Ok, so let’s talk a little bit about the subject called “The three modes of material nature.” If you understand the material world and how it works, you have a lot better chance of dealing with it correctly. And there’s a lot more than we learn in science. See, there’s much information we never get because the material scientists can’t discover these things. But it’s revealed knowledge in the Vedic scriptures.
The material world in one regard is made up of the three modes of material nature. In Sanskrit they’re called “gunas,” in Russian language they’re called “gunas,” too. A lot of words are the same because, of course, at one time the whole world was under one rule, one king, and the culture was the Vedic culture. So Russia has some leftovers from the Vedic times.
So these are the three gunas. It’s like if you said water is made from H2O: two hydrogen, one oxygen. So the material world is made of three gunas. They are sattva guna, the mode of goodness, rajas guna, the mode of passion, and tamas guna, the mode of ignorance. So these three modes comprise the world. Oftentimes they’re in combinations, they’re interacting. And basically everything can be placed in one of these categories.
These modes of nature influence us and under their influence we act a certain way. It’s just like the weather influences us. And so when it’s cold, winter, you act a certain way: you wear warm clothes, you heat your house, maybe you eat a little different food, you drink more warm tea, whatever. Why? Because that influence is upon you. And in summer you’re under different influence: influence of heat. So you take those warm clothes off, eat cooler foods, go swimming in the river, etc. So your action is dictated by the weather. So in the same way our lives are dictated by the modes of nature.