Discernment

Because you desired wisdom above all else, and did not ask for victory over your enemies, or riches, or long life, I will give you not only the wisdom you asked for to rule my people righteously, but also the things you did not ask for: riches, wealth, and glory, so that there will be no king like you before or after you.

Ignorance is the lack of the divine ability to see the supramental Truth; it is the part of our consciousness that does not perceive, as opposed to the part that sees and knows the truth.

The fear of the Lord is wisdom.

With speech that seems mixed and ambiguous, you seem to confuse my understanding. Tell me with certainty just one thing by which I may attain what is truly good.

O delight of the Kurus, the resolute intelligence on this path is one-pointed; but the thoughts of the irresolute branch endlessly in countless directions.

The jnani lets go of his identification with worldly things, distinguishing 'not this, not this'.

That intellect which does not correctly discern what is righteous and what is not, what is to be done and what must not be done — that intellect, O Partha, is rajasic.

That intellect which rightly discerns engagement and withdrawal, what must and must not be done, what is to be feared and what need not be feared, what binds and what liberates — that intellect, O Partha, is sattvic.

That knowledge which perceives in all beings separate realities of various distinct kinds — know that knowledge to be rajasic.

Hear My definitive judgment in this matter of relinquishment, O best of the Bharatas; O tiger among men, relinquishment is declared to be of three kinds.

Both the good and the pleasant approach a person. The wise one examines them and discerns the difference. The wise chooses the good over the pleasant; the dull chooses the pleasant for comfort and ease.

The good (śreyas) is one thing; the pleasant (preyas) is another. Both bind a person, but in different ways. The one who chooses the good fares well; the one who chooses the pleasant falls short of the goal.

Hear now the threefold distinction of intellect and steadfastness according to the gunas, expounded fully and severally, O Dhananjaya.

Knowledge, action, and the doer are likewise each declared to be of three kinds in the enumeration of the gunas — hear them now as they truly are.

Yet, things being so, one who sees the pure Self alone as the doer — that dim-witted person, with an uncultured intellect, does not truly see.

Some wise thinkers say that all action should be abandoned as inherently flawed; while others maintain that acts of sacrifice, giving, and austerity must not be abandoned.

The Blessed Lord said: The faith of embodied beings is threefold, born of their own nature — sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic. Hear about these.

There are two persons in this world — the perishable and the imperishable. The perishable comprises all beings; the immovable summit is called the imperishable.

When the seer perceives no doer other than the qualities, and knows what transcends those qualities — that one attains to My nature.

The childish pursue outward desires and walk into the widespread snare of death. The wise, knowing immortality, do not seek the permanent among the impermanent things of this world.