The Vedas are concerned with the three universal qualities or gunas. O Arjuna, free thysel from the triple qualities and from the pairs of opposites! Ever calm, harboring no thoughts of receiving and keeping, become thou settled in the Self.True to his promise, I find a connection between my recent studies on Ayurveda and the chapter I'm currently reading in the Gita. This chapter is about Samkhya and Yoga, which are essential philosophies when explaining Ayurveda.
The promise by Paramahansa Yogananda is this,
Wherever one is on the way back to God, the Gita will shed its light on that segment of the journey... [It is] at once a profound scripture on the science of yoga, union with God, and a textbook for everyday living.
As I archive the first chapter of Swami Vidyadhishananda's book here,
http://musicmeditate.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,5915.0.html which provides understanding to the foundation of Ayurveda I noticed the gunas are again mentioned as expanded on by Paramahansa Yogananda.
These three gunas are Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas. "Closer scrutiny reveals that intellect, ego and mind are the respective evolutes from these three guna in Prakriti upon being seen by the consciousness or Purusha." -Swami V
Here is how Yogananda describes these three guna with further elaboration of the above stanza.
Nothing but the cleansing of man's inward being has the power to free him from the tri-fold reincarnation-making qualities of human nature- the sattvic (elevating), the rajasic (activating), and the tamasic (degrading). ...that any man who concerns himself primarily with the phenomenal world of the three qualities is thereby subject to reincarnation through the strength of associated desires. If, for instance, a man employs certain Vedic chants in order to triumph over an enemy, his success in that aim will establish his conscioussness a desire for the power of future victories. This subconscious desire leads to the development of the activating (rajasic) quality in the devotee, and is the direct cause of another rebirth in which he must work out the unfulfilled desire. Any desire develops in man one or more of the three qualities- elevating, activating, or degrading- and ties him to the wheel of reincarnation.
...The Gita, the quintessence of the path to liberation, advises the devotee to free himself from any activities that rouse the reincarnation-making threefold human qualities, and to develop, instead the desireless intuitive state by right meditation. He who receives the freely given all-sufficient blessings and guidance of God in divine inner communion need not propitiate the lesser 'gods' of natural forces, who extract a karmic fee for favors. ...When man develops one quality he is automatically required to experience its opposite. One who has pain looks for happiness, and one who has happiness is afraid of losing it!
The tranquil, evenly balanced state of mind that cannot be disturbed by pain or happiness leads the devotee to the unchangeable ever new joy hidden in the soul.