The gunas and doshas are Shamkhya concepts embedded in the early astrology texts of Parasara (Brihat Parasara Hora Shastra) and the Yavana of Spujidhava, 1st century AD.

In Shamkhya philosophy which is one of the main philosophy of Hinduism, the basis to Yoga, there are 2 main aspects :

- Purusha, the true Self, imperceptible to our senses, it is consciousness, spiritual awareness, the conscious essence, Purusha is without a material support, it just is and is consciousness.  Purusha was never born and it not definable.  

- Prakriti or nature is the second aspect. Prakriti is nature as it incarnates. It is the tangible, perceivable aspect of nature. Prakriti is called the root cause of nature, and has many parts, from the least material to the grossest.   Prakriti is ever changing as will be seen with the Gunas as nature and the manifested is always changing. Because it is definable and has many parts, it is abundantly discussed in the scriptures.

Like our concept of God, Purusha can love creation and become enamoured with it, but the identification with the myriad aspects of nature is what Yoga or union is trying to prevent,  The seeker wants to go back to the pure awareness of Purusha, and cease the fascination with Prakriti.   Their relationship is very deep and subtle, and can be realized in Yoga or meditation. 

From Prakriti come the 3 Gunas. They are not part of Purusha which was undefinable and ethereal, unlike Prakriti.  So in the incarnating process of Creation, come the Gunas, they are pervasive and found everywhere.

The 3 gunas are said to be three strands of a rope or chord that constitutes or links the primordial nature of Prakriti and the universe.

At the root they are an element or constituent, yet they are often described by their quality.

So the gunas have "a quality", pushing us into activity.  Gunas are seen as having "an attribute, or tendency". They motivate beings into activity each in their particular way. The Gunas are said to be in everything and everyone and always present in Nature.

"Jupiter, the Sun and Moon are Sattva, Mercury venus are Rajas, and Saturn and Mars are Tamas in nature, O' Twice Born." Parasara, BPHS.

In Sattva guna there is Prakasha or illumination, Sukha or happiness and Preeti or attraction. The role of Sattva is to manifest in the physical dimension in harmony with all parts of nature.

Sattva provides happiness and euphoria, happiness and bliss are the different effects of this guna. Sattva has a quality of balance, harmony, virtue and it manifests in knowledge and wisdom. Sattva means manifesting from True Essence.

Sattva provides happiness and thus one can say that contentment, happiness and bliss are the different effects of this guna. Sattva has a quality of balance, harmony, virtue.

When we act according to our true nature,we naturally disperse love, inspiration and harmony around us. These action will fulfill us and will have a reverberation of balance and spiritual elevation all around. The opposite would be to act from fear in order to avoid obstacles. Sattva make us act out of inspiration and from our highest motivation.

The Sun being Sattvic in all Vedic scriptures is the noble King, representing the highest purpose and the Spirit. Its nobility shows it is motivated by the highest good of all, not only himself. The Sun being well placed in the horoscope follows his true nature, inspiration, generosity, and it sacrifices earthly immediate pleasures for the main purposes in life, much as the King has to take care of all his people and put them first.

The Moon is Sattvic and is "Full of knowing", because at night she goes behind the earth and comes back in the morning to bring back what it has learned and gathered. The moon is "love sick" and wants to bond, and wants to truly love and be loved, which is the Feminine, as it is receiving.   It is also spiritual in essence and Sattvic. When the Moon is well placed a person will be inspired, receptive and their mind will be clean, peaceful and contented, and will be able to follow their visions.

Jupiter is Sattvic in that it is the Guru and teacher dispensing the purest wisdom. Jupiter is understanding both wisdom, the highest spiritual states and also the harsh aspects in life, and being able to stay motivated, happy and feeling lucky, no matter what the circumstances. The purposes of Jupiter is to bring us to our highest good, and this is Sattvic, and easier if Jupiter is well situated in the horoscope.

The etymology of Raja is from the word ranj, which means "colour" to be attached to, or which moves. It also means "Mist". Rajas guna signifies that power which affects and moves the other two gunas. Rajas is Kriya or motion, Dukha or pain and Apreeti or rejection in opposition to the Preeti of Sattva. Raja brings motion and change everywhere in nature, Its function is to move things and overcome resistance.   Its main quality is to be excitable and subject to change. 

