Bhagavad Gita 18.30
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 30 of 78
प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये । बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धिः सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी ॥
pravṛttiṃ ca nivṛttiṃ ca kāryākārye bhayābhaye | bandhaṃ mokṣaṃ ca yā vetti buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī ||
Sāttvic buddhi: correctly knows pravṛtti-nivṛtti, kārya-akārya, fear-fearlessness, bondage-liberation.
Word by word (3)
- pravṛttiṃ ca nivṛttiṃ ca kāryākārye bhayābhaye
- — pravṛtti (engagement in action/outward movement) and nivṛtti (withdrawal/renunciation/inward movement), kārya (what should be done) and akārya (what should not be done), bhaya (fear) and abhaya (fearlessness) — three pairs of opposites that sāttvic buddhi correctly discriminates
- bandhaṃ mokṣaṃ ca yā vetti buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī
- — and (ca) bondage (bandham) and liberation (mokṣam), that (yā) buddhi (intellect/discernment) that KNOWS (vetti = truly knows/discerns), that (sā) O Pārtha (son-of-Pṛthā, Arjuna), is sāttvic (sāttvikī) — the four pairs: pravṛtti-nivṛtti, kārya-akārya, bhaya-abhaya, bandha-mokṣa
- pravṛtti-nivṛtti
- — engagement and renunciation — the two fundamental modes of spiritual life; sāttvic buddhi knows WHEN each is appropriate; pravṛtti = the path of action (karmamārga); nivṛtti = the path of knowledge/renunciation (jñānamārga); knowing which applies in what situation is the mark of sāttvic discernment
That intellect which correctly knows the paths of engagement and renunciation, what should be done and what should not, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation — that intellect, O Pārtha, is sāttvic.
A modern analogy
Sāttvic buddhi is like a great doctor with perfect diagnostic discernment — knowing when to prescribe action (pravṛtti) and when rest (nivṛtti), what is harmful and what is beneficial, what to fear and what is safe, and above all understanding the root disease (bondage) and its cure (liberation). The intellect that truly sees all these pairs correctly is the highest form of human discernment.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
That which knows action and inaction, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fear and absence of fear, bondage and liberation, that intellect is Sattvic, O Partha. [1]
That which knows the paths of work and renunciation, right and wrong action, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation, that intellect, O Partha, is Sattvika. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
The intellect which knows action and inaction, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fear and fearlessness, bondage and deliverance, is of the quality of goodness. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Daivī wealth begins: abhaya, sattva-śuddhi, jñāna-yoga, dāna, dama, yajña, svādhyāya, tapa, ārjava.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Sāttvic jñāna: seeing ONE imperishable being in ALL — undivided among the divided.
Many, freed from attachment, fear, and anger, purified by knowledge-austerity — have attained My being.
Tāmasic buddhi: enveloped in darkness, sees adharma as dharma, all things inverted and perverted.
I am the strength of the strong, free from craving — and the desire in beings that does not conflict with dharma.
Verse 30 of 78 · back to Chapter 18