In your series on the Unborn Bhagavad Gita you cover the significance of the gunas. Would you care to further expound upon their nature; should I be concerned with them?
You may recollect that the series expounded upon their governing agency—prakriti. Prakriti and its highest principle were also covered in our series on the Yogasūtras of Patañjali as the “the full spectrum and fundamental (natural) matter of Mind materialization.” Everything originates out of it; in this respect the three gunas revolve around it in a continuous orbit, incessantly shifting their interrelated shapes that make up the delicate fabric of samsara.
In light of all this you need to be mindful that spontaneous actions are not of our own making, but are the direct result of those revolving gunas. They make their appearance felt and the body consciousness blindly reacts.
Is that why sudden bursts of anxiety and anger can overtake me in certain situations?
Rajas indicates that restless activity. Anger can suddenly arrive unannounced and when you begin to identify with it, you are its slave; but you can choose to stand-apart from it and thus become its master. The body consciousness is a slave-mentality. The Master-mentality is remaining-put in the Unborn under all circumstances.
But it’s so hard! These rajaic-emotions come upon me so suddenly I FEEL hopelessly entrapped by them!
Feeling is a figment of the body consciousness; you need to activate the sattva guna which can counteract it. In Truth, sattva is the vivacity of your Real nature. It is beyond feeling and beyond the carnal mind and its many moods.
It’s all so draining!
That’s the tamas guna taking hold over you. It makes you into a dull and stupid clown which acts irresponsibly. You need to admonish it as the lethargic child it is. Indeed, of all the gunas it can prove to be the most lethal. Dullness of mind leads to all manner of misfortunes.
Can meditation and chanting prove to be of assistance—empowering me to be more sattvic-like?
They can help, yes; but be aware that relying on them too much can arrest one’s Recollective Resolve to transcend the use of any agency that inhibits natural growth in the Unborn. You also should be aware that too much sattva can bind you to a form of pseudo-bliss. Be mindful that the three gunas play eternally against each other. Above all else, remember your True Status of the Absolute Unborn Mind is unaffected by any of the gunas.
It would be good to just forget about all of them!
That’s an impossibility. They are here to stay in your orbit of the human condition. Just be mindful of which one is predominately present at the time and proceed accordingly.