Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 30

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

Translation

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 Sāttvic, O Pārtha.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

pravṛttim

forthgoing

ca

and

nivṛttim

return

ca

and

kāryākārye

right-doing, and, wrong-doing, and

bhayābhaye

fear, and, fearlessness, and

bandham

bondage

mokṣam

liberation

ca

and

yā

which

vetti

knows

buddhiḥ

reason

sā

that

pārtha

O Pārtha

sāttvikī

sāttvic

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Action (pravṛtti): the cause of bondage, the karma-mārga, the path of action. Inaction (nivṛtti): the cause of liberation, the path of saṃnyāsa. What ought to be done: the necessity for doing or not doing — at particular places and times, actions producing visible or invisible results, according as they are enjoined or prohibited by the scriptural or social ethics. Fear and absence of fear: the cause of fear and the cause of fearlessness. Bondage and liberation: together with their causes.