Answer
Okay, let us answer this step by step.
The three modes of material nature are always influencing the jiva in different combinations. Every conditioned soul in the material world is under the influence of sattva-guna, rajo-guna, and tamo-guna. However, the degree of influence depends upon one’s state of consciousness.
If a person is predominantly situated in sattva-guna, then the influence of goodness is stronger in that person’s life. If someone is mainly situated in rajo-guna, then passion influences that person more. And if someone is transcendentally situated on the spiritual platform, even while living in the material world, then such a person is no longer influenced by the three gunas.
So, the influence of the three modes varies according to the jiva’s own position within the gunas.
Now, what determines a jiva’s situation within a particular mode? Many factors are involved. It depends on one’s food habits, sleeping habits, working habits, the type of association one keeps, and the desires one cultivates. All these shape one’s consciousness and thereby determine the predominance of a particular guna.
If you study the 14th, 16th, 17th, and 18th chapters of the Bhagavad-gita, you can understand in considerable detail the different factors that determine one’s conditioning within the three modes of material nature.
Now, the next question: Is the influence of the three modes random, or is it based on karma?
It is not random. At the same time, it is not that the demigods arbitrarily decide it either. The influence of the gunas is simply the functioning of material nature itself. The modes act according to the laws of nature, and the jiva becomes conditioned according to one’s consciousness, desires, habits, and activities.
So, the influence comes from material nature — not directly from the demigods.