Its misty quality has a quality of passion, excitement, the involvement of Ahamkar (ego) that want results and lives in the mist of thinking it creates, that is is causing creation (wereas in Shamkhya actions are actually done to us instead of by us). So Rajas is lively, initiatory, active in the modern sense, passionate, emotional. Because of this Raja is binding and creates attachments.

Mercury is rajasic because it is an Earth element planet that manifests concrete things in life.  These can be cause of attachments. it is involved with details, studying, analysis, testing, communications, speech, buying and also constant activity and the passion of the mind ceaselessly thinking, all things which can make us bound to the material plane because we identify with them.  Mercury is all about making things manifest. 

Venus is rajasic in that is craves beauty and all pleasures of the body, food sensuality, comforts, and attractions or repulsions to many people around us, various environment and social situations. It is the planets of likes and dislikes, and the many decisions borne out of what we desire and dislike. We choose partners, friends and decide many things that we think are good to us. Venus can be blinded by the immediacy of these decisions while Shamkhya philosophy states that they are truly made for us from a higher dimension than ourselves.

Mercury's deity is Vishnu who help us see that God is everywhere in equal degree, and this awareness given by Vishnu can bring more detachment to the many activities that involve Mercury. Venus has Lakshmi as deity who brings beautiful gifts and teaches us the fine arts and music, and ultimately the love of God because Lakshmi's lover is God. So the love of Venus can reach a more spiritual and detached dimension.

Tamas means darkness, which has qualities like Nishkriyata or passivity, Udasinata or indifference and Vishada or despair.

Tamas signifies that power which restrains and obstructs the other two gunas by restraining the deeds of Rajas and the revealing power of Sattva. Restraining and binding are its qualities. It makes us indifferent and ignorant. Tamas hinders the ability to manifest in the mind and the intellect, so it produces ignorance, darkness and confusion which are also known as moha.

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Tamas is dense and heavy, having the lowest vibration of the 3. It causes stagnation, inertia, depression, and due to it being anxious, it is involved, or it is caused by, problems. Tamas has the awareness of darkness and actions done to avoid problems are motivated by Tamas.

It is necessary to deal with problems in life, so it can be suggested that Tamasic actions have a useful role, which is how Mars, being a soldier or an overseer, a person who acts and fixes things, is Tamasic, and needs to act in order to solve problems. Once the problem is fixed, if there is no other motivation like a Rajasic or Sattvic motivation, the action can cease however, and not lead to a higher purpose and therefore stagnate.

In Bhagavad Gita, 14-5, Krishna explains to the eager student Arjuna one fundamental feature of the Gunas :

"Oh Arjuna, what binds the imperishable Soul to the body are the

3 Gunas, brought into manifestation by Prakriti (nature)."

In other words, these qualities of the Gunas bind, impel, the soul to nature and its transient expressions. They impel attachment to the manifestations in the many physical passions of nature. Even Sattva, the purest Guna, is binding to nature, to physicality and pleasures.  This happens for instance when intellect becomes a source of identification and joy purely of the Ego, and not of the non-separate Soul.

Mercury can be any of the three (mixed depending if another planet is conjunct, Spujidhava)

The classics Brihat Jataka and VriddayanaJataka, dated around the 4th and 5th century AD, have the same scheme as above.  This scheme is the most prevalent in other classics.   Yet Spujidhava, the author of Yavana Jataka, possibly one or 2 centuries earlier, has this differences :

114. Jupiter, Mars, and the Sun are of excellence (sattva), Venus and the Moon of passion (rajas), and Saturn of ignorance (tamas); Mercury accepts the other characteristics depending on which planet it is in conjunction with.

The differences in Spujidhava are intriguing, once again the moon which was associated with Ahamkar, ego in Parasara, is given the emotional tint of Rajas, which believes it is the creator, so this actually IS close to the notion of ego.  Bear in mind that the moon was not a romantic emotional sweet planet in antiquity.  That notion in quite modern.  There are several cultures where the moon was associated with a terrible and malevolent creature manipulating humans.  In south Africa it is the Chitahauri.  Once the moon appeared, brought about by some creatures, the sun began to scorch our human skins, the weather became harsher, hotter, more extreme, and women started to menstruate.  There are similar tales in ancient Pre-Selene Greece meaning Greece before the moon was there...  They also remember that before the Moon was present, women were without menstrual blood.  We can see how the month (close etymology to the moon) as a lunar cycle ties in with women's periods.

