create something we have to be active;any kind of creation in this world requires activity – rajas. Although creating takes effort, it is even more difficult to maintain (sattva) what we have created, because it involves consistent effort on a daily basis.

For us to destroy something, in most cases, little effort is required – destruction (tamas) often comes by itself.To produce a good car countless number of people need to work for many years, but any inexperienced driver can demolish it in just a few minutes. The same applies to our lives; if the guna of ignorance enters, our life can be ruined in a moment.In the Vedas it is stated that Brahma is responsible for creation, Vishnu for maintenance and Shiva for annihilation.

Each type of energy has a purpose and value; by understanding this we can make intelligent choices to help us in whatever situation we are in. We should consciously transfer ourselves to different gunas, to choose the guna whose energy we need at any given moment.

Passion is required for creative work, for example, to develop and start a new business project. This is not an easy task – passion means applying substantial effort. People who are mainly in passion are extremely energetic. Warriors (ksatriyas) must fight, and for battle they need huge amounts of energy. If we were to try to hold an ancient sword in our hand, even for ten minutes, it would be practically impossible. In history books, we read that battles used to continue for many hours or even days. In modern society wars also require great physical and psychological strength, and without passion and energy it would not be possible to endure it. That is why in Vedic culture warriors were allowed to have a few wives, to eat fish and drink wine; all these things gave the warrior the passionate energy he needed.

But after creation comes the most difficult stage: maintenance. For example, if we started a new business which was beginning to operate and develop successfully, we would need to come to sattva to further maintain it. We would have to go to work in time, prepare to meet clients, file regular financial reports, provide good customer service regardless of the kind of people we have to deal with, not let up when the business is going well etc. For modern businessmen, who are mostly under the influence of passion, these things are incredibly difficult. According to statistics, out of the huge number of new businesses created annually, only a few stay afloat after the first five years.