Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa
बुद्धेर्भेदं धृतेश्चैव गुणतस्त्रिविधं शृणु ।
प्रोच्यमानमशेषेण पृथक्त्वेन धनञ्जय ॥२९॥
buddher bhedaṁ dhṛteś caiva
guṇatas tri-vidhaṁ śṛṇu
procyamānam aśeṣeṇa
pṛthaktvena dhanañjaya
Word for word (synonyms)
- buddheḥ
- of intelligence
- bhedam
- differences
- dhṛteḥ
- of steadiness
- ca
- also
- eva
- certainly
- guṇataḥ
- by the modes of material nature
- tri-vidham
- the three kinds of
- śṛṇu
- just hear
- procyamānam
- as described by Me
- aśeṣeṇa
- in detail
- pṛthaktvena
- differently
- dhanañjaya
- O winner of wealth
Translation
Now, O winner of wealth, please listen as I tell you in detail of the three kinds of understanding and determination according to the three modes of nature.
Defined in the Gītā
The three modes
Who has transcended the three modes of nature?
The Blessed Lord said: He who does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the modes alone are active; who regards alike pleasure and pain, and looks on a clod, a stone and a piece of gold with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor, who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all fruitive undertakings—such a man is said to have transcended the modes of nature.
Purport
Now after explaining knowledge, the object of knowledge and the knower, in three different divisions according to modes of material nature, the Lord is explaining the intelligence and determination of the worker in the same way.
What this verse teaches
Intelligence or understanding (buddhi) in three modes
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.