Intelligence & Discrimination

Examine every day what you do and with what motives; then you can yourself pronounce judgment on your progress. It all looks so easy, but it is one of the hardest assignments.

Digest 2, p. 118

When you are found at fault, do not fly into a rage; examine your own conduct and discover the faults in yourselves. Self-examination is the first step to self-improvement and peace. Do not exaggerate the faults of others; give them a wide margin and see them as small. Exaggerate yours; see them big and strive to remove them fast. Take all faultfinders as your friends and well-wishers for they give you warning signals in time.

Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. III, p. 64

Examine a desire/thought before following it into action. If intelligence, discrimination, and conscience advise that the desire is neither harmful to oneself nor to another person, then go ahead. Obviously, intelligence and discrimination must be both acute and honest, otherwise we will deceive ourselves and continue to maintain the limitations of a private world constructed out of satisfaction of desires.

Digest 2, p. 90

Intelligence is a special gift from God to man; it confers the power of discrimination between right and wrong. Peace or happiness depends on the choice of the right means and this is a matter to be decided by the intelligence. Prosperity also depends on the intelligent exploitation of the available resources. The wavering ‘intelligence’ of man that has lost its one-pointedness and purity is responsible for all the conflict and quarrels that are prevalent today.

Therefore, I will ask you to pray to God to grant you the capacity to think straight and right, and to stick to the correct decision once decided on, without being affected by egoism, greed, or hatred. Pray for getting a balanced mind, unaffected by prejudices and passions.

Digest, p. 148