The Sun is said to be the soul, or rather the self, and as such represents the most Sattvic planet.  Then Jupiter in its pursuit of truth and right knowledge, because Jupiter is the adviser, philosopher, Brahmin planet.  Third moon, this is because the moon is Ahamkara, meaning the separate sense of oneself as distinct from others, which the mark of the mind as Ego.  Still the moon for Parasara will show concerns for the true Self, in the manner of the Queen (moon) being always close to and faithful to the wishes of the King (sun). 

For Spujidhava Mars is also Sattvic, and this maybe a surprise for some.   The significance is that Mars  represents the right duty of the Overseer or executive, that is Mars, who takes order from the Sun or King.   Mars sees to problems and makes corrections and sacrifices, perhaps sacrifice of his life in combat, for the King in order to preserve and save from any enemies and threats the country has.  Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita is from the warrior class, a sun and mars class, and so has to fight and not skirt the issue of needed battle.   Mars has a role close to that of the King (Sun) with whom it is mutual friend as a planet.   This shows a noble quality to mars.  

Venus and mercury are Rajas and show the passions of love, learning, acquiring knowledge and playing games, the excitements of courtships, beauty, the arts, the love and passions of life.  They motivate one to desire and progress also. 

The Moon is Rajas for Spujidhava, expressing the Ahamkara, egoic quality of the moon, which sees itself as distinct from others and possibly blinded by the mind which has a limited awareness.   It also thinks through the illusory nature of the Ego which believes that it is creating things, whereas the only creator is Krishna, or God, or the True Self. 

The Tamasic planets are Saturn and Mars, which deal with problems in life.  Limitation, laziness, inertia, but also excessive use of force and lust which are dangers for Mars.  Inertia and selfishness can also be seen with Saturn.   These features can bind the person to matter, physicality, inertia, and hinder the true perception of ones true Self. 

The gunas suggest how the deities of planets and signs operate and motivate, activate human beings and indeed nature.

The planets, being essentially Grahas or deities, rather than physical bodies, are part of the creative process of nature and affect nature.

The Doshas

The Doshas are on the table below the Gunas. The five elements of Panch (5) Mahabhutas again from Shamkhya, form the 3 Doshas, with a predominance of one element.

Dr. Frawley explains the relationship between the 5 elements in the following manner, “All elements originate from ether. Ether (called Akasha, or Space) moves to become air, air causes friction to become fire, fire becomes water as it becomes denser, water becomes earth as it coagulates. And all five elements are contained in the Earth.”

The 5 elements are extremely important and permeates the Doshas but also everything in the universe.   They should not be considered only material in nature, and it is obvious with Akasha, because Akasha is so subtle as to be almost immaterial, and it is a container.   The 5 elements still are the building blocks, the stuff of the universe. 

Doshas means 'fault' since if one of them is too weak, or too strong, a unbalance or a fault is created. In Ayurveda, the main work is balancing between the 3 of Doshas, so as to attain a balance not only physical, but also psychological and spiritual. Health is then fully integrated with all aspects of the person, not only the physical as is seen in the western culture. 

These three doshas are responsible for all the physiological and psychological processes within the body and mind, and they color the physical activity, mental inclinations, physical energy, thoughts and the emotional bend of human beings. They are mainly used in Ayurveda, the Indian medicinal art based on food, yoga and herbs, and also the life style. The Dosha are seen from the chart, or from a set of questions given to a person. 

Some authors have the Doshas aligned to the Gunas, so Vata is associated with Sattva which is how I placed Vata below Sattva. Pitta is associated with Rajas and Kapha with Tamas to follow on this idea.

Vata is made from Ether and Air

Pitta is made of Fire and Water

Kapha is made of Water and Earth. 

This shows that balancing the Doshas also means balancing the 5 elements. Too much Air is going to unbalance Vatta and bring about ungroundedness. 

Too much Earth is going to make the Kapha too separate, dense and immobile. 

Too much Ether is again making Vata not grounded and light headed.

Too much Fire is making Pitta over active, excessive in heat in body and mind, and volatile. 

We can then see that understanding the Doshas means understanding the 5 elements which form an important bulding block of Shamkhya and also Vedic astrology. 

