Triguna: A Conceptual Study and the Development and Validation of AHS Scale

Abstract

Ancient India was a home for conceptual studies. More often than not, concepts were derived from the experiences of individuals. As most of the individual experiences come under the ambit of subjectivity, they perhaps lack the stamp of objectivity demanded by the modern science. Yet, potentially, many a times, subjective experiences of those individuals belonging to ancient India apparently form to be fragments of objective truths. It is in this context today that the empirical analysis of those concepts appears relevant and render meaningful. Every work of the ancients deemed as scriptures, proposed happiness as the primary aim of the self and also of the society. Alternatively, happiness can be also termed as self-sufficiency at the individual level and self-sustenance at the collective level. It is here that triguna played the role of a tool or an instrument to achieve the above mentioned individual and collective goals. There exists a thin blurring line of difference between the metaphysical concepts and psychological concepts of ancient India. Everything in the purview of triguna is psychological, whereas, a notch above triguna is metaphysical. This paper analyzes only the psychological relevance of the concept triguna . It also puts across the efforts as put in by the authors to standardize a Situation Sampling Methodology to examine the concept empirically. The tool consists of 25 life situations that are commonly experienced by people.