Stupor Influence
The stupor influence is termed as tama guna in the Bhagavad Gita. It is catalogued there as the basest of the influences of the psychic material nature. The other two are sattva guna, the perceptive influence, which is the highest and raja guna, the motivating influence which provides enthusiasm.
Because it involves the reduction of enthusiasm, the stupor influence earned for itself a bad name. However, discrediting it does not in any way cause its elimination. In fact, a certain amount of its services is required to maintain a physical body and the psychic energies which are the background of that.
A yogi should study the stupor influence but he/she should do so without resentment and prejudice towards this universal force. That study may provide insight into how to get the best of its mandatory influence and how to reduce its excessive impulsion.
Are you doing yoga practice in the early morning hours? Do you find that your commitment for that is frequently breached by the stupor influence?
How does this influence come over you?
How much practice did you neglect over the years because of being under its influence?
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I do feel that I tend to struggle also or more with the motivating influence. It can be more difficult for me to get sufficient rest.
Actually, I can sometimes be easily up even before the morning practice.
Not to steer the discussion in a different direction, but this excess enthusiasm or what it is also causes me to not develop or maintain perceptive influence.
I have to work with it, and understand how it too is detrimental and counterproductive, at my level of consideration.
Typically it seems that the dulling energies although important to understand, don’t offer much in terms of gains in their applications or effects.
Motivational influence however, appears to be definable in different ways which are not all positive depending on the level of advancement.
In parallel, for the case of the states of the bodies and breath infusion, there are fundamentally two energies to be concerned with, the apana and prana.
There also, consideration must be given to the apana and it’s functioning in order to prevent it from taking out the best out of one’s efforts and practice.
