nt with the nature
of the original topics or principles. Prakriti, cheerfully and of her own
accord, as if for sport, O monarch, produces, by undergoing modifications
herself, thousands and thousands of combinations of her original
transformations called Gunahs. As men can light thousands of lamps from
but a single lamp, after the same manner Prakriti, by modification,
multiplies into thousands of existent objects the (three) attributes (of
Sattwa and Rajas and Tamas) of Purusha. Patience, joy, prosperity,
satisfaction, brightness of all faculties, happiness, purity, health,
contentment, faith, liberality, compassion, forgiveness, firmness,
benevolence, equanimity, truth, acquittance of obligations, mildness,
modesty, calmness, external purity, simplicity, observance of obligatory
practices, dispassionateness, fearlessness of heart, disregard for the
appearance or otherwise of good and evil as also for past
acts, appropriation of objects only when obtained by gift, the absence
of cupidity, regard for the interests of others, compassion for all
creatures,--these have been said to be the qualities that attach to the
attribute of Sattwa. The tale of qualities attaching to the attribute of
Rajas consists of pride of personal beauty, assertion of lordship, war,
disclination to give, absence of compassion, enjoyment and enduring of
happiness and misery, pleasure in speaking ill of others, indulgence in
quarrels and disputes of every kind, arrogance, discourtesy, anxiety,
indulgence in hostilities, sorrow, appropriation of what belongs to
others, shamelessness, crookedness, disunions, roughness, lust, wrath,
pride, assertion of superiority, malice, and calumny. These are said to
spring from the attributes of Rajas. I shall now tell thee of that
assemblage of qualities which springs from Tamas. They are stupefaction
of judgment, obscuration of every faculty, darkness and blind darkness.
By darkness is implied death, and by blind darkness is meant wrath.
Besides these, the other indications of Tamas are greediness in respect
of all kinds of food, ceaseless appetite for both food and drink, taking
pleasure in scents and robes and sports and beds and seats and sleep
during the day and calumny and all kinds of acts proceeding from
heedlessness, taking pleasure, from ignorance (of purer sources of joy)
in dancing and instrumental and vocal music, and aversion for every kind
of religion. These, indeed, are the indications of Tamas.'"'"