Inertia, impetus, and understanding

A different take on the three gunas - tamas, rajas, sattva.

Think of tamas as inertia - that which impedes movement and sustains rest. A mind or attention with tamas dominant is also at rest, a stuporous and involuntary rest, upon some object.

Think of rajas as impetus - that which makes something move and sustains movement. Attention of a rajas-dominant mind is also in motion, uncontrollable and without volition, pulled all over the place by different objects.

Think of sattva as understanding, and subtle, increased willpower. Understanding is independent of, othogonal to, motion or the lack of it. Attention with sattva dominant can rest on an object with little effort and for as long as one wills. It can also move from object to object with little effort as one wills.

A saattvic mind controls its tamasic and rajasic tendencies as needed to change attention naturally, i.e. resting on an object or moving to another as desired.