A while ago there was an argument within the community here about the gunas and despite how I tried I was unable to convince folks that tamas is not evil it is simply heavy, indolent and brings out our base emotions and needs. Ramakrishna has said exactly what I was trying to say here in this quote from the Gospel of Shri Ramakrishna.
Shri Ramakrishna said:
"Similarly, bhakti, devotion, has its sattva. A devotee who posses it meditates on God in absolute secret, perhaps inside his mosquito net. Others think he is asleep. Since he is late in getting up, they think perhaps he has not slept well during the night. His love for the goes only as far as appeasing his hunger, and that only by means of rice and simple greens. There is no elaborate arrangement about his meals, no luxury in clothes and no display of furniture. Besides, such a devotee never flatters anybody for money.
As an aspirant possessed of rajasic bhakti puts a tilak on his forehead and a necklace of holy rudraksha beads, interspersed with gold ones, around his neck. (All laugh) At worship he wears a silk cloth.
A man endowed with tamasic bhakti has a burning faith. Such a devotee literally extorts boons from God, even as a robber falls upon a man and plunders his money. 'Bind! Beat! Kill!' - that is his way, the way of the dacoits."
There's a little bit that doesn't really pertain to anything and then,
"If you can give a spiritual turn to your tamas, you can realise God with its help. Force your demands on God. He is by no means a stranger to you. He is indeed your very own.
"Again, you see, the quality of tamas can be used for the welfare of others. There are three classes of physicians: superior, mediocre and inferior. The physician who feels the patient's pulse and just says to him, 'Take the medicine regularly' belongs to the inferior class. He doesn't care to inquire whether the patient has actually taken the medicine. The mediocre physician is he who in various ways persuades the patient to take the medicine, and says to him sweetly: 'My good man, how will you be cured unless you use the medicine? Take this medicine. I have made it for you myself." But he who, finding the patient stubbornly refusing to take the medicine forces it down his throat, going so far as to put his knee on the patient's chest, is the best physician. This is the manifestation of the tamas of the physician. It doesn't injure the patient, on the contrary, it does him good.
"Like the physicians, there are three type of religious teachers. The inferior teacher only gives instruction to the disciples but makes no inquries about their progress. The mediocre teacher, for the good of the student, makes repeated efforts to bring the instruction home to him, begs him to assimilate it, and shows him love in many other ways. But there is a type of teacher who goes to the length of using force when he finds the student persistently unyielding; I call him the best teacher."
Shri Ramakrishna said:
"Similarly, bhakti, devotion, has its sattva. A devotee who posses it meditates on God in absolute secret, perhaps inside his mosquito net. Others think he is asleep. Since he is late in getting up, they think perhaps he has not slept well during the night. His love for the goes only as far as appeasing his hunger, and that only by means of rice and simple greens. There is no elaborate arrangement about his meals, no luxury in clothes and no display of furniture. Besides, such a devotee never flatters anybody for money.
As an aspirant possessed of rajasic bhakti puts a tilak on his forehead and a necklace of holy rudraksha beads, interspersed with gold ones, around his neck. (All laugh) At worship he wears a silk cloth.
A man endowed with tamasic bhakti has a burning faith. Such a devotee literally extorts boons from God, even as a robber falls upon a man and plunders his money. 'Bind! Beat! Kill!' - that is his way, the way of the dacoits."
There's a little bit that doesn't really pertain to anything and then,
"If you can give a spiritual turn to your tamas, you can realise God with its help. Force your demands on God. He is by no means a stranger to you. He is indeed your very own.
"Again, you see, the quality of tamas can be used for the welfare of others. There are three classes of physicians: superior, mediocre and inferior. The physician who feels the patient's pulse and just says to him, 'Take the medicine regularly' belongs to the inferior class. He doesn't care to inquire whether the patient has actually taken the medicine. The mediocre physician is he who in various ways persuades the patient to take the medicine, and says to him sweetly: 'My good man, how will you be cured unless you use the medicine? Take this medicine. I have made it for you myself." But he who, finding the patient stubbornly refusing to take the medicine forces it down his throat, going so far as to put his knee on the patient's chest, is the best physician. This is the manifestation of the tamas of the physician. It doesn't injure the patient, on the contrary, it does him good.
"Like the physicians, there are three type of religious teachers. The inferior teacher only gives instruction to the disciples but makes no inquries about their progress. The mediocre teacher, for the good of the student, makes repeated efforts to bring the instruction home to him, begs him to assimilate it, and shows him love in many other ways. But there is a type of teacher who goes to the length of using force when he finds the student persistently unyielding; I call him the best teacher."