Śivasaṃhitā 5.29

The conquest of the three guṇa—sattva, rajas, and tamas—does not mean their elimination but their transcendence. Yoga does not aspire to maximize sattva and eliminate tamas, as might be superficially interpreted: its goal is to go beyond all three, toward guṇātīta—“that which is beyond the guṇa.” Absorption in cidākāśa describes the state where the observer dissolves into the very act of observing, leaving no trace of separation.

Cidākāśa—“space (ākāśa) of consciousness (cit)“—is a key concept in Kashmiri tantrism, especially in the Vijñānabhairava Tantra. Unlike bhūtākāśa (physical space), cidākāśa is the inner opening where all experience arises and dissolves without leaving trace. Guṇa (literally “cord” or “strand”) are the three modalities comprising all prakṛti (manifested nature): their conquest implies return to puruṣa—pure unconditioned consciousness.

The Bhagavadgītā devotes its entire chapter XIV to the guṇa and their transcendence. The Śivasaṃhitā situates this transcendence as the natural result of regular yogic practice, democratizing what in Sāṃkhya-Yoga philosophy was an abstract and distant objective. The doctrine of guṇa was one of Indian philosophy’s most influential contributions to practical psychology, enabling a functional analysis of mental states without recourse to the notion of “sin.”