Chapter 18 · Liberation through renunciation
Bhagavad Gita 18.30
The sattvic intellect knows what to do and what to avoid.
Shri Bhagavan
प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये ।
बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥
pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca kāryākārye bhayābhaye / bandhaṁ mokṣaṁ ca yā vetti buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī
The understanding that knows engagement and withdrawal, what is to be done and what is not, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation — that understanding, O Partha, is of goodness.
हिंदी · जो बुद्धि प्रवृत्ति और निवृत्ति को, कर्तव्य और अकर्तव्य को, भय और अभय को, तथा बन्धन और मोक्ष को यथार्थ जानती है — हे पार्थ! वह सात्त्विकी है।
What it means
The sattvic intellect knows what to do and what to avoid.
A clear mind knows when to act and when to hold back, what is right to do and what is not, what truly deserves fear and what does not, and what binds a person and what sets them free. The Gita calls this discernment sattvic.
This is the Trust’s own reading, written for this site. The verse above it is the text.
Verses that share its vocabulary
Near it in the text’s own words.
- 5.28The sage whose senses, mind and intellect are held in check, who has liberation as his one aim, and from whom desire, fear and anger have gone, is always free.
- 16.1Fearlessness, a clean and settled mind, steadiness in knowledge and in yoga, giving, restraint of the senses, sacrifice, study of the scriptures, austerity, and being straight with people.
- 12.15The world is not disturbed by him and he is not disturbed by the world; he is free of elation, resentment, fear and agitation, and he too is dear to me.
- 10.4Intelligence, knowledge, clarity free of delusion, forbearance, truth, restraint of the senses, calm of mind, pleasure and pain, coming to be and ceasing to be, fear and also fearlessness —
- 18.26Free of attachment, not speaking of himself, endowed with steadiness and zeal, unaltered in success and failure — such a doer is called one of goodness.
- 18.40There is no being on earth, nor again among the gods in heaven, that could be free from these three gunas born of prakriti.
Chosen by shared uncommon vocabulary, weighted so that a rare word counts for far more than a common one. A reading aid, not a claim that these verses mean the same thing.