Three Types of Personalities

SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA
The vision of life and the three types of personalities sttvika, rjasika and
tmasika is explained in tabular format from the 18th chapter of Bhagavad Gt.
CHART I - The Three Types of Knowledge
THE GOOD
That knowledge, which
can recognize and live
the Truth constantly, is
sttvika. To recognize
the flux of things, we
feel
the
harmony
underlying the unity in
diversity of forms and
behaviors, to live the
awareness of the One life
that pulsates in every
bosom, is the genuine
achievement of sttvika
intellect.

THE PASSIONATE
That
knowledge
which
looks upon other living
entities as different from
one another is passionate.
An intellect which sees the
world as an assortment of
various types, as made up
of
an
endless
incomprehensible plurality,
as possessed of knowledge
that is rjasika.

THE DULL
That
knowledge
which
fanatically regards (without
rhyme
or
reason)
a
particular path or view as
the
sole
end
without
understanding
anything
correctly and sticks to it
with extreme self-arrogance
and egoistic insistence, that
knowledge which considers
the entire world of things
and beings as meant for
ownership and indulgence
alone,
that
knowledge
which fails to recognize
anything
really
existing
beyond the little ego, is
tmasika.

CHARTII - The Three types of Karma or Actions

THE GOOD
Sttvika
actions
are
those that are ones own
obligatory
duties
towards
the
society,
performed without any
clinging attachment to
the fruits thereof, and
without being motivated
by likes and dislikes a
sttvika person performs
these
duties
just
spontaneously. He seeks
his fulfillment and joy in
the very work itself. Such
sttvika
actions
are
undertaken only by men
who possess the sttvika
knowledge.

THE PASSIONATE
Rjasika actions are those
that are propelled by some
desires to be fulfilled, that
are performed in a selfcentered delusory attitude
of I-am-the doer vanity,
and that are undertaken
with great strain and labour
on the part of the actor or
doer. Such actions are
undertaken
by
the
passionate
who
possess
rjasika knowledge.

THE DULL
Tmasika actions are those
that are undertaken without
any
regard
to
the
consequences thereof that
bring in disaster and sorrow
to all around, including the
doer, and that sap dry his
abilities and vitalities. Such
actions spring from some
delusory misconceptions of
the goal of life in the
individual. Such actions of
the dull are generally met
with only persons who
possess
tmasika
knowledge.

CHART III - The Three Types of Karta (Doers or Actors)

THE GOOD
An actor (doer) who has
no attachment to the
field in which he is acting
who is not egoistic,
who is full of fortitude
and
zeal,
who
is
unmoved by the results
of his actions, be they
success or failure, such a
doer is considered a
sttvika karta.

THE PASSIONATE
An actor (doer) who is
swayed by passions, who
ever anxiously ogles at the
expected fruit of each
action, who is extremely
greedy, who often acts,
bringing harm to others
who is impure in his means,
who is ever buffeted by the
joys and sorrows of life,
such a doer is considered as
a rjasika karta.

THE DULL
An actor (doer) who has no
control over his own mental
impulses and instincts, who
will readily stoop to any
vulgarity, who is arrogant
and obstinate in his own
wrong conclusion, who is
deceitful and malicious, who
is indolent, who ever lives
worried about what is to be
done by him, such a doer
is considered as a tmasika
karta1.

CHART IV - The Three Types of Buddhi (Understanding2)

THE GOOD
The understanding that
can readily judge things
that are to be done
(pravrtti), things that are
to
be
renounced
or
avoided
(nivrtti),
the
understanding
that
correctly discerns what
ought
to
be
done
(karyam)
and
what
ought not to be done
(akaryam),
that
differentiates
between
fear and fearlessness, is
considered
as
the
sttvika buddhi or and
understanding of purity.

THE PASSIONATE
The understanding that
erroneously conceives both
the right and the wrong,
that falsely judges what
should be done and what
would not be done (due to
its egoistic preconception)
is considered as the rjasika
buddhi
or
and
understanding of energy.

THE DULL
The understanding that
deems the wrong as the
right,
reversing
every
value-involved in darkness
(ignorance) and therefore,
sees
all
things
in
a
perverted
way,
ever
contrary to the truth is
considered as the tmasika
buddhi
or
an
understanding of darkness.

See Charts I and II.

Note: Each actor is propelled by his respective knowledge and accomplishes his respective actions
(results).
2
Understanding is the intellectual ability with which one can readily judge rightly the rising situation and
the received stimuli. Without this correct judgment, ones responses cannot be appropriate. Sorrows of
life, failures in our activities, are all due to the absence of the right and efficient type of understanding in
us. Sttvika buddhi never fails. Rjasika buddhi can fail, but the tmasika buddhi often fails, and rarely
succeeds.

CHARTV - The Three Types of Dhrti (Fortitude)

THE GOOD
The fortitude by which
one
through
yoga
(concentration), controls
steadily the activities of
the mind, organs of
action
(pranendriyas)
and
the
organs
of
perception (jnanedriyas)
is the pure type of
fortitude.

THE PASSIONATE
The fortitude by which one
holds
on
firmly
with
attachment
to
duty
(dharma), pleasure (kma),
and wealth (artha) ever
desirous of coming to enjoy
the future rewards of joy
promised by them (fruits of
action)

is
of
the
passionate
type
of
fortitude.

THE DULL
The fortitude by which a
foolish
man
does
not
abandon
sleep
(nonapprehension of reality),
fear
(fancied
fear
of
something
already
happened), depression and
arrogance while living the
present is the dull type
of fortitude.

CHART VI - The Three Types of Happiness

THE GOOD
The sttvika happiness
is arising out of the inner
self-control
and
consequent
selfperfections
which,
though
painful
and
arduous
in
the
beginning, is enduring in
the long run, in contrast
with the fleeting joys
provided
by
senseticklings. The result of
inner
discipline
and
contemplation
brings
about
tranquility
(prasd) in the intellect,
and from this tranquility
of the intellect gurgles
out
the
happiness,
which is called sttvika
happiness.

THE PASSIONATE
The
rjasika
happiness
arises only when the sense
organs
are
directly
in
contact with the senseobjects. In the beginning it
is
quite
nectarine
and
alluring, but it creates in the
enjoyer
a
sense
of
exhaustion and dissipation
in the long run. Even when
one
experiences
the
rjasika type of happiness
brought about by the sense
organs, it is tainted by an
anxiety of diminution and
loss of it. Therefore, the
temporary
happiness
provided by the senseobjects is termed as the
rjasika happiness.

THE DULL
The tmasika happiness is
the joy, which takes us
away from our real nature,
creates cultural morbidity in
our inner life, and gives the
intellect a thick crust of
wrong values and false
ideals. In the enjoyment of
this tmasika happiness,
the
permanent,
ever
existing Goal of Life recedes
to the background, and this
results in seeking simple
gratification at the flesh
level.
These
kinds
of
pursuits incapacitate the
intellect
to
think
out
correctly
the
problems
(lasya) that face it and
arrive at a right judgment.
When the intellect is weak,
the
mind
seeks
to
compromise
with
the
temptations, heedless of the
voice of the higher in us
(pramda).
Such
a
happiness, which deludes
the soul, both at the
beginning and the end, is
classified as tmasika.