We Become Conditioned by the Gunas
Human beings are habitual creatures . We settle into patterns of life and year after year we consume the same foods and beverages , do almost the same activities , associate with the same people , keep the same hours , and so on . Because every aspect of our life is connected with the gunas , by repeating the same activities , behaviors , etc ., we continually associate with the same gunas again and again , and their influences are reinforced ~ with important consquences ~ we become conditioned by them .
The very idea of conditioning infers a predictable response . Our behavior becomes habitual , automatic or reactionary ~ even though we each assume that we act according to our own free will . According to our association with the gunas over the course of this life we carry this conditioning with us , and accrue it over the course of many lives .
Becoming conditioned means that we become habituated to a given pattern of thinking , understanding and behavior . As a result a particular stimulus will elicit a predictable response . According to how we associate with the material world and all of its phenomena , we will become so conditioned . Every aspect of this material world has its own quality : a unique mixture of the qualities of rajas , tamas and sattva . Just as the three primary colors of a television screen combine to generate a possible 72,000 colors , so also the three qualities of matter combine to generate innumerable influences . All of the many aspects of human activity are influenced in different degrees by the modes of nature .
Drug addiction provides a good example of conditioned behavior . Drug addicts are powerless as a result of their addiction . When such a person actually wants to kick their habit , they are enrolled in a behavior modification program in which they are expected to avoid the places and people associated with the addiction . They are encouraged to find new friends and engage in new activities . In other words they must give up contact with the qualities of nature that they are accustomed to and replace them with positive alternatives . This is not easy or automatic . The very nature of the conditioned state makes such change extremely difficult . The most common addictions are food ( over-eating ) and cigarette smoking . Anyone who has ever been on a diet or tried to quit smoking knows that such behavioral changes can be very difficult and that they take time to become the normal pattern of behavior . If you want to see behavioral modification in action all you have to do is attend any 12-Step meeting . It may not be clearly understood , but what these people are attempting to do is change their conditioning to become “ re-conditioned ,” so to speak .
Let ’ s take another example . People generally engage in certain types of activity at certain times of the day . The gunas have specific influences at particular times of the day . The quality of ignorance , tamas , has a major influence during the night hours , waxing and waning from about 8 p . m . to 4 a . m . The influence of sattva predominates