T-Cube: The many aspects of One

How can Trinity be rooted in Unity ?

The T-cube phenomenon

We hear the word “Trinity” and our minds often go to a specific, hallowed concept. But what if this idea of a sacred three-in-one is not just a singular theological statement, but a fundamental operating system for the universe? What if this pattern is a fractal code, repeating itself from the cosmic scale down to the cellular level, and even into the very quality of our thoughts and our food?

Let’s pull back the curtain. From a spiritual perspective, the trinity is Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwara (Shiva). From the perspective of nature’s qualities, the gunas, it is Satva, Rajas, and Tamas. And from the lens of Ayurvedic health, it is Vata, Kapha, and Pitta. At first glance, these seem like three different lists for three different domains of knowledge. But look closer, and you’ll see they are the same story, told in three different languages.

Let’s start with the gods.

Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva: The Cosmic Lifecycle

Brahma is the thinker, the progenitor of ideas. He is the spark, the moment of inception. His domain is communication; he receives the blueprint of a new reality and gives it voice. Then comes Vishnu, the sustainer. He is the force of manifestation and maintenance. He takes Brahma’s abstract idea and nurtures it into a stable, functioning reality. And finally, there is Shiva, the transformer. He is the agent of necessary change, the one who facilitates transmutation.

Think of it like this: imagine I have an idea for a revolutionary satellite phone. Brahma is that initial, brilliant flash of inspiration. Vishnu is the long, arduous process of engineering, manufacturing, and bringing that phone to market, maintaining its place in the world. But for this new technology to truly flourish, the old model—the cell towers and microwave radiation—must eventually become obsolete. Shiva is that force of change. He weighs the pros and cons, sees the greater benefit of the new, and gracefully dismantles the old to make space for the new creation.

So, the cycle is clear: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, Shiva the Transformer. This is the divine dance of coming into being, existing, and evolving.

Satva, Rajas, Tamas: The Pulse of Existence

Now, let’s step down from the heavens and into the fabric of nature itself, into the three gunas or fundamental qualities.

Satva is the state of placid calm. It is peace, clarity, and coolness. It is the gentle, mild state where there is little frantic activity. Think of the very beginning of any process. In biology, it’s like the initial, slow growth phase of bacteria or a population—the quiet base of the sigmoid curve where everything is just getting started.

Then comes Rajas. This is the guna of energy, movement, and passion. It is the exponential growth phase, the hectic, vibrant, and sometimes chaotic period of expansion and interaction. It is variety in motion.

Finally, we arrive at Tamas. This is the quality of inertia, stability, and dissolution. It is the phase where the growth slows, the movement dies down, and things begin to collapse or transform back into their base elements. It is not evil; it is an essential conclusion, the necessary end that allows the cycle to begin anew.

Every life form, every process, pulses through these three states: the calm beginning (Satva), the active middle (Rajas), and the transformative end (Tamas).

Vata, Kapha, Pitta: The Trinity of the Body

Now, let’s bring it home, into our own bodies, through the lens of Ayurveda.

Vata is the principle of movement and communication. It is the nervous system, the electrical signals, the very flow of ideas and sensations. It is the body’s Brahma—the carrier of information. When you have a thought or feel a pain, that is Vata at work.

Kapha is the principle of structure and lubrication. It is the physical manifestation of the body—the tissues, the bones, the very structure of the nerves themselves. It is the body’s Vishnu—the preserver of form, the concrete reality that gives Vata and Pitta a place to exist.

Pitta is the principle of transformation and metabolism. It is the processing power. It is the digestion of food, the firing of neurotransmitters, the metabolic processes in the liver that convert fuel into energy. It is the body’s Shiva—the internal alchemist that transforms one thing into another.

So, we have three trinities: one cosmic, one qualitative, and one physiological. They look different, but they are all singing the same song. And here is where it gets truly fascinating.

The Nesting Dolls of Reality: The Fractal Trinity

The real magic isn't just that these three systems are parallel; it’s that they are nested. Each member of the trinity contains the entire trinity within itself.

Take Brahma, the creator of an idea. Within Brahma himself, the trinity exists. The initial spark of the idea is the Brahma-within-Brahma. That idea must then linger in his consciousness, be sustained and pondered—that is the Vishnu-within-Brahma. Finally, he must process it and speak it forth—the Shiva-within-Brahma. And once that idea is out in the world, in its Vishnu phase of manifestation, the same pattern repeats within that phase.

This fractal pattern repeats with the gunas. People speak of a "Satvik diet" of fruits. At one level, a fresh, organic fruit is Satvik. A slightly stale, conventional fruit is Rajasic. A fruit that has been waxed, irradiated, and stored for months in a cold storage is Tamasic.

But we can go deeper. Within the category of "Satvik fruits," we can again find a trinity. In ancient India, sages believed that if a fruit offered itself—falling freely into the hand—it was truly Satvik. If it had to be plucked with a little force, that was a Rajasic action upon a Satvik fruit. If the fruit was plucked by someone else and then given to the sage, that was a Tamasic method of acquisition. So, within the Satvik, we again have Satva, Rajas, and Tamas. We can keep diving into these nested loops forever, like a spiritual fractal.

The same is true for the doshas. Within Vata (the principle of signaling), there is a microcosm of Vata (the signal itself), Pitta (the processing of the signal), and Kapha (the physical structure, like the nerve synapse, that allows the signal to happen). The trinity is within the trinity, all the way down.

The Ultimate Unity: It’s All Energy

This nesting begs the ultimate question: If they all contain each other, are they actually different? Is Vata fundamentally separate from Kapha? Can one exist without the other?

The answer is a profound no. Kapha provides the structure, but without Vata’s signaling and Pitta’s processing, it is just a corpse—a form without life. Vata provides the spark, but without a Kapha structure to animate and Pitta to fuel it, it is a phantom. They are co-dependent, inseparable.

So, what are they, really?

They are one and the same. They are a single state of energy. The Trinity—the T-Cube of Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva, Satva-Rajas-Tamas, Vata-Kapha-Pitta—is ultimately equal to One. This One is pure, dynamic energy.

The divisions we see are not inherent in the energy itself, but are born from our perception. They are the different brackets, the different categories we create based on our interaction with reality as the observer. We are the ones who, from our limited vantage point, see the single beam of white light and name the colors of the spectrum.

The broader implications of this approach is that even if I were to swap Shiva's role with Brahma or assert that Pitta is the nervous current or say that Tamas sustains life - it really doesn't matter. What matters is that I understand their relationship, connection and oneness. These energy states are not at all affected by our labels.

The beauty of this understanding is that it reveals a universe of sublime order and infinite complexity. The same pattern that governs the birth and death of stars governs the digestion of your meal and the harvest of your fruit. It’s all about the movement of energy, the dance of perception, and the timeless, fractal game of the One appearing as the Many.

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This entire blog touches on a profound concept that acknowledges the diversity of perspectives while recognizing a singular truth; succinctly revealed in Vedic texts as

"Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti"

which translates to:

Truth is one, but the wise express it in different ways.