Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Gunas

Maslow’s hierarchy of need can be represented in the form of a pyramid. At the bottom of the pyramid is the physiological needs, above this is the need for safety and security, still higher and progressively up are Need for belonging, Need for Self esteem and culminating in Need for Self Actualization. These needs are evolving from a pure biological or physical level to the mental and intellectual level. But there is a gap and we’ll come back to that.

If one is conversant with our spiritual heritage one is bound to notice something. The needs can be mapped to the three Gunas . One who is conversant with Sankhya philosophy or Gita, knows that the three gunas are – Tamas or the quality of darkness, characterized by ignorance, sleep, laziness, errors in judgement and all baser instincts, Rajas or the quality of passion, characterized by action driven by desire, lust, greed etc. and Sattvam, characterized by tranquility, peace, love of wisdom and knowledge etc. If we look into the hierarchy, we’ll find that at the base of the pyramid, the first two needs are the same for the human and animal world. There is no difference between an animal and a human being at these two levels. Even an animal looks for safety, shelter. It has pure physiological and biological needs and urges. The animal world may even extend to level 3, because some of the animals are very strongly characterized by the need for belongingness, love. They too display emotions, lead a family or a social life, want bonding with human beings and other animals and so on. So the first two levels are purely Tamasic. Survival is the key here. With third level, a bit of Rajas comes up, which is more intense for human beings but are also there for the animals to a lesser extent. The fourth level, however, completely distinguishes between animals and humans. Animals cannot go up to the fourth level. This is the level of ego, the “I” consciousness. That’s why self esteem plays such an important role in the life of all men and women. This is pure rajas. Depending on the degree of this need, a human being can be extremely egoistic. Self esteem drives every individual to work, to perform feats, the achieve something, to earn name, fame, fortune, to beget progeny in order to perpetuate the clan or race, to possess power, to get success in every undertaking and so on. Ego and desire are its main drivers. Like Rajas, this binds an individual to actions in the world and is driven by lust and greed. A fulfillment of this need leads to mental satisfaction.

At the highest level of the hierarchy of needs we have Self Actualization. This leads to happiness, joy. This is linked to intellectual satisfaction, like reading, writing, music, painting or for that matter any creative medium. This leads to satisfaction at an intellectual level. It is not necessarily linked to name, fame, or fortune. It may be purely altruistic. And yet, there is a trace of desire left- desire for happiness, intellectual satisfaction. So this is Sattva with some Rajas. Sattva binds an individual to happiness, to intellectual and creative pursuits. It binds because one is not able to come out of the snare. A painter needs to paint or a poet needs to write. As long as they are busy doing these they are happy. But as soon as they give them up and pursuit mundane activities, they are dejected. They cannot get detached to this need.

Therefore Self Actualization is not the end. There is a state higher than this, which is characterized by freedom, by detachment. Self Actualization gives temporary freedom, as long as the need is pursued. Whenever there is a stoppage, there is agony. But the real human need is freedom, liberation. So somewhere deep down the craving still remains even one one has reached the highest state in Maslow’s hierarchy.

Higher than Self Actualization is the state called Self Realization, which was never conceived by Maslow, because he was not even aware of it’s existence. But our sages knew it very well. And they knew it to be the only reality. This is a state where one transcends all the gunas and become a conquerer of the nature. This state is characterized by perpertual bliss because all needs are fulfilled at this stage. It is achievable because many have achieved it and many are trying to achieve it. It is the ultimate state where all fetters to the world falls and where a veil is removed. The sages say that the world is then perceived as a shadow of the real thing. All material joys and sorrows disappear and only a state of supreme bliss remains. That state is signified in Gita by using nouns Trigunatita, Sthitaprajna etc. This is the state beyond which nothing can exist, when one is merged in the supreme cosmic consciousness and discovers that fountain of joy and bliss was all along lying within oneself, hidden, secret.