Pitta is the only Dosha with Fire, as such it speeds up the metabolic process of digestion which break down food in the stomach and intestine. Pitta brings about a lot of Fire which make also a person very active, very hot in body and mind, always in action. Pita can be impatient, choleric, hot headed, also enterprising, confident, brash, able to get things going. 

The presence of Water allows assimilation of food and also experience and then fosters understanding. A lack of Pitta means incomplete digestion, a lack of energy and confidence, an inability to assimilate not only food but also the purification that fire brings. This purification is done by fire and allows the person to evolve, transform and elevate their energies to higher levels. Purification is also the process of transmuting food into energy and discarding the old matter. 

Kapha is made of water and earth and these are the most dense elements. Kapha is cohesive, gluing all tissues together, It is more grounded and stable, and can be inert or still. This stillness is useful for assimilation, deep feeling, and gives a strength of penetration for deep understanding. All the fluids in the body are Kapha, so then excess Kapha gives bulk and a round body and can show a bloated body.    Kapha is slow to change, resilient, and can give the strongest most grounded person. They are also the most sensitive, impressionable, contemplative, feeling types. Kapha gives the ability and need for rest, for patience, we need a balanced Kapha for assimilating new food and information on all levels and make sense of spiritual processes, not only with the mind, but inwardly on the feeling level. Excess Kapha is too conservative and stuck in the past.  It can also be too afraid to change. 

Vata is made of Ether or Akasha, and Air. It is the most fluid Dosha and less dense. Vata gives the many changes that are necessary throughout life to let go of things and adapt to new experiences. Vata provides the change between the action of Pitta and the rest of Kapha and gives the change away from rest so that new things can be experienced. 

Vata allows for bodily movements, the nervous system, the respiratory system and the elimination of waste material and toxins from the body. The main area is the lower part of the body including lower back, thighs, large intestine and pelvic regions. The pelvic area is where we excrete old matter and waste so as to make room for the new. Vata also dominates the nervous system, skin and ears.

Lack of Vata means any of these body functions are not enough energized and can show constipation, rectal problems, lack of motivation and energy for new experiences. Respiratory and nervous systems can be insufficient, this can lead to paralysis or inability to accept changes. Excess Vata is too prone to change and the body type is skinny, small, overexcitable, overstimulated, want to change too much, are impatient and not grounded. They may lack the depth of character and patience to deeply assimilate knowledge, or experience. 

Mercury (mixed, according to its position in the chart for Spujidhava)

Spujidhava :

113. Bile is from Mars, bile and phlegm from the Sun, phlegm and wind from Jupiter and the Moon, phlegm from Venus, wind from Saturn, and wind mixed with the quality of its position from Mercury.

The primary use of Doshas is in Ayurveda, but it is a diagnostic knowledge tool of astrology, and shows a deep link between ayurveda and astrology.  But beyond the medicinal use, the Doshas are useful to detect psychological bend and even spiritual orientation. 

Additional notes on Gunas

In some translations of Parasara the word Shakti is used for each Guna, showing them to be a creative force. Planets are termed Grahas in the Puranas, in Surya Siddantha, and Grahas are actual deities, not material planets. This raises many questions about astrology, and we will write about this at another time. Early in his text Parasara states that Graha's purpose is to give humans the fruits of their Karma, and there is stated in a nutshell the fundamental nature of astrology, which is to reveal the karmas of humans.

Parasara (date unknown, but Parasara is purported to be one of the 18 sages who transmitted astrology to mankind) and Spujidhava are the earliest extant texts giving Gunas and Doshas for each planet. Mantreswhara in the 13th century is very close to Parasara. 

So we can remember that Gunas give specific qualities to Grahas or Planets. In this table, in block letters are planets identical for both authors. The text of Spujidhava follows. 

A word on translation. For Doshas, Phlegm is the traditional word in the early middle age for Kapha, wind is Vatta, bile for Pitta. These translations are approximate, as these have mostly a medical or physiological connotation, whereas the Doshas seem to not be expressed in purely material terms, and have a spiritual, psychological and physiological quality to them.  Early Indian concepts are often tricky to properly translate with occidental words of a more materialistic culture. 

These concepts are elaborated on in Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads and the Puranas, and the earliest trace I saw of these concepts is in Shamkhya. ( I say earliest because since the Gita often discusses the Gunas, they must have been taught before the writing of the Gita).

 Pierre Touchard january 2018, augmented and revised jan. 2024