Also called the 10 pairs of opposites, these attributes, or gunas, are used to describe the entities of the material world. These attributes might be used to describe the way that the consumption of a particular food could shift someone’s state of being further away from or closer to whatever is that person’s own particular natural state of balance. There’s plenty of information out there about gunas, doshas, prakruti, and vikruti so enjoy taking a look. Here’s a table of the pairs for a study sheet:
| Heavy | Light | (Guru) (1) | (Laghu) |
| Slow/Dull | Sharp | (Manda) | (Tikshna) |
| Cold | Hot | (Shita) (2) | (Ushna) |
| Oily/Unctuous (3) | Dry | (Snigdha) (3) | (Ruksha) (2) |
| Slimy/Smooth (4) | Rough | (Shlakshna) (4) | (Khara) (2) |
| Dense | Liquid | (Sandra) | (Drava) |
| Soft | Hard | (Mrudu) (5) | (Kathina) |
| Static | Mobile | (Sthira) (6) | (Chala) |
| Subtle | Gross | (Sukshma) (2) | (Sthula) (2) |
| Cloudy/Sticky | Clear | (Picchila/Aavila) | (Vishada) |
(1) Guru is interesting – like me, you might associate this word as a noun with the meaning “teacher” as in gu-ru, the dispeller/remover of darkness – but check out Wikipedia (Wiki on Guru) on the word too, to make sense of its use here. So, guru as in “heavy with knowledge” as an adjective, or in this case, just heavy.
(2) In these words, the first vowel in the word is the long vowel, i.e. it would be written with a line over it.
(3) Unctuous has some interesting definitions and uses in English. Those definitions help me remember the difference between snigdha vs. shlakshna. In fact, some of those definitions sound a little like the Sanskrit word itself (snigdha).
(4) For me, the distinctions between oily/unctuous vs. slimy/smooth are sometimes unclear, but it helps me to think of their opposites (dry vs rough). Maybe thinking of a quality of moisture versus texture between the two pairs for example. But interestingly, both snigdha and shlakshna as words themselves sounds like their meanings a bit (snig vs shlak) and both increase kapha and pitta, while decreasing vata.
(5) Mrudu, especially “Mru” sound to me like the quality of softness.
(6) Sthira begins sounds like its English meaning: “static”, e.g. from the beginning “sth” or even just the visual: “st”.
[This post has not yet been proof-read!]