Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Krishna will talk about intelligence in three modes from next verse onwards:

Bg 18.30

pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca
kāryākārye bhayābhaye
bandhaṁ mokṣaṁ ca yā vetti
buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī

Synonyms: 

pravṛttim — doing; ca — also; nivṛttim — not doing; ca — and; kārya — what ought to be done; akārye — and what ought not to be done; bhaya — fear; abhaye — and fearlessness; bandham — bondage; mokṣam — liberation; ca — and; yā — that which; vetti — knows; buddhiḥ — understanding; sā — that; pārtha — O son of Pṛthā; sāttvikī — in the mode of goodness.

Translation: 

O son of Pṛthā, that understanding by which one knows what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, what is to be feared and what is not to be feared, what is binding and what is liberating, is in the mode of goodness.

pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca, there are actions to be done and there are actions not be to done or to be avoided.

pravṛtti and nivṛtti is more in terms of general inclinations. 

kāryākārye bhayābhaye, kārya and akārye are more in terms of actions more specific. These are things specifically which I should do or I should not do.

Bhaya + ābhaye that means what should be feared and what should not be feared. 

bandhaṁ mokṣaṁ ca yā vetti

buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī

One understand that what is the cause of bondage and what is the cause of liberation.

Bhayābhaye, there is healthy fear and there is unnecessary fear.

Healthy fear: child should have fear from fire, knife, live electric wire on the other hand we may have fear of certain things which is undesirable.

Unnecessary fear: Child may have fear about going to school. Similarly someone is having fear in following spiritual path.

So unduly fearful or unduly reckless both are undesirable. 

bandhaṁ mokṣaṁ ca yā vetti, sometimes people are not able to discriminate between feel good actions and the long term consequences of the actions that such actions could be binding me. 

So when one understand these differences properly then that is buddhi in mode of goodness, buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī.

To large extent sāttvikī buddhi comes by study of scriptures. A transformational study. 

Senses perceive the outer world, sense comprise of door way between inner world and outer world, and if this doorway is not illuminated then there is destruction because of that (as discussed in 14th chapter), doorway expect some transition change of state and need to be illuminated to avoid accidents. So if this doorway of sense are not illuminated we take wrong choices wrong turns and we can take self-destructive decisions. Serva Dwaresu Dehesu Prakasha Upajayate, that is described further by Krishna over here as capacity to discriminate.

Now we are trying to understand difference between Gyana and Budhi. 

Krishan has described knowledge in goodness as seeing beyond matter to spirit. But here intelligence in mode of goodness is described as knowing what should be done and what should not be done.

End fo transcription.